A coronal mass ejection from the sun is expected to trigger a G3 geomagnetic storm, causing the northern lights.

Adrenergic receptors (ARs) are preferentially expressed by innate lymphocytes such as natural killer (NK) cells.

Here, we study the effect of epinephrine-mediated stimulation of the β2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR) on the function of human NK cells.

β2-Adrenergic receptor stimulation inhibits NK cell activation. (A) β2-Adrenergic receptor expression analysis of PBMCs by flow cytometry (n = 8). Subsets were assigned according to the following markers: B cells (CD19⁺), NK cells (CD56⁺, CD3⁻), CD56 dim (CD56dim, CD3⁻), CD56 bright (CD56bright, CD3⁻), NK-T cells (CD56⁺, CD3⁺), T cells (CD3⁺), and monocytes (FSC/SSC). (B) Representative β2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR) expression histograms of freshly isolated or cultured NK cells. © IFNγ secretion of fresh NK cells (top) or cultured NK cells (bottom). NK cells were pretreated with epinephrine ± propranolol (each 1 µM) and stimulated for 5 h by plate-bound antibodies as indicated. Supernatant was analyzed by IFNγ ELISA (mean, n = 3). (D) Degranulation of fresh NK cells (top) or cultured NK cells (bottom) was analyzed by CD107a expression. NK cells were pretreated and stimulated (3 h) like in ©, (mean, n = 3). Statistical analysis in © and (D) was performed using two-way ANOVA test, **** p < 0.0001; *** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; control set to 100%).

I refer to it as sculpting with light.

Three new papers refute claims for the assembly theory of molecular complexity being claimed as a new “theory of everything.”

Sci. Adv. 10, eadp5805 (2024). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adp5805

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Scientists just released the first comprehensive survey of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, the most dangerous earthquake-producing fault in the US.

Their research is published in the Journal of Lightwave Technology.

“We tackled the persistent issue of balancing spatial resolution and measurement range in our original fiber-optic distributed strain sensing technique called BOCDR,” said Associate Professor Yosuke Mizuno of Yokohama National University. “Our purpose was to develop a more efficient system that overcomes this trade-off without relying on complex components like variable delay lines.”

The conventional BOCDR technique offers advantages such as operation with light injection from one end of the sensing fiber, relatively high spatial resolution, and random-access capability to sensing points. However, it also faces trade-offs between spatial resolution and measurement range. Previous efforts to mitigate this issue have included special schemes, such as temporal gating, double modulation, and chirp modulation.

Viruses called phages hold enormous promise as a way to fight infection, but don’t expect to see them in the clinic soon.

Researchers have recently observed a fascinating effect in the behavior of twisted light when it reflects off surfaces.

Everyday experience tells us that light reflected from a perfectly flat mirror will give us the correct image without any deformation. Interestingly, this is not the case when the light field itself is structured in a complex way. Tiny deformations appear.