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Why ‘breathless’ bacteria cause acne and how to get rid of it
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‘Pebble’ is a pickled Why ‘breathless’ bacteria cause acne and how to get rid of it dinosaur brain IT’S like Jekyll and Hyde. conditions, like those found in This could explain why
JAMIE HISCOCKS/PA WIRE
One moment skin bacteria are harmless, the next they are causing a full-on spotty breakout. Now researchers have discovered why this happens – a breakthrough that could soon yield new acne treatments. Richard Gallo at the University of California, San Diego, and his colleagues have discovered that a type of harmless bacterium that lives on the surface of the skin can turn nasty, triggering inflammation and zits when it finds itself trapped in airless
hair follicles. The airless environment causes the bacterium, Propionibacterium acnes, to turn sebum – an oily substance that accumulates in follicles – into fatty acids. These subsequently deactivate enzymes that normally act as a brake on inflammation. Once that brake is off, cascades of chemicals are produced by follicle skin cells, leading to the type of inflammation that causes acne (Science Immunology, DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aah4609).
teenagers are so prone to outbreaks – surges in hormones during puberty cause an increase in sebum, which then provides more fodder for P. acnes to create fatty acids. Unfortunately, we can’t just wash this bacteria away, because it forms clumps that help anchor it to the skin. Instead, Gallo hopes to either inhibit the fatty acids, or block their impact on the skin. “We’re working on how to do this. If we get lucky, it could lead to new medications in two to five years.” FOLCO QUILICI/ALINARI VIA GETTY IMAGES
A “BROWN pebble” spotted by a fossil hunter in Sussex more than a decade ago has been confirmed as the first known example of petrified dinosaur brain. The specimen is thought to have come from a large plant eater such as iguanodon, which lived about 133 million years ago. Researchers at Cambridge University who analysed the specimen believe the dead dinosaur’s head was buried in mud at the bottom of a swamp, allowing its brain to be “pickled” and preserved. In time, the soft tissues became mineralised. But the fossil retained distinctive features such as the meninges – the protective membrane surrounding the brain – blood vessels, collagen and structures thought to represent the outer layer of nerve cells, or cortex. Unlike in other reptiles, where the brain only takes up about half the space within the skull cavity, the fossilised dinosaur brain appears to have been pressed directly against the skull. This raises the intriguing possibility that some dinosaurs had larger brains than we thought. But the team cautioned against jumping to conclusions about dinosaur intelligence. The most likely explanation is that gravity caused the brain to collapse against the roof of the skull cavity as it decayed, the researchers say.
Space telescope duo to see in 3D COMING in 2019: The Solar System in 3D. A pair of telescopes could soon bring celestial sights to life in three-dimensional images and movies for the first time. When the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) begins science operations in 2019, it will join the 26-year-old Hubble telescope, scheduled to retire in 2021. The two will be able to act as a giant pair of eyes. Hubble is in near-Earth orbit and the JWST will reside 1.5 million kilometres away. Such a wide separation means that pointing them at the same object in the solar system will create a sense of depth perceptible to the human eye. Joel Green at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, analysed the telescopes’ joint capabilities to model the amazing sights they might see, such as atmospheric dust drifting over Mars (arxiv.org/ abs/1610.07483). The most exciting prospects might be rapidly changing phenomena, such as storms on Jupiter, impacts on rocky worlds or comet emissions. It will also just be cool. “I’m really excited to see Saturn’s rings pop out of the page,” Green says.
Smooth rides on honeycomb streets LIFE is sweet in the honeycomb. Connecting streets to form hexagons instead of rectangles might lead to less traffic congestion. Luis Eduardo Olmos and José Daniel Muñoz at the National University of Colombia, Bogota, ran a simple mathematical model in which cars could drive in one diagonal direction, as can happen in rush hour when commuters all head home at once. For a square street network such as Manhattan, for example, the cars might run east and north. With a few cars, traffic flows, and with too many vehicles, traffic clogs.
Between those extremes, there’s an intermediate state, in which small jams clog traffic in bursts. But on honeycombed streets without traffic lights, there was a more sudden transition: free-flowing traffic abruptly jammed up (arxiv.org/ abs/1610.07438v1). Adding traffic lights to assist the flow let cars on these streets keep moving at densities that would have clogged up a rectangular network. But Eran Ben-Joseph at MIT thinks visitors would find it hard to navigate Hexagonopolis, which he says “may work in theory but not in practice”.
5 November 2016 | NewScientist | 17
‘Pebble’ is a pickled Why ‘breathless’ bacteria cause acne and how to get rid of it dinosaur brain IT’S like Jekyll and Hyde. conditions, like those found in This could explain why
JAMIE HISCOCKS/PA WIRE
One moment skin bacteria are harmless, the next they are causing a full-on spotty breakout. Now researchers have discovered why this happens – a breakthrough that could soon yield new acne treatments. Richard Gallo at the University of California, San Diego, and his colleagues have discovered that a type of harmless bacterium that lives on the surface of the skin can turn nasty, triggering inflammation and zits when it finds itself trapped in airless
hair follicles. The airless environment causes the bacterium, Propionibacterium acnes, to turn sebum – an oily substance that accumulates in follicles – into fatty acids. These subsequently deactivate enzymes that normally act as a brake on inflammation. Once that brake is off, cascades of chemicals are produced by follicle skin cells, leading to the type of inflammation that causes acne (Science Immunology, DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aah4609).
teenagers are so prone to outbreaks – surges in hormones during puberty cause an increase in sebum, which then provides more fodder for P. acnes to create fatty acids. Unfortunately, we can’t just wash this bacteria away, because it forms clumps that help anchor it to the skin. Instead, Gallo hopes to either inhibit the fatty acids, or block their impact on the skin. “We’re working on how to do this. If we get lucky, it could lead to new medications in two to five years.” FOLCO QUILICI/ALINARI VIA GETTY IMAGES
A “BROWN pebble” spotted by a fossil hunter in Sussex more than a decade ago has been confirmed as the first known example of petrified dinosaur brain. The specimen is thought to have come from a large plant eater such as iguanodon, which lived about 133 million years ago. Researchers at Cambridge University who analysed the specimen believe the dead dinosaur’s head was buried in mud at the bottom of a swamp, allowing its brain to be “pickled” and preserved. In time, the soft tissues became mineralised. But the fossil retained distinctive features such as the meninges – the protective membrane surrounding the brain – blood vessels, collagen and structures thought to represent the outer layer of nerve cells, or cortex. Unlike in other reptiles, where the brain only takes up about half the space within the skull cavity, the fossilised dinosaur brain appears to have been pressed directly against the skull. This raises the intriguing possibility that some dinosaurs had larger brains than we thought. But the team cautioned against jumping to conclusions about dinosaur intelligence. The most likely explanation is that gravity caused the brain to collapse against the roof of the skull cavity as it decayed, the researchers say.
Space telescope duo to see in 3D COMING in 2019: The Solar System in 3D. A pair of telescopes could soon bring celestial sights to life in three-dimensional images and movies for the first time. When the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) begins science operations in 2019, it will join the 26-year-old Hubble telescope, scheduled to retire in 2021. The two will be able to act as a giant pair of eyes. Hubble is in near-Earth orbit and the JWST will reside 1.5 million kilometres away. Such a wide separation means that pointing them at the same object in the solar system will create a sense of depth perceptible to the human eye. Joel Green at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, analysed the telescopes’ joint capabilities to model the amazing sights they might see, such as atmospheric dust drifting over Mars (arxiv.org/ abs/1610.07483). The most exciting prospects might be rapidly changing phenomena, such as storms on Jupiter, impacts on rocky worlds or comet emissions. It will also just be cool. “I’m really excited to see Saturn’s rings pop out of the page,” Green says.
Smooth rides on honeycomb streets LIFE is sweet in the honeycomb. Connecting streets to form hexagons instead of rectangles might lead to less traffic congestion. Luis Eduardo Olmos and José Daniel Muñoz at the National University of Colombia, Bogota, ran a simple mathematical model in which cars could drive in one diagonal direction, as can happen in rush hour when commuters all head home at once. For a square street network such as Manhattan, for example, the cars might run east and north. With a few cars, traffic flows, and with too many vehicles, traffic clogs.
Between those extremes, there’s an intermediate state, in which small jams clog traffic in bursts. But on honeycombed streets without traffic lights, there was a more sudden transition: free-flowing traffic abruptly jammed up (arxiv.org/ abs/1610.07438v1). Adding traffic lights to assist the flow let cars on these streets keep moving at densities that would have clogged up a rectangular network. But Eran Ben-Joseph at MIT thinks visitors would find it hard to navigate Hexagonopolis, which he says “may work in theory but not in practice”.
5 November 2016 | NewScientist | 17