Nanoplastics are ultrafine plastic particles measuring less than 1 micrometer (μm; one-thousandth of a millimeter) that are generated during the degradation of larger plastic materials. These particles can enter the human body through food and drinking water. Due to their extremely small size, nanoplastics may cross the intestinal barrier and accumulate in organs such as the kidneys and brain. However, biological strategies to reduce nanoplastic accumulation in the gastrointestinal tract remain at an early stage of research.

A research team led by Drs. Se Hee Lee and Tae Woong Whon at WiKim investigated the adsorption capacity of a kimchi-derived lactic acid bacterium, Leuconostoc mesenteroides CBA3656, against polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NPs).

Under standard laboratory conditions, strain CBA3656 showed a high adsorption efficiency of 87%, comparable to that of the reference strain Latilactobacillus sakei CBA3608 (85%). However, a notable difference was observed under simulated human intestinal conditions. While the adsorption rate of strain CBA3608 decreased sharply to 3%, strain CBA3656 maintained a substantially higher adsorption level of 57%. These results indicate that the kimchi-derived strain can stably bind nanoplastics even in environments resembling the human intestinal tract.

Significant findings were also observed in animal experiments using a germ-free mouse model. Compared with the control group that did not receive probiotics, both male and female mice administered strain CBA3656 showed more than a twofold increase in nanoplastics detected in feces. This result suggests that the probiotic may contribute to the excretion of nanoplastics by binding to them in the intestine.

This study provides scientific evidence that kimchi-derived lactic acid bacteria may interact with environmental micropollutants beyond their traditional role in fermentation. The findings provide new insight into potential biological mechanisms that may help reduce nanoplastic accumulation in the gastrointestinal tract.

“Plastic pollution is increasingly recognized not only as an environmental issue but also as a public health concern,” said Dr. Sehee Lee, the lead researcher of the study. “Our findings suggest that microorganisms derived from traditional fermented foods could represent a new biological approach to address this emerging challenge. We will continue to expand the scientific value of kimchi microbial resources to contribute to public health and environmental solutions.”

The discovery also highlights the importance of cryptic diversity, in which animals that look nearly identical can actually belong to separate species. Researchers distinguished the new frog by combining several lines of evidence, including its DNA and distinctive call.

The findings were published in the journal Ichthyology & Herpetology. The research team includes Célio F. B. Haddad, a professor at São Paulo State University (UNESP), and Thiago R. Carvalho, a professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). Both are part of the Center for Research on Biodiversity Dynamics and Climate Change (CBioClima), a Research, Innovation, and Dissemination Center (RIDC) funded by FAPESP.

A New Frog From the Western Amazon

The discovery grew out of field expeditions in the Upper Juruá River region of western Acre. Scientists surveyed forest fragments near the Moa and Crôa rivers, close to Cruzeiro do Sul.

Confirming that the frog represented a new species required far more than simply examining its appearance. The team compared DNA data, recordings of its calls, body shape (morphology), habitat information, and specimens preserved in scientific collections.

The name varcena refers specifically to Amazonian floodplain forests, ecosystems that are submerged during certain parts of the year. That is the environment where the newly described frog was found.

Its habitat is particularly notable because members of the genus Adenomera are generally associated with dryland forests. Finding Adenomera varcena in seasonally flooded forest therefore reveals a previously unknown habitat association for the genus.

DNA and a Distinctive Call Reveal Its Identity

Although Adenomera varcena closely resembles related frogs, researchers found physical and acoustic features that set it apart. One visible difference is the absence of a dark spot on the underside of its forearm.

Its mating call also has a distinctive signature. The frog produces a short sound at a slow rhythm, along with other specific acoustic characteristics that helped researchers separate it from closely related species.

The discovery offers another example of how much Amazonian biodiversity remains undocumented, particularly among animals that appear almost identical on the outside. This type of hidden variation is known as cryptic diversity.

Researchers also found evidence that numerous Adenomera lineages have still not been formally described. That suggests scientists have much more work to do to understand how these amphibians diversified throughout the Amazon.

Climate Change Could Alter Its Flooded Habitat

Scientists do not yet know enough about the ecology and life history of Adenomera varcena to determine how environmental changes could affect it.

“Since we don’t yet know in detail the species’ ecological requirements and its natural history [reproductive period and mode], it’s difficult to predict the impacts of climate change, which may alter the seasonal flooding patterns of the floodplain forest ecosystem in this region of the Amazon,” says Carvalho. “Since the species has a preference for this specific ecosystem, it’s possible to suggest that these changes in flood dynamics may influence – though we don’t know to what extent – the species’ reproductive behavior. In a scenario of accelerated loss of natural areas, the formal description of a new species underscores how much more effort we still need to make to advance studies on our biodiversity. Species may become locally extinct even before they’re formally recognized as species through their naming and description.”

Because the frog appears to favor this particular floodplain ecosystem, shifts in the timing or extent of seasonal flooding could potentially affect its reproduction. However, researchers do not yet know how large that effect might be.

A Race to Catalog Brazil’s Biodiversity

Haddad notes that new amphibian species are still being discovered regularly, but scientists face increasing pressure to document Brazil’s biodiversity as natural habitats continue to disappear.

“Currently, the pace of ecosystem destruction outpaces the capacity of taxonomic studies to keep up. Consequently, species that haven’t yet been described are omitted from lists of threatened fauna and remain legally and environmentally vulnerable. Thus, describing new species serves as a tool that aids in their protection. Furthermore, deepening our knowledge of actual biodiversity expands our understanding of the evolution of organisms, consolidating an essential pillar for both pure science and conservation strategies,” he says.

Formally identifying a species can therefore have practical consequences for conservation. Animals that have not yet been recognized scientifically may be absent from threatened species lists, environmental policies, and extinction risk assessments.

The identification of Adenomera varcena expands scientific knowledge of Neotropical amphibians while also illustrating why taxonomy matters for conservation. Rare species and those restricted to highly specific environments can be especially easy to overlook if they have not been formally described.

The project brought together researchers from Brazilian and international institutions, including UFMG, UNESP, the University of São Paulo (USP), the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), and the University of Ecuador (PUCE-Quito).

Many of these particles are linked to cosmic rays, extremely energetic particles that can come from exploding stars and other violent events far beyond our solar system. When cosmic rays strike atoms high in Earth’s atmosphere, they create showers of secondary particles. Among them are muons, which can travel through the atmosphere and even penetrate underground.

University of Delaware physics professor Spencer Axani has developed a device called CosmicWatch that makes it much easier to detect these otherwise invisible particles. The technology is now being used by everyone from high school students to professional researchers.

A $100 Detector for Invisible Cosmic Particles

CosmicWatch is roughly the size of a box of animal crackers. Built from electronic components costing around $100, the detector flashes and records a count whenever a muon passes through it. The information is stored so users can later download and analyze the data.

The device was initially created as an inexpensive way to introduce students to particle physics. Since then, however, CosmicWatch has found a role in international astrophysics research as well.

“CosmicWatch detectors allow us to do far more physics at a dramatically lower cost, in a compact and portable form, opening the door to many new kinds of experiments and outreach opportunities,” Axani said.

What Muons Can Reveal About the Universe

Scientists study muons because they can provide clues about some of the most powerful events in the cosmos, including supernovae, gamma-ray bursts and blazars. By measuring muons, researchers can estimate properties of the original cosmic ray, including its energy, mass and direction.

Muon flux also played an important role in physics history. In the early 1940s, measurements of these particles provided one of the first experimental confirmations of Einstein’s theory of special relativity.

Muons are useful for studying objects on Earth as well. The particles can travel through solid materials such as walls, rock, or humans without causing damage. Because they leave behind a detectable energy trail, scientists can use them to image structures hidden behind large amounts of matter. In 2016, muon technology uncovered an unknown corridor in the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The challenge is that conventional muon detectors are often bulky and expensive. That limits both the experiments researchers can perform and the number of schools that can give students hands-on access to the technology.

“A typical undergraduate physics lab course uses a rack of electronics about the size of a small bookshelf to measure muons,” Axani said.

How CosmicWatch Began

Axani first created CosmicWatch in 2017 while he was a graduate student at MIT. His original goal was to build a compact, energy-efficient muon detector for use at the IceCube observatory in Antarctica.

IceCube is a massive detector buried beneath the ice that searches for neutrinos, another type of subatomic particle. A muon detector is useful because it helps researchers distinguish muons from the neutrinos they are trying to identify.

As the project developed, Axani realized the same technology could be made portable and inexpensive enough for educational use. CosmicWatch then evolved into an outreach tool for teaching particle physics.

After joining the UD faculty in 2022, Axani continued refining the design. He recently released the third version of CosmicWatch. Improvements described in an article in the Journal of Instrumentation in October allow the new detector to monitor its surroundings, tolerate high radiation levels, and gather data more quickly.

“Even though I had studied cosmic rays, I didn’t fully appreciate the rich physics behind the working of these detectors to actually ‘see’ the world and atmospheric particle production,” said Masooma Sarfraz, a doctoral student in Axani’s lab and primary author on the journal article. “For a student like me who has been working on theoretical ideas, this was a perfect opportunity to dive into the experimental side. It also connects beautifully to my current broader research work with particle physics.”

From Dark Matter Research to Spaceflight

The latest CosmicWatch design is well suited for calibrating large-scale detectors. It is currently being used in the NuDot experiment at UD and at the Coherent CAPTAIN-Mills (CCM) dark matter detector in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Researchers are also developing another version that could measure primary cosmic rays aboard rockets and spacecraft.

Despite its expanding research role, education remains an important part of CosmicWatch. At UD, Axani uses the detector to teach particle, nuclear, and astrophysics. Students assemble the devices themselves, gaining experience with high-speed electronics before using their finished detectors in experiments they design.

Musarate Shams, a doctoral student in the quantum science and engineering program, modified his own CosmicWatch by adding temperature and pressure sensors. His goal was to study cosmic rays in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

In May, the detector traveled aboard a high-altitude balloon to 100,000 feet, near the edge of space. After examining the measurements, Shams was able to show how the flow of cosmic rays from space changes as altitude increases.

“It’s a very cool thing to build something in the lab in a couple of days that’s able to detect these cool particles from hundreds of light-years away,” he said.

Giving Students a Taste of Real Particle Physics

CosmicWatch is also being used outside the University of Delaware. Natasha Holmes, the Ann S. Bowers Associate Professor of Physics at Cornell University, has students in her introductory physics courses build the detectors and conduct experiments with them.

She said that working directly with the technology gives students an experience that feels much closer to professional experimental physics.

“The students seem really excited about doing this thing that is more like what particle physicists and experimental physicists actually do,” she said. “They get to learn some coding with it, and sometimes they break the devices, and then we have to talk to them about being careful with your equipment. It’s very different from a typical physics lab. We’ve had students say they’re doing ‘real science’ after using it.”

A Possible Global Network of Cosmic Ray Detectors

Axani estimates that thousands of CosmicWatch detectors have been built since the first version appeared eight years ago. He hopes that number could eventually grow much larger through a worldwide “citizen science” effort.

Under that idea, people in different parts of the world could measure local muon rates and send their observations to a central location online. Together, those measurements could create a much broader picture of particle activity around the planet.

Axani is also developing a related detector system that could help groups of satellites respond more intelligently to changes in their environment. The technology could allow satellites to communicate with one another about conditions in space. If a solar flare were detected, for example, the system could alert nearby satellites so they could power down when necessary.

What began as an inexpensive educational project has now spread into several areas of advanced physics, something Axani did not originally expect.

“Although it started as an educational program, it’s found a use in a lot of different areas of physics,” Axani said. “It’s pretty cool.”

The immune system is designed to recognize and eliminate threats such as viruses. But under certain conditions, that protective machinery can mistakenly react to the body’s own damaged DNA. When fragments of DNA are treated as if they came from an invading virus, the resulting immune response can trigger chronic inflammation that harms healthy tissue.

An international research team led by Dr. Marva Bergman and Prof. Itamar Harel at Hebrew University, working with Prof. Yehuda Tzfati, Prof. Ido Ben-Ami (Hebrew University and Sha’are Zedek Medical Center), and Prof. Bérénice Benayoun (University of Southern California), found that this misplaced immune reaction is a major contributor to tissue degeneration in severe, rapid-aging disorders.

When the researchers reduced this immune false alarm, they saw improvements across multiple biological systems.

Rethinking DNA Damage and Rapid Aging

The study focused on rare DNA damage-repair (DDR) syndromes such as Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T) and Bloom syndrome. In these disorders, the cellular systems responsible for repairing routine DNA damage do not work properly.

As a result, damaged DNA can accumulate throughout the body, creating genomic instability and contributing to neurodegeneration, increased cancer risk, and premature aging.

For decades, researchers largely assumed that the unrepaired DNA itself was the main force driving cellular decline. The new findings suggest the picture is more complicated.

“Our results show that the damage isn’t acting alone,” said Prof. Harel. “It’s the body’s response to that damage, an exaggerated, chronic inflammatory reaction, that drives much of the degeneration.”

When Damaged DNA Triggers an Immune False Alarm

When DNA repair breaks down, pieces of DNA can escape into the cell’s cytosol. Once there, they can activate a molecular sensor called cGAS.

Under normal circumstances, cGAS helps defend the body by detecting viral DNA. The problem is that the sensor cannot always distinguish foreign genetic material from fragments of the body’s own DNA.

That confusion can lead to persistent sterile inflammation, meaning inflammation that occurs without an infection. Instead of protecting the body, the prolonged immune response begins damaging tissues.

The researchers also identified another unexpected role for cGAS.

In addition to activating inflammation, cGAS can move into the cell nucleus and directly disrupt DNA repair. That means the same molecule can contribute to degeneration in two ways: by promoting inflammation and by interfering with the cellular machinery that fixes damaged DNA.

Under normal conditions, cGAS is an important part of the body’s defenses. But when DNA damage becomes overwhelming, its activity may become harmful.

Turning Down cGAS Restored Tissue Function

To determine whether reducing this response could change the course of disease, the researchers used a fast-aging vertebrate model that makes it possible to study aging-related biological changes over a relatively short period.

When cGAS activity was lowered, several major disease features improved. These included neuroinflammation, tissue degeneration, and loss of reproductive capacity.

“We weren’t just slowing decline,” said Dr. Bergman. “We saw broad restoration of tissue function. It suggests that the body can cope with more DNA damage than we assumed, if the inflammatory response is kept in check.”

The results raise the possibility that treating disorders caused by DNA damage may not require repairing every individual DNA lesion.

Instead, future therapies could potentially focus on controlling how the body responds to that damage.

A Potential New Treatment Strategy

That approach could offer a different way to treat severe DNA repair disorders. Rather than trying to correct every damaged piece of genetic material, researchers may be able to reduce the harmful inflammatory reaction that follows.

There is an important complication, however. cGAS is also essential for detecting viral infections, so simply shutting the pathway down could weaken antiviral immunity.

Any future treatment would therefore need to reduce the damaging effects of cGAS without eliminating its protective role.

The findings may also have implications beyond rare genetic conditions. Chronic inflammation and genomic instability are both common features of many age-related diseases, raising the possibility that similar mechanisms could contribute to broader forms of degeneration.

Aging, Reproduction, and Long-Term Health

Other studies from the same research group have explored how basic biological programs, including reproduction and developmental timing, interact with aging and lifespan.

Taken together, the work supports a broader idea: biological systems that help organisms survive, grow, and reproduce early in life may also influence how long tissues remain healthy later on.

The researchers emphasize that reversing severe disease-related degeneration is not the same as slowing the fundamental biological rate of aging.

Even so, the study points to a potentially important shift in how scientists think about DNA damage. The damage itself may be only part of the problem. The body’s own response to that damage can also drive decline, and controlling that response could open new possibilities for treating some of the most difficult degenerative disorders.

The species, named Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda, could do more than add a new animal to the fossil record. According to researchers led by the University of Bristol, the discovery may help scientists more accurately date one of the world’s most important fossil regions and refine the timeline for the earliest stages of dinosaur evolution.

The findings were published September 15 in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology. They suggest that some fossils from Tanzania once considered candidates for the earliest dinosaurs may actually be younger than scientists had thought.

A Fossil Mystery More Than 60 Years Old

The story began in 1963, when a British expedition collected a large number of synapsid fossils from what is now Tanzania. Synapsids are mammal-lineage vertebrates that were widespread and diverse long before dinosaurs came to dominate terrestrial ecosystems.

The fossils were eventually placed in the collections of the Natural History Museum, London. Many were studied, but others remained only partially examined, leaving unanswered questions about what animals they belonged to and what they could reveal about ecosystems that existed approximately 240 million years ago.

Among the material was an undescribed associated skeleton from a plant-eating group of synapsids known as dicynodonts. Researchers examined that specimen along with a fragmentary skull discovered more recently.

Their analysis showed that both belonged to the genus Dinodontosaurus. That was a surprise because, until now, Dinodontosaurus had only been confirmed in South America.

A closer anatomical comparison showed that the Tanzanian fossils represented a species unknown to science. The researchers named it Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda. The species name refers to the land of the Wamanda people, who live in the region of Tanzania where the fossils were discovered.

A New Link Between Africa and South America

The identification has broader importance because the rocks containing Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda are the same geological deposits that have also produced fossils proposed to be among the oldest possible dinosaurs.

Scientists had previously linked those Tanzanian rocks with deposits in South Africa because the two regions were thought to contain some of the same fossil genera. Those South African rocks were considered Middle Triassic in age.

The new Dinodontosaurus discovery changes that comparison.

Because the same genus is now known from both Tanzania and South America, researchers have a new way to correlate the fossil-bearing rock sequences in those regions. The presence of Dinodontosaurus in both places indicates that the deposits are likely equivalent in age.

Recent radiometric dating of South American rocks suggests that these early dinosaur-bearing sequences are as much as 10 million years younger than comparable rocks in South Africa.

That strengthens the case that the Tanzanian deposits should no longer be considered evidence for the oldest potential dinosaurs. Instead, scientists may need to reconsider both the timing and geography of the earliest stages of dinosaur evolution.

Revising the Dinosaur Origin Timeline

Hady George, PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol, and lead author, said: “Our discovery marks the first confirmed record of the genus Dinodontosaurus outside South America. The finding links the Tanzanian and South American fossil-bearing rocks, showing they are of equivalent age.

“This helps confirm that the oldest dinosaur candidates from Tanzania are probably no older than those from South America, refining the timeline of dinosaur origins. Forthcoming research projects will examine the remaining fossil material and explore the biomechanics and ecology of Triassic dicynodonts.”

The discovery also has an unusually long scientific history.

Paleontologist Nigel Larkin, Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading, and a co-author, studied the dicynodont skeleton decades ago and already suspected that it represented a species new to science.

He added: “I studied this dicynodont skeleton for my MSc thesis at University College London back in 1994 and judged it to be a species new to science, but it took me nearly 30 years to start the process of writing it up for publication. I’m glad I waited, as the international team we put together, headed by Hady George, has done an amazing job of fleshing-out this story in much more detail and depth than I could have achieved on my own.

“Techniques have improved vastly over the last 30 years too – we can do so much more with micro-CT scanning, etc. to examine such specimens than we ever could have imagined in the 1990s, and international collaboration is so much easier. And what’s 30 years? It’s the blink of an eye compared to the age of this prehistoric specimen.”

Old Museum Fossils Can Still Transform Science

The work highlights the scientific value of returning to fossils that have been stored in museum collections for decades.

Dr. Mike Day, Curator of Non-Mammalian Tetrapods at the Natural History Museum, London, explained: “This fossil specimen from Tanzania has been in our care for over 60 years, and it’s wonderful that its identity has now been brought to light. By revealing that Dinodontosaurus lived in South America and eastern Africa, it offers a glimpse of our planet 240 million years ago.

“It goes to show how revisiting museum collections can change our understanding of the past just as much as finding new fossils in the field, showing the importance of looking after these invaluable records of life on Earth.”

Scientists still have much more material to investigate. A substantial portion of the Tanzanian Dinodontosaurus remains has yet to be fully studied, especially the postcranial skeleton, which includes bones from the body other than the skull.

Future research will examine those remains in greater detail and compare them with Dinodontosaurus fossils from South America.

The team also plans to study the biomechanics of Dinodontosaurus and related dicynodonts. That work could help explain how several species of large plant-eating animals were able to live alongside one another in Triassic ecosystems millions of years before dinosaurs rose to dominance.