Plastic waste poses an urgent problem for our planet糖心传媒檚 ecosystems, especially our waterways. Millions of tons of plastic waste enter Earth糖心传媒檚 oceans every year, and plastic has been found in every part of the ocean, including at the bottom of the deepest ocean trenches.

Although some biodegradable plastics, or bioplastics, have recently been developed, these plastics were intended to break down in industrial compost facilities. In cold, dark ocean environments, they break down very slowly.

What if there were a way to avoid the problem of plastic pollution while still reaping the benefits of plastic糖心传媒檚 durability, versatility, and low cost?

To help tackle this problem, , an associate professor in the 糖心传媒檚 and her colleagues developed a reusable 3D-printed 糖心传媒渂io-sticker糖心传媒� that uses bacteria to break down bioplastic. The sticker, described in in ACS Applied Polymer Materials, offers a controllable way to speed up plastic disintegration in environments where the plastic would otherwise linger for decades.

糖心传媒淭his is a proof-of-concept that we could use living, engineered materials to help get rid of plastic in marine environments, making bioplastics more practical and environmentally friendly,糖心传媒� Meyer says.

The project is part of a larger collaboration with marine microbiologist Alyson Santoro at the University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Rhode Island oceanographer Melissa Omand; ecologist Ryan Freedman from the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary; and industry partner .

Supported by a $5 million National Science Foundation grant as part of the NSF糖心传媒檚 program, the group is testing the biodegradable bioplastic and developing solutions to accelerate breakdown.

Meyer, Santoro, and Omand additionally founded a start-up company called , which aims to make the ocean-degradable plastics available for various marine applications.

Rethinking ocean instruments

Ocean-degradable plastics will be vital for oceanographers, who are increasingly reliant on expendable, plastic instruments to observe and predict ocean phenomena. These instruments are often deployed in the ocean and never retrieved, adding to the growing amount of plastic in the sea.

糖心传媒淲hile these expendable听ocean sensors are revolutionizing ocean research, they inherently pose a threat to the same environments that they are studying,糖心传媒� Meyer says. 糖心传媒淲e need new materials that can allow oceanographers to monitor the oceans without creating plastic ocean waste that gets left behind.糖心传媒�

The team has partnered with a handful of oceanographic equipment manufacturers who have committed to replace all, or a large portion of, their traditional petro-chemical plastic parts with the team糖心传媒檚 ocean-degradable materials.

糖心传媒淭his will introduce new sustainability into the fields of ocean observation, reef restoration, and maritime defense,糖心传媒� Meyer says.

Nature-inspired plastics

To create their ocean-degradable plastic, the team drew upon processes already found in nature. Their materials are based on a biopolymer called polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB)糖心传媒攁 polyester naturally made by bacteria. Because bacteria have been making this polymer for billions of years, other marine microbes have naturally evolved to break down PHB.

At UC Santa Barbara, Santoro and her lab partners culture new bacteria that can break down PHB. One focus of their work is to isolate bacteria that thrive in the cold conditions of the ocean.

糖心传媒淲e found that there糖心传媒檚 a huge need for biodegradable materials and there is a range of lifespans that users required for their items,糖心传媒� she adds. The team spoke with regulators and nonprofits that deal with marine debris and found that some groups wanted a material that could disappear in a day, others wanted devices that would last a year, and yet others wanted to be able to trigger the degradation.

Bio-stickers that degrade plastic

This is where Meyer糖心传媒檚 lab comes in. Meyer and the members of her lab have developed first-of-their-kind bacterial 3D printers. This revolutionary 3D-bioprinting approach allows them to embed PHB-degrading bacteria into engineered living materials.

The resulting 糖心传媒渂io-stickers糖心传媒� are made with salt-tolerant bacteria suspended in a gel-like material. Users can place the stickers directly onto PHB-based bioplastics, where the bacteria remain alive and active for at least three weeks and speed up the material糖心传媒檚 breakdown. The rate of degradation can be tuned by adjusting factors such as bacterial concentration or temperature. The stickers are also reusable, allowing them to be moved from one piece of plastic to another, and are stable and adhesive enough to be used in marine environments.

From prototype to ocean deployment

The team developed the bioplastics with input from industry partners and built a prototype with support from Omand at the University of Rhode Island, whose expertise in oceanographic sensor design helped shape the technology.

In collaboration with more than a dozen industry and government partners that committed to using the technology or supported the project in other ways, the researchers also tested how the bioplastics performed under different ocean conditions as well as how the material breaks down in marine environments.

The work could pave the way for engineered living materials that help create more sustainable, environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional plastics.

糖心传媒淎fter introducing our ocean-degradable bioplastic to ocean instruments, we plan to expand to other applications as well,糖心传媒� Meyer says. 糖心传媒淥ur tough plastics that break down in the ocean could be a great fit for aquaculture and fishing industries, ecosystem restoration efforts, maritime defense, or government agencies, such as the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) National Data Buoy Center.糖心传媒�

Editor糖心传媒檚 note: The story above was initially published on October 6, 2022. It has been updated and republished to reflect new research related to the project.

The world糖心传媒檚 oceans may be quietly amplifying climate change in ways scientists are only beginning to understand.

In a published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 蝉肠颈别苍迟颈蝉迟蝉糖心传媒攊苍肠濒耻诲颈苍驳 , an associate professor in the , as well as graduate student Shengyu Wang and postdoctoral research associate Hairong Xu in Weber糖心传媒檚 lab糖心传媒攗ncovered a key mechanism behind methane production in the open ocean. Their research indicates that this mechanism could intensify as the planet warms, providing an alarming feedback loop for global warming.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and for decades scientists have puzzled over a paradox: surface ocean waters consistently release methane into the atmosphere, even though surface water is rich in oxygen. Traditionally, methane production has been associated with oxygen-free environments, such as wetlands or deep sediments.

Weber糖心传媒檚 team set out to solve this puzzle using a global dataset and computer modeling. Their findings point to a specific microbial process that is responsible for methane production in the ocean environment: certain bacteria generate methane as a byproduct when they break down organic compounds, but they only do this when the nutrient phosphate is scarce.

糖心传媒淭his means that phosphate scarcity is the primary control knob for methane production and emissions in the open ocean,糖心传媒� Weber says.

The findings reframe how scientists understand methane production in the ocean. Rather than being a rare or unusual process, methane production in oxygen-rich environments may be widespread in regions where phosphate is limited.

But the study extends further than explaining marine methane production in the present糖心传媒攊t also offers a troubling glimpse into the future.

糖心传媒淐limate change is warming the ocean from the top down, increasing the density difference between surface and deep waters,糖心传媒� Weber says. 糖心传媒淭his is expected to slow the vertical mixing that carries nutrients like phosphate up from depth.糖心传媒�

According to the team糖心传媒檚 model, with less vertical mixing, surface waters could become increasingly nutrient-starved, creating ideal conditions for methane-producing microbes to thrive.

The result, Weber warns, would be more methane released from the ocean into the atmosphere. Because methane is such a potent greenhouse gas, this creates the potential for a harmful feedback loop: warming oceans lead to more methane emissions, which in turn drive further warming.

The findings highlight how even processes occurring at the microscopic level in the ocean can have global consequences.

Crucially, this feedback is not currently included in major climate projection models. As researchers continue to refine climate models, incorporating feedbacks such as this may be essential for accurately predicting the pace and scale of future climate change.

糖心传媒淥ur work will help fill a key gap in climate predictions, which often overlook interactions between the changing environment and natural greenhouse gas sources to the atmosphere,糖心传媒� Weber says.

When you get better at a skill糖心传媒攔ecognizing a familiar face in a crowd, spotting a typo at a glance, or anticipating the next move in a game糖心传媒攕ensory neurons in your brain become more coordinated, sharing information rather than acting more independently. That糖心传媒檚 the conclusion of a by researchers at the and its , published in Science, which challenges a long-held assumption in neuroscience that learning improves efficiency by minimizing repetition across neural signals.

Led by Shizhao Liu, a graduate student in the labs of and , both faculty members in the , the study shows that learning instead increases shared activity among neurons. The findings could provide insights into learning disorders and inspire more flexible, human-like artificial intelligence tools.

糖心传媒淭he dominant view in neuroscience has been that learning makes the brain more efficient by pushing neurons to act more independently, so information can be read out more cleanly,糖心传媒� Liu says. 糖心传媒淥ur results support a different idea, that sensory areas of the brain aren糖心传媒檛 just passively encoding the world. They糖心传媒檙e actively performing inference by combining what糖心传媒檚 coming in with what the brain has learned to expect.糖心传媒�

How learning reshapes neural teamwork

For decades, researchers believed that learning streamlined how the brain processes information by reducing shared activity among neurons, allowing information to be read out more efficiently. The idea shaped how researchers thought about everything from perception to decision-making.

But the research from Liu, Haefner, Snyder, and their team suggests a different mechanism. Rather than becoming more independent, neurons become more coordinated as learning unfolds, increasing the amount of information they share, particularly when the brain is actively engaged in a task and making decisions.

This coordination reflects the brain糖心传媒檚 growing reliance on internal expectations. As learning progresses, feedback from higher-level brain areas appears to shape how sensory neurons respond, allowing perception to incorporate both incoming information and what the brain has learned from past experiences.

Tracking neurons as learning unfolds

The researchers tracked the activity of the same small networks of neurons in the visual cortex over several weeks as subjects learned to tell apart different visual patterns. The team measured whether neurons were increasingly acting on their own or sharing more information as learning progressed.

The researchers discovered that before learning, neurons mostly worked independently. But as subjects honed their visual skills, the neurons started to behave more like a well-trained sports team, communicating and working together in a coordinated way.

糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 a bit like a group of people solving a problem,糖心传媒� Snyder says. 糖心传媒淚nstead of everyone working in isolation as efficiently as possible, learning makes them communicate more. That shared information makes each individual better informed and potentially makes the group more flexible and adaptive.糖心传媒�

Importantly, this coordinated effect only appeared when subjects were actively performing a task and making decisions based on what they saw. When they passively looked at the same images without needing to respond, the effect disappeared.

The neurons most important for the task showed the biggest boost in coordination, especially at the moments when decisions were made.

But these are flexible, not permanent, changes. The researchers believe these shifts are guided by feedback signals from higher-level brain areas, allowing neurons to adjust their behavior on the fly, depending on the task.

The results support a growing idea in neuroscience that the brain isn糖心传媒檛 a simple conveyor belt that passes information forward. Instead, it constantly blends what we see with what we expect to see, creating a richer, more informed picture of the world. And that blending requires groups of neurons to act together, not separately.

Insights for health and AI

Understanding how the brain coordinates neurons during learning could provide new insights into learning disorders and conditions that affect perception. It could also help scientists design artificial intelligence systems that generalize better by taking inspiration from the way the brain flexibly blends prior expectations with new sensory information.

糖心传媒淢ost current artificial intelligence systems are built on听discriminative architectures听that map sensory inputs directly to outputs,糖心传媒� Haefner says. 糖心传媒淥ur new research suggests that incorporating听generative feedback loops糖心传媒攊n which internal models shape sensory representations糖心传媒攎ay lead to systems that learn faster from limited data, are more robust to uncertainty, and adapt more flexibly to changing tasks.糖心传媒�

What if people could stay healthier, stronger, and mentally sharper as they grow older糖心传媒攏ot by treating diseases one by one but by slowing a biological process that drives aging itself? A new 糖心传媒搇ed research effort will test whether a drug originally developed to treat HIV can quiet a chronic immune response triggered by the body糖心传媒檚 own DNA, to help preserve overall health and function later in life.

The project is supported by a contract of up to $22 million over five years from the (ARPA-H), a federal agency created to support high-impact biomedical projects that could lead to transformative advances in health. Its highly competitive awards are designed to accelerate bold ideas that, if successful, could reshape how medicine approaches major health challenges. The URochester team is one of several selected by the agency糖心传媒檚 PROactive Solutions for Prolonging Resilience (PROSPR) program.

The URochester effort is led by , the Doris Johns Cherry Professor in the and currently codirector of the and the Upstate NY Comparative Biology of Aging Nathan Shock Center, and 听brings together URochester researchers from the River Campus, from the and codirector of the University糖心传媒檚 Resilience Research Center, and from the , along with collaborators from Brown University, University of Connecticut, The University of Texas Medical Branch, University of Texas Health Houston, University of Nebraska, and Transposon Therapeutics.

糖心传媒淎ging underlies many chronic diseases, but it糖心传媒檚 rarely targeted directly,糖心传媒� Gorbunova says. 糖心传媒淭his project builds on the University of Rochester糖心传媒檚 long-standing leadership in aging research and gives us a unique opportunity to partner with other leading institutions to address one of the root causes of age-related decline.糖心传媒�

While scientists know that aging underlies many chronic diseases, the mechanisms driving this decline are poorly understood. One of the drivers may be hidden in our DNA: As people grow older, their cells can begin to mistake parts of their own genetic material for viral threats, triggering chronic inflammation that contributes to physical and cognitive decline.

The project糖心传媒攐ne of the first and most comprehensive efforts to test an intervention aimed directly at the biological mechanisms of aging糖心传媒攚ill test whether this internal 糖心传媒渇alse alarm糖心传媒� can be safely reduced, helping older adults stay healthier for longer.

糖心传媒淭he work being led by Professor Gorbunova is an excellent example of the ways in which large-scale public and private partnerships can address some of the most pressing challenges of human health and well-being,糖心传媒� says University President Sarah Mangelsdorf. 糖心传媒淲e糖心传媒檙e grateful to Congress and our delegation, in particular, for their continued support of ARPA-H and the high-impact, transformative research it funds. We deeply appreciate ARPA-H and its recognition of Professor Gorbunova糖心传媒檚 research and of the University of Rochester糖心传媒檚 leadership in biomedical science and its application to human health.糖心传媒�

A hidden driver of aging

The research focuses on retrotransposons, virus-like sequences called selfish genetic elements that make up a large portion of the human genome. Unlike actual viruses, transposons cannot exit the cell and infect other cells, but they seek to propagate themselves within the host DNA. Transposons are normally kept dormant, but research over the past decade by Gorbunova and her colleagues has shown that retrotransposons become increasingly active with age, leading to inflammation that contributes to tissue decline.

糖心传媒淲hen we are young, our cells are good at keeping retrotransposons suppressed,糖心传媒� Gorbunova says. 糖心传媒淎s we age, that control weakens, and the immune system begins to respond as if the body is under viral attack.糖心传媒�

This kind of persistent, age-related immune response has been linked to a wide range of age-related diseases, such as neurodegeneration, cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases. Gorbunova糖心传媒檚 lab was among the first to show that LINE-1 retrotransposons can directly activate interferon signaling糖心传媒攖he same antiviral defense system cells use to detect viral infections糖心传媒攃reating a 糖心传媒渇alse alarm糖心传媒� in the form of age-related inflammation.

糖心传媒淲e have known for years that non-infection related inflammation increases with age and is linked to poor aging outcomes,糖心传媒� says Andrew Brack, ARPA-H program manager and creator of the PROSPR program. 糖心传媒淏ecause LINE-1 retrotransposons have recently been reported to increase inflammation as we age, we are excited about the possibility that anti-retroviral therapies, which have the added benefit of a long history of safety in non-diseased populations, will extend healthspan.糖心传媒�

From discovery to intervention

Building on those discoveries, the ARPA-H糖心传媒揻unded project will test whether a drug originally developed to treat HIV can suppress retrotransposon activity and reduce biological aging. The drug, TPN-101, inhibits reverse transcriptase糖心传媒攁n enzyme that retrotransposons rely on to replicate.

In earlier preclinical studies, similar drugs reduced interferon signaling and chronic inflammation associated with aging. The new project will extend that work by testing long-term treatment in animal models, followed by a randomized clinical trial in humans. Heffner will lead the clinical trial.

糖心传媒淭ranslating the Gorbunova Lab糖心传媒檚 pioneering discoveries into human clinical trials is an extraordinary opportunity to turn fundamental aging science into therapies that could meaningfully improve health in later life,糖心传媒� says Heffner, who collaborates with Gorbunova and Seluanov on the executive committee of the University糖心传媒檚 Aging Institute, led by Medina-Walpole.

The clinical phase of the study will enroll 200 healthy adults ages 60 to 65, who will receive either TPN-101 or a placebo for 48 weeks. The researchers will assess changes in intrinsic capacity, a World Health Organization framework that includes mobility, cognition, vitality, sensory function, and psychological health, along with molecular markers of biological aging, physical performance, and overall health.

The study could help pave the way for therapies designed to preserve overall health and function as people grow older.

糖心传媒淥ur hope is that by dialing down retrotransposons, we can help people remain healthier, stronger, and mentally sharper as they age,糖心传媒� Gorbunova said. 糖心传媒淭hat would be a profound shift in how we think about aging and intervention.糖心传媒�

Elected officials applaud landmark award

Elected officials praised the award as a major investment in biomedical innovation and a recognition of URochester糖心传媒檚 leadership in aging research.

US Senator Charles Schumer: 糖心传媒淯Rochester糖心传媒檚 scientific advancement is recognized around the globe and is an integral part of maintaining America糖心传媒檚 leadership in discovering new medical breakthroughs to advance human health. This $22 million ARPA-H award is an exciting opportunity for URochester, and I will continue to fight to bring new federal investment to advance this groundbreaking work.糖心传媒�

US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: 糖心传媒淎s ranking member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, I糖心传媒檓 pleased to see vital health and science investments addressing some of our most pressing challenges to healthy aging and longevity. This collaboration has the potential to address linkages between aging and chronic illnesses, as well as inform treatments to allow people to live longer, healthier lives. Congratulations to Dr. Gorbunova and the University of Rochester for this tremendous award, I look forward to the outcomes of this effort and continued leadership in aging research.糖心传媒�

Congressman Joe Morelle: 糖心传媒淭he 糖心传媒 is one of the world糖心传媒檚 leading universities in scientific discovery, so it is no surprise to me that they糖心传媒檝e once again been chosen to spearhead a new, cutting-edge research initiative. Congratulations to Dr. Gorbunova and the entire 糖心传媒 team on this achievement, and as Vice Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, I糖心传媒檓 going to continue working to secure more opportunities like this for our researchers, students, and innovators in our community.糖心传媒�

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney: 糖心传媒淭he 糖心传媒 plays a critical role in supporting hospitals and healthcare providers that serve patients across NY-24, and ARPA-H awarding this grant will have tangible, local impact. This investment strengthens our regional health care system, supports high-skilled medical and research jobs, and helps ensure that patients in our communities benefit from cutting-edge advances developed here in Upstate New York.糖心传媒�

Congressman Nick Langworthy: 糖心传媒淭his landmark ARPA-H award is a powerful vote of confidence in the University of Rochester糖心传媒檚 leadership in biomedical research and its ability to turn cutting-edge scientific ideas into real-world health breakthroughs. I was proud to support ARPA-H funding as part of the FY26 minibus the House passed that is making projects like this possible. Research that targets the underlying drivers of aging has the potential to transform how we approach chronic disease, improve quality of life for our seniors, and keep the United States at the forefront of medical innovation, all while reinforcing the University糖心传媒檚 role as a national hub for life-saving science and workforce talent.糖心传媒�

Deep beneath the surface of distant exoplanets known as super-earths, oceans of molten rock may be doing something extraordinary: powering magnetic fields strong enough to shield entire planets from dangerous cosmic radiation and other harmful high-energy particles.

Earth糖心传媒檚 magnetic field is generated by movement in its liquid iron outer core糖心传媒攁 process known as a dynamo糖心传媒攂ut larger rocky worlds like super-earths might have solid or fully liquid cores that cannot produce magnetic fields in the same way.

In a published in Nature Astronomy,听 researchers, including , an associate professor in the , report an alternative source: a deep layer of molten rock called a basal magma ocean (BMO). The findings could reshape how scientists think about planetary interiors and has implications for the habitability of planets beyond our solar system.

糖心传媒淎 strong magnetic field is very important for life on a planet,糖心传媒� Nakajima says, 糖心传媒渂ut most of the terrestrial planets in the solar system, such as Venus and Mars, do not have them because their cores don糖心传媒檛 have the right physical conditions to generate a magnetic field. However, super-earths can produce dynamos in their core and/or magma, which can increase their planetary habitability.糖心传媒�

What is a super-earth?

Super-earths are larger than Earth but smaller than ice giants such as Neptune. Scientists believe they are primarily rocky like Earth, with solid surfaces rather than layers of gas such as those surrounding Jupiter or Saturn. Super-earths are the most common class of exoplanets detected in our galaxy, but they are curiously absent from our own solar system. Despite their name, 糖心传媒渟uper-earth糖心传媒� refers only to size and mass, not to whether these planets resemble Earth in other ways.

Because super-earths appear so frequently, they offer a crucial window into how planets form and evolve. Many super-earths orbit within their stars糖心传媒� habitable zones, where liquid water could exist. By studying their compositions, atmospheres, and magnetic fields, scientists are uncovering clues about the origins of planetary systems and signs of conditions that might allow life to thrive elsewhere.

Simulating super-earths on Earth

Scientists believe that shortly after Earth formed, it likely had a BMO. This layer of partially or fully molten rock at the base of a planet糖心传媒檚 mantle can affect its magnetic field, heat transport, and chemical evolution. Because super-earths are larger than Earth and experience much higher internal pressures, they are more likely to have long-lasting BMOs糖心传媒攎aking BMOs a key factor in understanding the interiors, magnetic fields, and habitability of super-earths.

To recreate the extreme pressures inside super-earths, Nakajima and her colleagues conducted laser shock experiments at URochester糖心传媒檚 , combined with quantum mechanical simulations and planetary evolution models. They focused on studying molten rock under conditions similar to those expected in a BMO.

The researchers discovered that under those crushing pressures, deep-mantle molten rock becomes electrically conductive糖心传媒攅nough to sustain a powerful magnetic field for billions of years. This suggests that on super-earths more than three to six times the size of Earth, BMO dynamos糖心传媒攄riven by the movement of molten rock糖心传媒攃ould generate stronger, longer-lasting magnetic fields than those produced by Earth糖心传媒檚 core, potentially creating habitable conditions for life across the galaxy.

糖心传媒淭his work was exciting and challenging, given that my background is primarily computational and this was my first experimental work,糖心传媒� Nakajima says. 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 very grateful for the support from my collaborators from various research fields to conduct this interdisciplinary work. I cannot wait for future magnetic field observations of exoplanets to test our hypothesis.糖心传媒�