Stem-cell treatment strengthens people with age-related frailty

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A single dose of stem cells can help older people with frailty build up their endurance. Researchers administered one of four doses of stem cells to 118 people between 70 and 85 years old, all of whom had frailty. In a timed walking test nine months after treatment, those who had received the highest dose could walk about 60 metres farther, on average, than they could before treatment. Those who received stem cells were also more likely to improve on a clinical scale of frailty than those who didn’t.

Nature | 5 min read

Reference: Cell Stem Cell paper

Acetate, a metabolic by-product of the body breaking down alcohol and glucose, can enhance memory in mice — but only in females. Researchers set the animals two object-matching tasks that rely on the dorsal hippocampus, the brain’s memory‑forming region. Female mice that had been given acetate performed better on both tasks than those given a placebo, but the acetate boost made no difference to the performance of males. The team found that acetate altered the expression of genes associated with learning in female mice by modifying the proteins that DNA is wrapped around.

Nature | 4 min read

Reference: Science Signalling paper

Files released last month indicate that some researchers had extensive interactions with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after his 2008 guilty plea. Now, some of these researchers have lost academic titles or responsibilities. For example, Nobel-prize-winning biologist Richard Axel has resigned as co-director of a flagship neuroscience institute at Columbia University. The scandal highlights the lengths people go to for research funding, says university-governance expert William Tierney. He recommends research universities respond to the controversy by publicly reviewing their procedures for accepting any kind of funding.

Nature | 6 min read

Exposure to the fungicide vinclozolin induced changes to gene expression in rats that persisted for at least 20 generations, and increased the chance of offspring having health problems such as kidney disease. Researchers studied epigenetic changes — tweaks to the chemical markers on DNA — caused by exposure to the fungicide. They found that rats with ancestral exposure had higher rates of sperm death and birth complications, including maternal and offspring death, compared with the 12th and earlier generations or non-exposed rats.

Nature | 5 min read

Reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper

Features & opinion

Is music the “universal language of mankind”, in poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s words? And is music uniquely human? We can’t even come up with a universal, objective definition of music, argues musicologist Patrick Savage. “But there does seem to be something special about music that speaks to us regardless of our culture or language.” Singing and playing in near-universal scales and rhythms can bond us together in ways that can’t be expressed in words, he writes.

Nature | 12 min read

Research has shown that pivots — changes between research areas during a person’s career — can boost innovation. But pivoting too early, or too often, might be detrimental to productivity, so the decision to do so shouldn’t be made lightly. A secondment can be a good way of testing the waters, and choosing the right institution is just as important as the right field, say experts who’ve mastered the art of pivoting. Online resources can also help you learn new skills, so don’t feel limited by your current expertise, they say.

Nature | 9 min read

Some countries define the age of majority as 18. Hindu men traditionally enter the vanaprastha, or ‘forest dweller’, stage when their first grandchild is born and they can spend more time in contemplation. And a survey of people around the world found that most think “accepting responsibility for the consequences of your actions” defines ‘being an adult’ more than events such as getting married. Shortly after her own wedding, science journalist Shayla Love explores the historical standardization of life stages and how psychologists are trying to define what adulthood means.

The New Yorker | 16 min read

Reference: Psychological Assessment paper

Today I’m wondering if I could win one of my favourite reality TV shows: The Traitors. The game hinges on contestants’ ability to lie, and spot others who’re lying — two things I’m not very good at. But with tips from psychologists, I might stand a chance. The key is to focus on verbal clues, they say. Liars might make their stories overly emotional to try to win you over, and are more likely to be caught out by contradictory storytelling than shifts in body language.

Now I’m clued up, who knows, maybe you’ll see a certain Briefing editor roaming a castle in the Scottish highlands wearing a cloak one day.

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Jacob Smith, associate editor, Nature Briefing

With contributions by Flora Graham

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