E2 EZ EE the washington post . tuesday, february 9, 2021

Science News Pandemic lockdowns made the air cleaner. But better air added heat to warming planet. Earth spiked a bit of a fever in come from comparing 2020 2020, partly because of cleaner weather to computer models that air from the pandemic lockdown, simulated a 2020 without the a new study found. pollution reductions from pan- For a short time, temperatures demic lockdowns. in some places in the eastern This temporary warming effect United States, Russia and China from fewer particles was stronger were as much as half to two- in 2020 than the effect of reduced thirds of a degree (0.3 to 0.37 de- heat-trapping carbon dioxide grees Celsius) warmer. That’s due emissions, Gettelman said. That’s to less soot and sulfate particles because carbon stays in the at- from car exhaust and burning mosphere for more than a cen- coal, which normally cool the tury with long-term effects, while atmosphere temporarily by re- aerosols remain in the air about a flecting the sun’s heat, last week’s week. study in the journal Geophysical Even without the reduction in Research Letters reported. cooling aerosols, global tempera- Overall, the planet was about tures in 2020 already were flirt- 0.05 degrees (0.03 degrees Cel- ing with breaking yearly heat sius) warmer for the year because records because of the burning of the air had fewer cooling aero- coal, oil and natural gas — and the sols, which unlike carbon dioxide aerosol effect may have been is pollution you can see, the study enough to help make this the found. hottest year in NASA’s measuring “Cleaning up the air can actual- system, said top NASA climate ly warm the planet because that scientist Gavin Schmidt, who (soot and sulfate) pollution re- wasn’t part of this study but said sults in cooling” which climate it confirms other research. Frank Glaw scientists have long known, said “Clean air warms the planet a The male Brookesia nana is only 0.53 inch long. It may be the smallest of all the roughly 11,500 known species of reptiles, the Bavarian study lead author Andrew Gettel- tiny bit, but it kills a lot fewer State Collection of Zoology in Munich says. The female nano-chameleon is significantly larger, with an overall length of 1.14 inches, man, an atmospheric scientist at people with air pollution,” Gettel- the National Center for Atmos- man said. pheric Research. His calculations — Associated Press Nano-chameleon may be smallest reptile on Earth

Scientists say they discovered a nano-chameleon, has a body that is search institute said, adding that for similar subspecies. sunflower seed-sized subspecies only 0.53 inch long, making it the the scientists were unable to find “The nano-chameleon’s habitat of chameleon that may well be the smallest of all the roughly 11,500 further specimens of the new sub- has unfortunately been subject to smallest reptile on Earth. known species of reptiles, the Ba- species “despite great effort.” deforestation, but the area was Two of the miniature lizards, varian State Collection of Zoology The species’ closest relative is placed under protection recently, one male and one female, were in Munich said. Its total length from the slightly larger Brookesia mi- so the species will survive,” Oliver discovered in northern Madagas- nose to tail is just under 0.87 inch. cra, whose discovery was an- Hawlitschek, a scientist at the car by a German-Madagascan ex- The female nano-chameleon is nounced in 2012. Center of Natural History in Ham- pedition team. significantly larger, with an over- Scientists assume that the liz- burg, said in a statement. The male Brookesia nana, or all length of 1.14 inches, the re- ard’s habitat is small, as is the case — Reuters Unearthing how brains make new cells Associated Press Neuroscientist talks about discovering the organ’s regenerative abilities and the advantages of exercise People take selfies in Shanghai. A study finds that cleaner air from the pandemic lockdown warmed Earth a bit in 2020, especially in places such as the eastern United States, Russia and China. BY JAMIE TALAN A: Our goal was to see if neurogenesis was also going on When Fred “Rusty” Gage in humans. We used BrdU began his career in neuroscience attached to a fluorescent more than four decades ago, the antibody to tag any dividing Science Scan general thinking was that adult neurons, if they were there. A human brain cells just don’t colleague from Europe had reproduce and that their access to fresh autopsied tissue Entomology numbers are fixed. You lose from cancer patients who had them, they are gone forever. But been injected with BrdU to track Free coloring book on arthropods is a fun, Gage’s studies on adult human brain tumors before they died. In brain cells in the 1990s surprised early 1997, we conducted studies informative tool for your young naturalists everyone, including himself, on the autopsy tissue and we Is your kid interested in creepy, Arthropods! A Coloring/Learning when he and his colleagues could see cells tagged with BrdU. crawly insects and other arthro- Guide for Young Naturalists found that exercise — such as This proved there were dividing pods? Matt Bertone running — and enriched, young cells in the dentate gyrus If the answer is yes, they’ll bit.ly/ColorArthropods complex and variable of the hippocampus that had want to check out a free coloring environments can give rise to become mature neurons. We book created by the entomologist new populations of cells that continued to do other studies to who directs North Carolina State like a mollusk, it’s actually an serve the brain well. He has been prove that the human University’s Plant Disease and arthropod — and Bertone points a serious runner most of his life, hippocampus retains its ability Insect Clinic. out that none other than English so this was good news on every Chris Keeney/Salk Institute to generate neurons throughout Matt Bertone’s “Arthropods! A naturalist Charles Darwin spe- level. Now 70, Fred Gage of the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences life. Coloring/Learning Guide for cialized in barnacles. Now 70 and president of the continues to explore how adults can continue to make new brain Last year, two studies were Young Naturalists” is stuffed with Each page includes an illustra- Salk Institute for Biological cells and keep their brains healthier and resistant to disease. published showing that there is information about arthropods — tion and information on the ar- Sciences in the La Jolla still neurogenesis in the invertebrate animals with exo- thropod’s habits and habitats. neighborhood in San Diego, After I finished my doctorate, and survive in the brain. hippocampus in older people skeletons, jointed appendages The book also provides general Gage is still trying to figure out I headed to Texas Christian In 1994, DNA co-discoverer and those who died with and a segmented body. information on arthropod distri- how adults can continue to make University as an associate Francis Crick was heading up the Alzheimer’s disease. Insects, spiders, crustaceans bution and how the animals eat new brain cells and keep their director of a new neuroscience Salk Institute, down the road Today, our findings and the and many-footed critters such as and live. brains healthier and resistant to program. We were interested in from UCSD, and he invited me to work of many, many others have millipedes are members of the The entomologist actually disease. As head of the institute, sprouting — how nerve fibers join the Salk. The job description led pharmaceutical companies to phylum Arthropoda. Their ranks wrote the book in 2008 before he he also supports his colleagues’ can regrow — in the was simple: he said I could do develop drugs that target include everything from the Flor- had found his professional path. broader work in novel hippocampus after injury and anything I wanted. . . . My new neurogenesis. ida bark scorpion, a venomous He was inspired to finally post the approaches to treating cancer, determining if this was lab experimented with a scorpion that can grow up to six work in response to a tweet ask- how the properties in the food responsible for the behavioral synthetic molecule called BrdU, Q: You are also interested in the inches long, to the elephant mos- ing people what they would have we eat shape our brains, the recovery. We found a high level which gets into a cell’s DNA chemistry of food and behavior quito, the largest mosquito in the done if they hadn’t followed their effect of isolation on brain of zinc in the hippocampus, and when it’s dividing. It is used to on life span? world. current career path. functioning, and plant biology we began following a trail that tag dividing brain cells. We A: Yes. We know that Scientists think there are at When he realized he would and climate change. led us to growth factors that are designed experiments to see neurogenesis increases cognitive least 14 million species of arthro- have made coloring books for The Washington Post spoke involved in brain development. whether BrdU was getting inside function and we wanted to find pods, 80 percent of which have kids, he resurrected the project with Gage on a video conference [Growth factors do just what of neurons undergoing cell natural products in our diet that yet to be discovered. and posted it online. Download call recently to talk about their name implies: they division. We found that the also increase the birth of new One of the more surprising the free guide at bit.ly/ColorAr- growing up overseas, including regulate a number of cellular molecule did get inside of the neurons in the adult brain. We additions to the book is the goose thropods. in Frankfurt, Germany, and events.] neuron in the adult rodent brain, have funding from the Mars barnacle. Although it may look — Erin Blakemore Rome; honing his interests in I wanted to discover more and this was a great tool for us Company’s research arm — the various labs; and giving mice a about growth factors and joined and others to identify the birth Mars Edge Cocoa Flavanol running wheel in their cages that the lab of Anders Bjorklund at of new neurons in older brains. Science Hub — to study the sparked a key finding in Lund University in Sweden. He Meanwhile, my colleagues and chemistry of food and the effects understanding neuron growth in discovered that sprouting, the I were busy studying the birth of of our life choices and our the brain growth of neural branches, took new neurons, which is called behavior on our brains, and to place when the brain is injured. neurogenesis, in adult mice. We look at various flavonoids that Q: How did you first become . . . I learned about neural first discovered increased can have an effect on interested in neuroscience? transplantation and techniques neurogenesis with exposure to neurogenesis. We are also A: It was a chance encounter [on to deliver cells into the brains of enriched environments that studying the effects of diet on a bus in Florida] with someone I animals. We were interested in contained running wheels and inflammation, which appears to had known in Frankfurt. He was nerve growth factors and we were amazed, but then we block vascular health and working in the laboratory of wondered if these factors were wondered whether the running neurogenesis. We want to Robert Isaacson, a psychologist the source of this new growth wheels alone or the enriched determine if the food we eat laying the physiological that we were observing in the environment without running influences inflammatory groundwork of a brain structure brains of the animals we studied. wheels could increase processes. called the hippocampus. [The neurogenesis. We took away the hippocampus is important in Q: How did you start testing running wheel and added small Q: Have you found anything yet? moving short-term memories your ideas? playthings to the cages. We were A: Yes, we found that specific into long-term storage.] Isaacson A: I moved to the University of further amazed that both elements in certain plants we eat was studying epilepsy. My friend California in San Diego in 1985. conditions increased contain flavones, which are urged me to apply for a summer My lab began working on neurogenesis in different ways. small molecules that plants use job. I was 18, and I stayed in the engineering viruses to insert Our lab and others have to protect their outer cell layers lab for 3½ years. . . . . nerve growth factor in cells to replicated these experiments from excess light; they can have [After studying science in transplant into the brain and with a variety of items: tunnels remarkable anti-inflammatory iStock college] I then applied to a subsequently contributed to and tubes, blocks, balls, wire effects on mammals, including Scorpions are members of the phylum Arthropoda. Scientists think graduate program at Johns building the first safe viral mesh, poles, really anything they humans. there are at least 14 million species of arthropods on Earth. Hopkins University to study with packages to deliver genes to the can climb around and in. Since our work with plants Dave Olton, who did PhD work brain. We also took skin The mice that spent time and food, my wife and I have with Bob Isaacson. In their lab, fibroblasts, which are known to running and playing showed modified our diet. We generally we made lesions [or cuts] in divide and grow, and evidence of neurogenesis in an eat less, and choose more rodents’ brains to study the overexpressed nerve growth area of the brain called the vegetables and fish over red health & science anatomical basis of spatial factors and then inserted them dentate gyrus of the meat, processed foods and sugar. memories. We’d make a cut in into the hippocampus. We found hippocampus. [The dentate I have always been a runner, but one area of the brain and see that when we put cells gyrus is important in taking our our findings on neurogenesis Editors: Kathy Lally, Margaret Shapiro • Art Director: Alla Dreyvitser how it changed the animal’s expressing a certain growth experiences and turning them and exercise have continued to behavior. Then, we would follow factor in a dish with neural into memories.] inspire my runs. In addition to • Advertising Information: Ron Ulrich, 202-334-5289, the recovery process. It was an progenitor cells, they grew like my daily running, we also take [email protected] • To contact us: Email: health- amazing place to learn crazy. This led to a long effort to Q: How did these findings lead long walks and stay active. [email protected] Telephone: 202-334-5031 Mail: The Washington neuroscience. learn how progenitor cells divide to your work in humans? [email protected] Post, Health, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071