121. Fat Cells and The Brain, Producing Hydrogen at Room Temp, JWST’s First Exoplanet Image

That‘s Cool News | A weekly breakdown of positive Science & Tech news.

Show Notes:

Researchers discover new way fat cells talk directly with the brain | New Atlas (01:36)

• Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute have discovered a novel communication pathway between fat cells and the brain.

  • Brain doesn’t regulate fat burning by just slowly responding to hormonal signals in the blood. (traditional view)

  • But can directly send messages to fat tissue and influence metabolic processes.

• The researchers use 2 new ways of looking at the fat tissue:

  • 1. HYBRiD - This method renders fat tissue transparent, allowing researchers a unique window into the paths of neurons.

  • 2. ROOT, and it lets the researchers study exactly how certain neurons localized in fat tissue communicate with other parts of the body.

• The big finding from the study was the discovery of sensory neurons that branch out from the spine into fat tissue.

  • Directly communicate with a part of the brain called the dorsal root ganglia.

• Co-senior author Li Ye, stated on this finding:

  • “The discovery of these neurons suggests for the first time that your brain is actively surveying your fat, rather than just passively receiving messages about it … The implications of this finding are profound.”

• Researchers found by blocking communication from these sensory neurons the sympathetic nervous system kicked into gear and began converting the white fat cells into brown fat.

  • Stepping up the body’s fat-burning processes.

• All this finding can clearly establish at this stage is that the newly discovered sensory neuron communication pathway is crucial for keeping fat tissue healthy.

Two-Seater eVTOL Will Be Used to Train Pilots for Flying Taxis | Singularity Hub (07:38)

• London-based SkyFly has recently started taking pre-orders on a personal eVTOL called the Axe.

  • It seats two, different the others trying to hit the market (seat one)

• Unlike its peers, the Axe has a fixed-wing design, so it’s able to take off and land both vertically and in the conventional way.

  • Vertical takeoff: Four propellers (4 ft diameter) lifts it off the ground, and once airborne, the body tilts forward to gain speed.

• Eight 35-kilowatt electric engines power the plane

  • Mounted at a 45-degree angle and don’t rotate.

• Wingspan is 16.4 feet

  • Larger than any of the other personal aircraft

• Weighs 944 pounds (lithium battery pack accounts for a good portion of that total)

• Lift a maximum weight of 379 pounds.

• Its top speed is 100 miles per hour, and its range is 100 miles (200 if you add an optional range extender).

• Skyfly is aiming for its customer base to be made up of people who are already licensed pilots and/or own their own aircraft, and those who want to become pilots.

• Right now there’s not only a shortage of pilots for commercial aircraft, there’s not a cost-effective way to train new pilots either.

  • And Skyfly CEO Michael Thompson wants the Axe to serve as a general aviation platform for pilots in training.

• SkyFly is taking pre-orders at a base price of US$175k.

  • The company is planning to start production in 2024.

A Simple Way to Produce Hydrogen From Water at Room Temperature | ScienceAlert (15:52)

• A new study out of University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), provides us with another promising step in Hydrogen clean fuel, provided you can make use of existing supplies of post-consumer aluminum and gallium.

• Discovered a simple method involving aluminum nanoparticles that are able to strip the oxygen from water molecules and leave hydrogen gas.

  • yields large amounts of hydrogen, and it all works at room temperature.

• This discovery removes one of the big barriers to hydrogen fuel production: the large amounts of power required to produce it using existing methods.

  • Works with any kind of water, too, including wastewater and ocean water.

• Materials scientist Scott Oliver from UCSC seemed surprised by this process:

  • "We don't need any energy input, and it bubbles hydrogen like crazy … I've never seen anything like it.”

• With the help of scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques, the researchers were able to find the best mix of aluminum and gallium for producing hydrogen with the greatest efficiency.

  • a 3:1 gallium-aluminum composite.

• Gallium is an expensive and less abundant material, but at least in this process it can be recovered and reused many times over without losing its effectiveness.

• Bakthan Singaram, a professor of organic chemistry at UCSC, stated:

  • “The gallium separates the nanoparticles and keeps them from aggregating into larger particles … People have struggled to make aluminum nanoparticles, and here we are producing them under normal atmospheric pressure and room temperature conditions."

• There is still work to do, not least in making sure this can be scaled up from a lab set-up to something that can be used on an industrial scale.

  • Promising sign for hydrogen fuel

This Type of Supplement Can Reduce Depression and Anxiety | SciTechDaily (21:50)

• Researchers from the University of Reading studied the effects of high doses of Vitamin B6 on young adults.

  • Felt less anxious and depressed after taking the supplements every day for a month.

• Adds to the body of evidence supporting the use of supplements believed to alter brain activity levels for the prevention or treatment of mood disorders.

• Dr. David Field, the lead author of the study explains:

  • “The functioning of the brain relies on a delicate balance between the excitatory neurons that carry information around and inhibitory ones, which prevent runaway activity. Recent theories have connected mood disorders and some other neuropsychiatric conditions with a disturbance of this balance, often in the direction of raised levels of brain activity. Vitamin B6 helps the body produce a specific chemical messenger that inhibits impulses in the brain, and our study links this calming effect with reduced anxiety among the participants.”

• Vitamin B6 promotes the body’s production of GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid), a molecule that blocks nerve cell impulses in the brain.

• Vitamin B12 was also looked at.

  • Had little effect compared to placebo over the trial period.

  • Vitamin B6 made a statistically reliable difference.

• Dr. Field talks on foods to consume, and more research that needs to be done:

  • “Many foods, including tuna, chickpeas, and many fruits and vegetables, contain Vitamin B6. However, the high doses used in this trial suggest that supplements would be necessary to have a positive effect on mood. It is important to acknowledge that this research is at an early stage and the effect of Vitamin B6 on anxiety in our study was quite small compared to what you would expect from medication. However, nutrition-based interventions produce far fewer unpleasant side effects than drugs, and so in the future people might prefer them as an intervention.”

James Webb Telescope captures its first images of an exoplanet | Interesting Engineering (28:30)

• In a first for the James Webb Telescope, astronomers from the joint NASA/ESA/CSA cooperative used the space-based telescope to bring back images of an exoplanet.

  • Images of the exoplanet are seen through four different light filters

• These images lead the way toward future observations that can reveal a broad range of information never before seen on exoplanets.

• Exoplanet looked at was a gas giant, named HIP 65426 b, which is about six to eight times the size of Jupiter.

  • Only about 15 to 20 million years old, which in planet years is very young

  • Earth: is about four to five billion years old.

• These detailed images captured an exoplanet so well it is already leading to future possibilities for studying distant worlds.

• ​​The Webb instrument captures light differently, and so the images have different presentations.

  • Purple shows the NIRCam instruments view at 3.00 micrometers

  • Blue shows the NIRCam instruments view at 4.44 micrometers

  • Yellow images show the mid-infrared instrument's view at 11.4 micrometers.

  • Red shows the mid-infrared instrument's view at 15.5 micrometers

• The difficulty in getting images of exoplanets is that the stars are so much brighter than planets.

  • For instance, HIP 65426 b is more than 10,000 times fainter than its host star in the near-infrared, possibly 3,000 times fainter in the mid-infrared.