When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, we had to completely reorganize our spaces to avoid close contact. Transparent barriers were erected between seats, cashiers and customers, receptionists and patients, while stickers encouraged people to sit or stand at least six feet away from each other. A new study, however, reveals that we’re not the only ones who take such actions to lessen the spread of a disease.
If you’re thinking of chimpanzees or bonobos, it’s a fair guess—they are two of our closest living relatives. But the clever critters researchers investigated in a study recently published in the journal Science are much, much smaller: ants. As if these insects weren’t cool enough (some are better at teamwork than humans), researchers found that ants architecturally modify their nests to avoid the spread of illness. These nests had more spread-out entrances with less direct connections between chambers.
“We already know that ants change their digging behaviour in response to other soil factors, such as temperature and soil composition,” Luke Leckie, lead author of the study and a researcher in biological sciences at the University of Bristol, said in a statement. “This is the first time a non-human animal has been shown to modify the structure of its environment to reduce the transmission of disease.”
To investigate the matter, Leckie and his team put groups of 180 ants in containers of soil. They allowed these ants to build their nests for one day, before introducing 20 more ants in each container. Half of the groups received ants that had been exposed to pathogens, specifically fungal spores. They let all the ants continue building their nests for six more days, frequently using micro-CT scanning—a technique that enabled the team to see the underground nest structures in 3D—to measure their structure and growth. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Image Credit: ArtPhoto21/Shutterstock |
Delivering an oxygenated liquid rectally was so successful in animal studies that researchers are now exploring this method for humans.
A technique seemingly pulled from a comical science fiction story might soon become reality: butt breathing. What began as a project born of pure curiosity, even earning the satirical Ig Nobel Prize in 2024, which honors humorous scientific achievements, has evolved into a serious endeavor.
The method could one day help people who struggle to breathe through their lungs by delivering oxygen through the rectum.
Now, researchers from Japan have successfully demonstrated safety and tolerability in the first-ever human clinical trial, moving the concept of supplementing super-oxygenated liquid via an enema-like process closer to reality.
Alternative Ways to Delivering Oxygen
The concept isn’t a product of someone’s wild imagination but is actually inspired by nature. Bottom-dwelling loach fish have been observed swallowing air from the surface before traveling to low-oxygen environments. By doing so, they boost the oxygen they receive through their gills by also absorbing it through their guts.
There are also other sources of inspiration for enteral (intestinal) ventilation. The late Leland Clark, a biochemist and professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, designed a liquid capable of holding large amounts of oxygen. Initially intended as a medium applied through veins, eventually became a compound used in clinics for liquid ventilation through the airways instead. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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