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Two genes, two harvests: Adapting barley for double cropping

Growing two crops in succession on the same land requires a tight schedule. In parts of central and eastern China, farmers sow barley in autumn and harvest it in late spring. It is then followed by a summer crop, such as rice. For this cropping sequence to succeed, the barley must mature in time. An early harvest also helps the crop avoid heat and rain toward the end of the growing season.

A research team led by Ping Yang at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, working with researchers at the IPK Leibniz Institute, investigated the genetic changes that enable this adaptation. The team combined historical data spanning eight decades with field trials and molecular genetic studies. IPK researchers contributed genomic analyses and expertise in barley’s genetic diversity and evolutionary history to the international collaboration.

The study examined 505 representative Chinese barley varieties and 27 introduced reference lines. Their genetic data reveal how the genetic makeup of Chinese barley varieties has changed since the 1940s. Introduced varieties, particularly those from Europe, brought valuable yield and quality traits. However, their longer development period poses a challenge for established cropping systems in which barley is followed by another crop.

Chirality of ‘trions’ illuminates new paths for quantum optics

Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have discovered that charged states made of two electrons and a positively charged hole (or vice versa) on atomically thin rolls of carbon atoms have a structure-derived “handedness” in how they interact with light. While electron-hole pairs, or “excitons,” were known to keep the chirality of the underlying nanotube, the team showed that adding a charge to create “trions” does not change this property.

Their work, published in the journal Nature Communications, highlights new ways in which carbon nanotubes might be used in next-gen optoelectronic devices.

Chirality is a fascinating feature of the material world. Whether it be a circular staircase, a wrung towel, double-stranded DNA or pharmaceutical molecules, an object can often have a “handedness” which means that its mirror image can never be matched to the original.

Bones may release proteins that slow aging and extend life span

Bones may not only shape how a body looks, but also how it ages. Researchers investigating the well-known antiaging effects of physical activity have found in mice that bones may be a veritable fountain of youth, dribbling out proteins that slow aging, keep the body healthy, and extend life span.

The rodent results, published last week in Cell Metabolism, show mechanical strain on the skeleton—the pushing, pulling, and twisting that normally happen during exercise and other forms of physical activity—triggers force-sensing bone cells called osteocytes to secrete the antiaging chemicals. Indeed, the research team could extend mouse lives by nearly 3 months—the equivalent of about nine human years—just by gently squeezing their leg bones.

“Bone is not just a passive scaffold; it is an active, mechanically responsive organ that helps set the pace of aging throughout the body,” says Xiaochun Bai, a leader of the study and a bone biologist at Southern Medical University. “For the first time, we demonstrated the role of bone ‘mechanosensing’ in systemic aging.”

Humans evolved through culture more than biology

Our biology is central to our survival. This is the evolutionary story and one we take to apply to all living beings equally. However, biologist, anthropologist, and UN and WWF consultant, Jonathan Loh, argues that humans are special in a fundamental way. In this article, he proposes the radical new idea that the transmission of cultural characteristics is more important for human survival than biological ones. We pass down our cultural traits using language, which allows us to transcend our ancestry and reach beyond our tribes.

The peculiar primate

By any measure, Homo sapiens is an exceptional species. The world’s 8.3 billion humans collectively weigh around 400 million tonnes, while all wild mammals combined make up only about 60 million tonnes. And if we add domesticated animals to our side of the scales, we plus our domesticates outweigh wild mammals by a factor of 17.

Quantum physics can determine a person’s location

Scientists have demonstrated a quantum technique to ensure that someone is in the location they claim to be, physicist Abigail Gookin reported March 18 at the American Physical Society’s Global Physics Summit. Called quantum position verification, the technique is based on the concept of quantum entanglement, in which the fates of two far-flung particles are closely linked.