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22/10/2022 ---- 04/11/2022

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04.11.2022
THEME: HEALTH

Dietary fibers influence the efficacy of the immune system

“We are what we eat,” said the German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach during the turmoil of the German revolution in 1848. This aphorism is still valid in light of the latest and most advanced research on the impact of diet on the body and health. A preclinical study, published in Nature on November 2, focused on the dietary component inulin - a common fiber present in a wide variety of fruit and vegetables such as bananas, asparagus, garlic, onions, chicory roots, leeks, and wheat. Scientists have found that inulin, besides its beneficial effect on the functionality of the gastrointestinal tract, also influences the functioning and efficacy of the immune system. It was shown that this dietary fiber alters the metabolism of certain beneficial bacteria inhabiting our gut (known as Bacteroidetes) which in turn triggers an immune response called “type 2 inflammation”. This type 2 immune response defends the body against parasitic worms (Helminths) infections, and it is also important for wound healing. More studies are now needed to understand the relevance of these findings for the human model. Indeed, in the human body, there is a large number of bacteria amounting to an average of 2 kg mass per individual. Part of these bacteria is known to contribute to many mechanisms, which include immune system functionality and its efficacy against many threats.

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02.11.2022
THEME: ENVIRONMENT

A study estimates that blue whales ingest an alarming amount of microplastic particles

The presence of plastic in the oceans is a grave problem for our planet and its marine ecosystem. We already know that many marine animals inadvertently ingest plastics as they move through the waters, which poses significant consequences for their health. Biologists and ocean scientists at Stanford and California State University have analyzed the diet habits of the largest marine animals, the whales, and published their study on Nature Communication. The study involves drone observations, non-invasive tags, small research vessels, and sound waves to map dense gatherings of fish and krill in the whales’ feeding areas off the coast of California. The analysis showed that whales feed 50 to 250 meters below the surface. Incidentally, the highest concentration of microplastics is found at this same depth. The whales, rather than slurping up the microplastic with the seawater as they open their mouths, are ingesting microplastics as they eat their prey, particularly krill. It is estimated that a single whale can eat up to 10 million tiny pieces of plastic per day. More research is now needed to clarify the repercussions for the animal’s nutrition and health. It is important to note that the plastic in the oceans also impacts human nutrition and health. The implications of microplastic in our oceans are still not yet understood. It is a growing phenomenon with unpredictable effects on marine life, with vast implications for sustainability and conservation challenges.

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31.10.2022
THEME: TECHNOLOGY

China space station is close to completion as the Mengtian laboratory module has been successfully launched

Today the last of the three modules - Mengtian - of the Chinese space station Tiangong (translated as “Celestial Palace”) has successfully left the Earth and reached its orbit, now waiting for the final docking to the other modules. Tiangong will soon be the second permanently inhabited outpost in low-earth orbit after the NASA-led International Space Station. The uncrewed Mengtian - or "Dreaming of the Heavens" - module was launched atop China's most powerful rocket, the Long March 5B, at 3:37 PM from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in the southern island province of Hainan. The completion of the Chinese space station, designed for a lifespan of at least ten years, will be a milestone in China's ambitions in space exploration. During this time, China has planned more than 1,000 scientific experiments - from studying how plants adapt in space to how fluids behave in microgravity. China has approved at least nine proposals from scientists in countries ranging from Switzerland to India in the first batch of experiments in cooperation with the United Nations space office. Mengtian is a crucial part of the space station as it is the most advanced laboratory module, carrying many advanced instruments. The 17.88-meter-long, 4.2-meter-diameter mega space lab weighs around 23.3 tons by launch - the heaviest payload China has ever launched. Mengtian does not have life support systems like the other two modules Tianhe and Wentian, nor dormitory and restrooms. It is designed as a working zone with 13 cabinets designed to host various experiments mainly in the fields of microgravity, fluid physics, combustion, materials, and space technologies. The Mengtian will also carry the world's first space-based set of cold atomic clocks - a hydrogen clock, a rubidium clock, and an optical clock. If successful, these atomic clocks will form the most precise time and frequency system in space, which should not lose one second in hundreds of millions of years. Scientists explained that the space cold atomic clock technology will contribute to higher-precision satellite positioning, and navigation systems, as well as support fundamental physics research such as dark matter probes and gravitational wave detection. The Tiangong space station will also become a new platform for China to explore and push forward cooperation with other nations.

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30.10.2022
THEME: POLITICS

Brazil elected the new president in a violent climate: Lula won the elections with a 0.9% margin

More than 156 million Brazilians - those eligible to vote - were called to elect the new president Sunday, October 30. These elections, which saw two candidates - Lula and Bolsonaro - radically opposite in almost every aspect of their politics, were characterized by an extreme climate of violence. Recent events include shootings in public places, the murder of a politician, and even explosives thrown at the crowd of a political rally. Due to the tense climate, the two candidates have been seen constantly escorted by security or police, even wearing bulletproof vests. Pre-election polls suggested Lula was slightly favorite to come back for a third term, capping a remarkable political renaissance after his jailing on graft convictions that were overturned. But Bolsonaro is known as a hard-to-beat politician, very well capable of upturning polls predictions with promises through electoral campaigns - in his last days of the campaign he promised, for instance, a raise of the minimum wage to $260. Besides electoral promises, Bolsonaro was involved in more than one questionable episode. On Sunday, one of Bolsonaro's allies opened fire on Federal Police officers coming to arrest him. A week earlier Bolsonaro had to defend himself from personal attacks after he told an anecdote about meeting Venezuelan migrant girls in suggestive terms. During the last debate on Friday night, both candidates returned repeatedly to Lula's two terms as president from 2003 to 2010, when high commodity prices helped to boost the economy and combat poverty. Lula vowed to revive those boom times, while Bolsonaro suggested current social programs are more effective. In such a controversial climate the Brazilians were called to vote and made their choice: for the next four years, Lula is the elected president of Brasil, as he won by obtaining 50.9% of the total valid votes. Since the current president Bolsonaro made clear that he would not easily accept a defeat, many observers are worried that a peaceful transition of power may not take place. Indeed, during vote counting, Bolsonaro has cast unsubstantiated doubts on the trustworthiness of Brazil's electronic voting system this cycle. At the same Lula da Silva, allies accused the police of blocking buses and cars carrying Lula voters from getting to voting sites. However, the Superior Electoral Court, which runs Brazil's elections, said no one had been prevented from voting and declined to extend the voting time. In these hours leaders from around the world are sending Lula congratulations and best wishes for the difficult mandate he just obtained.

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27.10.2022
THEME: ENVIRONMENT

The habit of nose-picking is common in primates and the cause may be evolutionary

Nose-picking is a common behavior in humans, often avoided in public since generally considered rude, “low class”, or even repugnant. Probably for the same reason, it is a behavior that remains poorly understood and studied even in animals. But not for the zoologist Anne-Claire Fabre of the University of Bern, who recently published a paper in the Journal of Zoology reporting noise picking in the lemur species aye-aye. In the same article, she also reviews the presence of this habit in various primate species, showing that it is present in at least 12 species. In the aye-aye lemur - whose characteristic is an extremely long, skinny, and mobile middle finger - accurate imaging shows that the insertion depth during the gesture reaches the pharynx. Since so many primates - many humans included - would utilize their fingers to collect and ingest nasal mucus, the scientists suspect that the behavior may have evolved for selective reasons such as, for instance, a sanitary or even a medical advantage. More studies will be needed to demonstrate any of such advantages. However, nose-picking is possible only in those species - like primates - that have fine manipulative skills, and therefore are sufficiently evolved. Some primates even use utensils to collect mucus from the nose. Once more, nature offers an unparalleled source of information, crucial to understand even those behaviors that pass unseen in our quotidian life. Biodiversity is the only mirror we have for transcending the social paradigms, observing the animal features that we all share, and understanding their importance.

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25.10.2022
THEME: HEALTH

Two respiratory viruses - RSV and Influenza - can fuse together to form a more potent hybrid virus

Each year, about 5 million people are hospitalized with influenza A worldwide. Another common virus, the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), is the leading cause of acute infections of the lower respiratory tract in children under five years old. It can spread to the lower respiratory tract, causing pneumonia or bronchiolitis - an inflammation of the small airway passages entering the lungs. Although co-infection is common, it was still unclear how these viruses would respond if they are together in the same cell. A recent study published in Nature Microbiology - led by Prof. Pablo Murcia from the University of Glasgow - showed that the two viruses, rather than competing with one another, can fuse to form a hybrid virus: a more potent and new type of pathogen. Whereas influenza usually infects cells in the nose, RSV tends to go lower down into the respiratory tract reaching the lung cells. The possibility of forming a hybrid may increase the chances of triggering severe lung infections. The study has shown that once formed, the hybrid can infect neighboring cells even in presence of neutralizing antibodies against influenza - which would normally block the infection. A likely explanation is that, although the antibodies still attack the hybrid’s surface, the RSV viral proteins are used as a Trojan horse to resist the attack and penetrate the cells. It is the very first time that such cooperation between two common respiratory viruses has been observed. Researchers believe that these findings could explain why co-infections can lead to significantly worse diseases in some patients, including hard-to-treat viral pneumonia.

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24.10.2022
THEME: POLITICS

A week of records for UK politics: Liz Tuss marks the shortest mandate in history and Rishi Sunak is named Prime Minister

Today Rishi Sunak was named leader of the UK Conservative party and will consequently become the country's next prime minister (in the UK the leader of the majority party is automatically prime minister as well). Sunak's appointment came after British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned last week, just six weeks into her mandate, after losing the party support mainly due to the serious financial crisis caused by her tax reform. Sunak is 42 years old and is the first non-white person to be named UK Prime Minister. He was born in Southampton, England, where his parents had emigrated from Africa: his father was born in Kenya, and his mother in Tanzania, and both were of Indian descent. In his political career, Sunak was mainly Chancellor of the Exchequer (Minister of Economy) between 2020 and 2022, during the government of Boris Johnson. He is a graduate of Oxford University and also studied at Stanford, in the United States. He had previously worked for the major investment bank Goldman Sachs and entered politics in 2014, among the Conservatives. He is considered a pragmatic politician who belongs to the right wing of the party (in 2016 he voted in favor of Brexit). Sunak will formally take office in the next few hours, after receiving the post from King Charles III. With Miss Tuss’ resignation after only 6 weeks and Sunak’s election, the UK marks two unprecedented records in his political history.

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23.10.2022
THEME: POLITICS

Xi Jinping is confirmed for a third historical mandate

On October 23, after the 20th Communist Party National Congress, Xi Jinping was appointed as the party’s general secretary for another five years with a norm-breaking unprecedented third term. In his opening speech on October 16th, Xi reported the last five year’s successful results: achieving modernization, social stability, economic well-being, national security, solving corruption issues, advancing technology and science, and raising the attention to ecology. All achievements were due, in his words, to the principles of Marxism, which has guided the nation in the past and will continue to give political guidance in the future. In his intervention, Xi Jinping remarked that huge changes are expected in the next five years of the world economic order and that China will be the key country in the social and political international landscape. Referring to the West, he mentioned that “In pursuing modernization, China will not tread the old path of war, colonization, and plunder taken by some countries”. On the Taiwan issue, he made clear that “resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China's complete reunification is, for the Party, a historic mission and an unshakable commitment” and “the policies of peaceful reunification are the best way to realize reunification across the Taiwan Strait”. He added that the party “will continue to strive for peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and the utmost effort, but will never promise to renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all measures necessary”.

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