Brought to life: "zombies"-bacteria and energy transmission via fiber

Scientists from Russia have found bacteria capable of "revitalizing" soils unsuitable for agriculture, and their American colleagues have created "zombie" microorganisms to produce new medicines. At the same time, soil scientists have discovered a powerful carbon reservoir in the Arctic, paleontologists have discovered an unconventional strategy for incubating dinosaur eggs, and engineers have reduced energy losses during fiber-optic transmission, which will make mines safer and improve the infrastructure of smart cities. The most interesting science and technology news of the past week can be found in the Izvestia article.

Salt lake bacteria will help grow wheat on "dead" soils

Biologists at Ural Federal University have discovered bacterial strains that help plants survive in saline soils unsuitable for agriculture. They were isolated from plant and soil samples from the saline lakes of Kurgan and Atavly (Chelyabinsk and Kurgan regions).

Photo: UrFU/Stepan Dolgov

— Treatment of wheat seeds with strains has shown good results. Salt resistance has increased, oxidative stress has decreased, plant growth has been maintained, the number of primary roots has increased, which expands the absorbent surface and improves the absorption of water and minerals," explained Olga Voropayeva, senior lecturer at the UrFU Department of Experimental Biology and Biotechnology.

Foundations of the world: "constructors" for creating life and "Velcro" for hydrogen

Izvestia has prepared a selection of the most interesting science news for the week

Experiments have shown that bacteria double the germination rate of plants, increasing the length of their roots by 115% and shoots by 55%. The technology can be applied in different ways. For example, you can process seeds before sowing, introduce bacteria into the soil, or spray plants on a leaf.

Transmission of energy via optical fiber will reduce the risk of explosions in mines

The development of scientists from Perm National Research Polytechnic University will help to increase the efficiency of energy transmission in the form of light through optical fiber six to seven times. The idea is based on switching the laser source to a pulsed mode. At the same time, scientists have proposed to regulate the amount of transmitted energy by the length of the pulses.

— Optical fiber is usually connected to the Internet and data transmission. These are glass filaments along which light signals run. By the same principle, it is possible to transmit not only information, but also energy," Alexey Garkushin, researcher at the PNRPU Laboratory of Optoelectronic Monitoring Systems, told Izvestia.

Photo: PNRPU press service

According to him, before, 10-15% of the energy reached the source to the device at best. Moreover, taking into account cable losses, especially over long distances, this figure decreased to 1-7%.

Increasing efficiency will make it possible to apply the technology more widely. For example, in spacecraft, optical fiber will replace copper wires and make construction easier. In mines, it will reduce the risk of explosions due to sparks and short circuits. In the infrastructure of smart cities, it will allow sensors to be powered in hard—to-reach places without laying additional wires.

Arctic sea meadows will mitigate global warming

Scientists at Lomonosov Moscow State University have found that some Arctic ecosystems store 3-5 times more carbon than tropical forests. We are talking about sea meadows (thickets of flowering plants under water) and marshes (tidal flooded grassy lowlands). Moreover, the maximum CO2 reserves are noted in the upper marches far from the sea.

The study will take into account the most carbon-rich territories, which may change the perception of the balance of greenhouse gases on the planet.

Photo: MSU

— A review of publications has revealed gaps in knowledge about carbon storage in soils of coastal ecosystems, especially in the Arctic. This is due to the inaccessibility of the region and the complexity of the research object," said Ilya Bagdasarov, one of the authors of the study, a graduate student at the Faculty of Soil Science at Moscow State University.

The "green" Arctic: how ecosystems of the north are being restored in Russia

Reducing emissions and preserving biodiversity have become the main priorities of oil and steel workers

Unlike forests, where carbon is stored in wood and can be released during fires and deforestation, in the Arctic, in anaerobic and salty conditions, it can persist for thousands of years. Given the importance of the region for the country, the soils of the Arctic coasts of Russia require active study, the scientists stated.

Zombie cells will help synthesize new drugs

Researchers from the J. R. R. Tolkien Institute Craig Venter (JCVI) in the USA has learned how to bring back to life bacterial cells that were considered functionally dead.

First, the scientists destroyed the DNA in the cells of the bacterium Mycoplasma capricolum, and then replaced it with the working genome of a closely related species, Mycoplasma mycoides. As a result, the "zombie" microorganisms began to function again with a new hereditary program.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Lantyukhov

— We take a cell without a genome, and it is functionally dead. But if you add a new genome, the cell comes to life," commented the project leader, the leader of the synthetic biology group, Professor John Glass.

The technology will allow to "rewire" laboratory strains of bacteria, endowing them with new properties. For example, by replacing the cell program, it is possible to force microorganisms to synthesize complex drugs, produce biofuels, or recycle industrial waste.

The dinosaurs used their egg hatching strategy

Experts from the National Museum of Natural Sciences of Taiwan and colleagues from other organizations have experimentally proved for the first time that dinosaurs used a different egg hatching strategy than birds.

Photo: Global Look Press/Marco Destefanis

As an example, scientists used oviraptor, an oviparous dinosaur that lived in Central Asia about 70 million years ago. Researchers have recreated a full-size nest of a fossil animal. Then they installed a realistic dinosaur body model with a heating pad above it, which imitates the warmth of the parent.

Experiments have shown that due to the ring-shaped arrangement of eggs in the nest, the oviraptor could not physically warm them with its body at the same time. The warmth of the Sun was more important for incubation. The presence of a parent helped to smooth out sudden temperature changes. The eggs in the same nest probably hatched at different times, the researchers explained.