The cutest environmentalists; a strange stellar object; vitamins good for the brain

There are areas of scientific research that involve neither vast cosmic phenomena nor extremely cute animals, but these are very important topics in Saturday Citations, and this week is no exception. And we’ll probably play with the odds and say next week won’t either.

Weird thing

Astronomers using the MeerKAT radio telescope have identified a wacky object orbiting a pulsar right here in the Milky Way that they describe as lighter than the lightest black hole and heavier than the heaviest neutron star , residing squarely in the mass space of the black hole.

This could be the first discovery of a binary black hole/pulsar system, which would enable previously impossible tests of general relativity; On the other hand, if it is a neutron star, astronomers could learn more about high-density nuclear physics, according to Professor Ben Stappers of the University of Manchester, leader of the team British.

Environmentalists are cute

When they’re not busy swimming in pairs on their backs holding their paws, sea otters also confer benefits to the health of ocean ecosystems. Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium have linked sea otters to the health of kelp forests.

Specifically, growing sea otter populations have improved the resilience of kelp forests. Kelp forests benefit ocean ecology, serving as fish nurseries and reducing coastal erosion. But kelp forests off the coast of California are in widespread decline, shrinking by more than 95%; the remaining kelp grows in isolated patches.

These declines, caused by warming oceans, have been abrupt, occurring between 2014 and 2021, and environmentalists say they will be difficult to reverse. However, regions with high kelp forest density are correlated with high populations of sea otters.

“In fact, we found that sea otter population density was the strongest predictor of change in kelp cover over this hundred-year period,” said lead author Teri Nicholson , senior research biologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s sea otter program. The researchers used historical surveys of kelp forests dating back a century and more recent aerial surveys. They suggest that reintroducing otters to coastal California could improve the prospects for kelp forests.

Improved cognition

Everyone knows that vitamins are a waste of money that we end up flushing down the toilet. But what this study presupposes is that this may not be the case. Just take your Centrum Silver, say researchers at Mass General Brigham, who report positive effects on cognition from taking a daily multivitamin.

As part of a large study called COSMOS, in which a subset of 573 participants underwent cognitive testing, two previous studies tested multivitamin supplementation using telephone and online cognitive assessments. The team reports a modest benefit for overall cognition over two years, including a statistically significant benefit for change in episodic memory, but no benefit for executive function and attention.

Highlighting the relevance of their findings to the growing population of aging adults, Olivia Okereke, MD SM, lead author of the paper, said: “These findings will attract the attention of many older adults who are rightly very interested in by means of preserving the brain. health, as they provide evidence for the role of a daily multivitamin in supporting better cognitive aging.

Desirable sugar

Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center report a new gut-brain connection that sparks cravings for sugar and fat. Nutritionists wonder why cravings for these nutrients are so powerful, and theories include tapping into the brain’s pleasure center and the neurochemistry associated with it.

But the answer turns out to be the gut-brain axis. The vagus nerve is a long, unsightly cranial nerve associated with parasympathetic control of the heart, lungs, and digestive tract. Among its functions, it sends sensory information about the nutrient density of food from the gut to the brain.

The researchers stimulated the intestinal vagal nerves of engineered mice with light, prompting the mice to seek out food stimuli, particularly food that engages specific circuits. They discovered distinct fat and sugar craving pathways and reported that combining these pathways, i.e. eating a Toblerone, amplifies the desire to eat more food.

“It’s like a double whammy to the brain’s reward system… Even though the total calories consumed from sugar and fat remain the same, the combination of fat and sugar results in a significantly greater release of dopamine and ultimately , overeating in mice,” explains Guillaume. de Lartigue, Ph.D., lead author of the study.

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