Top Stories

Grid List

Partners who live together typically come to this significant place in their relationship in one of two ways – what some clinicians call “sliding versus deciding.” Moving in together can just kind of happen without too much thought, or it can be carefully considered and planned.

Read more …Moving in with your partner? Talking about these 3 things first can smooth the way, according to a...

In architecture, new materials rarely emerge. For centuries, wood, masonry and concrete formed the basis for most structures on Earth.

Read more …3D printing promises to transform architecture forever

To paint or not to paint?

That is the question that many homeowners are facing as their dreams for perfect turf are battered – whether it’s from inflation pushing pricier lawn care options out of reach, or droughts leading to water shortages.

Read more …Why more and more Americans are painting their lawns

Have you ever had a nasty infection that just won’t seem to go away? Or a runny nose that keeps coming back? You may have been dealing with a bacterium that is tolerant of, though not yet resistant to, antibiotics.

Antibiotic resistance is a huge problem, contributing to nearly 1.27 million deaths worldwide in 2019. But antibiotic tolerance is a covert threat that researchers have only recently begun to explore.

Antibiotic tolerance happens when a bacterium manages to survive for a long time after being exposed to an antibiotic. While antibiotic-resistant bacteria flourish even in the presence of an antibiotic, tolerant bacteria often exist in a dormant state, neither growing nor dying but putting up with the antibiotic until they can “reawaken” once the stress is gone. Tolerance has been linked to the spread of antibiotic resistance.

I am a microbiologist who studies antibiotic tolerance, and I seek to uncover what triggers tolerant bacteria to enter a protective dormant slumber. By understanding why bacteria have the ability to become tolerant, researchers hope to develop ways to avoid the spread of this ability. The exact mechanism that sets tolerance apart from resistance has been unclear. But one possible answer may reside in a process that has been overlooked for decades: how bacteria create their energy.

Cholera and antibiotic tolerance

Many antibiotics are designed to break through the bacteria’s outer defenses like a cannonball through a stone fortress. Resistant bacteria are immune to the cannonball because they can either destroy it before it damages their outer wall or change their own walls to be able to withstand the impact.

Tolerant bacteria can remove their wall entirely and avoid damage altogether. No wall, no target for the cannonball to smash. If the threat goes away before too long, the bacterium can rebuild its wall to protect it from other environmental dangers and resume normal functions. However, it is still unknown how bacteria know the antibiotic threat is gone, and what exactly triggers their reawakening.

My colleagues and I at the Dörr Lab at Cornell University are trying to understand processes of activation and reawakening in the tolerant bacteria responsible for cholera, Vibrio cholerae. Vibrio is rapidly evolving resistance against various types of antibiotics, and doctors are concerned. As of 2010, Vibrio is already resistant to 36 different antibiotics, and this number is expected to continue rising.

To study how Vibrio develops resistance, we chose a strain that is tolerant to a class of antibiotics called beta-lactams. Beta-lactams are the cannonball sent to destroy the bacteria’s fortress, and Vibrio adapts by activating two genes that temporarily remove its cell wall. I witnessed this phenomenon using a microscope. After removing its cell wall, the bacteria activate even more genes that morph it into fragile globs that can survive the effects of the antibiotic. Once the antibiotic is removed or degraded, Vibrio returns to its normal rod shape and continues to grow.

Normally rod-shaped Vibrio cholerae remove their cell walls and turn into globs in the presence of penicillin, enabling them to survive longer.
Vibrio cholerae revert back to their rod-shaped structure once the antibiotic threat is removed.

In people, this process of tolerance is seen when a doctor prescribes an antibiotic, typically doxycycline, to a patient infected with cholera. The antibiotic temporarily seems to stop the infection. But then the symptoms start back up again because the antibiotics never fully cleared the bacteria in the first place.

The ability to revert back to normal and grow after the antibiotic is gone is the key to tolerant survival. Exposing Vibrio to an antibiotic for a long enough time would eventually kill it. But a standard course of antibiotics often isn’t long enough to get rid of all the bacteria even in their fragile state.

However, taking a medicine for a prolonged period can harm healthy bacteria and cells, causing further discomfort and illness. Additionally, misuse and extended exposure to antibiotics can increase the chances of other bacteria residing in the body becoming resistant.

Other bacteria developing tolerance

Vibrio isn’t the only species to exhibit tolerance. In fact, researchers have recently identified many infectious bacteria that have developed tolerance. A bacteria family called Enterobacteriaceae, which include major food-borne disease pathogens Salmonella, Shigella and E. coli, are just a few of the many types of bacteria that are capable of antibiotic tolerance.

As every bacterium is unique, the way one develops tolerance seems to be as well. Some bacteria, like Vibrio, erase their cell walls. Others can alter their energy sources, increase their ability to move or simply pump out the antibiotic.

I recently found that a bacterium’s metabolism, or the way it breaks down “food” to make energy, may play a significant role in its ability to become tolerant. Different structures within a bacterium, including its outer wall, are made of specific building blocks like proteins. Stopping the bacterium’s ability to craft these pieces weakens its wall, making it more likely to take damage from the outside environment before it can take the wall down.

Tolerance and resistance are connected

Although there has been considerable research on how bacteria develop tolerance, a key piece of the puzzle that has been neglected is how tolerance leads to resistance.

In 2016, researchers discovered how to make bacteria tolerant in the laboratory. After repeated exposure to different antibiotics, E. coli cells were able to adapt and survive. DNA, the genetic material containing instructions for cell function, is a fragile molecule. When DNA is damaged rapidly by stress, such as antibiotic exposure, the cell’s repair mechanisms tend to mess up and cause mutations that can create resistance and tolerance. Because E. coli is similar to many different types of bacteria, these researchers’ findings revealed that, ironically, essentially any bacteria can develop tolerance if pushed to their limits by the antibiotics meant to kill them.

Bacteria form large communities in biofilms.

Another recent key discovery was that the longer bacteria remain tolerant, the more likely they are to develop mutations leading to resistance. Tolerance allows bacteria to develop a resistance mutation that reduces their chances of being killed during antibiotic treatment. This is especially relevant to bacterial communities often seen in biofilms that tend to coat high-touch surfaces in hospitals. Biofilms are slimy layers of bacteria that ooze a protective jelly that makes antibiotic treatment difficult and DNA sharing between microbes easy. They can induce bacteria to evolve resistance. These conditions are thought to mimic what could be happening during antibiotic-treated infections, in which many bacteria are living next to one another and sharing DNA.

Researchers are calling for more research into antibiotic tolerance with the hope that it will lead to more robust treatments in both infectious diseases and cancers. And there is reason to be hopeful. In one promising development, a mouse study found that decreasing tolerance also reduced resistance.

Meanwhile, there are steps everyone can take to aid in the battle against antibiotic tolerance and resistance. You can do this by taking an antibiotic exactly as prescribed by a doctor and finishing the entire bottle. Brief, inconsistent exposure to a medicine primes bacteria to become tolerant and eventually resistant. Smarter use of antibiotics by everyone can stop the evolution of tolerant bacteria.

Megan Keller, Ph.D. Candidate in Microbiology, Cornell University

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

It’s coming. Winds are weakening along the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Heat is building beneath the ocean surface. By July, most forecast models agree that the climate system’s biggest player – El Niño – will return for the first time in nearly four years.

El Niño is one side of the climatic coin called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. It’s the heads to La Niña’s tails.

Read more …El Niño is coming, and ocean temps are already at record highs – that can spell disaster for fish...

The Justice Department on April 14, 2023, charged Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard member, with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material. Media reports suggest that Teixeira didn’t intend to leak the documents widely but rather shared them on a closed Discord community focused on playing war games.

Read more …What is Discord? An internet researcher explains the social media platform at the center of...

Part of the joy of travelling comes from experiencing the unfamiliar – a different climate, culture or cuisine. But when it comes to paying for things abroad, we might feel more comfortable using the currency we are most familiar with, the one we use at home.

Read more …Travelling abroad? Don’t be tempted to pay your way using your home currency

US federal debt currently stands at a staggering US$31.4 trillion (£25.2 trillion), the highest it’s ever been. That matters because it’s approaching the maximum limit that the government is legally allowed to borrow.

Read more …US faces $31.4 trillion national debt crisis – and Republican divisions could make it harder to...

Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. (April 11, 2023): In this photo by James Frank, Marine Corps Corporal Xavier Abreu, an ammunition technician with The Basic School, does front squats while participating in the first Training and Education Command Fittest Instructor Competition held here. The Basic School is where all newly commissioned officers go to become “Leaders of Marines”, a sacred oath taken by those of “exemplary character and integrity who are mentally and physically tough.”

Read more …FITNESS COMPETITION TESTS “LEADERS OF MARINES”

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III welcomed Ben Wallace, the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Defense, to the Pentagon today to discuss the short-term and long-term implications of the U.S.-U.K. alliance.

The United States has no closer ally than the United Kingdom, Austin said at the start of the meeting, and it is seemingly impossible for the two nations to work even more closely together. Yet Austin sees the Australia, United Kingdom, United States trilateral security pact as a long-term way forward and the best way to strengthen ties among the nations.

"It is an historic opportunity that shows how strong we can become when we work together," the secretary said. "It shows our deep commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. And it's a testament to our shared values, and to the long-term investments that we're making in our forces. I'm confident that AUKUS will break down barriers and usher in a new era of U.S.-U.K. defense cooperation."

But the two nations also must deal with the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and what that threat means globally and for Europe. "The Kremlin has chosen a path of aggression and atrocity for the Ukrainian people and Ukraine's military [has] responded with incredible courage," Austin said. "And I'm going to keep on saying it: We will support Ukraine in this fight for as long as it takes."

Austin thanked Wallace for the United Kingdom's leadership role in supplying Ukraine and training Ukrainian troops to defend their country. "The UK is working with allies and partners to encourage donations and facilitate the delivery of security assistance to Ukraine," he said.

The United States and United Kingdom are also leaders in the NATO alliance. The secretary said this is a historic time for NATO. "Finland recently became the 31st member of NATO. And we look forward to Sweden becoming the 32nd," he added.

Austin leaves tomorrow for Stockholm to express his support for that move.

Wallace seconded Austin's strong support for Sweden's NATO membership and thanked the secretary for America's leadership. He noted he is entering his fourth year in his office. "The world, sadly, has not got less anxious and less insecure," Wallace said. "In fact, with the invasion of Ukraine, we've seen a more anxious world and a more unstable world. Without U.S. leadership, we would be in a worse place, whether that is in the Pacific, whether that is in Ukraine, whether that is in European defense, or indeed worrying so the development in the Middle East around Iran." 

American aid to Ukraine has been critical to giving the Ukrainian military the tools and training it needs to defend "the freedoms that we all fight for and believe in," he said.

Wallace agreed that the AUKUS partnership is a sign of the long-term partnership and friendship between the two nations. He said neither man will be in office when the first AUKUS submarine rolls off the production line in the late 2030s. Still, it "shows that is a long-term commitment" to share these secrets and capabilities among the three nations.

Philippine Sea. (April 10, 2023): For centuries, Sailors struggled to navigate their vessels safety across great oceans relying only on the stars to guide their way. In this photo by MC2 David Negron, Quartermaster 2nd Class Leslie Juarez, from Laredo, Texas, looks through a stadimeter on the bridge aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur.

Read more …NAVY NAVIGATES USING OLD & NEW TECHNOLOGY

Over the past decade, vinyl records have made a major comeback. People purchased US$1.2 billion of records in 2022, a 20% jump from the previous year.

Not only did sales rise, but they also surpassed CD sales for the first time since 1988, according to a new report from the Recording Industry Association of America.

Who saw that coming?

Read more …Vinyl record sales keep spinning and spinning – with no end in sight

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - March 18, 2023  -- "Live Courageously" Podcast Show is a show for our time where fear and courage are battling it out in our lives.
The Podcast show brings on a wide range of guests who have lived courageous lives in the face of many types of adversity. Most of the initial guests are friends of the moderator John Duffy and the purpose of the show is to share the stories of these powerful friends of his with the audience to encourage the listener to reject the messages of fear and embrace courage, especially in our troubled times.

Read more …Live Courageously Podcast Show with John Duffy With Guests Nathan and Todd Tetreault

LOS ANGELES - March 23, 2023  -- Mo Abersheid, founder of LA-based RockNTix – a ticketing app that offers NO FEE event ticketing – discusses how the end is near for the current ticketing monopoly and skyrocketing service fees.

"As a person with limited funds, like most people these days, the absurd service fees actually prohibited me from being able to afford to buy a ticket to see a show. So, I decided to build an event ticketing app to make live music more accessible to everyone."

Read more …RockNTix takes on the ticketing monopoly with a view to abolishing service fees

Although much of our elections-related attention is already trained on 2024, there are consequential elections happening this very calendar year.

The crew discusses the races to watch in 2023. They also look at how the Democratic Party's effort to rearrange its presidential primary calendar is going, and ask whether a survey of Republican National Committee members was a good or bad use of polling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Read more …There are some big elections happening in 2023

President Biden has made it official: He’s running again. And there is yet to be a serious challenger to Donald Trump. Is the upcoming race full of undesirable candidates?

Then, politicians seem to agree that that TikTok should be regulated or banned in the U.S. as concern increases over China using the app to spy on Americans. How serious is this threat, and how will people react if it’s prohibited? And music has an ability to bring us together, and country musician Ketch Secor from Old Crow Medicine Show takes it as his duty.

Read more …Biden and Trump likely to face off again in 2024 presidential bid

China is considering sending weapons, ammunition and drones to Russia, according to information the Biden administration declassified at the end of February 2023.

China’s military aid would directly support Russia’s war in Ukraine.

This public disclosure, emerging less than a month after the U.S. navy shot down a Chinese balloon that allegedly was being used for spying purposes, further heightened existing tensions between the U.S. and China.

It also comes as Russia is facing mounting costs in its war on Ukraine – both financial and in human lives.

Read more …Russia wants military aid from China – here’s why this deal could help China, too

Media outlets have reported the encouraging findings of clinical trials for a new experimental vaccine developed by the biotech company Moderna to treat an aggressive type of skin cancer called melanoma.

Although this is potentially very good news, it occurred to me that the headlines may be unintentionally misleading. The vaccines most people are familiar with prevent disease, whereas this experimental new skin cancer vaccine treats only patients who are already sick. Why is it called a vaccine if it does not prevent cancer?

Read more …Moderna’s experimental cancer vaccine treats but doesn’t prevent melanoma – a biochemist explains...

In late March 2023, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlighted the threat posed by a rapidly spreading fungus called Candida auris that is causing infections and deaths among hospital patients across the country. The unexpected rise of this recently discovered pathogen is part of a larger trend of increasing fungal infections in the U.S.

Read more …Deadly fungus Candida auris is spreading across US hospitals - a physician answers 5 questions...

CHICAGO - April 7, 2023  -- Zachary Carter, an 18-year-old finance major and wrestler at Elmhurst University, will be fighting for the title of Chicago Golden Gloves champion on Saturday, April 15th at 7 p.m. at Cicero Stadium in Cicero, IL.

Carter, who was born and raised in Chicago and graduated from Lindblom High School, has been boxing since he was 10 years old. He fights out of the Ring of Hope boxing gym, where he is also an assistant coach. He is one of the top amateur boxers in the city and has won several local and regional tournaments.

Read more …Elmhurst University Freshman to Compete in Chicago Golden Gloves Finals

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - March 30, 2023  -- Freestyle swimming is one of the most popular and widely practiced swimming techniques. However, even experienced swimmers can make mistakes that can hinder their performance and potentially cause injury. In this article, we will discuss the five most common freestyle mistakes and how to avoid them.

Read more …The 5 Most Common Freestyle Swimming Mistakes

GLEN HEAD, N.Y. - March 30, 2023  -- Today is opening day across baseball, and what would the start of the season be without the annual simulation by Strat-O-Matic, the market leader in sports simulations, on the regular season and playoffs? Led by Aaron Judge's 52 home runs, 132 RBI and .313 batting average, the sim has the slugger pushing his Yankees to 102 wins and eventually defeating Los Angeles, four games to two, to win their 28th championship.

Read more …Strat-O-Matic Simulation Tabs Yankees Over Dodgers in 2023 Series

One of my favorite questions to ask is: What is your favorite body of water? The answer to this question connects people to waterbodies that inspire us. Mine, is the Pacific Ocean.

I have spent endless hours with my children exploring the Pacific coast. This connection is why I do what I do to protect water for future generations.

Read more …Reducing Water Pollution from Power Plants

If you aren’t familiar with EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program, it is a dynamic, low-cost federal credit program that supports critically important water infrastructure projects in communities across the nation.

Unlike previous years, our program has adjusted the application process to select borrowers on an ongoing basis. We find that this extra flexibility helps support prospective borrowers’ planning and project timelines, allows for more diverse and impactful projects in communities. So, if you are interested in a WIFIA loan, then you can submit a letter of interest to EPA at any time.

Read more …Revitalizing Water Infrastructure: Rolling toward safer water for communities

Teamwork makes the dream work! A once stagnant stream is flowing once again thanks to a partnership between the Franklin County Conservation District, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC). This partnership collaborated with the Greencastle-Antrim School District (GCASD), Kerri Barnes, Director of Tayamentasachta Center for Environmental Studies, a local church, and private landowners to restore a picturesque stream in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.

Read more …Bringing a Local Stream Back to Life

Tallahassee, FL May 28, 2023 – This is my father’s gravestone located at the National Cemetery at Bushnell, Florida. He was buried with full military honors after 27 years’ military service that included tours in three wars.

Read more …MEMORIAL DAY 2023

For thousands of years  in nations around the world there was a ruling class and the ruled.  A few hundred years ago some of the ruled left for America to become less so.   Then the ruled cast off the rulers in America.  They became self-reliant and self-governing individuals.  Some others followed suit here and there around the world.   After The Great War and World War II, a great many more nations found citizens governing themselves. 

Read more …The age of the American individual may be coming to a close.

The Live Laugh Love brand gives rise to the following thoughts.

Each of us is given but one pass through life.  No retakes.  No repeats.

Read more …The Meaning of Live Laugh Love®

A century ago, English mathematician Lewis Fry Richardson proposed a startling idea for that time: constructing a systematic process based on math for predicting the weather. In his 1922 book, “Weather Prediction By Numerical Process,” Richardson tried to write an equation that he could use to solve the dynamics of the atmosphere based on hand calculations.

Read more …AI and machine learning are improving weather forecasts, but they won’t replace human experts

If you want to track changes in the Amazon rainforest, see the full expanse of a hurricane or figure out where people need help after a disaster, it’s much easier to do with the view from a satellite orbiting a few hundred miles above Earth.

Read more …How to use free satellite data to monitor natural disasters and environmental changes

Meteorologists have gotten a lot better at forecasting the conditions that make tornadoes more likely. But predicting exactly which thunderstorms will produce a tornado and when is harder, and that’s where a lot of severe weather research is focused today. Often, you’ll have a line of thunderstorms in an environment that looks favorable for tornadoes, and one storm might produce a tornado but the others don’t.

Read more …Why tornadoes are still hard to forecast – even though storm predictions are improving

Weather

Finance

Sport

03 June 2023