Just 20-25 minutes of daily exercise may offset death risk from prolonged sitting

 

• Around 22 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day can eliminate the increased risk of death associated with a sedentary lifestyle, a new study indicates.
• The more people exercise, the greater their mortality risk decreases.
• The study findings show that daily exercise can be carried out all at once or in exercise “snacks” throughout the day.

A new study suggests that a person can reduce their mortality risk with much less exercise than one might think.

The study finds that just 22 minutes of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) can reduce one’s risk of dying prematurely as a result of a sedentary lifestyle.

The beneficial effects of exercise are, of course, dose-dependent, so the more exercise, the greater a reduction in mortality risk, up to a point.

The study’s authors tracked 11,989 people who participated in several fitness-tracker-based studies: the Norwegian Tromso Study, the Swedish Healthy Aging Initiative, the Norwegian National Physical Activity Survey, and the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

All the people in the studies were at least 50 years old and reported to researchers their weight, height, sex, educational level, alcohol use, smoking, and any incidence of previous cancer, cardiovascular disease, or diabetes.

Of the participants, 5,943 individuals were sitting for less than 10.5 hours every day, while 6,042 individuals sat for 10.5 or more hours daily. The researchers aimed to assess the effect of sedentary time and physical activity on mortality risk, as derived from death registries.

For people exercising less than 22 minutes a day, sitting for more than 12 hours was associated with a 38% increased risk of death compared to sitting for 8 hours.

The World Health Organization (WHO)Trusted Source recommends 150–300 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per week or at least 75 minutes of vigorous exercise, or a combination of both.

The study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The dangers of being sedentary

The study’s first author, Dr. Edvard H. Sagelv, from UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromso, said: “The research field is a little bit divided on how sedentary time is dangerous. I would say, compared with not doing physical activity, sedentary time is not that dangerous.”

“However, previous research indicates that excess sedentary time is increasing the risks of disease and premature death,” he added.

Dr. Tracy L. Zaslow, a primary care sports medicine physician practicing in Los Angeles, California, who was not involved in the study, explained, “To put it simply, when we’re sedentary, we use our muscles less, and it’s use it or lose it.”

“If we’re not using our legs and our core muscles, they’re going to become weaker, and then we’re less likely to want to be active because it’s harder to walk a little further,” she added.

This also increases the risk of falling, at which point we may acquire injuries that make us even more reluctant to be physically active.

“Remember, the heart is a muscle,” cautioned Dr. Zaslow.

She noted that the less we engage in activity, the weaker the heart muscle becomes, so physical activity becomes even more challenging because it becomes necessary to recondition the heart. Being sedentary has been associated with cardiometabolic disease, said Dr. Zaslow.

Health benefits of being active

While the study focuses on older people, said Dr. Melody Ding, also not involved in the study, “Physical activity is known to offer a range of benefits, such as mental health, cardiometabolic profiles, and cognitive functions.”

“There are good reasons to be active across the lifespan,” said Dr. Ding.

Dr. Zaslow pointed out that even children need to build and strengthen muscles by exercising and that doing so sets them up for a lifetime of physical activity.

In addition, mental health, including a reduction in anxiety and depression, is associated with being active. Given the widely reported mental health crisis among young people, said Dr. Zaslow, this is yet another important benefit.

Exercise also promotes better sleep, she suggested, facilitating falling asleep more quickly and achieving deeper sleep. “We know that when we sleep better, we have fewer injuries. So, by sleeping more than eight hours, studies have shown that kids have 50% less injuries.”

“I kind of look at exercise and having the regularity of exercise as being like an upward spiral,” Dr. Zaslow said.

22 minutes a day, 154 minutes a week

Dr. Sagelv pointed out that the study’s 22 minutes of physical activity a day adds up to the 150 minutes prescribed by the WHO.

“Our study found that Individuals doing more than 22 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day had no increased risk of death with more sedentary time. This contradicts the WHO recommendation to exceed 150-300 minutes of MVPA per week when dealing with unavoidable high sedentary time,” he said.

As to exceeding 22 minutes a day, Dr. Sagelv noted:

“That is a beautiful part. There appears to be no upper limit at which it does not provide any health benefits. However, at the higher ends, about 60-120 min per day, the risk reduction appears to level off a bit, especially for those being highly sedentary.”

People do not need to complete 22 minutes of activity all at once each day, either, according to Dr. Zaslow and previous research. “Exercise snacking” involves taking 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there, and may be easier for some to integrate into their busy lives.

“From the public health [perspective], it is important to remember that doing any MVPA is better than doing none. Even if one cannot achieve the target, it is better to do a little more,” said Dr. Ding.

Source - Medical News Today

8 heart-healthy habits may slow biological aging by up to 6 years, researchers say

 

• A new study shows having good cardiovascular health may decrease the pace of biological aging.
• Using Life’s Essential 8 (diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep health, BMI, cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure) to measure biological age, researchers discovered those who had the highest score had a biological age that was on average six years younger than their actual age.
• Aiming to maintain a high Essential 8 score may not only lower your biological age but will boost your overall health.

According to a new studyTrusted Source, having good cardiovascular health may slow the rate of biological aging, which can lengthen life and lower the risk of heart issues and age-related health conditions. These findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2023Trusted Source.

To explore the connection between cardiovascular health and biological aging, researchers used the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 checklistTrusted Source and measured phenotypic age — determined by your chronological age and biomarkers including:

• metabolism
• inflammation
• organ function

The higher your phenotypic age, the faster you are biologically aging.

Results showed that participants with good cardiovascular health had a negative phenotypic age acceleration. In other words, they had a younger biological age (the health of their cells) compared to their chronological age (the number of years they have lived).

Conversely, participants with poor cardiovascular health had a positive phenotypic age acceleration, indicating they had an older biological age than their actual age.

The average chronological age of people with good cardiovascular health was 41, and their average biological age was 36. On the other hand, the average chronological age of those who had poor cardiovascular health was 53, and their average biological age was 57.

When researchers looked at participants’ Life’s Essential 8 score (diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep health, BMI, cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure), they found those who had the highest score had a biological age on average six years younger than their chronological age.

The new research has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Heart health linked to biological aging

A person’s chronological age is when someone was born. Biological age is measured by how old your cells are and how your body functions.

“Biological age takes into account chronological age, genetics, lifestyle, other diseases, and other health things, such as nutrition,” said Dr. Joyce Oen-Hsiao, assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine and Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation Services, Yale New Haven Hospital Heart & Vascular Center, who was not involved in the study.

“A person’s biological age depends on the damage that the body accumulates over time, related to illnesses and lifestyle,” Dr. Oen-Hsiao added.

For example, if a 30-year-old male doesn’t exercise, eats a high fat fast food diet, and smokes, his biological age will be older than 30, Oen-Hsiao explained.

“However, patients who have a healthy lifestyle monitoring their health, exercising regularly, maintaining a good weight, and eating a heart-healthy diet, can have a biological age younger than their chronological age.

The connection between cardiovascular health and slow biological aging is thus related. So patients who have a healthy lifestyle and thus improved cardiovascular health will have a lower biological age…or their body’s aging process will be slower than those people who do not have a healthy lifestyle.”

– Dr. Joyce Oen-Hsiao

 How does ‘Life’s Essential 8’ slow biological aging?

The Essential 8 hits on every good lifestyle modification a person can do to improve their health, according to Oen-Hsiao. These include:

1) Diet: Eating a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and lean meats and avoiding trans-fat, fried foods, and sugary foods can help to lose weight, reduce oxidization, lower cholesterol, and prevent diabetes. All of these will help reduce biological age.

2) Activity: Being more activeTrusted Source. AHA recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity weekly.

Moderate aerobic activity includes activities such as walking, jogging, biking, water aerobics, or social dancing.

Vigorous aerobic activity includes running, spinning, swimming laps, or jumping rope. Exercise can reduce blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol. It can also help people lose weight. All of these benefits can help to reduce biological age.

3) Quit tobacco: Smoking cigarettes, vaping, or using e-cigarettes have negative effects on the body, which include higher blood pressure, damage to the blood vessels (because of the toxins), and shortness of breath (due to changes in the lungs which can reduce oxygen exchange).

People who quit smoking can reduce their risk of coronary heart disease by half within a year of quitting. All of the negative effects of smoking lead to increased biological age. By quitting, a person can slow down the biological aging process.

4) Get healthy sleep: People who do not sleep well tend to have higher blood pressure, higher cholesterol, higher sugars, and lower metabolism. These effects can lead to increased weight and obesity. By getting at least 7-9 hours of good sleepTrusted Source, people can improve their cardiovascular health, which slows down biological aging.

5) BMI/weight: Many factors lead to overweight or obesity. Genetics definitely plays a role. However, lifestyle plays a larger role. Eating the wrong foods and a sedentary lifestyle all lead to weight gain.

The increased weight leads to strain on the heart, joint tissues, and other diseases, such as diabetes. These negative effects will accelerate biological aging. To combat this, people should control portions, choose healthy food options, and get active/exercise. Reducing weight to a normal BMI will slow down the biological age.

6) Cholesterol: High cholesterol usually leads to increased cardiovascular inflammation, which can cause increased plaque deposition in the heart arteries. This inflammation and plaque can increase the risk of stroke and heart attack.

Cholesterol comes from two sources: what your body makes (genetic) and what you eat. People cannot change their genetics, but they can change their eating habits. By making healthier choices with foods (specifically to reduce saturated fats and carbohydrates and to eat more vegetables and leaner meats), cholesterol levels can be reduced, decreasing the risk of plaque forming and cardiac inflammation. This will slow down the biological age.

7) Blood sugar: Elevated blood sugar will lead to diabetes. When people have elevated blood sugars, there can be damage to the arteries in the heart, brain, eyes, and kidneys. This leads to the acceleration of atherosclerosis, leading to earlier heart attack and stroke.

Uncontrolled sugars will accelerate a person’s biological age. By reducing blood sugars, the biological age can also slow down. People should avoid eating refined sugars, carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice), and sugary drinks. Exercising will also help to lower blood sugars by “burning off” the excess blood sugars that are circulating.

8) Blood pressure: High blood pressure can strain the cardiovascular system — not only the arteries but also the heart.

Uncontrolled blood pressure can lead to heart failure, stroke, and heart attacks. This strain on the cardiovascular system will accelerate the biological age. Controlling blood pressure can be done with increased activity and heart-healthy eating, especially reducing salt intake.

Healthy lifestyle habits can help you live longer

Along with slowing down biological aging, adhering to the Essential 8 can improve overall health in many ways.

Dr. John Higgins, a cardiologist with UTHealth Houston, not involved in the study, explained that improving your endothelial (vascular) function affects multiple organ systems in a positive way:

Reduces your risk factors:

• Better blood pressure
• Better cholesterol
• Better blood sugar
• Less smoking

Improves organ function:

• Better kidney function
• Better blood flow to the heart, brain, limbs, and muscles — better aerobic exercise capacity
• Better bone & muscle health, so less likely to fall/fracture
• Better blood flow to the skin helps skin health and reduces sunburn and skin cancers

“Eating a heart-healthy diet, exercising, getting good sleep, and not smoking can lead to a reduction in blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure. All of these things will lead to reduced weight, which allows people to be more active,” said Oen-Hsiao.

“Keeping an active lifestyle is not only good for the heart, but also the bones/joints. People will have fewer joint issues/muscle aches if they are active consistently daily. Weight loss will take the strain off the joints as well, which will allow for even more activity,” Dr. Oen-Hsiao added.

Lastly, maintaining an exercise routine (you can start at any age) and staying active will help with mood (people who exercise regularly have less depression) and improve the mind (there is less risk of dementia with controlled blood pressure and regular exercise).

Source - Medical News Today

Why women in the U.S. now have a life expectancy nearly 6 years longer than men

• An analysis of data shows that the life expectancy gap between men and women has widened to nearly 6 years, from a low of 4.8 years in 2010.
• Researchers said the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the gap and also caused overall life expectancy to fall by 2.5 years.
• A number of factors are also likely contributors, including socioeconomic status, risky behaviors, and the fact that men are more likely to die from COVID-19.
• Researchers pointed to crises such as overdose deaths, homicide, and suicide as causes for concern.

It’s common knowledge that women tend to live longer than men, but according to new data from the National Center for Health StatisticsTrusted Source, this gap has widened significantly since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

An analysisTrusted Source submitted this week to the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine shows that women in the United States now live an average of 5.8 years longer than men, marking the biggest gap between men and women since 1996.

For comparison, the gap reached a low of 4.8 years in 2010.

Experts interviewed by Medical News Today say that while the pandemic may have exacerbated the life expectancy gap, there are many other reasons why women typically live longer than men.

Longevity affected by multiple epidemics

The widening age gap is just one demographic trend affected by the pandemic.

The study authors also noted that overall life expectancy has fallen by more 2 years on average since 2021.

“We expected to see life expectancy worsen due to the opioid epidemic because life expectancy had previously fallen in the U.S. for this reason from 2015 to 2017,” said Dr. Brandon Yan, a study author and resident physician at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine and a research collaborator at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “But then overall life expectancy started to improve again in 2018 and 2019.”

The COVID-19 pandemic struck immediately after this rise in life expectancy, which predictably caused life expectancy to lower once again.

Yan told Medical News Today that while this drop was expected, he and his colleagues were surprised by the disparity between men and women.

“We were also very concerned to see drug overdose deaths continue to rise and increasingly so for men over the course of the pandemic,” he said.

Yan noted that the life expectancy gap grew for much of the 20th century primarily due to the fact that men were more likely than women to be smokers. This time around, however, the explanation isn’t as straightforward.

“The cause of the widening disparity is multifactorial, which is to say we are dealing with multiple epidemics at once – COVID-19, drug overdose, and mental illness,” he said.

Why the life expectancy gap is a concern

There isn’t a single answer that explains conclusively why women outlive men, but a multitude of factors help shed some light on the disparity.

Dr. David Cutler, a family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in California, told Medical News Today that while some of the effect is biological, much of it is behavioral.

“While the biological factors like estrogen, the female immune system, and other genetic factors cannot be easily adapted by men, many of the behavior differences could add years to the lives of men,” said Cutler, who was not involved in the study.

Cutler pointed out that, in general, men are more likely to engage in risky behaviors such as smoking, excessive drinking, and participating in dangerous sports or occupations.

To add to this, men are less likely to seek medical intervention.

“Women are generally more likely to engage in health-seeking behaviors,” Cutler explained. “They often visit healthcare professionals regularly, adhere to medical advice, and participate in preventive healthcare measures. This proactive approach to health may contribute to early detection of diseases and better management of health conditions to avoid premature illness and death.”

The impact of COVID-19 on life expectancy

One of the simplest reasons for the widening life expectancy gap since the pandemic is, on the surface, pretty straightforward: men were more likelyTrusted Source to die from COVID-19.

“It is unclear the extent to which this was due to immunologic differences, vaccination rates, mask wearing, environmental exposure, or underlying medical conditions,” said Cutler. “But certainly, taking additional measures to avoid COVID infection and serious illness would narrow the gap.”

But understanding why men are more likely than women to die from COVID-19 is a little more complicated.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly brought attention to the existing health inequities in our society,” explained Dr. Kelvin Fernandez, a resident physician at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in New Jersey who was not involved in the study. “I’ve observed that men’s health often takes a backseat due to societal pressures and perceptions.”

Socioeconomic status plays a major role with health in general and this was especially true during the peaks of the pandemic.

“It’s important to consider the role played by social determinants of health, such as income, educations, and occupation. Lower socioeconomic status is often associated with limited access to quality healthcare services, leading to reduced life expectancy,” Fernandez told  “This is evident in the higher mortality rates among men working in physically demanding jobs with limited healthcare access. These pandemic-related stresses may have further impacted the already expanding life expectancy gap between men and women.”

It’s important for men and women to stay healthy

It’s important to point out that while demographic trends can be helpful, they’re too broad to be applied to every individual person. In other words, the fact that women overall live longer than men is no guarantee that a specific woman will outlive a specific man.

“Societal changes and evolving gender roles may influence these behavioral patterns over time,” said Cutler. “Additionally, individual variations are significant, and not all men or women conform to these general trends. The complex interplay of biology, physiology, and social factors contributes to the observed differences in life expectancy between men and women.”

Yan concluded by underlining the importance of staying healthy.

“Stay up to date on vaccinations, eat a healthy diet, and find small ways to remain active in your daily activities, which doesn’t necessarily require a gym membership,” he advised. “Make the effort to maintain relationships and social connections with others, because research shows this is associated with longevity.”

Source - Medical News Today

In Conversation: Why exercise is key to living a long and healthy life

 What should we do in order to live healthier lives for longer? Research shows there are a few lifestyle interventions that can effectively prolong our life and health span. One of these is exercise, but what kind, and in what combinations, and why does it help add years to our lives? Find out in our latest podcast episode.

Seemingly since times immemorial, humankind has been, metaphorically speaking, seeking the path that leads to the “Fountain of Youth” — that is ways to ensure a longer, healthier life.

And while we may not yet benefit of any “miracle” medicines or technologies to prolong our life spans well over the hundred-year mark, many recent studies have provided strong evidence in support of the notion that simple, achievable lifestyle changes can help us stay healthy for longer and decrease our risk of premature death.

Research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2023Trusted Source, for example, suggested that eight healthy habits can slow down biological aging by as much as 6 years.

These habits are related to diet, maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding tobacco, maintaining good sleep hygiene, managing cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure, and, no less importantly, staying physically active.

In the latest instalment of our In Conversation podcast, Medical News Today explores the link between exercise and living a long and healthy life, in dialogue with Dr. Borja del Pozo Cruz and Dr. Edwina (Eddie) Brocklesby.

Dr. del Pozo Cruz is principal researcher in Applied Health Sciences at the University of Cadiz in Spain, and adjunct associate professor in the Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics at the University of Southern Denmark.

In collaboration with other researchers, Dr. del Pozo Cruz has conducted various studies exploring the link between different forms of exercise and the risk of death from different causes.

Dr. Brocklesby has gained fame under the nickname “Iron Gran,” as at the age of 72, she was the oldest British woman to complete an Ironman Triathlon. She is also founder and CEO of Silverfit, a not-for-profit organization promoting lifelong fitness.

What types of exercise lower death risk?

In a study published in JAMA Internal MedicineTrusted Source in August 2023, Dr. del Pozo Cruz and his colleagues analyzed data from 500,705 participants followed up for a median period of 10 years to see how different forms of exercise related to a person’s mortality risk.

The study looked at the effect of moderate aerobic physical activity, such as walking or gentle cycling, vigorous aerobic physical activity, such as running, and muscle-strengthening activity, like weight lifting.

Its findings indicated that a balanced combination of all of these forms of exercise worked best for reducing mortality risk.

More specifically, around 75 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise, plus more than 150 minutes of vigorous exercise, alongside at least a couple of strength training sessions per week were associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality.

When it came to reducing the risk of death linked to cardiovascular disease specifically, Dr. del Pozo Cruz and his collaborators suggested combining a minimum of 150–225 minutes of moderate physical activity with around 75 minutes of vigorous exercise, and two or more strength training sessions per week.

Dr. Brocklesby, who goes by “Eddie,” is herself an example of the importance of combining different forms of exercise. Indeed, training and participating in a triathlon — which is an endurance multisport race where participants compete in swimming, cycling, and running — involves achieving a balanced “diet” of moderate and vigorous exercise, as well as strength training.

How little exercise is enough?

But what about people who are not nearly as athletic? What is the minimum “amount” of exercise that could help fend off some of the conditions that pose the highest threat to health?

Dr. del Pozo Cruz and his team may also have found an answer to this question. In December 2022, they published the findings to a previous study in the European Heart Journal.

This research suggested that engaging in vigorous exercise for only 2 minutes a day could help slash the risk of death related to cancer or cardiovascular events.

The researchers found that study participants who never engaged in vigorous exercise had a 4% risk of dying within 5 years, but introducing less than 10 minutes of vigorous activity weekly halved this risk. Moreover, their risk of death halved again for those who engaged in at least 60 minutes of exercise per week.

Is any physical activity good?

In our podcast, Dr. del Pozo Cruz emphasized that almost any amount of any form of exercise is better than none, a point reinforced by a new study arguing that any activity at all is better for heart health than a sedentary lifestyle.

However, he also cautioned that physical activity related to chores or to one’s job, as opposed to exercise in a leisure context, may sometimes do more harm than good.

Once again, his idea is supported by recently published research, which found a link between physically demanding occupations and a higher risk of cognitive impairment.

Some of the most common occupations linked to intensive physical activity cited in this research were in nursing and care, retail, and farming, where individuals are on their feet a lot, and often having to deal with stressful situations.

So while all forms of exercise can be good for health, strenuous or intensive physical activity in a work environment could end up compounding the risk of various health conditions.

And even exercise for leisure can affect aspects of physical health — such as joint integrity — particularly later in life. In our podcast, both Dr. del Pozo Cruz and Eddie emphasized the importance of consulting a trusted healthcare provider, who can advise on the best forms of exercise to engage in on an individual basis.

To find out more about how and why different forms of exercise can support longevity, and to hear the story of how Edwina became “Iron Gran,” listen to our podcast episode in full below or on your preferred streaming platform.

Source - Medical News Today

Researchers engineer colloidal quasicrystals using DNA-modified building blocks

 A team of researchers from the Mirkin Group at Northwestern University's International Institute for Nanotechnology in collaboration with the University of Michigan and the Center for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials- CIC biomaGUNE, unveils a novel methodology to engineer colloidal quasicrystals using DNA-modified building blocks. Their study will be published in the journal Nature Materials.

Characterized by ordered yet non-repeating patterns, quasicrystals have long perplexed scientists. "The existence of quasicrystals has been a puzzle for decades and their discovery appropriately was awarded with a Nobel Prize," said Chad Mirkin, the study's lead researcher. "Although there are now several known examples, discovered in nature or through serendipitous routes, our research demystifies their formation and more importantly shows how we can harness the programmable nature of DNA to design and assemble quasicrystals deliberately."

The focal point of the study was the assembly of decahedral nanoparticles (NPs) -- particles with ten sides -- utilizing DNA as a guiding scaffold. Through a combination of computer simulations and meticulous experiments, the team unearthed a remarkable discovery: these decahedral NPs can be orchestrated to form quasicrystalline structures with intriguing five- and six-coordinated motifs, ultimately culminating in the creation of a dodecagonal quasicrystal (DDQC).

"Decahedral nanoparticles possess a distinctive five-fold symmetry that challenges the conventional periodic tiling norms," Mirkin said. "By leveraging the programmable capabilities of DNA, we were able to direct the assembly of these nanoparticles into a robust quasicrystalline structure."

The researchers functionalized decahedral gold nanoparticles with short, double-stranded DNA, and implemented a precisely controlled cooling process to facilitate the assembly. The resultant quasicrystalline superlattices exhibited medium-range quasiperiodic order, with rigorous structural analyses confirming the presence of twelve-fold symmetry and a distinctive triangle-square tiling pattern, hallmark features of a DDQC.

"Interestingly, the simulations discovered that, unlike most axial quasicrystals, the tiling pattern of the layers in the decahedron quasicrystal do not repeat identically from one layer to the next. Instead, a significant percentage of the tiles are different, in a random way. This randomness produces a disorder that helps to stabilize the crystal," said Sharon Glotzer, co-corresponding author of the study and chair of the department of chemical engineering at the University of Michigan.

The implications of this breakthrough are far-reaching, offering a potential blueprint for the controlled synthesis of other complex structures previously considered beyond reach. As the scientific community delves into the boundless prospects of programmable matter, this research paves the way for transformative advancements and applications in diverse scientific domains.

"Through the successful engineering of colloidal quasicrystals, we have achieved a significant milestone in the realm of nanoscience. Our work not only sheds light on the design and creation of intricate nanoscale structures but also opens a world of possibilities for advanced materials and innovative nanotechnology applications," said Luis Liz-Marzán, a senior coauthor of the study from CIC biomaGUNE.

Liz-Marzán and Glotzer, are co-authors of the paper.

Founded in 2000 as an umbrella organization to coalesce and foster nanotechnology efforts, the IIN represents and unites more than $1 billion in nanotechnology research, educational programs, and supporting infrastructure.

Source: ScienceDaily

New research exposes early humans' ecological versatility

 A recent study by University of Helsinki researchers sheds new light on the ecological adaptability of early humans at the time when they first expanded their range outside Africa, 2-1 million years ago.

The origins of human genus have long been associated with savannah and grassland environments of Africa. Due to this association, it was thought that the first human dispersal into Eurasia followed grassy corridors leading from Africa to Asia and to Europe. This link between humans and savannah-grasslands has been considered so strong that it delayed the appearance of early humans in Europe compared to Asia, as open grassy environments appeared in Europe later than in Asia. According to this view, early humans were ecologically clearly less versatile than our own species, Homo sapiens, as we have colonized almost all terrestrial environments on the planet.

"But that's clearly not the whole story" Says the lead author Tegan Foister, a doctoral researcher in the Hominin Ecology group at the University of Helsinki. "Because we knew of some studies suggesting that early humans were living in environments other than savannah-grassland, we thought that it would be interesting to do a more systematic investigation on the environments humans are known to have occupied during this crucial time period."

The research published in Evolutionary Anthropology is a systematic review of 121 previously published reconstructions of early human habitats and it revealed that humans, when dispersing out of Africa for the first time, started to occupy a diverse set of environments from grasslands to forests.

"We have long associated early humans with savannah-like environments outside of the African continent. However, when the research published over the past two decades is considered together, it shows humans inhabiting diverse environments early in the evolution of the genus Homo. Already one million years ago humans in Europe were occupying fully forested environments." Foister continues.

Although the analysis shows that grasslands and savannahs were important components of early human habitats, it places humans into a wide spectrum of environments, and in many cases environments with varied vegetation composition. This suggests that commonly held believes about early humans are not entirely correct: Humans did not have that strict requirements for their habitats and they seem to have been ecologically more versatile than previously assumed.

The study also indicated regional differences in human habitat characteristics. The grasslands and savannahs show the highest prevalence among African habitats, whereas forested habitats were more prominent in Eurasia making the range of different habitats wider in Eurasia. This suggests a possibility that the first human range expansion into Eurasia was accompanied and potentially even enabled by the expansion of human ecological niche.

The research is part of University of Helsinki and Kone Foundation funded project that investigates the evolution of the human niche over the past 2 million years. Although the present study focuses on the early humans, its findings are important also to the understanding of the origins of uniquely wide niche of our own species Homo sapiens. Co-author Miikka Tallavaara, leader of the project and the Hominin Ecology group, says: "The ability of Homo sapiens to occupy most of the terrestrial ecosystems has enabled our ecological dominance and triggered the current biodiversity crisis. Our finding that human species in the Early Pleistocene were also able to thrive in multiple environment types provides an exciting target for future research into the evolutionary origins of the human plasticity and ecological success."

Source: ScienceDaily

Vigorous exercise, rigorous science: What scientists learned from firefighters in training

 The 11 young firefighters went through a rigorous training exercise, carrying up to 40 pounds of gear over hilly terrain during a 45-minute training exercise in the California sun. Gloves, helmets, flashlights, goggles, and more weighted them down as they sprinted through the countryside wearing fire-resistant clothing to show they were ready to serve as wildland firefighters.

When the training was over, they immediately went to the medical tent -- not to rest and recover but to give samples of their blood, saliva, and urine for analysis by a team of scientists equipped with needles, test tubes, cold packs, and the gear of their own trade.

Then, the scientists from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) analyzed more than 4,700 molecules -- proteins, lipids, and metabolites -- from each of the firefighters, looking to understand what happens when the body undergoes intense physical exercise. Measuring and interpreting the data from thousands of such measurements is a specialty of PNNL scientists who explore issues related to climate science and human health by analyzing millions of sensitive measurements using mass spectrometry each year.

For this study, the intent was to increase safety for first responders and others.

"Heat stress can be life threatening," said Kristin Burnum-Johnson, a corresponding author of the study. "We wanted to take an in-depth look at what's happening in the body and see if we're able to detect danger from exhaustion in its earliest stages. Perhaps we can reduce the risk of strenuous exercise for first responders, athletes, and members of the military."

As expected, the team detected hundreds of molecular changes in the firefighters. The differences before and after exercise underscored the body's efforts at tissue damage and repair, maintenance of fluid balance, efforts to keep up with increased energy and oxygen demand, and the body's attempts to repair and regenerate its proteins and other important substances.

But in the saliva, the team found some unexpected results. There was a change in the microbial mix of the mouth -- the oral microbiome -- showing that the body was increasingly on the lookout for bacterial invaders. Scientists also saw a decrease in signaling molecules important for inflammation and for fighting off viral infections.

Source: ScienceDaily