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Seal milk oligosaccharides rival human milk complexity and exhibit functional dynamics during lactation
Get PDFFunding: The authors would like to thank James Urban for facilitating sample acquisition and transport. This work was supported by a Branco Weiss Fellowship – Society in Science awarded to D.B.; by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; the Hasselblad Foundation; and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. C.C. and R.H. gratefully acknowledge support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (project 320030-231409) and the University of Basel, Switzerland. We thank SciLifeLab and BioMS (Swedish research council) for providing financial support to the Proteomics Core Facility, Sahlgrenska Academy. K-H.K. was supported by Academia Sinica grant AS-IR-113-L04. We thank the Academia Sinica Common Mass Spectrometry Facilities for Proteomics and Protein Modification Analysis funded by the Academia Sinica Core Facility and Innovative Instrument Project grant AS-CFII-108-107, for MS data collection. Sample collection from mother seals on the Isle of May was funded from core support given to the Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, from the Natural Environmental Research Council (United Kingdom).Milk oligosaccharides are crucial for neonatal development and health in mammals. Yet most milk research focuses on humans, or on domesticated mammals that are poor in milk oligosaccharide complexity. Here, we perform an exhaustive mass spectrometry-driven structural characterization of milk oligosaccharides in a wild mammal, female Atlantic grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), throughout their lactation period. Characterizing and quantifying 332 milk oligosaccharides, including 166 unreported structures, we reveal seals to rival human milk in complexity. We report seal free oligosaccharides to reach up to 28 monosaccharides in size. Paired glycomics and metabolomics time course analysis establishes a concerted regulatory process reshaping the seal milk glycome throughout lactation, similar to human milk. Functional analysis of the structures we here characterized reveals anti-biofilm effects and immunomodulatory functions of seal milk oligosaccharides. Our findings challenge long-held assumptions about milk complexity of non-human mammals and enable insights into the functional relevance of complex carbohydrates in milk.Peer reviewe
Monitoring antimicrobial resistance trends from global genomics data : amr.watch
Get PDFFunding: This work was supported by Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding from the National Institute for Health Research (grant number NIHR133307 to DMA) with additional funding provided by the Gates Foundation (grant ref INV-025280 to DMA).Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is increasingly supporting routine pathogen surveillance at local and national levels, providing comparable data that can inform on the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) globally. However, the potential for shared WGS data to guide interventions around AMR remains under-exploited, in part due to challenges in collating and transforming the growing volumes of data into timely insights. We present an interactive platform, amr.watch (https://amr.watch), that enables interrogation of AMR trends from public WGS data on an ongoing basis to support research and policy. The amr.watch platform incorporates, analyses and visualises high-quality WGS data from WHO-defined priority bacterial pathogens. Analytics are performed using community-standard methods with bespoke species-specific curation of AMR mechanisms. By 31 March 2025, the platform included data from 620,700 pathogen genomes with geotemporal information, with highly variable representation of different species and geographic regions. By integrating WGS data with sampling information, amr.watch enables users to assess geotemporal trends among genotypic variants (e.g., sequence types) and AMR mechanisms, with implications for interventions including antimicrobial prescribing and drug and vaccine development. While metadata inconsistencies demand future attention we focus on the collation of high quality genomic data allied with geotemporal distribution. In conclusion, amr.watch is an information platform for scientists and policy-makers delivering ongoing situational awareness of AMR trends from genomic data. As broad adoption of WGS continues, and crucially, metadata and associated sampling becomes increasingly representative, amr.watch is positioned to monitor both pathogen populations and our global efforts in genomic surveillance, guiding control strategies tailored to each pathogen's characteristics.Peer reviewe
Emergence and coalescence of zonal jets : a quasilinear Rossby wave-mean flow interaction model
Get PDFFunding: DL acknowledges support from the Royal Society via Research Grant RG\R1\241426, and from UKRI via a Future Leaders Fellowship [grant number MR/Y01605X/1].Zonal jets are a fascinating natural example of how a rapidly rotating turbulent flow self-organizes at large scale in the presence of a effect. Understanding the long-term, nonlinear equilibration of zonal jets and the feedback with the underlying turbulence and waves is still a challenge. Following a similar approach as in the Holton-Lindzen-Plumb model for mean flow reversals in stratified fluids, this study describes a novel, quasilinear semianalytical model to discuss the emergence and coalescence of zonal winds from the radiation of Rossby waves. This model emphasizes the role of Rossby waves in exchanging momentum with the zonal flow and the feedback of the zonal flow on the waves. It employs a Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin expansion of the wave field to obtain an explicit expression for the Reynolds stress, leading to a closed mean flow equation. Two key feedback effects control the properties of the wave-driven zonal flow: the Doppler shift, leading to the emergence of critical latitudes, and the modification of the background effect by the zonal flow curvature. Motivated by previous experimental observations, we integrate this quasilinear model in time with an increasing number of latitudes of wave radiation. We observe a transition between locally driven jets that remain individual and globally driven jets that coalesce and equilibrate at a new scale. In the weak wave damping limit, coalescence occurs when critical latitudes of neighboring jets overlap. This is the first purely zonal closure which self-consistently leads to an equilibrium flow with zonal jets separated by a Rhines scale. These results are further supported by quantitative comparison with experiments and nonlinear direct numerical simulations.Peer reviewe
Theory of dynamical superradiance in organic materials
Get PDFFunding: This work was supported by the Research Council of Finland under project number 339313, and by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation and the Technology Industries of Finland Centennial Foundation as part of the Future Makers funding program. The work is part of the Research Council of Finland Flagship Programme, Photonics Research and Innovation (PREIN), decision number 346529, Aalto University.We develop the theory of dynamical superradiance – the collective exchange of energy between an ensemble of initially excited emitters and a single-mode cavity – for organic materials where electronic states are coupled to vibrational modes. We consider two models to capture the vibrational effects: first, vibrations treated as a Markovian bath for two-level emitters, via a pure dephasing term in the Lindblad master equation for the system; second, vibrational modes directly included in the system via the Holstein–Tavis–Cummings Hamiltonian. By exploiting the permutation symmetry of the emitters and weak U(1) symmetry, we develop a numerical method capable of exactly solving the Tavis–Cummings model with local dissipation for up to 140 emitters. Using the exact method, we validate mean-field and second-order cumulant approximations and use them to describe macroscopic numbers of emitters. We analyze the dynamics of the average cavity photon number, electronic coherence, and Bloch vector length and show that the effect of vibrational mode coupling goes beyond simple dephasing. Our results show that superradiance is possible in the presence of vibrational mode coupling; for negative cavity detunings, the vibrational coupling may even enhance superradiance. We identify asymmetry of the photon number rise time as a function of the detuning of the cavity frequency as an experimentally accessible signature of such vibrationally assisted superradiance.Peer reviewe
Refined parameters of the HD 22946 planetary system and the true orbital period of planet d
Get PDFFunding: Z.G. acknowledges the support of the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH) grant K-125015, the PRODEX Experiment Agreement No. 4000137122 between the ELTE Eötvös Loránd University and the European Space Agency (ESA-D/SCI-LE-2021-0025), the VEGA grant of the Slovak Academy of Sciences No. 2/0031/22, the Slovak Research and Development Agency contract No. APVV-20-0148, and the support of the city of Szombathely. Gy.M.Sz. acknowledges the support of the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH) grant K-125015, a PRODEX Institute Agreement between the ELTE Eötvös Loránd University and the European Space Agency (ESA-D/SCI-LE-2021-0025), the Lendület LP2018-7/2021 grant of the Hungarian Academy of Science and the support of the city of Szombathely. A.Br. was supported by the SNSA. A.C.C. acknowledges support from STFC consolidated grant numbers ST/R000824/1 and ST/V000861/1, and UKSA grant number ST/R003203/1. B.-O.D. acknowledges support from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) under contract number MB22.00046. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (project FOUR ACES; grant agreement No 724427). It has also been carried out in the frame of the National Centre for Competence in Research PlanetS supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). D.E. acknowledges financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation for project 200021_200726. D.G. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the CRT foundation under Grant No. 2018.2323 “Gaseousor rocky? Unveiling the nature of small worlds”. This work was also partially supported by a grant from the Simons Foundation (PI Queloz, grant number 327127). This work has been carried out within the framework of the NCCR PlanetS supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation under grants 51NF40_182901 and 51NF40_205606. I.R.I. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund through grant PGC2018-098153-B-C33, as well as the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA programme. L.D. is an F.R.S.-FNRS Postdoctoral Researcher. L.M.S. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the CRT foundation under Grant No. 2018.2323 “Gaseous or rocky? Unveiling the nature of small worlds”. This project was supported by the CNES. M.F. and C.M.P. gratefully acknowledge the support of the Swedish National Space Agency (DNR 65/19, 174/18). M.G. is an F.R.S.-FNRS Senior Research Associate. M.L. acknowledges support of the Swiss National Science Foundation under grant number PCEFP2_194576. N.A.W. acknowledges UKSA grant ST/R004838/1. This work was supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia through national funds and by FEDER through COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacão by these grants: UID/FIS/04434/2019, UIDB/04434/2020, UIDP/04434/2020, PTDC/FIS-AST/32113/2017 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032113, PTDC/FIS-AST/28953/2017 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028953, PTDC/FIS-AST/28987/2017 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028987, O.D.S.D. is supported in the form of work contract (DL 57/2016/CP1364/CT0004) funded by national funds through FCT. P.M. acknowledges support from STFC research grant number ST/M001040/1. We acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund through grants ESP2016-80435-C2-1-R, ESP2016-80435-C2-2-R, PGC2018-098153-B-C33, PGC2018-098153-B-C31, ESP2017-87676-C5-1-R, MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia Maria de Maeztu-Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), as well as the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA programme. The MOC activities have been supported by the ESA contract No. 4000124370. S.H. gratefully acknowledges CNES funding through the grant 837319. S.C.C.B. acknowledges support from FCT through FCT contracts nr. IF/01312/2014/CP1215/CT0004. S.G.S. acknowledges support from FCT through FCT contract no. CEECIND/00826/2018 and POPH/FSE (EC). A.C.C. and T.W. acknowledge support from STFC consolidated grant numbers ST/R000824/1 and ST/V000861/1, and UKSA grant number ST/R003203/1. V.V.G. is an F.R.S-FNRS Research Associate. X.B., S.C., D.G., M.F. and J.L. acknowledge their role as ESA-appointed CHEOPS science team members. Y.A. and M.J.H. acknowledge the support of the Swiss National Fund under grant 200020_172746. L.Bo., V.Na., I.Pa., G.Pi., R.Ra. and G.Sc. acknowledge support from CHEOPS ASI-INAF agreement n. 2019-29-HH.0. NCS acknowledges support from the European Research Council through the grant agreement 101052347 (FIERCE). This work was supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia through national funds and by FEDER through COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização by these grants: UIDB/04434/2020; UIDP/04434/2020. A.T. thanks the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) for a PhD studentship. P.E.C. is funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) Erwin Schroedinger Fellowship, program J4595-N.Context . Multi-planet systems are important sources of information regarding the evolution of planets. However, the long-period planets in these systems often escape detection. These objects in particular may retain more of their primordial characteristics compared to close-in counterparts because of their increased distance from the host star. HD 22946 is a bright (G = 8.13 mag) late F-type star around which three transiting planets were identified via Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) photometry, but the true orbital period of the outermost planet d was unknown until now. Aims . We aim to use the Characterising Exoplanet Satellite (CHEOPS) space telescope to uncover the true orbital period of HD 22946d and to refine the orbital and planetary properties of the system, especially the radii of the planets. Methods . We used the available TESS photometry of HD 22946 and observed several transits of the planets b, c, and d using CHEOPS. We identified two transits of planet d in the TESS photometry, calculated the most probable period aliases based on these data, and then scheduled CHEOPS observations. The photometric data were supplemented with ESPRESSO (Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations) radial velocity data. Finally, a combined model was fitted to the entire dataset in order to obtain final planetary and system parameters. Results . Based on the combined TESS and CHEOPS observations, we successfully determined the true orbital period of the planet d to be 47.42489 ± 0.00011 days, and derived precise radii of the planets in the system, namely 1.362 ± 0.040 R⊕, 2.328 ± 0.039 R⊕, and 2.607 ± 0.060 R⊕ for planets b, c, and d, respectively. Due to the low number of radial velocities, we were only able to determine 3σ upper limits for these respective planet masses, which are 13.71 M⊕, 9.72 M⊕, and 26.57 M⊕. We estimated that another 48 ESPRESSO radial velocities are needed to measure the predicted masses of all planets in HD 22946. We also derived stellar parameters for the host star. Conclusions . Planet c around HD 22946 appears to be a promising target for future atmospheric characterisation via transmission spectroscopy. We can also conclude that planet d, as a warm sub-Neptune, is very interesting because there are only a few similar confirmed exoplanets to date. Such objects are worth investigating in the near future, for example in terms of their composition and internal structure.Peer reviewe
exoALMA. X. Channel maps reveal complex 12CO abundance distributions and a variety of kinematic structures with evidence for embedded planets
Get PDFFunding: C.P. acknowledges funding from the Australian Research Council via FT170100040, DP180104235, and DP220103767. J.B. acknowledges support from NASA XRP grant No. 80NSSC23K1312. M.B., D.F., and J.S. have received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (PROTOPLANETS, grant agreement No. 101002188). P.C. acknowledges support by the Italian Ministero dell’Istruzione, Università e Ricerca through the grant Progetti Premiali 2012—iALMA (CUP C52I13000140001) and by the ANID BASAL project FB210003. S.F. is funded by the European Union (ERC, UNVEIL, 101076613) and acknowledges financial contribution from PRIN-MUR 2022YP5ACE. M.F. is supported by a grant-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKENHI: No. JP22H01274). J.D.I. acknowledges support from an STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship (ST/W004119/1) and a University Academic Fellowship from the University of Leeds. Support for A.F.I. was provided by NASA through the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant No. HST-HF2-51532.001-A awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS5-26555. C.L. has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 823823 (DUSTBUSTERS) and by the UK Science and Technology research Council (STFC) via the consolidated grant ST/W000997/1. G.R. acknowledges funding from the Fondazione Cariplo, grant No. 2022-1217, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research & Innovation Programme under grant agreement No. 101039651 (DiscEvol). F. Menard received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 101053020, project Dust2Planets). H-.W.Y. acknowledges support from National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in Taiwan through grant NSTC 113-2112-M-001-035- and from the Academia Sinica Career Development Award (AS-CDA-111-M03). G.W.F. acknowledges support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 815559 (MHDiscs)). G.W.F. was granted access to the HPC resources of IDRIS under the allocation A0120402231 made by GENCI. Support for B.Z. was provided by The Brinson Foundation.We analyze the 12CO J = 3–2 data cubes of the disks in the exoALMA program. 13/15 disks reveal a variety of kinematic substructures in individual channels: large-scale arcs or spiral arms, localized velocity kinks, and/or multiple faints arcs that appear like filamentary structures on the disk surface. We find kinematic signatures that are consistent with planet wakes in six disks: AA Tau, SY Cha, J1842, J1615, LkCa 15, and HD 143006. Comparison with hydrodynamical and radiative transfer simulations suggests planets with orbital radii between 80 and 310 au and masses between 1 and 5 MJup. Additional kinematic substructures limit our ability to place tight constraints on the planet masses. When the inclination is favorable to separate the upper and lower surfaces (near 45°, i.e., in 7/15 disks), we always detect the vertical CO snowline and find that the 12CO freeze-out is partial in the disk midplane, with a depletion factor of ≈10−3 –10−2 compared to the warm molecular layer. In these same seven disks, we also systematically detect evidence of CO desorption in the outer regions.Peer reviewe
TOI 4201 b and TOI 5344 b : discovery of two transiting giant planets around M-dwarf stars and revised parameters for three others
Get PDFFunding: J.H., G.B., and Z.C. acknowledge funding from NASA grant 80NSSC22K0315. This work is partly supported by JSPS KAKENHI grant Nos. JP17H04574, JP18H05439, and JP21K20376 and JST CREST grant No. JPMJCR1761. E.P. acknowledges funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness through project PID2021-125627OB-C32. E.E-B. acknowledges financial support from the European Union and the State Agency of Investigation of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) under the grant PRE2020-093107 of the Pre-Doc Program for the Training of Doctors (FPI-SO) through FSE funds. A.J. acknowledges support from ANID—Millennium Science Initiative—ICN12_009 and from FONDECYT project 1210718. R.B. acknowledges support from ANID—Millennium Science Initiative—ICN12_009 and from FONDECYT project 11200751. H.P. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation with the Ramon y Cajal fellowship No. RYC2021-031798-I. Funding from the University of La Laguna and the Spanish Ministry of Universities is acknowledged. M.G. and A.T. acknowledge the support of the M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University Program of Development. K.A.C. acknowledges support from the TESS mission via subaward s3449 from MIT. The postdoctoral fellowship of K.B. is funded by F.R.S.-FNRS grant T.0109.20 and by the Francqui Foundation. This research received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 803193/BEBOP) and from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC; grant No. ST/S00193X/1). This publication benefits from the support of the French Community of Belgium in the context of the FRIA Doctoral Grant awarded to M.T.We present the discovery from the TESS mission of two giant planets transiting M-dwarf stars: TOI 4201 b and TOI 5344 b. We also provide precise radial velocity measurements and updated system parameters for three other M dwarfs with transiting giant planets: TOI 519, TOI 3629, and TOI 3714. We measure planetary masses of 0.525 ± 0.064 MJ, 0.243 ± 0.020 MJ, 0.689 ± 0.030 MJ, 2.57 ± 0.15 MJ, and 0.412±0.040 MJ for TOI 519 b, TOI 3629 b, TOI 3714 b, TOI 4201 b, and TOI 5344 b, respectively. The corresponding stellar masses are 0.372 ± 0.018 M☉, 0.635 ± 0.032 M☉, 0.522 ± 0.028 M☉, 0.626 ± 0.033 M☉, and 0.612 ± 0.034 M☉. All five hosts have supersolar metallicities, providing further support for recent findings that, like for solar-type stars, close-in giant planets are preferentially found around metal-rich M-dwarf host stars. Finally, we describe a procedure for accounting for systematic errors in stellar evolution models when those models are included directly in fitting a transiting planet system.Peer reviewe
Compound exposure : climate change, vulnerability and the energy-extractives nexus in the Pacific
Get PDFFunding: This paper arose from research that was funded by The British Academy (ref COVJT210062).A global push for an energy transition to combat climate change is fuelling demand for energy transition minerals and metals (ETMs) needed for renewable energy-systems. As the primary solution to our planetary problem, the energy transition helps to enlarge the extractive industries and increases the pressure to extract ETMs from places already acutely exposed [to] climate change, like the Pacific Islands region. In this paper we develop the concept of compound exposure to examine the combined effects of extraction and climate change in the Pacific. Drawing from a global dataset of ETM projects, we have created a first-of-kind sub-set of ETM projects in the Pacific, mapped against indicators of environmental, social, governance and climate vulnerability for the places where those projects are located. We found higher levels of situated vulnerability around ETM projects in the Pacific compared to global results. A rush for the resources in the Pacific will compound the consequences of climate change and the multiple stressors associated with resource extraction and will enlarge exposure to harm. We argue that extractivist solutions to climate change work to close off other pathways and amplify the worst effects of compound exposure in the Pacific, and beyond.Peer reviewe
Towards a taxonomy of geodiversity
Get PDFThe Research Council of Finland provided funding for H.T., T.M. and J.A. (grant no. 322652) and J.K. (grant no. 349606).Geodiversity is a topical concept in earth and environmental sciences. Geodiversity information is needed to conserve nature, use ecosystem services and achieve sustainable development goals. Despite the increasing demand for geodiversity data, there exists no comprehensive system for categorizing geodiversity. Here, we present a hierarchically structured taxonomy that is potentially applicable in mapping and quantifying geodiversity across different regions, environments and scales. In this taxonomy, the main components of geodiversity are geology, geomorphology, hydrology and pedology. We propose a six-level hierarchical system where the components of geodiversity are classified at progressively lower taxonomic levels based on their genesis, physical–chemical properties and morphology. This comprehensive taxonomy can be used to compile geodiversity information for scientific research and various applications of value to society and nature conservation. Ultimately, this hierarchical system is the first step towards developing a global geodiversity taxonomy.Peer reviewe
Molecular biosignatures in planetary analogue salts : implications for transport of organics in sulfate-rich brines beyond Earth
Get PDFFunding: This work was funded by Leverhulme Research Project Grant RPG-2019-353.Salts formed during evaporation or freezing of brines can potentially incorporate organic matter that can inform about past biological activity. We analysed the lipid fraction preserved within the contemporary Lost Hammer salt deposit (Canadian High Arctic) - an analogue to extraterrestrial salt systems - and paired this with space mission-relevant evolved gas analysis. Our findings show microbial organic matter (fatty acids and n-alkanes) is incorporated into Lost Hammer salts, which comprise polyhydrated sulfates and chlorides. We find a difference in the relative abundance of fatty acids vs. n-alkanes indicating how these biosignatures evolve across active and non-active parts of the spring. We also find differences between pristine salt-organic mixtures and deposits that may have been remobilised by subsequent dissolution and recrystallisation. In this system, n-alkanes have the highest preservation potential, surviving the likely dissolution and recrystallisation of hydrated salt phases. This is important for considering the fate of organic matter on icy moons such as Europa, where salts emplaced on the surface by briny extrusions may have undergone fractional crystallisation, or where subsurface salts are remobilised by localised melting. It is also relevant for once active brine systems on Mars, where cycles of groundwater recharge and/or deliquescence led to dissolution and re-precipitation of evaporitic salts.Peer reviewe
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