Swarms of small robots could get big stuff done

Researchers have created small, resilient, soft-jointed robots built with 3D printers.

Imagine a swarm of tiny robots, each about the size of the palm of your hand, spreading out over a wildfire ravaged community, mapping areas contaminated by toxic materials, searching for survivors, identifying areas of rapid wildfire spread.

Or picture the robots being used to clear battlefields of mines, conduct search and rescue missions after earthquakes, or deployed on farms to fend against pests and track soil conditions.

That’s a vision Markus Nemitz, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Tufts University, has been working on for many years.

“My PhD research was in swarm robotics,” says Nemitz. “I would develop algorithms that control large assemblies of robots, allowing them to share information and modify behavior based on evolving conditions and the need for collective effort.

“But I realized that while I and others were creating these algorithms for simulations, there were no actual robot systems to demonstrate them. I thought, maybe I should fix that problem.”

Creating actual swarms of hundreds or thousands of robots is generally considered to be too expensive to put into practice. Nemitz, along with graduate student Cem Aygül, designed a robust robot that can be almost entirely fabricated on a 3D printer within just a few hours, overcoming not only the cost barrier, but also shrinking the manufacturing timeline so that theoretically one could print hundreds of the robots with a bank of printers in a day.

The applications for robot swarms are expected to take place in difficult and unpredictable environments, and some robots could be lost or sacrificed carrying out their collective task.

“We designed our robots with soft and rigid components, instead of mostly rigid components like you might see on the Boston Dynamics robot dog ‘Spot,'” says Nemitz.

“You could drop our robots from a helicopter or flatten them under a wheel, and they will still pick up and walk away. They walk over rocks. They walk over sand. They can crawl up steep inclines. They can handle many different environments, so now we can develop swarm capability that actually leaves the lab and has a high survivability rate.”

The limbs of the robot are made of semi-soft links and soft joints, akin to mammal or reptilian limbs that have bone structures connected by softer cartilage-lined joints, allowing some play in the motion beyond a single plane of rotation. By assigning multiple materials with varying softness to linkages, the robot becomes more resilient to physical impact.

Fully rigid robots, some of which are quite agile, nevertheless have to make sudden multiple rapid corrections in more than one limb to stay upright when landing on uneven and unpredictable terrain. The robots incorporating soft joints have a more fluid pattern of motion when walking over terrain, easily adapting to surface irregularities.

The printer is capable of dispensing multiple materials, so both semi-soft and soft components are built simultaneously. Electronics are added manually mid-print, but that step can also be automated.

“Once we have these robots, we can also customize them, since each operation can have novel conditions,” says Nemitz.

“You may recall that in 2018 there was a soccer team trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system in Thailand. There was no robotic system that could access them because of the combination of narrow channels, rocky surfaces, and underwater environments. Theoretically, one could rapidly print robots with novel combined features to navigate these complex environments to deliver messages and supplies.

Nemitz and his lab have been working in parallel on specific applications for landmine clearing and environmental monitoring, including tracking the changing conditions and position of glaciers.

The researchers describe the research in a new paper in Nature Communications.

Source: Tufts

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New clues may shed light on food allergies

New research may shed light on the root causes and mechanisms of food allergies and intestinal diseases.

With every bite of food we take, our intestinal immune system must make a big decision. Tasked with defending us from foreign pathogens, these exquisitely sensitive cells somehow distinguish friend from foe—destroying invaders while tolerating food and helpful bacteria.

How the gut separates the good from the bad has long puzzled scientists.

Now, new research identifies specific gut cell types that communicate with T cells—prompting them to tolerate, attack, or simply ignore—and explains how these opposing responses are triggered.

The findings in Science give scientists a new understanding of how the intestinal immune system keeps the gut in balance.

“The big question is, how do we survive eating?” says lead author Maria C.C. Canesso, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of Daniel Mucida and Gabriel D. Victora at Rockefeller University.

“Why do our bodies normally tolerate food, and what goes wrong when we develop food allergies?”

Immune shifts

The intestinal immune system is complicated machinery. Tolerance to food begins with antigen presenting cells, or APCs, instructing T cells to stand down. This signal gives rise to pTregs, a special type of T cell that calms the immune response to food particles, and kicks off a cascade of activity involving additional immune cells that reinforce the message.

But without knowing which specific APCs run the show, it’s difficult to tease out the ins and outs of the body’s eventual tolerance to food and intolerance to pathogens.

“There are so many types of antigen-presenting cells,” Canesso says. “Pinpointing which ones are doing what is a longstanding technical challenge.”

She began exploring this conundrum as a PhD student in the Mucida lab, which focuses on how the intestine balances defense with tolerance. During her postdoc, Canesso also joined the Victora lab, which developed a technology known as LIPSTIC that helps scientists catalogue cell-to-cell interactions, particularly among immune cells.

“The technological advances made by the Victora lab allowed us to understand immune cell dynamics that would not have been possible using existing tools,” says Mucida, head of the Laboratory of Mucosal Immunology.

After optimizing LIPSTIC for the task, Canesso and colleagues succeeded in pinpointing those APCs that promote tolerance—a process primarily handled by two types: cDC1s and Rorγt+ APCs. These cells capture dietary antigens from ingested food and present them to T cells, giving rise to the pTregs that ensure food tolerance.

“When we first developed LIPSTIC, we were aiming to specifically measure the interactions between B and T cells that promote antibody responses to vaccines,” says Victora, head of the Laboratory of Lymphocyte Dynamics.

“It was to Maria’s credit that she was able to adapt this to settings so different from those it was originally intended for.”

They also uncovered how infections of the intestines can cause interference, demonstrating in mice that the parasitic worm Strongyloides venezuelensis shifts the balance away from tolerance promoting APCs and toward those that promote inflammation. Indeed, mice infected with this worm during a first exposure to a dietary protein display reduced tolerance towards this protein, and signs of allergy when challenged.

Finally, the team characterized the molecular signals underpinning these immune shifts, identifying key cytokines and pathways that influence how APCs present antigens and modulate immune responses. For example, the infection induced a surge in pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and IL-12, which have been shown to nudge APC activity toward inflammatory outcomes. This inflammatory environment appears to override the immune system’s tolerance mechanisms.

“The worm infection induces this an expansion of non-tolerogenic APCs that help deal with the infection, outnumbering the tolerance-related APCs,” Canesso says.

Investigating food allergies

Together, the findings illuminate how the immune system maintains food tolerance and, in the case of parasitic infections, highlights the specific immune mechanisms that can go awry.

“It’s important to note that our findings do not suggest that worm infections trigger food allergies,” clarifies Mucida, head of the Laboratory of Mucosal Immunology. “They reduce tolerance mechanisms while the immune response focuses on dealing with the worms.”

While these findings aren’t directly relevant to food allergies, they do lay some groundwork for further investigation into food intolerance.

“If food allergies are derived from dysregulation on intestinal APCs inducing tolerance and protective responses to infections, perhaps we could one day modulate those APCs specifically to prevent food allergies,” Canesso says.

Next up, Canesso plans to shift her focus toward early life, exploring how maternal-neonatal interactions shape food intolerance.

“Most allergies develop early in life,” she says.

“I want to focus on how breast milk and maternal exposure to dietary antigens may influence a baby’s immune system, potentially shaping their risk of developing food allergies.”

Source: Rockefeller University

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Plastic packaging may have less climate impact than alternatives

A comprehensive assessment by researchers, including Rafael Auras from Michigan State University, sought to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of replacing polyethylene, or PE, packaging like bags, films, and containers with alternative materials, including paper, glass, aluminum, and steel.

The findings reveal that PE packaging can have an average life cycle global warming potential, or GWP, savings of approximately 70% compared to a mix of commonly used packaging materials in the US.

When comparing plastic packaging and alternative materials based on mineral resource use, fossil energy consumption, and water scarcity, plastic packaging was generally found to have lower impacts than the alternatives.

The paper appears in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

Authored in collaboration with Trayak, Inc. and ExxonMobil, it provides fresh insights into the potential for product elimination or material switching to yield unintended consequences for the environment. Findings were critically reviewed by a panel of independent experts and determined to be in conformance with standards set by the International Organization for Standardization—ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, the international standards for principles, requirements, and guidelines for life cycle assessments.

“Life cycle assessments are valuable to understanding the environmental trade-offs associated with product elimination or material switching,” says Trayak’s Elizabeth Avery, the lead author of the paper.

Rafael Auras, coauthor and a professor at the Michigan State University School of Packaging, says, “Our results show that in many applications, plastics offer lower assessed potential environmental impacts in terms of global warming potential, mineral resource use, fossil energy consumption, and water scarcity. As new and better data emerge, stakeholders, and policymakers can make decisions that help deliver more sustainable outcomes across different stages of a product’s life cycle, including disposal and recycling.”

The assessment focused on five major packaging applications: collation shrink films, stretch films for pallet wraps, heavy-duty sacks, nonfood bottles, and flexible food pouches. These include examples of packaging used for dog food, shampoo, water bottles, cosmetics, and other everyday products. The results have broad implications, as polyethylene packaging accounts for a larger share of the packaging market than any other material.

Among the report’s key findings, researchers explained that PE-based packaging used less fossil resources than alternatives in 14 of 19 product comparisons. In 16 of the 19 packaged product comparisons, PE yielded a lower GWP, water scarcity, and mineral resource use.

“Notably, those instances where PE did not have the lowest impact were typically found when comparing with lightweight paper alternatives that incorporated additional materials such as a plastic liner,” Auras says.

“These alternatives required the use of multiple materials to meet functional performance requirements, which could involve keeping a product stable or protecting against moisture.”

Life cycle assessment is a powerful tool to compare different materials, especially when considering different packaging applications, Avery says.

“Our study examines a wide range of PE packaging applications and provides insights where there has not been a PE-specific study done before. This is valuable because even within a broad material category, individual materials will have their own implications for material, manufacturing, and end-of-life phases.”

Researchers anticipate that the findings will inform ongoing policy discussions, including United Nations negotiations on a global treaty aimed at addressing challenges associated with managing plastic waste. Solutions under review range from banning single-use plastics to establishing extended producer responsibility, or EPR, programs to enhance collection, sorting, and recycling. Similar EPR schemes, which typically require producers to contribute to collection, sorting, and recycling initiatives based on the life cycle impact of their products, are also being implemented in multiple US states, including California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, and Oregon.

Source: Michigan State University

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Horse treatment may pave way for blindness fix for humans

A new treatment for vision loss in horses may lead to therapy for a common type of blindness in humans.

Picture a horse running across an open field, the wind blowing his mane, his hooves stamping into the grassy knoll, eyes on the horizon.

Now picture that horse’s vision slowly spotting and fading, the horizon blurring, until ultimately, he can’t see anything at all.

That’s the tragedy that a team of scientists are trying to prevent. One day, their work may even be helpful for people.

A recent study in Frontiers in Immunology looked at the potential of an eye drop they developed to treat the sight-robbing disease known as equine recurrent autoimmune uveitis.

The researchers worked to see if they could restore and protect the vision of horses with this condition.

Uveitis is a leading cause of blindness in horses and in humans. It is responsible for about 10% of blindness and visual handicap in the US, which accounts for about 30,000 new cases of blindness each year, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Uveitis is a serious condition where the uvea, the middle layer of the eye, is inflamed and can cause vision loss in two ways: structures of the eye break down, and light to the retina is blocked. If caught early, medicine can prevent uveitis from causing loss of eyesight, but in more advanced cases, the damage is already done, says Lauren Stewart Stafford, a former microbiology and cell science PhD student at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) who is now a post-doc at Case Western Reserve University.

The way uveitis affects eyes—and the way the treatment works—is similar in horses and people, says Joesph Larkin, associate professor in the UF/IFAS microbiology and cell science department.

“It turns out that the place where the drug sits to have its effect in the eye is the same in people and in horses,” he says.

“We think that if we’re able to prove its effect in horses, we’ll also be able to treat the disease in people. People go blind if they have this disease, so it definitely alters their quality of life permanently.”

Traditionally, steroids are the go-to treatment for uveitis, but they aren’t a viable long-term solution due to side effects, Larkin says. Since recurrent uveitis keeps coming back after treatment, a more sustainable long-term solution is needed.

The treatment tested in the study took an autoimmune route because in autoimmune uveitis, immune cells are destroying the structures inside the eye, he says.

The drops they developed contained a SOCS1-KIR mimetic peptide, which is a synthetic molecule that mimics a building block of a protein, used in many types of therapies.

A SOCS1-KIR peptide is a Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling (SOCS) 1 Kinase Inhibitory Region (KIR). This is a molecule that regulates chemical messaging between immune cells to reduce inflammatory activity and potentially improve cell communication.

In a prior study by these researchers, the team demonstrated the treatment’s effectiveness in horses at UF’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Larkin says that several horses came into the study with a painful sensitivity to light and were either mostly or entirely blind. Several horses improved—they were in less pain and could see more than before.

“Once we reduced the inflammation, one horse was even able to see again,” he says.

This study demonstrated possible methods into how the treatment changed the horses’ immune response. The next step, Larkin says, would be to do a clinical trial with horses.

Funding for the study came from the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, a non-profit organization that focuses on funding equine veterinary research.

Source: Meredith Bauer for University of Florida

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Smoking weed can be really bad for your teeth

Frequent cannabis use can lead to cavities and severe tooth loss, according to a new study.

Ellyce Clonan, a clinical assistant professor in the pediatric and community dentistry department at the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, spotted the association between cannabis and tooth decay while completing her Dental Public Health Residency Program at Jacobi Medical Center in Bronx, New York.

As part of the intake questionnaire at the public clinic where she worked, patients would often answer “no” when asked if they smoked, Clonan says. However, when she gave them home instructions following a tooth extraction such as, “no fried foods and no smoking,” an important truth often would be revealed.

“They’d tell me, ‘Well, I do smoke cannabis,'” she says.

Cannabis smokers and oral health

To explore the possible connection, Clonan, who is also a consultant for the ADA, used a cross-sectional study analyzing data obtained from 5,656 adults ages 18-59 who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) between 2015 and 2018.

She discovered that people who reported smoking cannabis at least once a month for more than a year had a 17% higher chance of having untreated coronal caries (cavities), 55% higher odds of root surface caries, and 41% higher odds of severe tooth loss compared with patients who did not smoke marijuana after controlling for age, sex, race or ethnicity, education, income, or alcohol consumption.

“The surveys only focused on smoking cannabis, not other use such as edibles,” Clonan says. “When you smoke cannabis, you’re literally putting fire near your mouth, which is never good. It causes dry mouth, which can lead to tooth decay. Saliva protects you from dental caries.”

Two other factors may contribute to cavities and tooth loss—the high-fat snacks, sugary foods, and drinks people typically consume when they use cannabis and poor brushing habits while under the influence, she says.

Filling in a gap

The effect of cannabis use on oral health has been on Clonan’s radar for a while, she says, since numerous states, including New York, have legalized marijuana, and recreational use has skyrocketed.

“I saw a gap in the dental research compared with the medical field,” she says, “so I decided to pursue this study.”

All the information was self-reported, so Clonan suspects frequent recreational cannabis (FRC) use is higher than the surveys reveal.

“Someone in New York might be more forthcoming compared to someone in Alabama who might worry about who is looking at the survey,” she says.

The average age of the study’s respondent was 39. Clonan notes, however, that FRC use was reported from respondents across all ages, races, and socioeconomic levels.

These findings reflect a national trend, Clonan adds.

Cannabis use in adults 65 and older jumped by 75% over a three-year period, according to a recent report in the Journal of the Medical Association. Meanwhile, according to a 2023 study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the percentage of young adults (ages 19-30), who reported past-year marijuana use and daily marijuana use reached their highest levels ever.

While smoking cannabis may lead to oral health problems, Clonan says she doesn’t want to convey that the drug is inherently bad and patients shouldn’t use it. Cannabis, she points out, can serve as a therapeutic agent for numerous diseases and disorders—from cancer to anxiety.

“Yes, we want to educate our patients about the dangers of smoking, but we want to treat their use with kindness and understanding,” she says. “The results of the survey also indicate we need to tailor our advice.”

For instance, a person smoking either cigarettes or cannabis needs to drink a lot of water afterward. If their appetite increases after smoking cannabis, it’s preferable that they eat all in one sitting versus snacking over time, which Clonan says is more detrimental to oral health.

“I’d also tell them to avoid sugary, sticky foods and remember to brush after eating, even while under the influence of cannabis,” she says.

More research needed

These lifestyle changes should decrease the chances of cannabis smokers losing their teeth, she says. Also, dental offices can help by making their intake questionnaires more specific.

“In addition to asking about tobacco use, they could ask, ‘Do you use cannabis?’ ‘How often?'” she says. “Knowledgeable providers will be better equipped to identify and address the adverse outcomes associated with FRC use, and in turn, give better advice to their patients.”

In the future, Clonan says she would like to conduct a longitudinal study with more surveys and interviews with patients to gauge the effect their cannabis habits have on their oral health over a prolonged period of time.

“This recent study was just a snapshot in time, so we can’t completely determine cause and effect of the cannabis use and the caries and tooth loss,” she says. “More research is definitely needed.”

An article detailing the findings appears in the Journal of the American Dental Association (ADA).

Source: Laurie Kaiser for University at Buffalo

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Political attacks chip away trust in local news

According to a new study, criticism from Republican politicians has a major impact on how people—especially Republicans—view and use local news sources.

The study comes as US President Donald Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced in her first press briefing that for the first time ever, the White House’s James S. Brady Press Briefing Room will welcome new media while voicing concerns with more traditional or “legacy” media outlets.

The research, coauthored by Erik Peterson, an assistant professor of political science at Rice University, used a survey experiment with 3,653 respondents to examine how Republican elite attacks on local news influence public trust in these outlets and perceptions of the attacking politician.

Participants were randomly assigned to a control or treatment condition with the control group reading a press release about voter registration and the treatment group reading a Republican politician’s attack on a major local newspaper in their state.

“Our study specifically focused on Republican elites because they have historically been more critical of the media, and Republican voters generally still trust local news even if they are skeptical of the national media,” Peterson says.

The study indeed revealed that trust in local newspapers takes a significant hit when political leaders criticize them. Republican voters showed the biggest drop in trust. While 74% of this group viewed the local news source as trustworthy in the study’s control group, only 43% did so when they saw criticism from the politician. But it’s not just Republicans—Democrats became 7% less trusting of local news after hearing the attack, while trust among independents fell by 28%.

Here’s the kicker: Even being a loyal reader doesn’t offer much protection. People who said they were familiar with a local news source still reported major drops in trust and a decreased intent to read after political criticism.

“Local news has always been a trusted lifeline for communities, but that trust is surprisingly fragile,” Peterson says.

“We found it’s endured in part because these sources have not received as much criticism as the national media but that the public’s confidence in local news can be shaken when politicians go on the attack.”

The study also highlights a risky game for politicians. While political criticism can erode trust in the media, it can backfire and damage the reputations of those taking issue with local press.

“That might explain why many politicians are careful to maintain good relationships with local outlets—they know the public ultimately does value these sources,” Peterson says.

Despite the criticism, local news still holds a unique place in people’s hearts. Over 70% of Americans view their hometown news outlets favorably according to the study, a stark contrast to the declining trust in national media. However, the study warns that constant attacks could bring local outlets closer to the polarized reputation of some prominent national media outlets.

“This highlights just how much partisanship shapes trust and media habits in today’s political climate,” Peterson says.

“Local journalism has long been considered one of the last strongholds of public trust, but our study clearly indicates that this trust can crumble fast if political leaders target it.”

The takeaway? Local news is vital for keeping communities informed and engaged, but it’s not invincible, the study shows. As attacks from political elites ramp up, Peterson says he hopes media outlets and communities do their part in protecting the reputation of local journalism.

Allison Archer, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Houston, is the study’s coauthor.

The research appears in Cambridge University Press.

Source: Rice University

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Light-activated chemicals improve breast cancer treatment

Scientists have developed new light-sensitive chemicals that can radically improve the treatment of aggressive cancers with minimal side effects.

In mouse tests, the new therapy completely eradicated metastatic breast cancer tumors.

The novel chemicals, called cyanine-carborane salts, and their role in the next-generation of cancer treatments, are described in a new article published in Angewandte Chemie.

Photodynamic therapy, or PDT, has been used for decades to treat forms of skin and bladder cancers. It works by flooding a patient’s body with light-sensitive chemicals that accumulate in cancer cells. Shining a light on the patient activates the chemicals and kills the diseased cells.

The light causes the chemicals to generate highly reactive oxygen molecules—like tiny biochemical firecrackers—that break down cancer cells from the inside while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

It is a useful therapy with several drawbacks that limit its effectiveness, including prolonged light sensitivity, poor tissue penetration, and off-target toxicity. These drawbacks can prevent complete tumor eradication and may lead to a recurrence of the cancer.

“Cyanine-carborane salts minimize these challenges, offering a safer, more precise way to destroy tumors completely while sparing healthy tissue,” says Professor Sophia Lunt, Michigan State University cancer researcher and co-principal investigator of the project.

The researchers say current FDA-approved PDT chemicals remain in the body for extended periods of time. After treatment, patients have to stay in the dark for two to three months because even low levels of light will cause them to become blistered and burned.

In contrast, the researchers found that cyanine-carborane salts flush out of the body more quickly, remaining only in the cancer cells requiring treatment.

Vincent Lavallo, University of California, Riverside chemistry professor and co-prinicipal investigator, is an expert on the synthesis of carboranes.

“The most interesting thing is the targeting ability of this substance we made to go right where it’s needed and stay there while the rest passes through. That way you’ll only kill the cells right where the cancer is but not harm the patient,” Lavallo says.

Lavallo worked together with Richard Lunt, MSU endowed professor of chemical engineering, to develop the cyanine-carborane salts.

Unlike conventional PDT agents, the salts exploit a natural vulnerability in cancer cells. They’re taken up by proteins called OATPs that are overexpressed in tumors. This allows for precise targeting without the need for costly additional chemicals currently used with PDT to help target the cancer cells.

Traditional PDT is also limited in its ability to treat deep-seated tumors because it works with wavelengths of light that only penetrate a few millimeters into the body. Once inside cancer cells, cyanine-carborane salts can be activated by near-infrared light that is able to move deeper into tissues. This could expand the range of cancers that could be treated.

Given their success, the researchers are encouraged to continue the research and try to expand the types of cancer therapies the salts can be used with. It may be possible to alter the salts so that they can be used with energy sources other than light that penetrate even more deeply into the body.

“Our work offers a targeted, safe, and cost-effective treatment for aggressive breast cancers with limited treatment options,” says Amir Roshanzadeh, paper first author and MSU cell and molecular biology graduate student.

“It also opens the door to breakthroughs in other approaches for cancer therapy and targeted drug delivery.”

Source: UC Riverside

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