Humans have been keeping pigs as livestock for several centuries. During this time, the animals have changed considerably. For example, they have become larger and have lost their black and brown bristles and darker skin tone. “The demand for pork in Germany increased significantly at the beginning of the 20th century and breeders were encouraged to optimise their animals. They needed them to grow quickly, provide good meat, and be fertile,” explains Dr Renate Schafberg, Head of the Domestic Animal Collection at MLU. For the current study, she and Dr Ashleigh Haruda from Oxford University analysed 135 skulls from three different breeds: Deutsches Edelschwein, Deutsches Landschwein — and wild boars, who acted as a control group. The skulls were either from the early 20th century or were only a few years old.

The two domestic pig breeds exhibited significant changes: the animals’ snouts became significantly shorter and flatter, while the skulls of the more contemporary animals no longer had a slightly outwardly curved forehead. “We didn’t expect such pronounced differences to appear within a span of only 100 years,” says Schafberg. Remarkably, both breeds of domestic pig underwent the same changes, despite being kept separately. “These changes occurred even though breeders did not select the animals specifically for their skull shape, as this trait was not important for breeding. Instead, the changes appear to be an unintended by-product of selecting the desired traits,” says Schafberg.

Another reason for the alterations could be related to changes in the animals’ diet. Nutrition is known to influence the growth and development of animals. Today, pigs are mainly fed pellets that are high in protein. In contrast, the skulls of wild boars, who remain omnivores, have not undergone such changes.

The findings demonstrate how strongly humans can influence the evolution of animals. “Charles Darwin assumed that long periods of time — millions of years — are required for major changes to take place. Our work is further proof that humans can greatly accelerate this process through selective breeding,” says co-author Dr Frank Steinheimer, Head of the Central Repository of Natural Science Collections at MLU.

The study was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the European Research Council (ERC).

“I look at the data from Euclid as it comes in,” explains Bruno. “Even from that first observation, I could see it, but after Euclid made more observations of the area, we could see a perfect Einstein ring. For me, with a lifelong interest in gravitational lensing, that was amazing.”

The Einstein Ring, an extremely rare phenomenon, turned out to be hiding in plain sight in a galaxy not far away. The galaxy, called NGC 6505, is around 590 million light-years from Earth, a stone’s throw away in cosmic terms. But this is the first time that the ring of light surrounding its centre is detected, thanks to Euclid’s high-resolution instruments.

The ring around the foreground galaxy is made up of light from a farther out bright galaxy. This background galaxy is 4.42 billion light-years away, and its light has been distorted by gravity on its way to us. The far-away galaxy hasn’t been observed before and doesn’t yet have a name.

“An Einstein ring is an example of strong gravitational lensing,” explains Conor O’Riordan, of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Germany, and lead author of the first scientific paper analysing the ring. “All strong lenses are special, because they’re so rare, and they’re incredibly useful scientifically. This one is particularly special, because it’s so close to Earth and the alignment makes it very beautiful.”

Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity predicts that light will bend around objects in space, so that they focus the light like a giant lens. This gravitational lensing effect is bigger for more massive objects — galaxies and clusters of galaxies. It means we can sometimes see the light from distant galaxies that would otherwise be hidden.

If the alignment is just right, the light from the distant source galaxy bends to form a spectacular ring around the foreground object. These Einstein rings are a rich laboratory for scientists. Studying their gravitational effects can help us learn about the expansion of the Universe, detect the effects of invisible dark matter and dark energy, and investigate the background source whose light is bent by dark matter in between us and the source.

“I find it very intriguing that this ring was observed within a well-known galaxy, which was first discovered in 1884,” says Valeria Pettorino, ESA Euclid Project Scientist. “The galaxy has been known to astronomers for a very long time. And yet this ring was never observed before. This demonstrates how powerful Euclid is, finding new things even in places we thought we knew well. This discovery is very encouraging for the future of the Euclid mission and demonstrates its fantastic capabilities.”

By exploring how the Universe has expanded and formed over its cosmic history, Euclid will reveal more about the role of gravity and the nature of dark energy and dark matter. The space telescope will map more than a third of the sky, observing billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years. It is expected to find around 100 000 strong lenses, but to find one that’s so spectacular — and so close to home — is astonishing. Until now, less than 1000 strong lenses were known, and even fewer were imaged at high resolution.

“Euclid is going to revolutionise the field, with all this data we’ve never had before,” adds Conor.

Although this Einstein ring is stunning, Euclid’s main job is searching for the more subtle effects of weak gravitational lensing, where background galaxies appear only mildly stretched or displaced. To detect this effect, scientists will need to analyse billions of galaxies. Euclid began its detailed survey of the sky on 14 February 2024 and is gradually creating the most extensive 3D map of the Universe yet. Such an amazing find, so early in its mission, means Euclid is on course to uncover many more hidden secrets.

Despite occupying just 5 per cent of the region’s terrestrial land, these ecosystems play an outsized role in emission reduction efforts, making them crucial for meeting climate targets across ASEAN countries.

The research study, conducted by an international team of scientists from NUS, with contributions from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and James Cook University in Australia, highlights the significant climate benefits of conserving and restoring peatlands and mangroves.

Together, these ecosystems store more than 90 per cent of their carbon in soils rather than vegetation, making them among the most efficient natural carbon sinks globally.

However, when disrupted or destroyed through activities such as land-use changes, these ecosystems release significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, posing a major challenge to achieving emission reduction targets.

Additionally, peatland degradation during dry periods, such as those associated with El Niño events, not only results in massive carbon emissions but also contributes to regional haze events, affecting air quality in countries including Singapore.

Associate Professor Massimo Lupascu, Principal Investigator and the paper’s senior author, explained, “If we conserved and restored the carbon-dense peatlands and mangroves in Southeast Asia, we could mitigate approximately 770 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) annually, or nearly double Malaysia’s national greenhouse gas emissions in 2023.”

“Our research underscores the immense climate benefits of protecting these ecosystems, making them a pragmatic and effective natural climate solution for ASEAN countries,” said Assoc Prof Lupascu, who is from the Department of Geography at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Professor David Taylor, a co-author of the paper and Head of the NUS Department of Geography, said that “including both peatlands and mangroves in the new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs 3.0) that countries signed up to the Paris Agreement must update and re-commit to every five years can certainly contribute to increasing the ambition of countries across the region through the setting of higher emissions reduction targets, although this would involve substantial investment in effective conservation and restoration.” “

Unique ecosystems with global implications

Southeast Asia is home to some of the world’s largest areas of tropical peatlands and mangroves. These ecosystems share water-saturated, oxygen-limited soils that slow the decomposition of organic matter, enabling them to act as natural carbon sinks when undisturbed.

However, this soil-stored carbon is “irrecoverable,” meaning it cannot easily be replaced once lost to human activities, such as agriculture or urban development.

Assistant Professor Pierre Taillardat, a co-author of the paper and principal investigator at the Wetland Carbon Lab at the Asian School of the Environment, NTU Singapore, emphasised the transformative potential of wetland conservation and how it can also yield economic benefits through schemes like carbon credits.

“Wetland soils may have little agronomic value, as it is generally not well-suited for traditional farming or crop cultivation, but they are unmatched in their ability to store and preserve carbon,” added Asst Prof Taillardat.

“If carbon were valued like other critical commodities, such as being traded on the carbon credits market, it could unlock vast opportunities for conservation and restoration projects. This will enable local communities to lead carbon management efforts with a win-win scenario where livelihoods and sustainable ecosystems thrive together.”

Updated Emissions Estimates and Pathways for Change

The study also provides up-to-date estimates of emissions from disturbed peatlands and mangroves across Southeast Asia from 2001 to 2022, broken down by land-use type and country.

By doing so, it offers policymakers critical data to identify hotspots for intervention and prioritise conservation efforts.

In their paper, the researchers call for ASEAN governments to integrate peatland and mangrove conservation into national climate strategies.

Given their high carbon storage capacity and the ability to mitigate land-use emissions, peatlands and mangroves represent a cost-effective and impactful approach to achieving net-zero targets.

By conserving and restoring these ecosystems, Southeast Asian nations can reduce emissions, bolster climate resilience, and support local communities that depend on wetlands for their livelihoods.

Dr Sigit Sasmito, from TropWATER, James Cook University in Brisbane, Australia, who is the study’s first author and led the work when he was a Research Fellow in the NUS Department of Geography, remarked, “By investing in the conservation of peatlands and mangroves, Southeast Asia can lead the world in deploying cost-effective, nature-based solutions that deliver enduring climate and biodiversity benefits. These ecosystems pack a climate mitigation punch far beyond their size, offering one of the most scalable and impactful natural solutions to combat the planet’s climate crisis.”

These results give hope to stroke patients worldwide who may not be able to access clot-dissolving medications within the approved time window, which in China is within 4.5 hours, said the trial’s principal investigator Min Lou, M.D., Ph.D., a professor at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University’s School of Medicine in China.

In the U.S., alteplase is approved to treat stroke within three hours of symptom onset and is recommended for use up to 4.5 hours for select patients. Other research has indicated it may also work well in some patients 4.5 to 9 hours after stroke onset.

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association 2019 Guidelines for the Early Management of Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke note that IV alteplase within 4.5 hours of stroke onset is the standard of care for most ischemic stroke patients in the United States.

Researchers enrolled 372 stroke patients whose symptoms began 4.5 hours to 24 hours earlier. They used widely available CT perfusion imaging (advanced brain scanning) to confirm that these patients still had brain tissue that could recover with treatment. Participants were randomly split into two groups — one group received the clot-busting medication alteplase, while the other received standard stroke care of antiplatelet therapy at the discretion of the investigator, based on the Chinese Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Ischemic Stroke 2018. Functional recovery was assessed at 90 days.

“We believe these findings mean more people may return to normal or near-normal lives after a stroke, even if they receive treatment later than originally thought beneficial,” Lou said. “This method of treatment could become the new standard, especially in hospitals that use CT perfusion imaging. This technology helps health care professionals see how blood flows in different parts of the brain after an ischemic stroke. This could extend treatment eligibility to millions more patients across the globe.”

The study found:

• 40% of participants treated with alteplase had little to no disability after 90 days, compared to 26% of those who received standard care — a 54% higher chance of functional recovery.
• Less than 3% of participants in either group received rescue mechanical clot removal as an additional treatment.
• Rates of death were the same (10.8%) for both groups.
• The risk of brain bleeding was higher among those who received alteplase than among participants who did not (3.8% vs. 0.5%), but researchers believe this is a manageable risk.

“We also need to look more closely at how safe and effective other clot-dissolving medications, like tenecteplase, are when given after a stroke, especially beyond the usual time frames. It’s also important to learn if our findings apply to other groups of people, especially in areas with different stroke risks and health care resources,” Lou explained.

Study limitations include the that both participants and researcher knew which treatment was being given, which could have introduced bias, and results may not be generalizable to patients outside of China.

Study design, background and details:

• The study enrolled 372 stroke patients in a multicenter, prospective, randomized trial at 26 stroke centers in China.
• The patient’s average age was 72 years, and 43% were women.
• The trial used widely available CT perfusion imaging software to gauge salvageable brain tissue, making the findings more applicable to real-world clinical settings.
• Enrolled patients were assigned to the alteplase group or a standard medical treatment group.
• The primary outcome was a score of 0 or 1 on the modified Rankin scale, which scores disability from 0 (no symptoms) to 6 (death) at 90 days.

The Ray Laboratory, led by Department of Biological Sciences Professor and Associate Chair David Ray, as part of a study on bat genomes published by the scientific journal Nature, helped identify the components of a genome in a specific species of bats that have shown more genetic adaptations in their immune systems than other animals.

The study revealed that a gene common in some bats can reduce the production of the SARS-CoV-2 virus by up to 90%, which could help lead to new medical approaches to combating viral diseases.

“Bats have an amazing ability to resist some of the worst effects of viral infection that make us so vulnerable to certain diseases,” Ray said. “While we get very sick, the bats barely blink an eye when exposed to the same pathogens.”

Ray said his laboratory aided in the annotation of the genome assemblies in the bats. Genome annotation is how scientists characterize all component parts of the genome — the genes, regulatory sequences and non-coding and coding regions. The Texas Tech lab identified the transposable element (TE) regions of the assemblies, where bits of DNA can create new copies of themselves and introduce variations within the genome.

Ray said bats have a unique TE repertoire among mammals, presenting a potentially powerful way to generate new genetic pathways to deal with pathogens like the coronavirus.

“If every individual of a species was genetically identical, they would all have the same risk associated with infection — if one dies, they all die,” Ray said. “TEs are a great way for organisms to generate genetic diversity in the species, allowing some individuals to survive better in the face of environmental pressures like viral diseases.”

This study is part of a larger international project called Bat1K, which is attempting to sequence and assemble the genomes of every living bat species, numbering around 1,500, according to Ray. It was led by the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany.

Michael Hiller, a professor of comparative genomics at the Goethe University and a member of the Senckenberg Institute is one of the main investigators in the study. He and Ray are both members of the executive board for the Bat1K consortium, and their relationship provided the perfect opportunity for Ray’s lab to collaborate with the international scientific community.

The lab studies genomes and genome evolution with an emphasis on TEs. Their past studies have included genome research on bats and other mammals, crocodiles and various insects. The lab has worked with entities in the past such as the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the state of Texas and the Texas Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Researchers in this recent study paid particular attention to the ISG15 gene, which is associated with a severe course of COVID-19 in humans. Bats are known to carry numerous viruses, including those transmissible to humans, but do not show any symptoms of disease when infected.

The ISG15 gene from the bats, the study showed, is able to reduce production of the SARS CoV-2 virus by 80-90%. By contrast, the ISG15 gene from a human genome showed no antiviral effect in this study.

“Thus, the ISG15 gene is likely one of several factors that contribute to viral disease resistance in bats,” Hiller said. “These promising results can be used as a basis for further experimental studies, which are necessary to decipher the unique adaptations of the bats’ immune system.”