Our skin and mucous membranes are protected by epithelial cells. This “barrier” tissue performs its function thanks to specialized structures called “junctions”. They ensure cell cohesion and regulate exchanges across the space between cells. Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in collaboration with the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Institute of Physical Chemistry (IPC) in Göttingen, have studied the role of a specific protein, gamma-actin, in the organization and mechanics of epithelial cells and their junctions. Their work, published in Nature Communications, reveals a mechanism of interdependence of different forms of the cytoskeletal proteins actin and myosin, and their functions. The team also demonstrates the key role of gamma-actin in the rigidity of cell membranes and the dynamics of junctional proteins, which may provide a mechanism of hearing loss.

Astronauts on NASA’s ninth rotational SpaceX crew mission (Crew-9) splashed down off the Florida coast yesterday evening, ending their months-long science expedition onboard the International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station). Over the course of the mission, the crew supported a variety of investigations sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory®, including research to improve treatments for neurodegenerative conditions, studies to manufacture more effective therapeutics in space, and student-led experiments to prepare the next generation of explorers. Returning crew members include NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, who are part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

Singapore is now the first country to have an art installation 7,000 metres beneath the ocean. It comprises three metal cubes designed by Singaporean artist Ms Lakshmi Mohanbabu, the first Singaporean to send her artwork into space on the International Space Station in 2022.

 

 Where do meteorites of different type come from? In a review paper in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science, published online this week, astronomers trace the impact orbit of observed meteorite falls to several previously unidentified source regions in the asteroid belt. 

“This has been a decade-long detective story, with each recorded meteorite fall providing a new clue,” said meteor astronomer and lead author Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center. “We now have the first outlines of a geologic map of the asteroid belt.” 

Research by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope collaboration has led to the clearest and most precise images yet of the universe’s infancy, the cosmic microwave background radiation that was visible only 380,000 years after the Big Bang. 

Research by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope collaboration has put the standard model of cosmology through a rigorous new set of tests and show it to be remarkably robust. The new images of the early universe, which show both the intensity and polarization of the earliest light with unprecedented clarity, reveal the formation of ancient, consolidating clouds of hydrogen and helium that later developed into the first galaxies and stars.