Latest news with #PLoSOne
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Science
- The Hindu
A whale tooth's journey from the sea to a Copper Age pit
When archaeologists were digging a new library site at Valencina de la Concepción in southwest Spain in 2018, they uncovered an unusual item: half of a large sperm-whale tooth lying in a 4,000-year-old pit. Because nothing like it had ever been reported from Copper-Age Iberia, the team ran a bevy of tests to learn where it could have come from and how it ended up in the pit. Thus, based on evidence of marine boring and beach-root damage, the team unravelled the tooth's long journey from a sperm whale's mouth and to a settlement deep inland, offering en route a timeline of coastal processes four millennia ago. Their findings were recently published in PLoS One. The team shot overlapping photos with a camera and processed them to build a detailed 3D model that could be rotated on a screen, allowing tiny marks to be examined without handling the fragile specimen. Then team members used a digital microscope to reveal surface scratches, drill holes, and biological bores smaller than a millimetre wide. The team also unraveled four kinds of small tunnels and grooves: made by sponges, marine worms, grazing snails, and burrowing barnacles. They also mapped bite marks left behind by sharks. The shape of the root — thick with a single point and light enamel — matched contemporary sperm whales. The original tooth was estimated to have been 20-25 cm long, meaning the whale was an adult. Radiocarbon dating of the other animal bones and pottery in the pit revealed it was dug in about 2500-2400 BC. In this way, the team reported that after the whale died, the tooth stayed on the seabed long enough for sponges, worms, snails and barnacles to bore into it and for sharks to scavenge the carcass. Later, water currents rolled it around and partially buried it in sand. Someday, a storm or very high tide finally tossed the tooth onto a nearby shore. While buried in beach sand, plant roots etched new channels and a limestone crust formed on its surface. Humans of the Copper Age then picked it up, probably because it looked exotic and valuable, and pressed several chisels or awls into the break edge to split pieces off pieces, probably to use in ornaments. Eventually, the people placed the trimmed tooth in a pit about a metre wide and deep along with broken dishes, stone tools, and animal bones. The archaeologists didn't find any human bones inside and thus concluded the pit to be a 'structured deposition', meant to remove precious items from everyday use. This is the only sperm-whale tooth found in Copper-Age Spain and only the second in the Western Mediterranean of similar date. Its discovery thus widened the list of rare and prized materials — including elephant ivory, ostrich eggshells, and rock crystals — circulating at Valencina at this time. The burial also showed that coastal objects, even from gigantic sea creatures never seen alive inland, held symbolic power for communities engaged predominantly in farming.
The Australian
12-06-2025
- Business
- The Australian
Study backs Rhythm's colorectal risk model
Rhythm publishes peer-reviewed study validating its next-generation colorectal cancer risk assessment model Proprietary geneType assessment enhanced and cross-validated using data from nearly 400,000 individuals in UK Biobank Next generation geneType design continues focus on usability and simplicity, while providing superior performance Special Report: Rhythm Biosciences has published a peer-reviewed study in PLoS One validating its next-generation colorectal cancer risk assessment model, marking a major step forward in predictive cancer diagnostics. Rhythm Biosciences (ASX:RHY) said the study detailed updates and improvements to its proprietary geneType colorectal cancer risk assessment, which was enhanced and cross-validated using data from nearly 400,000 individuals in the UK Biobank. Rhythm said the article titled 'Colorectal cancer risk prediction using a simple multivariable model' described creation and validation of a new risk model that incorporated sex-specific factors and outperformed current models. The company said as colorectal cancer was a disease associated with many environmental and lifestyle risk factors, the study focused on expanding its geneType model beyond the two primary risk factors – family history and polygenic risk. Watch: Inside ColoSTAT's road to market Key findings of study Rhythm said the study delivered several key findings, most notably development of the enhanced risk model that incorporated three additional risk factors. These factors were selected for their strong associations with colorectal cancer and ease of use in a clinical setting, improving the model's predictive performance over standard family history assessments. The company said the most impactful risk factors were identified and integrated into an updated geneType risk model, which was then tested using data from the UK Biobank. Rhythm said other key findings included: Commitment to improvement – The study highlighted the importance of including clinical and lifestyle factors in multifactorial diseases like colorectal cancer. Commercial application – The new model was designed with commercial clinical applications in mind, minimising the number of risk factors while maximising predictive accuracy. Sex-specific factors – Incorporating sex-specific risk factors enhances model performance across diverse populations. Superior performance – A multivariable risk assessment is shown to be superior to standard of care of family history assessment in its ability to predict risk of developing colorectal cancer. 'Significantly improve stratified screening' Rhythm director of scientific affairs Dr Erika Spaeth said publishing the findings in PLoS One underscored its commitment to advancing cancer risk prediction. 'Our new multifactorial model outperforms previous methods based solely on polygenic risk and family history,' she said. 'By integrating clinical and lifestyle factors, we enhance our prediction accuracy for colorectal cancer. 'We're excited about these results and confident that this model will significantly improve stratified screening in the population." This article was developed in collaboration with Rhythm Biosciences, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing. This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
The Independent
02-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Scientists say developing this everyday habit is key to cutting Alzheimer's risk
Fostering curiosity and being eager to learn into old age can protect against the onset of Alzheimer's disease, a new study suggests. Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles found that older adults who remained eager to learn didn't just succeed in keeping their minds active, they also protected their brains against Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. The study, published in the journal PLoS One, also found that a lack of curiosity could increase the risk of cognitive decline. The findings challenge the belief that curiosity naturally declines as we get older. Scientists say that certain types of curiosity don't fade with age but actually grow. 'The psychology literature shows oftentimes what's known as trait curiosity – or a person's general level of curiosity – tends to decline with age,' psychologist Alan Castel, a co-author of the study, said. 'But we thought that was a little bit strange and went against some of the things we saw in some of the older adult participants in our experiments, who would often be very engaged and interested in learning about memory, specifically, but even other forms of trivia.' 'Trait curiosity' is a personality feature whereas 'state curiosity' is what psychologists call the kind of momentary curiosity that people experience when asked about a specific topic. Some people may not be inquisitive by nature but show a passionate thirst for knowledge about specific subjects. In the new study, scientists attempted to tease apart the two types of curiosity by recruiting a large sample of participants between the ages of 20 and 84, with an average age of 44. Participants completed an online questionnaire designed to assess their trait curiosity. They were then asked to answer hard trivia questions that most people were unlikely to already know such as, 'What was the first country to give women the right to vote?' Researchers told the participants to guess the answer, then asked them how interested they were in knowing the correct answer before revealing it to them. They found people who had more state curiosity also experienced more trait curiosity and vice versa. However, the interest ratings people gave in learning new information from trivia — a measure of state curiosity — appeared to change at different ages. State curiosity seemed to decline in early adulthood, then increase sharply after middle age, and continue upward well into old age. This may be because until middle age, people are interested in acquiring the knowledge, skills, and opportunities needed to succeed at school and jobs, pay mortgages, and raise families, tasks for which a fairly high level of overall curiosity is needed. But as they gather this knowledge with age, they don't need to allocate as many resources to trait curiosity. Then, as they begin to retire from work, they tend to indulge specific interests and their state curiosity increases. 'Our findings fit with some of my work on selectivity theory, which is that as we get older, we do not want to stop learning, we're just more selective about what we want to learn,' Dr Castel said. 'I think it shows that this level of curiosity, if maintained, can really keep us sharp as we age.'
The Independent
30-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Scientists discover mystery genes behind a cat's purr and behaviour
A new study from Kyoto University suggests that cats with a gene type associated with mixed breeds may purr more at their human companions. The study, published in PLoS One, assessed the behavior of 280 spayed or neutered mixed-breed cats and analyzed their DNA, focusing on the androgen receptor gene. Researchers found that cats with the short-type androgen receptor gene showed higher owner-assessed purring, while male cats with this gene exhibited higher vocalization towards humans. Female cats with the short-type gene displayed higher stranger-directed aggression, and mixed-breed cats and rescues tended to meow more, contrasting with pure-breed cats who are more likely to carry the long-type gene. The findings suggest that longer androgen receptor genes in domestic cats may have emerged due to domestication and selective breeding, potentially helping predict house cat behavioral tendencies and enhance feline care.
The Independent
30-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Why some cats purr more than others finally decoded
Cats with a gene type associated with mixed breeds may purr more at their human companions than those without, according to a new study. The findings shed more light on the genetic basis of purring and communication in cats, say researchers from Kyoto University in Japan. Domesticated cats are social animals that communicate with other felines and humans. One way in which cats express themselves is through soft purrs, produced by a special mechanism in the vocal folds within the larynx. The purring sounds are made by relaxation of muscles in the vocal folds that require constant control from the brain via nerves. Some studies suggest that since kittens are born blind and deaf, they use purring vibration to communicate with their mother and littermates. While previous research indicates that purring may have evolved as a beneficial trait for feline communication, its exact function remains unclear. The latest study, published in the journal PLoS One, conducted a behaviour assessment of 280 cats, which were spayed or neutered mixed breeds kept in their owners' homes. Researchers collected DNA samples and analysed specifically the androgen receptor gene, comparing this to its version in other feline species. "When we called for participants, we were moved to receive responses from 265 cat owners from across Japan in just a single day, and received kind messages,' Yume Okamoto, first author of the study, said. The findings strongly point to a genetic basis for both purring and vocal communication in cats. Scientists found that cats with the short-type androgen receptor gene seemed to show higher owner-assessed purring than those with the long-type gene. Male cats with the short-type gene exhibited higher vocalisation towards humans, indicating the gene's connection to vocal communication, according to the study. In comparison, female cats with the short-type gene displayed higher stranger-directed aggression. The results indicate that there is less importance of vocal communication in cats raised by humans since kittenhood, which mostly happen to be pure-breed cats. On the contrary, many mixed-breed cats and rescues included in the study tended to meow more. This is in line with previous findings that pure-breed cats are more likely to carry the long-type gene than mixed-breed cats. Among wild feline species closely related to domesticated cats, the leopard cat and the fishing cat both possess only the short-type gene. In comparison, domestic cats have longer androgen receptor gene types that are not found in the other species. Overall, the findings suggest the emergence of these longer genes may have resulted from changes associated with domestication and selective breeding. Researchers hope the results can help predict house cat behavioural tendencies and facilitate enhanced care to help improve animal welfare. "Through our research, we hope to deepen our understanding of cats and contribute to building happier relationships between cats and humans," Dr Okamoto said.
