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Credit: Samyukta Lakshmi for Nature
What causes bad ‘morning sickness’
Sensitivity to GDF15, a hormone released by the growing fetus, might be the reason that some people experience hyperemesis gravidarum — debilitating nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Women who had high levels of the hormone before pregnancy were less likely to develop hyperemesis gravidarum while carrying their baby. People who have low GDF15 levels could be given increasingly high doses of the hormone while trying to conceive, to desensitize them to it, says metabolism researcher and study co-author Stephen O’Rahilly.
Bizarre gut microbes are curiously complex
Protists, an overlooked family of microbes that live in the guts of animals such as mice and people, help to shape the gut microbiome and affect their host’s immune responses. Protists are often considered “fourth-class citizens amongst microbes, and they shouldn’t be”, says microbiome researcher Seth Rakoff-Nahoum. In mice, protists kick off a type of immune response in the small intestine. And protists usually win when they compete with gut bacteria.
Reference: Cell paper
Why frightened mice sleep poorly
Stressed mice experience more blips of wakefulness as certain neurons deep inside the brain become more active. “These neurons are really important for regulating sleep stability, for sleep continuity, so that your sleep is not fragmented,” explains neuroscientist and study co-author Shinjae Chung. Short wakefulness spells are a normal part of sleep — but in mice that had been attacked repeatedly by an aggressive cage mate, they occurred more frequently.
Reference: Current Biology paper
Biologist loses disability case
Paediatric neurologist and RNA biologist Vivian Cheung lost her discrimination case against her former employer, who she alleged had terminated her funding owing to her disability. Cheung’s claim was rejected by a jury after just three hours of deliberation. Some researchers are disappointed with the outcome. “I could absolutely see a case like this dissuading other disabled people from bringing their claims forward,” says disabled veteran and lab manager Nathan Tilton.
Features & opinion
Research returns to Chornobyl
The exclusion zone surrounding the Chornobyl nuclear power plant had been a science hotspot until it became part of the front line of the Ukraine war. Now, the land is dotted with mines and remains that are partially under military control. Yet some researchers are finding ways to restart their work. Ecologist Bohdan Prots, for example, is working to recreate the zone’s lost wetlands and cut the risks of wildfires that spread radioactivity — a project that has drawn fresh interest because swamps could hold off Russian troops. “This could be a big win of this war: to have restored moist wetlands,” Prots says.
DIY scientists make their own tools
When budgets are tight and the right tool does not exist, inventive researchers make their own. Synthetic biologist Erika Debenedictis designed a robot to babysit the evolution of viral proteins. Materials scientist Nick McCormick developed a camera system to check that old railway tunnels remain safe. And analytical scientist Dušan Materić built a machine that analyses microplastics in snow samples. “Inventions come from going out on a limb,” says Debenedictis, whose robot prompted the generation of two academic laboratories and a start-up company.
Video: The rubber that stops cracks
A type of rubber that looks like entangled spaghetti on a molecular scale is ten times more durable than normal rubber. Interlinked polymer strands make standard reinforced rubber — the type used in tyres and shock absorbers — rigid but brittle. The new rubber contains much longer, entangled polymer strands, which helps to diffuse the mechanical stress from the edge of a crack.
