Boy with Rare Genetic Disorder Amazes Doctors After World-First Gene Therapy

Courtesy of Oliver Chu family

The first child in history has successfully been treated with a new genetic therapy for an ultra-rare developmental defect called Hunter syndrome.

Several years in the making, Oliver Chu became the first in the world to receive the stem cell-based treatment in February, and 3 months later seemed to be a normal child again, meeting important milestones and playing without supervision.

Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, which oversaw the trial of Oliver and 4 other patients, says that children with severe Hunter syndrome cannot properly break down complex sugar molecules and have widespread symptoms including rapid and progressive learning and memory problems, heart and lung dysfunction, hyperactivity and behavioral problems, bone and joint malformations and hearing impairment.

They cannot break down the sugars because their genetic code was formed with a defect: the gene that codes for the production of an enzyme called iduronate-2-sulfatase (IDS) doesn’t work properly.

Professor Brian Pigger, professor of cell and gene therapy at the University of Manchester, developed a method of replacing the faulty gene with a functioning copy, called autologous hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) gene therapy.

In December, Oliver Chu, from California, arrived at Royal Manchester for the first stage of the procedure. The 3-year-old had his blood cycled in a machine to extract the hematopoietic stem cells he produces naturally. These were then sent off to a laboratory at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where a functioning copy of the defective gene is inserted into a virus and placed inside the stem cells.

In February, mother Jingru cradled Oliver in his hospital bed as he received an injection of 125 million modified cells twice in the space of 2 hours. It was a momentous day that the young boy was completely oblivious to.

After a few days, Oliver flew back to California to reunite with his older brother Skyler, who also has the disease, and his father Ricky.

Hunter syndrome affects almost exclusively boys, and then only 1 in 100,000 live births. A major challenge in the disease that can often be fatal is that treatment methods can’t cross the blood-brain barrier, as the major manifestation of the inability to break down sugars occurs in the brain.

One commercially available drug called Elaprase can slow the effects, but can’t cross the blood brain barrier. It costs as much as a house for a year’s prescription. Another treatment has been to give regular infusions of the missing enzyme, just like a diabetic would take infusions of insulin.

In May of this year, BBC reports that Oliver’s development has become remarkably normal. He’s talking all the time, and been able to stop the enzyme infusions. He runs around like any other 3-year-old, utilizing a newly-exploded vocabulary, and demonstrates genuine inquisitiveness.

“Every time we talk about it I want to cry because it’s just so amazing,” his mother Jingru told the BBC.

“We can see he’s improving, he’s learning, he’s got new words and new skills and he’s moving around much more easily,” said Professor Simon Jones, who ran the trial that saw Oliver and four other boys receive the gene therapy. “We need to be careful and not get carried away in the excitement of all this, but things are as good as they could be at this point in time.”

Unfortunately for Skyler, who also has Hunter syndrome, he’s too old to receive his younger brother’s treatment. The 5-year-old receives infusions like Oliver used to, it allows him to regain some physical development normalcy, but the infusions can’t cross the blood-brain barrier.The treatment window in the trial was 3 months to 1 year of age. It was originally believed that Oliver was too old, but a battery of tests concluded there was still a window where the therapy might reverse the genetic defect in the brain as well as the body. Ricky is hopeful the treatment will prove successful, prompting further innovation into how it might help treat older children like Skyler. Boy with Rare Genetic Disorder Amazes Doctors After World-First Gene Therapy
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Recyclers Switch from Smelting to Solvents, Recovering Precious Metals from E-waste with Fewer Emissions

– credit Unsplash Vlad

A startup in the UK is recovering important manufacturing metals without energy-hungry smelting methods.

Using an intense solvent at room temperature, shredded circuit boards can have plastic retaining components left behind, while metals like gold, cobalt, and copper are selectively dissolved and made available for recovery with simple magnets.

It’s one part recycling research, one part national security, as governments around the world attempt to secure long-term supplies of these metals for tech and defense sectors.

Look across the hard news sections from around the world, from the financial pages to politics, conflict, and international development, and these days you’ll inevitably find two alternating terms that stand out for their relative novelty and repetition: ‘critical’ or ‘rare earth’ minerals.

These terms refer to what many Americans and Brits have taken for granted over the years: copper, lithium, nickel; which have now become key components in geopolitical strategies worldwide.

Yet one of the richest sources of these minerals in the West could be the circuit boards embedded in the millions of broken and discarded devices that pile up higher and higher every year.

“What you see with this pile of electricals is actually central to geopolitics at the moment,” Executive Director of nonprofit Material Focus in the UK, Scott Butler, told Reuters in front of a giant mound of discarded electronics, which his organization helps collect and ‘mine.’

“All the shenanigans of 2025 with calls on taking over [Greenland], disputes over land in Ukraine, big mines coming in Latin America, and geopolitical relations with China, this is all about the materials that’s inside this urban mine of tech. It’s lithium, it’s cobalt, it’s nickel, it’s gold, it’s aluminum, and steel. And this is why it’s really, really important. This isn’t just a pile of old tech, a pile of mess, this is the future.”

DEScycle uses deep eutectic solvents to extract metals from the UK’s electronic waste that would normally have been sent to Japan. Once there, the plastic components would be incinerated, and the metals recovered in a molten soup. Not only is there a large emissions impact from shipping it to Japan in the first place, but running the furnace as well.

But this is in a case where the E-waste was recycled, which is hardly the norm. In 2024 alone, the UN estimated that some three-fourths of all electronic waste wasn’t accounted for in recycling streams, leaving an estimated $62 billion worth of natural resources buried or sitting idly in landfills.

According to Reuters, DEScycle is set to incorporate its solvent-based method into the waste processing stream of a leading UK recycler, promising progress where little has been made.

Aware of the E-waste problem in its country, however, the Royal Mint has also been investing and sponsoring ways of extracting gold from discarded circuit boards in the UK, and in 2024 they opened a large processing plant for recovering this gold that boasts the capacity to break down 4,000 metric tons of circuit boards every year, amounting to hundreds of kilograms of the yellow metal.

But the really cool thing about the process is that the British government isn’t pocketing the gold, but rather minting standardized gold coins to back the shares of an electronically traded physical gold fund that allows investors to diversify into gold without any environmentally damaging mining activities taking place. Recyclers Switch from Smelting to Solvents, Recovering Precious Metals from E-waste with Fewer Emissions

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Birth of UK's Only Bonobo Baby Gives Fresh Hope for World's Most Endangered Ape

credit – Adam Kay, Twycross Zoo / SWNS

Conservationists and zookeepers are celebrating our closest living relative giving birth to a healthy baby.

Heart-tugging photos show the bonobo mother Yuli cradling her tiny newborn after it was born at Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire last Thursday.

Experts have hailed the birth as a ‘globally significant’ moment which could help save one of the world’s rarest apes and humanity’s cousin.


Twycross Zoo is the only UK zoo to care for the species, and says the new arrival has the distinguished status as the only baby bonobo in the whole country.

The infant’s mother Yuli arrived at Twycross Zoo from Vallée Des Singes in France as part of the European-led conservation program in 2023.

“Bonobos are human’s closest living relatives, yet they remain one of the most endangered and least understood apes on Earth,” said Dr. Rebecca Biddle, chief conservation officer at Twycross Zoo. “Every birth is a true milestone and a powerful reminder of what can be achieved when zoos work together.

“As the only UK zoo caring for bonobos, here at Twycross Zoo, we are immensely proud and feel a great responsibility to play our part in protecting this incredible species,” she added.

credit – Adam Kay, Twycross Zoo / SWNS

Bonobos, which are listed as “Endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, are indeed as Biddle says—Homo sapiens’ closest living relatives, sharing more than 98% of our DNA.

In the wild, their population is said to be decreasing due to many human-caused threats such as poaching and deforestation.

Found only in the wilds of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the bonobo is a highly unique ape due to their matriarchal society. Typically, primate troops are led by a dominant male, but bonobos are one of few primate species, and the only great ape, to live in female-led societies.

The conservation program looks after 10% of all the bonobos in Europe, and is a key part of a collaborative effort between EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria) member zoos.At the moment, neither mother nor newborn will be visible to the public as they enjoy a critical period of bonding and nurturing. Birth of UK's Only Bonobo Baby Gives Fresh Hope for World's Most Endangered Ape
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Poor sleep may make your brain age faster – new study

Abigail Dove, Karolinska Institutet

We spend nearly a third of our lives asleep, yet sleep is anything but wasted time. Far from being passive downtime, it is an active and essential process that helps restore the body and protect the brain. When sleep is disrupted, the brain feels the consequences – sometimes in subtle ways that accumulate over years.

In a new study, my colleagues and I examined sleep behaviour and detailed brain MRI scan data in more than 27,000 UK adults between the ages of 40 and 70. We found that people with poor sleep had brains that appeared significantly older than expected based on their actual age.

What does it mean for the brain to “look older”? While we all grow chronologically older at the same pace, some people’s biological clocks can tick faster or slower than others. New advances in brain imaging and artificial intelligence allow researchers to estimate a person’s brain age based on patterns in brain MRI scans, such as loss of brain tissue, thinning of the cortex and damage to blood vessels.

In our study, brain age was estimated using over 1,000 different imaging markers from MRI scans. We first trained a machine learning model on the scans of the healthiest participants – people with no major diseases, whose brains should closely match their chronological age. Once the model “learned” what normal ageing looks like, we applied it to the full study population.

Having a brain age higher than your actual age can be a signal of departure from healthy ageing. Previous research has linked an older-appearing brain to faster cognitive decline, greater dementia risk and even higher risk of early death.

Sleep is complex, and no single measure can tell the whole story of a person’s sleep health. Our study, therefore, focused on five aspects of sleep self-reported by the study participants: their chronotype (“morning” or “evening” person), how many hours they typically sleep (seven to eight hours is considered optimal), whether they experience insomnia, whether they snore and whether they feel excessively sleepy during the day.

These characteristics can interact in synergistic ways. For example, someone with frequent insomnia may also feel more daytime sleepiness, and having a late chronotype may lead to shorter sleep duration. By integrating all five characteristics into a “healthy sleep score”, we captured a fuller picture of overall sleep health.

People with four or five healthy traits had a “healthy” sleep profile, while those with two to three had an “intermediate” profile, and those with zero or one had a “poor” profile.

When we compared brain age across different sleep profiles, the differences were clear. The gap between brain age and chronological age widened by about six months for every one point decrease in healthy sleep score. On average, people with a poor sleep profile had brains that appeared nearly one year older than expected based on their chronological age, while those with a healthy sleep profile showed no such gap.

We also considered the five sleep characteristics individually: late chronotype and abnormal sleep duration stood out as the biggest contributors to faster brain ageing.

A year may not sound like much, but in terms of brain health, it matters. Even small accelerations in brain ageing can compound over time, potentially increasing the risk of cognitive impairment, dementia and other neurological conditions.

The good news is that sleep habits are modifiable. While not all sleep problems are easily fixed, simple strategies: keeping a regular sleep schedule; limiting caffeine, alcohol and screen use before bedtime; and creating a dark and quiet sleep environment can improve sleep health and may protect brain health.

How exactly does the quality of a person’s sleep affect their brain health?

One explanation may be inflammation. Increasing evidence suggests that sleep disturbances raise the level of inflammation in the body. In turn, inflammation can harm the brain in several ways: damaging blood vessels, triggering the buildup of toxic proteins and speeding up brain cell death.

We were able to investigate the role of inflammation thanks to blood samples collected from participants at the beginning of the study. These samples contain a wealth of information about different inflammatory biomarkers circulating in the body. When we factored this into our analysis, we found that inflammation levels accounted for about 10% of the connection between sleep and brain ageing.

Other processes may also play a role

Another explanation centres on the glymphatic system – the brain’s built-in waste clearance network, which is mainly active during sleep. When sleep is disrupted or insufficient, this system may not function properly, allowing harmful substances to build up in the brain.

Yet another possibility is that poor sleep increases the risk of other health conditions that are themselves damaging for brain health, including type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Our study is one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind, benefiting from a very large study population, a multidimensional measure of sleep health, and a detailed estimation of brain age through thousands of brain MRI features. Though previous research connected poor sleep to cognitive decline and dementia, our study further demonstrated that poor sleep is tied to a measurably older-looking brain, and inflammation might explain this link.

Brain ageing cannot be avoided, but our behaviour and lifestyle choices can shape how it unfolds. The implications of our research are clear: to keep the brain healthier for longer, it is important to make sleep a priority.The Conversation

Abigail Dove, Postdoctoral Researcher, Neuroepidemiology, Karolinska Institutet

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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The Subtle Power of Unhearable Sound: Mood and Cognition-Altering Agents

For representational purpose (Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)

Shreyas Kannan, Plaksha University: The human ear has a maximum hearing range of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. However, in all reality the range at which we are most sensitive is from 1000 Hz to 4000 Hz at which most natural speech occurs. As frequency decreases, the sound energy or decibels needed to hear sounds increases, which makes the sound effectively “too soft” unless played at a high enough volume. What this means is that the lower and higher frequencies are both difficult to perceive normally, and frequencies outside of this range entirely, Infrasound, which vibrates below 20 Hz, and ultrasound, which is above 20,000 Hz, are simply imperceptible.

These imperceptible sounds however, have a very perceptible effect. Vic Tandy, a British engineer, believed his laboratory was haunted—until he discovered that a silent 19 Hz sound wave, produced by a fan, was resonating with his eyeballs and triggering shadowy hallucinations. Even though these sounds were below the threshold of human hearing, it could still alter mood, physiology, and cognition.

Infrasound and ultrasound can also have indirect subliminal effects. They can very subtly and over long durations of time have a negative or positive effect on the psyche of the listener. Infrasound, although inaudible, can cause a range of adverse effects, including fatigue, sleep disturbance, and cognitive dysfunction.

How does this work, especially for sounds we can’t even hear? The sounds in the Ultrasonic range tend to stimulate the emotional centers of the brain, which generally are the amygdala and hippocampus, to name a few. A study proceeded to track this and found that sounds containing inaudible high-frequency components induced activation in deep brain structures associated with emotion and reward. This effectively demonstrates a reflexive unconscious emotional response, be it positive or negative, toward a specific band of sound frequencies.

The issues do not end here. There is a persistent worry of chronic exposure to just basic sound, not just ultrasonic or infrasonic sound, having long term effects on the brain. Symptoms such as ‘chronic fatigue,’ ‘repeated headache,’ and ‘backache’ are observed to be highly associated with low- and mid-octave band center frequency noise exposure among the sampled workers. Among the major psychological symptoms... It is evident that ‘irritability’ is highly associated with low- and mid-octave band noise frequency characteristics. In conclusion even when the noise isn't painfully loud, its frequency can still degrade physical and mental health over time which should be raising ethical and public health concerns.

These effects, as can be surmised, are highly weaponizable “smart consumer devices produce possibly imperceptible sound at both high (17–21kHz) and low (60–100Hz) frequencies, at the maximum available volume setting, potentially turning them into acoustic cyber-weapons.”

The physical and systemic effects that can be caused by long exposure to something that can technically originate from our devices, especially considering previously what the Infrasonic and ultrasonic bands can potentially do. Overall, we find that many of the devices tested are capable of reproducing frequencies within both high and low ranges, at levels exceeding those recommended in published guidelines. Such attacks are often trivial to develop and, in many cases, could be added to existing malware payloads, as they may be attractive to adversaries with specific motivations or targets.

One particular patent actually claims that 1/2 Hz frequency (Around 0.5 Hz) affects the autonomic nervous system and can produce a variety of effects, not limited to Eyelid drooping (ptosis) Relaxation and drowsiness Feeling of pressure on the forehead Visual effects with eyes closed Stomach sensations Tenseness (at certain frequencies). It goes on to propose how this can be used in law enforcement in the form of Non-lethal crowd control Creating disorientation in standoff situations and Remote manipulation from a distance. It goes on to list the effects of the 2.5 Hz range and the other set of effects this has.

However, not all sound effects are bad. Certain ways of application of sound can be used to actually help treat mental issues. One example is through the use of binaural beats, a form of imperceptible or subtle auditory stimulation, which are being studied for their effects on mood regulation, anxiety, and depression. Binaural beats are a type of sound that can influence brainwave activity by playing two slightly different frequencies in each ear, creating a perceived third “beat” in the brain in the way of a non-invasive sound-based intervention. A systematic study conducted to this end found positive effects in the short term while stressing that further research was needed in the long term to determine the full scope of positive effects.

It should also be noted that while these frequencies can be used negatively, it is perfectly possible for them to be used positively. Playing the right type of sound, be it music or a particular frequency set at a volume too low to be heard tended to elicit a positive response on mood and well being.

From the different sources of literature and patent claims, it can be surmised that with the exact know-how and mapping of which exact frequency to use to affect a person in a certain manner, one could be completely manipulated to actually feel a certain way about a topic that we might actually dislike. Any emotion can be aroused as necessary. Furthermore, it can be done through the speakers in everyday devices! An advertisement for a product could play the right sounds to make you view it more favourably, documentaries could potentially use this to make you feel particularly worse about a certain topic to increase the impact, electoral candidates can subtly change their image playing the right sounds at the right time, interviewees could potentially be influenced to feel uneasy for no ‘explainable’ reason as a form of sabotage, etc! The actual potential for abuse of the sounds we cannot even hear, is extreme.

How can we protect ourselves from these phenomena? The answer is quite difficult, especially at this age where sounds come from everywhere around us. The solution to this is to call for scientific transparency, proper protocols to monitor the actual playing sounds and strictly maintaining awareness of one's surroundings. In this day and age we must learn to listen to sounds that we cannot hear.Shreyas Kannan is a B.Tech student in Robotics and Cyber-Physical Systems (RCPS) at Plaksha University, and part of its inaugural graduating batch. He has an ardent passion for all things related to movement and propulsion in vehicles, and brings boundless curiosity and energy to projects that make objects move—whether on land, underwater, or in space. From autonomous underwater navigation to aerospace systems, Shreyas is eager to explore and contribute to the frontier of motion-driven technologies. The Subtle Power of Unhearable Sound: Mood and Cognition-Altering Agents | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
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First Light Fusion presents novel approach to fusion

(Image: First Light Fusion)

British inertial fusion energy developer First Light Fusion has presented the first commercially viable, reactor-compatible path to 'high gain' fusion, which it says would drastically reduce the cost of what the company says is a limitless clean energy source.

In its white paper published today, First Light Fusion (FLF) outlines a novel and scientifically grounded approach to fusion energy called FLARE – Fusion via Low-power Assembly and Rapid Excitation. While the conventional inertial fusion energy (IFE) approach is to compress and heat the fuel at the same time to achieve ignition, FLARE splits this process into two: first compressing the fuel in a controlled and highly efficient manner and then using a separate process to ignite the compressed fuel, generating a massive surplus of energy, a concept known as 'fast ignition'.

FLARE leverages over 14 years of First Light's inertial fusion experience and its unique controlled-amplification technology, creating a system capable of reaching the high gain levels needed for cost competitive energy production. This new approach "would underpin the design for commercial reactors that can be based on much lower power systems that already exist today, opening up an opportunity for partners to build those systems, using FLF's technology as the fuel, and to roll it out worldwide," according to the company.

Gain - the ratio of energy output to energy input in a fusion reaction – is the critical metric determining commercial viability. The current record gain level stands at 4, achieved at the US Department of Energy's National Ignition Facility (NIF) in May of this year.

"The FLARE concept, as detailed in today's white paper, could produce an energy gain of up to 1000. FLF's economic modelling suggests that a gain of at least 200 is needed for fusion energy to be commercially competitive, while a gain of 1000 would enable very low-cost power," the company said.

According to FLF, an experimental gain scale facility is expected to cost one-twentieth that of NIF and could be built using existing, proven technologies. Due to the lower energy and power requirements provided by the FLARE technology, future commercial power plants would have significantly lower capital costs than other plausible IFE schemes, with lower complexity and core components such as the energy delivery system costing one-tenth of the capital cost of previous fast ignition schemes.

"By building on existing technology, First Light's approach takes the brakes off inertial fusion deployment as it has the potential to leverage existing supply chains, significantly reduce capital expenditure, speed up planning approvals and reduce regulatory hurdles in the deployment of commercial fusion plants," it said.

"This is a pivotal moment not just for First Light, but for the future of energy," said First Light Fusion CEO Mark Thomas. "With the FLARE approach, we've laid out the world's first commercially viable, reactor-compatible pathway to high gain inertial fusion - and it's grounded in real science, proven technologies, and practical engineering.

"A pathway to a gain of 1000 puts us well beyond the threshold where fusion becomes economically transformative. Through our approach, we're opening the door to a new industrial sector - and we want to bring others with us."

First Light Fusion was founded by Yiannis Ventikos of the Mechanical Engineering Department at University College, London, and Nicholas Hawker, formerly an engineering lecturer at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. The company was spun out from the University of Oxford in July 2011, with seed capital from IP Group plc, Parkwalk Advisors Ltd and private investors. Invesco and OSI provided follow-on capital.In February, Oxfordshire-based First Light Fusion announced it will focus on commercial partnerships with other fusion companies who want to use its amplifier technology, as well as with non-fusion applications such as NASA seeking to replicate potential high-velocity impacts in space. By dropping its plans for a fusion power plant, and instead targeting commercial partnerships with others, it aims to "capitalise on the huge inertial fusion energy market opportunities enabling earlier revenues and lowering the long-term funding requirement". First Light Fusion presents novel approach to fusion
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Scientists Develop Biodegradable Smart Textile–A Big Leap Forward for Eco-Friendly Wearable Technology

Flexible inkjet printed E-textile – Credit: Marzia Dulal

Wearable electronic textiles can be both sustainable and biodegradable, shows a new study.

A research team led by the University of Southampton and UWE Bristol in the UK tested a new sustainable approach for fully inkjet-printed, eco-friendly e-textiles.

Named SWEET—for Smart, Wearable, and Eco-friendly Electronic Textiles—the new ‘fabric’ was described in findings published in the journal Energy and Environmental Materials.


E-textiles are those with embedded electrical components, such as sensors, batteries or lights. They might be used in fashion, for performance sportswear, or for medical purposes as garments that monitor people’s vital signs.

Such textiles need to be durable, safe to wear and comfortable, but also, in an industry which is increasingly concerned with clothing waste, they need to be kind to the environment when no longer required.

“Integrating electrical components into conventional textiles complicates the recycling of the material because it often contains metals, such as silver, that don’t easily biodegrade,” explained Professor Nazmul Karim at the University of Southampton.


“Our eco-friendly approach for selecting sustainable materials and manufacturing overcomes this, enabling the fabric to decompose when it is disposed of.”

The team’s design has three layers, a sensing layer, a layer to interface with the sensors and a base fabric. It uses a textile called Tencel for the base, which is made from renewable wood and is biodegradable.

The active electronics in the design are made from graphene, along with a polymer called PEDOT: PSS. These conductive materials are precision inkjet-printed onto the fabric.

The research team, which included members from the universities of Exeter, Cambridge, Leeds, and Bath, tested samples of the material for continuous monitoring of heart rates. Five volunteers were connected to monitoring equipment, attached to gloves worn by the participants. Results confirmed the material can effectively and reliably measure both heart rate and temperature at the industry standard level.
Gloves with e-textile sensors monitoring heart rate – Credit: Marzia Dulal

“Achieving reliable, industry-standard monitoring with eco-friendly materials is a significant milestone,” said Dr. Shaila Afroj, an Associate Professor of Sustainable Materials from the University of Exeter and a co-author of the study. “It demonstrates that sustainability doesn’t have to come at the cost of functionality, especially in critical applications like healthcare.”


The project team then buried the e-textiles in soil to measure its biodegradable properties.

After four months, the fabric had lost 48 percent of its weight and 98 percent of its strength, suggesting relatively rapid and also effective decomposition.

Furthermore, a life cycle assessment revealed the graphene-based electrodes had up to 40 times less impact on the environment than standard electrodes.

Four strips in a variety of decomposed states, during four months of decomposition – Credit: Marzia Dulal

Marzia Dulal from UWE Bristol, the first author of the study, highlighted the environmental impact: “Our life cycle analysis shows that graphene-based e-textiles have a fraction of the environmental footprint compared to traditional electronics. This makes them a more responsible choice for industries looking to reduce their ecological impact.”

The ink-jet printing process is also a more sustainable approach for e-textile fabrications, depositing exact numbers of functional materials on textiles as needed, with almost no material waste and less use of water and energy than conventional screen printing.“These materials will become increasingly more important in our lives,” concluded Prof. Karim, who hopes to move forward with the team to design wearable garments made from SWEET, particularly in the area of early detection and prevention of heart diseases.Scientists Develop Biodegradable Smart Textile–A Big Leap Forward for Eco-Friendly Wearable Technology
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Conservationist Hail Recovery of 150 Struggling Species Thanks to Projects by Natural England

A pearl-bordered fritillary – credit, Devon Wildlife Trust

Two years ago, the UK government gave roughly $15 million to its own conservation organ called Natural England for the purpose of preventing species decline.

Now, its report card has arrived, and its A+ work has seen the recovery of 150 struggling or declining species.

Natural England used the money to fund 63 projects involving 78 different partners across the country.

For the nature lover, the list of wild beneficiaries of the work will gladden the heart. Standout achievements include a breakthrough for the iconic lady’s slipper orchid, with the first known case of natural propagation in the wild after over 30 years of dedicated work to collect seeds.

686 acres of vital nesting islands were created or enhanced for seabirds such as common tern, little tern and Sandwich tern. 56,000 plugs of food plants were laid for butterflies, such as marsh violet for the small pearl-bordered fritillary, and devil’s bit scabious for marsh fritillary, at the new sites.

A grant-funded breeding and supervised release program saw the first wild hatching of a red-billed chough in Kent for the first time in over 200 years. 633 new breeding areas (nest boxes and similar structures) were created through the program for otter, dormouse, bats, willow tits, and other birds.

Wetland habitat creation to benefit water vole – credit, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust

A huge focus as well fell on habitat creation or restoration, including over 642 acres of flower-rich grassland meadows, 1,000 acres of floodplain grasslands, 874 acres of broadleaf woodland, and 240 acres of marsh.

215 ponds and streams were dug or restored which became the new haunts of water voles and the rare Eurasian bittern.

Volunteers were a huge part of these various grant-funded projects. 100,000 hours of volunteer work were donated by members of the public during the 2 years of operations, a component which Natural England said would form a vital backbone if these achievements are to be sustained and built upon.

Volunteers planting marsh violet – credit, Neil Harris, National Trust images

“This and a feeling of real engagement with an amazing natural environment has been a huge psychological boost for me,” said Steve, a volunteer with the ‘White Cliffs and White Chalk’ National Trust project.

“This has been, and continues to be, a great way to gain a better understanding of local ecology and to improve my understanding of the protected areas and species at risk.”Natural England will shortly be making an announcement about future plans. Conservationist Hail Recovery of 150 Struggling Species Thanks to Projects by Natural England
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UK’s Rarest Breeding Birds Raise Chicks for First Time in Six Years

A male Montagu’s harrier in a wheat field – credit, Sumeetmoghe CC 4.0. BY-SA

Adrift amongst a sea of wheat on an English farm, 4 extremely rare birds have successfully fledged, and are almost ready to strike out on their own.

The successfully raised chicks are Montagu’s harriers, England’s rarest breeding bird, and the news the young ones were flying was herald as an “incredible” accomplishment.

For months, tall predator-proof wire fencing has surrounded the nest, sat in the middle of a private landowner’s field of milling wheat.

Conservationists from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) have worked hand in hand with landowers for years to ensure the harrier clings on.

For six years, no chicks have survived to fledge; an unsustainable trend as the population is incredibly small. Nesting on the ground in wheat fields puts the chicks at risk of predators like foxes, and machines like combine harvesters and crop sprayers.

Populations are much higher in Spain and France, but on Great Britain, each breeding pair has to be monitored from start to finish of the breeding season. In this case, a pair returning from their wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa were spotted moving into a field in an undisclosed part of the country.

Once it was confirmed via drone that they had nested, RSPB sprung into action, installing predator-proof fencing and monitoring cameras.

Channel 4 reported that the fences are marked out with flags so that combines can steer well clear of the nests and the chicks, which strangely don’t seem to give a tweet about the giant, noisy machines of death passing by.

As for the farmer, one might think they’d take issue with the lost crop, but quite the contrary.

“It’s fantastic to have these amazing birds on the farm and a just reward for the extensive conservation work we have been undertaking for decades,” the farmer who owns the land where this particular nest was located, told the RSPB.

As the first chicks to successfully fledge in 6 years, these young ones—the males already sporting their iconic “battleship grey” feathers—carry the hope of the British population on their wings. UK’s Rarest Breeding Birds Raise Chicks for First Time in Six Years
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Scientists Develop Biodegradable Smart Textile–A Big Leap Forward for Eco-Friendly Wearable Technology

Flexible inkjet printed E-textile – Credit: Marzia Dulal

Wearable electronic textiles can be both sustainable and biodegradable, shows a new study.

A research team led by the University of Southampton and UWE Bristol in the UK tested a new sustainable approach for fully inkjet-printed, eco-friendly e-textiles.

Named SWEET—for Smart, Wearable, and Eco-friendly Electronic Textiles—the new ‘fabric’ was described in findings published in the journal Energy and Environmental Materials.

E-textiles are those with embedded electrical components, such as sensors, batteries or lights. They might be used in fashion, for performance sportswear, or for medical purposes as garments that monitor people’s vital signs.

Such textiles need to be durable, safe to wear and comfortable, but also, in an industry which is increasingly concerned with clothing waste, they need to be kind to the environment when no longer required.

“Integrating electrical components into conventional textiles complicates the recycling of the material because it often contains metals, such as silver, that don’t easily biodegrade,” explained Professor Nazmul Karim at the University of Southampton.

“Our eco-friendly approach for selecting sustainable materials and manufacturing overcomes this, enabling the fabric to decompose when it is disposed of.”

The team’s design has three layers, a sensing layer, a layer to interface with the sensors and a base fabric. It uses a textile called Tencel for the base, which is made from renewable wood and is biodegradable.

The active electronics in the design are made from graphene, along with a polymer called PEDOT: PSS. These conductive materials are precision inkjet-printed onto the fabric.

The research team, which included members from the universities of Exeter, Cambridge, Leeds, and Bath, tested samples of the material for continuous monitoring of heart rates. Five volunteers were connected to monitoring equipment, attached to gloves worn by the participants. Results confirmed the material can effectively and reliably measure both heart rate and temperature at the industry standard level.

Gloves with e-textile sensors monitoring heart rate – Credit: Marzia Dulal

“Achieving reliable, industry-standard monitoring with eco-friendly materials is a significant milestone,” said Dr. Shaila Afroj, an Associate Professor of Sustainable Materials from the University of Exeter and a co-author of the study. “It demonstrates that sustainability doesn’t have to come at the cost of functionality, especially in critical applications like healthcare.”

The project team then buried the e-textiles in soil to measure its biodegradable properties.

After four months, the fabric had lost 48 percent of its weight and 98 percent of its strength, suggesting relatively rapid and also effective decomposition.

Furthermore, a life cycle assessment revealed the graphene-based electrodes had up to 40 times less impact on the environment than standard electrodes.

Four strips in a variety of decomposed states, during four months of decomposition – Credit: Marzia Dulal

Marzia Dulal from UWE Bristol, the first author of the study, highlighted the environmental impact: “Our life cycle analysis shows that graphene-based e-textiles have a fraction of the environmental footprint compared to traditional electronics. This makes them a more responsible choice for industries looking to reduce their ecological impact.”

The ink-jet printing process is also a more sustainable approach for e-textile fabrications, depositing exact numbers of functional materials on textiles as needed, with almost no material waste and less use of water and energy than conventional screen printing.“These materials will become increasingly more important in our lives,” concluded Prof. Karim, who hopes to move forward with the team to design wearable garments made from SWEET, particularly in the area of early detection and prevention of heart diseases. Scientists Develop Biodegradable Smart Textile–A Big Leap Forward for Eco-Friendly Wearable Technology
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UK Zoo Helps Hatch Three of World's Rarest Birds–Blue-Eyed Doves–with Only 11 Left in Wild

Columbina cyanopis, or the blue-eyed dove, in the Rolinha do Planalto Natural Reserve – credit, Hector Bottai CC BY-SA 4.0.

A UK zoo is celebrating after helping to hatch three of the world’s rarest birds in what could be a breakthrough moment in saving the critically-endangered species from extinction.

The trio of blue-eyed ground dove chicks were successfully hand-reared in Brazil, boosting the survival odds of one of the most endangered birds on the planet, only 11 of which are thought to remain in the wild.

An international team, including British experts from the Chester Zoo, managed to rear the birds in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, the only place they are found.

The team, also featuring Brazilian and American conservationists, say their arrival could provide a vital lifeline for the ultra-rare species by boosting their insurance population.

The blue-eyed ground dove was a species shrouded in mystery, with no confirmed records for more than 70 years, until its rediscovery in 2015.

“It’s a real privilege for Chester Zoo to be involved in the work to help conserve the blue-eyed ground dove,” said Andrew Owen, Chester Zoo’s head of birds.

“This unique species is on the brink of extinction and without the dedication and passion of all the conservationists involved, including Chester Zoo’s bird staff, this bird may be lost forever.”

“This year saw the successful hand-rearing of three blue-eyed ground doves – building on the successes of 2023 and 2024 and doubling the conservation-breeding insurance population.”

The effort to build on those successes started earlier this year, when a team of Brazilian and international bird conservationists were tasked with selecting and incubating a small number of wild-laid eggs. The resulting hatchlings would help to create an insurance population in human care.

Andrew traveled to Brazil to provide technical support while Victoria Kaldis, lead keeper for birds at Chester Zoo, also flew over to assist with the hand-rearing of the chicks. The effort was led by Minas Gerais’ Parque das Aves and SAVE Brasil, with additional support coming from the Toledo and Bronx zoos in the United States.

“Seeing these chicks is exciting. Each hatching represents a real chance to reverse the fate of this species,” said Paloma Bosso, technical director of Parque das Aves. “It is a joy and also a great responsibility.”

“With the arrival of these three new individuals, Parque das Aves is now home to six blue-eyed ground doves. All are being carefully monitored and are part of a coordinated reproductive management plan.”

The blue-eyed ground dove is Critically-Endangered according to the the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.

It once had a wide distribution in the Cerrado biome (the Brazilian savanna), but due to habitat loss driven by farming and timber plantations, it has radically declined.

Currently, the only known population is found in Botumirim in the state of Minas Gerais and a 2025 census confirmed the species remains exceedingly rare.“The blue-eyed ground dove depends on the efforts of many people and institutions, so that its song can be heard in the Cerrado for many years to come,” said Ben Phalan, head of conservation at Parque das Aves. UK Zoo Helps Hatch Three of World's Rarest Birds–Blue-Eyed Doves–with Only 11 Left in Wild
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World's First Diamond Battery Could Power Spacecraft and Pacemakers for Thousands of Years

GNN-created image

An invention from the UK features diamonds in the first-ever application of the gemstone in battery technology.

Promising to last thousands of years, the microwatt power sources are seen as the perfect solution to devices in environments where neither changing batteries nor carrying around extras are options.

Developed by the University of Bristol in partnership with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), the battery contains a radioactive isotope of carbon called carbon-14.

Isotopes are forms of chemical elements with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. Some are stable, but those that aren’t are radioactive and emit radiation as they decay.

In the battery, a radioactive carbon-14 isotope is encased inside a shell of diamond, the hardest substance known to man.

“Diamond batteries offer a safe, sustainable way to provide continuous microwatt levels of power. They are an emerging technology that use a manufactured diamond to safely encase small amounts of carbon-14,” said Sarah Clark, the director of Tritium Fuel Cycle at the (UKAEA), in a statement.

Electricity via the battery is generated in a way similar to a solar panel through the betavoltaic effect—harnessing the electrons emitted by the carbon-14 and captured by the diamond matrix.

Carbon-14 has a half-life of about 5,700 years, meaning that it would be several thousand years before the diamond Duracell bunny inside would start to tire out, making it ideal for spacecraft and satellites which can’t undergo maintenance easily, or in medical devices like pacemakers which have to be implanted and which cannot for the sake of the user have a battery change on the go.

“Our micropower technology can support a whole range of important applications from space technologies and security devices through to medical implants,” Tom Scott, a professor in materials at the University of Bristol, said in the statement. “We’re excited to be able to explore all of these possibilities, working with partners in industry and research, over the next few years.”The idea gives a whole new meaning to that old adage about how diamonds are forever. World's First Diamond Battery Could Power Spacecraft and Pacemakers for Thousands of Years
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Giving blood could be good for your health – new research

Blood donation is widely recognised as a life-saving act, replenishing hospital supplies and aiding patients. But could donating blood also benefit the donor?

Frequent blood donors may experience subtle genetic changes that could lower their risk of developing blood cancers, according to new research from the Francis Crick Institute in London. Alongside this, a growing body of evidence highlights a range of health benefits associated with regular donation.

As we age, our blood-forming stem cells naturally accumulate mutations, a process known as clonal haematopoiesis. Some of these mutations increase the risk of diseases such as leukaemia. However, the new Francis Crick Institute study has identified an intriguing difference in frequent blood donors.

The study compared two groups of healthy male donors in their 60s. One group had donated blood three times a year for 40 years, while the other had given blood only about five times in total. Both groups had a similar number of genetic mutations, but their nature differed. Nearly 50% of frequent donors carried a particular class of mutation not typically linked to cancer, compared with 30% of the infrequent donors.

It is thought that regular blood donation encourages the body to produce fresh blood cells, altering the genetic landscape of stem cells in a potentially beneficial way.

In laboratory experiments, these mutations behaved differently from those commonly associated with leukaemia, and when injected into mice, stem cells from frequent donors were more efficient at producing red blood cells. While these findings are promising, further research is needed to determine whether donating blood actively reduces cancer risk.

Each time a person donates blood, the body quickly begins the process of replacing lost blood cells, triggering the bone marrow to generate fresh ones. This natural renewal process may contribute to healthier, more resilient blood cells over time.

Some evidence even suggests that blood donation could improve insulin sensitivity, potentially playing a role in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, though research is still underway.

For years, scientists have speculated about a possible link between blood donation and cardiovascular health. One of the key factors in heart disease is blood viscosity — how thick or thin the blood is. When blood is too thick, it flows less efficiently, increasing the risk of clotting, high blood pressure and stroke. Regular blood donation helps to reduce blood viscosity, making it easier for the heart to pump and lowering the risk of cardiovascular complications.

There is also growing evidence that blood donation may help regulate iron levels in the body, another factor linked to heart disease. While iron is essential for oxygen transport in the blood, excessive iron accumulation has been associated with oxidative stress and inflammation, both of which contribute to heart disease. By shedding iron through donation, donors may be reducing their risk of these iron-related complications.

Some studies have even suggested a potential link between blood donation and lower blood pressure, particularly in people with hypertension. Though not a substitute for medication or lifestyle changes, donating blood may be another way to assist overall cardiovascular health.

Donors may not realise it, but every time they give blood, they receive a mini health screening. Before donation, blood pressure, haemoglobin levels and pulse are checked, and in some cases, screenings for infectious diseases are performed. While not a replacement for regular check-ups, it can serve as an early warning system for potential health issues.

Correlation or causation?

Of course, an important question remains: do these health benefits arise because of blood donation itself, or are they simply a reflection of the “healthy donor effect”? Blood donors must meet strict eligibility criteria. People with chronic illnesses, certain infections or a history of cancer are usually not allowed to donate. This means that those who donate regularly may already be healthier than the general population.

Regardless of whether blood donation confers direct health benefits, its life-saving effect on others is undeniable. In the UK, NHS Blood and Transplant has warned that blood stocks are critically low, urging more people to donate.

If future research confirms that donating blood has measurable advantages for donors as well, it could serve as an even greater incentive for participation. For now, the best reason to donate remains the simplest one: it saves lives.The Conversation

Michelle Spear, Professor of Anatomy, University of Bristol

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Reducing plastic pollution by 5pc yearly may stabilise ocean microplastics: Study

New Delhi, (IANS) Cutting down plastic pollution by 5 per cent per year may help stabilise the level of microplastics -- plastics less than 5 mm in length -- on the surface of oceans, finds a study on Friday.

From human blood to testicles, to flora and fauna, microplastics have long been known as a significant environmental and health concern worldwide.

To predict its impact on oceans, researchers at Imperial College London and GNS Science developed a model of eight different scenarios of plastic pollution reduction starting from 2026 up to 2100.

The results, published in Environmental Research Letters, showed that a reduction in plastic pollution by more than 5 per cent each year will stabilise and also prevent the increase of microplastics in the ocean.

However, the modelling also predicted that even a yearly reduction of 20 per cent will "not significantly reduce existing microplastic levels, meaning they will persist in our oceans beyond 2100”.

Zhenna Azimrayat Andrews, from the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London noted that “stabilising microplastic levels is the first step towards elimination’’ as they “never be a completely successful removal” from oceans.

“But the current global output of plastic pollution is so great, that even a 1 per cent annual reduction in pollution would make a big difference overall,” added Zhenna.

Meanwhile, the UN Environmental Assembly (UNEA) aims to adopt a legally binding resolution to completely eradicate the production of plastic pollution from 2040, including ocean microplastics.

For this “a more coordinated international policy is necessary”, and “changes should happen on an industrial and commercial level”, the researchers argued, Reducing plastic pollution by 5pc yearly may stabilise ocean microplastics: Study | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
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Chester Zoo Celebrates as 11 Adorable Endangered Penguin Chicks Hatch–the Most for a Decade

Baby penguins hatched – Chester Zoo

It’s hatching season for Humboldt penguins at the Chester Zoo, and this year the keepers have seen a record number of chicks hatched.

The 11 chicks joining the colony are a delight for visitors and handlers alike, as well as a boon for the species which was recently classified as “Vulnerable” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Chester Live reports that the zoo has seen all 11 successfully make it through the first 40 days of life—the most delicate period for the flightless birds—and that now the naming process will begin.

The zoo has previously used themes to keep track of hatching groups and their years, with previous generations being named after NHS doctors, Olympic athletes, and retail chocolate bars, this year’s theme is flowers. Nettle, Thistle, Dandelion, Tulip, and Daffodil are among the confirmed names so far.

“We’re delighted to say that all of the chicks are looking really healthy and the parents have done a superb job of caring for their new arrivals up to this point. As keepers, our main role in raising the new youngsters is to ensure the adult penguins have all they need,” said Zoe Sweetman, team manager of parrots and penguins at the zoo.

“Sometimes this can mean providing extra fish, which the parents swallow, churn into a high-protein soup, and then regurgitate to feed the chicks. We also weigh the chicks regularly so that we can monitor their development—on average they’ve gone from a mere 80g to 2.5kg in just 40 days. It’s been a huge team effort.”
credit Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo is one of the UK’s most active institutions in the captive breeding of endangered species, and GNN has reported on their efforts raising the Philippine spotted deer, Andean bear, okapi, Sumatran tiger, Coquerel’s sifaka, cotton-top tamarin, Sulawesi crested macaque, and greater one-horned rhino.

In their natural habitat, Humboldt penguins are found on the coasts of Chile and Argentina, where their name comes from the chilly Humboldt current that brings frigid, nutrient-rich waters up from Antarctica.

MORE RARE BIRTHS: Tiny ‘Mouse Deer’ Born at English Zoo is the Height of a Pencil — And AdorableThere are 17 known penguin species in the world and the Humboldt penguin is one of the most vulnerable. Living in borrows in large colonies, these birds can swim at 25 miles per hour, the same as Usain Bolt’s average speed across his record-setting 100-meter dash. Chester Zoo Celebrates as 11 Adorable Endangered Penguin Chicks Hatch–the Most for a Decade
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UK’s fastest supercomputer switched on


The computer is officially the most sustainable supercomputer in the UK

The UK’s fastest and most powerful supercomputer, known as Isambard-AI, has been switched on at the University of Bristol this week.

The Isambard-AI supercomputer was first announced by the government last March alongside a £225 million investment. The facility has been built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise and contains over 5,000 NVIDIA superchips, allowing it to complete 200 quadrillion calculations per second.

Officially named the AI Research Resource (AIRR), the facility is ten times more powerful than the previous leading supercomputer in the UK. Researchers will use the facility to support critical work on the development of AI technology, working closely alongside the UK’s AI Safety Institute.

The facility includes thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs) and will be used to train the large language models. as Additional focus areas include climate research and accelerating automated drug discovery.

“The Isambard-AI cluster will be one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, and will help industry experts and researchers harness the game-changing potential of AI, including through the mission-critical work of our Frontier AI Taskforce,” said Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan in a press release.

“This will equip the UK with the means to drive the next wave of scientific breakthroughs and positions Bristol as a vital cog in global technological discovery that will improve people’s lives,” added University of Bristol’s Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Evelyn Welch. The UK is on a mission to become a global AI superpower. Last October, the government announced that taxpayer spending on AI chips and supercomputers is set to increase to £400 million. Additionally, in this year’s Spring Budget, chancellor Jeremy Hunt pledged £100 million in funding to The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and AI. UK’s fastest supercomputer switched on
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Wayve secures $1bn in funding for AI-powered autonomous vehicles

UK self-driving car startup Wayve has secured $1.05 billion in investments to develop its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered vehicles, led by Japanese bank Softbank and with1notable contributions from Nvidia and Microsoft.

Founded in 2017, Wayve develops AI foundation models to help enable autonomous driving. Its technology equips vehicles with a ‘robot brain’ that can learn from and interact with real-world environments. Known as ‘embodied AI’, the technology will help self-driving vehicles react to situations that do not follow set patterns or rules, such as unexpected events from pedestrians.

“AI is revolutionising mobility,” said Kentaro Matsui, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers in a press release.

“Vehicles can now interpret their surroundings like humans, enabling enhanced decision-making that promises higher safety standards. The potential of this type of technology is transformative; it could eliminate 99% of traffic accidents. SoftBank Group is delighted to be at the forefront of this effort with Wayve,” he continued.

“By utilizing Microsoft’s supercomputing capabilities and cloud computing technology, copilot-enabled developer platform, enterprise data management applications, and leading AI model commercialization expertise, Wayve can deliver and scale innovative Embodied AI solutions that enable safer and more accessible autonomous driving experiences,” said Dominik Wee, Corporate Vice President of Manufacturing and Mobility at Microsoft.

The deal has caught the attention of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who said in a government press release that “the fact that a homegrown, British business has secured the biggest investment yet in a UK AI company is a testament to our leadership in this industry.” The news of the investment comes as the UK’s Automated Vehicles Bill, which will regulate the use of automated vehicles in the UK is in the final stages processing, having sailed though both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Wayve secures $1bn in funding for AI-powered autonomous vehicles
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UK and New Zealand partner for subsea cable earthquake

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK’s National Metrology Institute, has partnered with Measurement Standards Laboratory (MSL) in New Zealand to carry out earthquake detection tests through subsea cables in the Pacific Ocean.

The duo will carry out the tests in a 3,876km-long section of the Southern Cross NEXT cable (a subsea cable that connects Aukland, Sydney and Los Angeles), that sits on the floor of the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. The area has been chosen as it is highly seismically active –meaning it is vulnerable to earthquakes– which the NPL say is “an ideal test bed for advancing the technology and demonstrating its full potential.”

As part of the trial, scientists will turn the cable section into various sensors for earthquakes and ocean currents, by performing ultra-sensitive optical measurements. It will not need any new hardware or infrastructure, only the cable itself. This technique, which was created NPL in 2021, will mean the cable can gather continuous, real-time environmental data from the ocean floor. This will act as an early warning system for coastal communities in the event of a tsunami. If the trial is successful, the concept could be turned into a worldwide monitoring system.

“This technology, pioneered at NPL, is the perfect example of how our science can create impact, delivering tangible benefits for society which will simultaneously improve our understanding of the world,” said Dr Peter Thompson, CEO of NPL in a press release.

UK Science Minister Andrew Griffith echoed this sentiment, adding that “bringing the UK and New Zealand’s brightest minds together, to overhaul how we give advance warning of tsunamis, could save scores of lives. This work proves the value of breakthrough technologies like quantum, as well as the international teamwork that’s crucial to harnessing them. Source: https://totaltele.com/uk-and-new-zealand-partner-for-subsea-cable-earthquake-detection-trial/: 
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'Love hormone' guides young songbirds in choice of 'voice coach'

Zebra finches are highly social birds and will press a lever in order to hear a recording of another Zebra finch singing. (Photo by Carlos Rodríguez-Saltos)
By Carol Clark:  Oxytocin, the so-called “love hormone,” plays a key role in the process of how a young zebra finch learns to sing by imitating its elders, suggests a new study by neuroscientists at Emory University. Scientific Reports published the findings, which add to the understanding of the neurochemistry of social learning. “We found that the oxytocin system is involved from an early age in male zebra finches learning song,” says Natalie Pilgeram, first author of the study and an Emory PhD candidate in psychology. “It’s basic science that may lead to insights into the process of vocal learning across the animal kingdom, including humans.” “Our results suggest that the neurochemistry of early social bonds, particularly during language learning, may be relevant in studies of autism,” adds Donna Maney, a professor of neuroscience in Emory’s Department of Psychology and senior author of the study. Young male zebra finches learn to sing by listening to an adult male tutor that they choose to pay close attention to, normally their biological father or a “foster” father who nurtures them. This social process holds some similarities for how children learn to speak, making the birds a laboratory model for the neural underpinnings of social vocal learning. In the current paper, the researchers show how oxytocin, a hormone essential to social bonding, influences young finches exposed only to the songs of unfamiliar males. In experiments, blocking the young birds’ oxytocin receptors while they listened to a male biased the birds against that male’s song. Instead they preferred to listen to and eventually learn the song of a male they heard when their oxytocin receptors were allowed to function normally. The paper builds on previous work by the Maney lab regarding the hormonal and genetic influences on social behavior. Her lab is working with researchers at the Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta to maximize any potential translational impact of its research findings. Finding their voice: Zebra finches are highly social birds. In the wild they nest together in large colonies. Only adult males sing, primarily to court females. From the time they hatch, the males begin listening for song, and memorizing particular songs, even before they can actually sing one. “Up until around day 50, they are making little cheeps and warbles, what we call ‘subsong,’” Pilgeram explains. “It’s similar to human infants who begin to babble at around six months without actually talking.” During this sensitive listening phase, a male zebra finch pays closest attention to the song of its father, even though it can hear other adult males nearby. In a laboratory environment, research shows that if a biological father is removed from a cage before a male hatches and then substituted with a “foster father” that they can interact with, the young male will prefer the song of the foster father over other males it can hear. The young males demonstrate this preference by pressing levers that allow them to hear playback of different songs. Learning from their environment: “The young birds have got to learn all that they can from their environment,” Pilgeram says. “Just as during human development, the birds pay the closest attention to their immediate caregivers, on whom they rely for everything.” Around day 50, the young male finches enter puberty and what is called the “plastic song phase.” During this time, they practice their song motor skills and actively try to produce song. Although they begin to shift their attention away from their fathers and show a preference for hearing songs of other males, each young male still practices dad’s tune. By day 100, most male zebra finches are fully singing their father’s song. They have reached adulthood and their tune has “crystalized” into the song that they will sing for the rest of their lives. In previous research, the Maney lab found that the stronger the preference a male zebra finch shows for its father’s song during the early listening phase, the more closely its crystalized adult song will mimic that of the father. The role of oxytocin: For the current paper, the researchers wanted to test whether the oxytocin system played a role in that preference. The research centered on male juvenile zebra finches hatched in the lab. At day four, the fathers were removed from each of the youngsters’ cages so they were raised only by their mothers. The cages were enclosed in chambers that prevented the young birds from hearing song from other birds housed nearby. Beginning at day 27 in a young bird’s life, it was exposed to a series of tutoring sessions by two different adult male tutors that it had never heard. The tutor’s cage was placed next to the cage of the young bird, or pupil. When it was exposed to one of the tutors, the pupil was given a substance that blocked its oxytocin receptors from activating. When the young bird was exposed to the other tutor it received a control substance that allowed its oxytocin receptors to function normally. After completing a series of tutoring sessions, the pupils were presented with two different levers they could press in their cages. Pressing one lever was more likely to play the song they heard when their oxytocin receptors were blocked. The other lever was more likely to play the song they heard with normally functioning oxytocin. The results showed that early in their development, the juveniles favored the song that they heard when their oxytocin was not blocked. Building on past findings: “We also found that when their oxytocin was not blocked, the birds’ developmental milestones fit the same data curve as in our previous research,” Maney says. “They showed an early preference for the song of one tutor, then switched to preferring the other song during puberty.” The preference flattened out as they began singing the song of their chosen tutor, she adds. And the stronger the preference that they showed for the chosen tutor’s song during the early listening phase, the more closely their own adult song resembled that of the chosen tutor. The researchers also noted behavioral differences in the way the pupils and tutors interacted. With normally functioning oxytocin, a pupil pecked more often at the wall of its cage facing the tutor and more often preened in a fashion known to be associated with focused listening in the birds, compared to when its oxytocin was blocked. “Our results suggest that the oxytocin system is involved in how an animal decides where to focus its attention very early in its life,” Pilgeram says. Co-authors of the study include Carlos Rodríguez-Saltos, who received his doctorate from Emory and is now at Illinois State University; postdoctoral fellow Nicole Baran; research technicians Matthew Davis and Erik Iverson; and Emory undergraduates Sumin Lee, Emily Kim and Aditya Bhise. The work was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition. Source: eScienceCommons
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