Chinese people are talking about a national birth rate of 6.4 per 1,000 people in 2023, the lowest in the world. Whether this is related to the wrong use of various artificial night light rays passing through our eyes is worth reflection. Non-visual effects of light are the effects of the blue component of light, which effectively inhibits the melatonin secretion in the pineal gland. As melatonin acts through high-affinity receptors located centrally and in all organs, blue light affects, in principle, the hormone secretion throughout the body, including the secretion of sex hormones and cortisol. These effects have been widely used in animal reproduction. Given that the night light environment has significantly changed over the past century, an effect of light on fertility and behavior could be detected in multiple cases. We showed that the ovulation phase of hens could be shifted by the light as low as 0.2 Lx, which corresponds to the illumination intensity at full moon,and the effect of 0.2 Lx on ovulation is normally far greater than all other factors combined. Two rounds of experiments and many other facts listed support that human intrinsic fertility may have not declined sig
Known physical mechanisms of temperature dependence anomalies of water properties were used to explain the regularities in temperature dependence (TDs) of dynamic, electrical and optical characteristics of biological systems. The dynamics of hydrogen bonds in bulk and hydrated water affected the activation energies TDs of ion currents of voltage-dependent channels that regulate signaling and trophic bonds in the neuropil of the cortical parenchyma. The physics of minimizing the TD of the isobaric heat capacity of water made it possible to explain the stabilization and functional optimization of the thermodynamics of eyeball fluids at 34.5 C and the human brain during sleep at 36.5 C. At these temperatures, the thermoreceptors of the cornea and the cells of the ganglionic layer of the retina, through connections with the suprachiasmatic nucleus and the pineal gland, switch the circadian rhythm from daytime to nighttime. The phylogenesis of the circadian rhythm was reflected in the dependence of the duration of the nighttime sleep of mammals on the diameter of the eyeball and the mass of the pineal gland. The activity of all the nerves of the eyeball led to the division of the noctur
Although RNA-Seq data provide unprecedented isoform-level expression information, detection of alternative isoform regulation (AIR) remains difficult, particularly when working with an incomplete transcript annotation. We introduce JunctionSeq, a new method that builds on the statistical techniques used by the well-established DEXSeq package to detect differential usage of both exonic regions and splice junctions. In particular, JunctionSeq is capable of detecting differentials in novel splice junctions without the need for an additional isoform assembly step, greatly improving performance when the available transcript annotation is flawed or incomplete. JunctionSeq also provides a powerful and streamlined visualization toolset that allows bioinformaticians to quickly and intuitively interpret their results. We tested our method on publicly available data from several experiments performed on the rat pineal gland and Toxoplasma gondii, successfully detecting known and previously validated AIR genes in 19 out of 19 gene-level hypothesis tests. Due to its ability to query novel splice sites, JunctionSeq is still able to detect these differentials even when all alternative isoforms fo
A strange "chirping" signal from a distant supernova has revealed the birth of a magnetar, confirming that these incredibly magnetic neutron stars can power the universe's brightest stellar explosions。 The discovery also marks the first time Einstein's general relativity has been used to explain the mechanics of a supernova
Hippocampus was by multisynaptic axonal tracts linked to medial habenula in my DTI study. These tracts linked hippocampus to septum, and amygdala to BNST. Septal and BNST axons passed by anteromedial thalamic nucleus to MHb, which projected to pineal gland. Question is what is the MHb doing and why it receives information from hippocampus via septum? This study explores the MHb connectivity, predicts its functional role and how it is linked to memory. Combination of known findings about the septum and MHb connectivity and function led to this circuit-based idea that posterior septum activates MHb, MHb activates IPN,and IPN stimulates MRN and its serotonin release. Proposed idea is that this MHb-IPN-MRN circuit promotes slow wave sleep (SWS), high serotonin and low acetylcholine state. My prediction is that this SWS-promoting circuit reciprocally suppresses the theta oscillations promoting circuit, linked to high acetylcholine levels in brain, and formed by supramamillary area projections to the medial septum (MS) that induces theta rhythm in hippocampus and other theta-coupled regions. The MHb-IPN-MRN pathway likely inhibits, possibly reciprocally,some regions that have stimulating
Its issues with current nuclear safety standards are termed semantic, not physical
A centimeter-sized crystal has revealed clear signs of quantum entanglement, showing that large, everyday objects can display surprisingly deep quantum behavior。 The discovery could help solve the mystery of strange metals while opening new possibilities for ultra-precise quantum sensors and other advanced technologies
A colossal ancient collision may have left some of the Moon’s deepest secrets surprisingly close to future Artemis landing sites。 By recreating the impact that formed the giant South Pole-Aitken basin—the Moon’s largest and oldest crater—scientists found that a low-angle strike from a large, iron-cored object blasted material from deep inside the M
Two newly confirmed "super-puff" planets are so diffuse that they are less dense than cotton candy, despite being about the size of Jupiter。 Their rare orbital relationship and enormous, lightweight atmospheres could provide valuable clues about how some of the strangest planets in the galaxy come to exist
Researchers found that a Chinese sodium-ion battery performs far better than expected, with production quality and design features comparable to Tesla’s batteries。 If engineers can improve cold-weather charging and energy density, sodium could become a cheaper and more abundant alternative to lithium for EVs and large-scale energy storage
Engineers at a deep underground research facility noticed something strange during major rainstorms: airflow underground sometimes reversed direction。 Using new sensors and mathematical modeling, they found that water rushing down a shaft was effectively pushing air through the tunnels like a giant piston。 The breakthrough explains a long-standing
A new sunlight-powered material can convert visible light into higher-energy UV light, overcoming a challenge that has frustrated scientists for years。 The breakthrough could enable cleaner air purification, solar-driven chemistry, and advanced manufacturing technologies using nothing more than natural sunlight
A major breakthrough in quantum technology has turned magnons, tiny magnetic waves once considered too short-lived for practical use, into promising carriers of quantum information。 Researchers extended their lifetime by nearly 100 times, reaching up to 18 microseconds, and discovered that the main limitation is not a law of physics but the purity
What if consciousness isn’t limited to brains like ours。 Philosophers Eric Schwitzgebel and Jeremy Pober argue that consciousness could arise in many different forms of life, even in beings built from radically different materials than those found on Earth。 Drawing on the vastness of the universe and the likely existence of countless alien civiliza
A decades-old puzzle about water has finally been unraveled。 Researchers found that water trapped in tiny nanoscale spaces is not inherently more reactive。 Instead, the intense pressures created inside these microscopic gaps explain most of the effect, while the surrounding material can further enhance water's chemistry if it interacts with the rea
Physicists have developed a new optical centrifuge that can precisely spin molecules inside a superfluid for the first time。 The advance could help unravel some of the biggest mysteries of quantum liquids and reveal how superfluidity breaks down at the atomic scale