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Paralvinella hessleri accumulates microscopic particles of arsenic on its outer skin, which reacts with sulfide to form a microscopic armour of yellow orpiment.Credit: Wang et al./PLoS Biol (CC BY 4.0)
A worm that lives around hydrothermal vents on the floor of the Pacific Ocean creates a toxic yellow pigment found in Rembrandt and Cézanne paintings. Paralvinella hessleri is the first known animal to create orpiment, which was used by artists for centuries. The biomineral is formed when the toxic arsenic and sulfide compounds in the creature’s environment react in its skin cells. Orpiment is still toxic, but much less so than either of its precursors alone, so the worm can tolerate it.
Reference: PLOS Biology paper
Beer drinkers fall into two distinct categories: those who prefer strong flavour chemicals, such as the one associated with strawberries, and those who prefer mellow ones, such as that linked to pineapple. More than 100 self-proclaimed beer enthusiasts who tasted 18 lagers with a similar bitterness split into two factions with “polar opposite” responses, said food scientist Devin Peterson, who presented the results at the American Chemical Society meeting. The findings open up brewers’ “ability to tailor these products better for these different cohorts”, Peterson told Nature.
Posts about research on the nascent social network Bluesky receive substantially more attention than similar posts on X, formerly called Twitter. Researchers looked at hundreds of thousands of posts that linked to academic articles and found that those on Bluesky had much higher levels of interaction (such as likes and replies) than those on X, and tended to summarize research articles rather than just stating the name of the paper. “While X has primarily served as a dissemination tool, Bluesky may support a more interpretive, reflective mode of science communication,” says information scientist and study co-author Er-Te Zheng.
Reference: arXiv preprint (not peer reviewed)
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Features & opinion
The cosmetics and creams that we slather on our bodies seem to be leaving traces of ‘forever chemicals’ and other ingredients behind in our tissues. “In studies from multiple different regions of the world, different age ranges, different demographic groups,” says epidemiologist Stephanie Eick, “everybody has detectable levels of these compounds.” What’s less understood, in some cases, is to what extent each chemical might be actually harmful. Some researchers are trying to find the answers — without intentionally exposing people to risk — by seeing what removing a particular ingredient does. And there are efforts to make more cosmetic-company research public. Meanwhile, consumers are bombarded with unscientific messages about what ingredients to avoid.
An unusual rehabilitation programme sets Vivian on the straight and narrow in the latest short story for Nature’s Futures series.
Using historical documents, researchers used modern epidemiological models to trace how false rumours fed the ‘Great Fear’ — a period of panic and upheaval among peasants that laid some of the groundwork for the French Revolution. “The Great Fear was a rational event driven by revolutionary ideas and not just an irrational event driven by emotions,” physicist and co-author Stefano Zapperi tells the Nature Podcast.
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