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In this genetically engineered C. elegans, neurons that respond to cannabinoids appear green.Credit: Stacy Levichev(CC BY-SA)
Cannabis gives worms the munchies
Science’s favourite lab worm — Caenorhabditis elegans — gets the ‘munchies’ when it’s exposed to cannabis. After soaking in an endocannabinoid bath, worms placed in a simple maze preferred to nosh on nutrient-rich, rather than nutrient-poor, bacteria, and fed for longer than sober worms or worms without working endocannabinoid receptors. The fact that worms share this ‘hedonic feeding’ response with mammals, including rats and humans, points to the deep evolutionary origin of cannabinoid receptors and behaviours influenced by the molecules.
Reference: Current Biology paper
Monica Bertagnolli set to be NIH director
In a long-awaited decision, cancer researcher Monica Bertagnolli is likely to be nominated to lead the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world’s largest public biomedical research funder. Bertagnolli currently heads the US National Cancer Institute. The decision comes nearly a year and a half after geneticist Francis Collins, who helmed the agency for more than 12 years, stepped down.
Stuck stem cells cause grey hair
Hair turns grey when melanocyte stem cells in the hair follicle fail to mature into their pigment-producing form — at least that’s true in mice, and humans have similar cells. Scientists had thought that hair greys because the follicle runs out of melanocytes. A team tracked individual cells in mice over two years, which revealed that melanocytes travel up and down the hair follicle and switch back and forth between mature and young states. When the cells become stuck and stop making this journey, they stop receiving the signal to produce pigment.
The New York Times | 5 min read
Go deeper with an analysis by stem cell biologists Carlos Galvan and William Lowry in the Nature News & Views article. (7 min read, Nature paywall)
Features & opinion
Protect your lab from natural disasters
Preparation is key to avoid losing irreplaceable research materials to hurricanes or earthquakes, say researchers who have experienced natural disasters. Apart from large upgrades, such as installing flood doors or back-up power, smaller actions can prepare labs for common emergencies such as water leaks, power cuts and theft:
• Place water-sensitive equipment off the floor.
• Power down equipment when not in use.
• Back up data and create offsite stocks of precious samples.
• Keep enough liquid nitrogen on hand to temporarily store samples.
• Have an evacuation and temporary housing plan for lab animals, too.
Futures: Mars needs poets
An artist’s perspective on what we lose when we leave Earth is a respite for the souls of space travellers in the latest short story for Nature’s Futures series.
Podcast: Smart plastic-melting
Used plastics can be recycled by heating them through a mat of carbon felt. The felt is heated up with pulsed electricity to temperatures so high that the plastic breaks down into its constituents, a process called pyrolysis. The plastic components are wicked to the top like a candle, where they are whisked away as a gas. “It's pleasingly simple in terms of not using loads of components,” Nature editor Claire Hansell tells the Nature Podcast.
Nature Podcast | 21 min listen
Subscribe to the Nature Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify.
Webinar
On 26 April, speakers including Hannah Safford at the US White House Climate Policy Office will gather for a free webinar on how researchers, policymakers and the public can effectively discuss the future of energy. Amid an energy crisis, increasing impacts of climate change, widespread misinformation and a volatile political climate, the stakes have never been higher. Pre-register for the free webinar here.
Science for a Sustainable Future is a joint initiative of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Springer Nature.
