The roughly 37,000-year-old remains of a female mammoth and her calf show distinct signs of butchering, providing new evidence that humans may have arrived in North America much earlier than believed.
Paleontologist Timothy Rowe first learned of the fossils in 2013 when a neighbor noticed something sticking out of a hillside on some New Mexico property belonging to Rowe.
Upon closer inspection, Rowe found a tusk, a bashed-in mammoth skull and other bones that looked deliberately broken. He believed it was the site where two mammoths had been butchered.
“What we’ve got is amazing,” Rowe said in a statement. “It’s not a charismatic site with a beautiful skeleton laid out on its side. It’s all busted up. But that’s what the story is.”
Rowe, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences, is an expert in vertebrate paleontology and doesn’t typically study mammoths or early humans. But he couldn’t help but work on the research due to the discovery’s location.
Two six-week excavations took place at the site in 2015 and 2016, but analysis in the lab has taken much longer and remains ongoing, Rowe said. He is the lead author of a new study providing an analysis of the site and its implications, which published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution in July.
“I have yet to fully process the cosmic coincidence of this site appearing in my back yard,” Rowe wrote in an email.
Analyzing the site
Multiple finds at the site paint a portrait of what took place there thousands of years ago, including bone tools, evidence of a fire, bones bearing fractures and other signs of animal butchering by humans.
Long mammoth bones shaped into disposable blades were used to break down the animal carcasses before a fire helped melt down their fat.
Fractures created by blunt force can be seen in the bones, according to the study.No stone tools were at the site, but researchers found flake knives made from bones with worn edges.
A chemical analysis of the sediment around the mammoth bones showed that the fire was sustained and controlled rather than caused by a wildfire or lightning strike. There was also evidence of bone that had been pulverized as well as burned small animal remains, including birds, fish, rodents and lizards.
The research team used CT scans to analyze the bones from the site, finding puncture wounds that would have been used to drain fat from ribs and vertebrae. The humans who butchered the mammoths were thorough, Rowe said.
“I have excavated dinosaurs that were scavenged, but the pattern of bone disarticulation and breakage from human butchering was unlike anything I had seen,” Rowe said.
The most surprising detail about the site is that it’s in New Mexico — and previous evidence has suggested that humans weren’t there until tens of thousands of years later.
Retracing early human steps
Collagen taken from the mammoth bones helped the researchers determine that the animals were butchered at the site between 36,250 and 38,900 years ago. This age range makes the New Mexico site one of the oldest that ancient humans created in North America, researchers said.
Scientists have debated for years when early humans first arrived in North America.
The 16,000-year-old Clovis culture is known because of the stone tools it left behind. But an increasing amount of evidence suggests that older North American sites were home to a pre-Clovis population that had a different genetic lineage. The older sites have a different kind of evidence, such as preserved footprints, bone tools or animal bones bearing cut marks older than 16,000 years ago.
“Humans have been in the Americas for more than twice as long as archaeologists have maintained for many years,” Rowe said. “This site indicates that humans attained a global distribution far earlier than previously understood.”
The position of the site, which is well within North America’s western interior, suggests that the first humans arrived well before 37,000 years ago, according to the study. These early humans likely traveled over land or along coastal routes.
Rowe said he wants to sample the site to look for signs of ancient DNA next.
“Tim has done excellent and thorough work that represents frontier research,” retired Texas State University professor Mike Collins said in a release. “It’s forging a path that others can learn from and follow.”
Collins was not involved with the study. He led research at the Gault archaeological site, which contains both Clovis and pre-Clovis artifacts, near Austin, Texas.
“I think the deeper meaning of early human attainment of a global distribution is an important new question to explore,” Rowe said. “Our new techniques provided nuanced evidence of a human presence in the archaeological record, and I suspect that there are other sites of comparable age or even older that have gone unrecognized.”
The bones of a mammoth and calf recently uncovered in New Mexico show signs of butchering, an exciting find that could help refine estimates of when humans first populated the Americas.
The specimens date to between 36,250 and 38,900 years ago, according to carbon dating analysis of the bones’ collagen. The paleontological team found blunt-force fractures on the bones. What appear to be flake-knives made from mammoth bones and evidence of a controlled fire were also at the site—signs that humans were involved in the mammoths’ demise. The team’s research appeared last month in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
“It’s not a charismatic site with a beautiful skeleton laid out on its side,” said Timothy Rowe, a paleontologist at The University of Texas at Austin and lead author of the recent paper, in a UT release. “It’s all busted up. But that’s what the story is.”
At first glance, Rowe thought the bone pile looked like a butchering site. But with no complex stone tools nearby—a telltale sign of humankind—he couldn’t be sure.
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But running CT scans on several samples from the site revealed 32 bone flakes with noticeable fractures that the team argued could not be explained by geological processes or scavenging. About half of the bone flakes had sharp edges suitable for cutting.
The CT scans also revealed that several of the mammoths’ ribs and vertebrae had punctures, invisible to the naked eye due to how bone-colored sediment filled them in. The team believes these punctures may have been to hasten the draining of grease from the bones.
“There really are only a couple efficient ways to skin a cat, so to speak,” Rowe said in the release. “The butchering patterns are quite characteristic.” (I can only assume that killing and butchering a mammoth required more effort than a cat.)
Besides the mammoth bones, the site also contained evidence of smaller burned animals: birds, rodents, lizards, and fish, despite the fact that the nearest river is 200 feet from the site. The condition of the burned remains indicates they were heated with a controlled fire, rather than flash lightning or other naturally induced fires, according to the researchers.
If all these clues are indeed the remnants of human activity, it would be yet another nail in the coffin for the old Clovis First theory, which held that the first people reached North American around 13,000 years ago. Last year, fossilized human footprints in New Mexico pushed back humankind’s presence in North America by 10,000 years. The newly discovered mammoth site is about 15,000 years older than those footprints. Previous research has suggested that some indigenous Americans in the Amazon are more genetically similar to indigenous Australians and other groups in Oceania than to modern Native American populations, an indicator that multiple populations of humans entered North America from Asia in the ancient past.
More: Footprints Suggest Humans Migrated Deep Into North America Earlier Than Previously Known
The moon has pits with shaded areas that steadily hover around 63 degrees Fahrenheit (17 degrees Celsius), a temperate range that’s stable for humans, found researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles. The journal Geophysical Research Letters published the study in July.
These pit craters, which may potentially lead to caves that could also provide human shelter, have temperatures that could make lunar exploration and long-term human habitation on the moon safer, as scientists would be able to set up thermally stable base camps.
“Humans evolved living in caves, and to caves we might return when we live on the moon,” said study coauthor David Paige, professor of planetary science at UCLA, in a news release. Paige also leads the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment, an instrument on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Now that there is a better understanding of the pits and potential caves, scientists could possibly pick up the pace toward conceptualizing a workable permanent station, protected from the extreme conditions of the moon’s surface.
“We could be able to establish a long-term presence on the moon sooner than may have otherwise been possible,” said lead study author Tyler Horvath, a doctoral student in planetary science at UCLA.
Unlike the moon’s surface, which heats up to 260 degrees Fahrenheit (127 degrees Celsius) during the day and drops to minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 173 degrees Celsius) at night, these lunar pits in the Mare Tranquillitatis region have a human-friendly, stable temperature.
(Mare Tranquillitatis, commonly known as the Sea of Tranquility, is where Apollo 11, the first mission to put humans on the moon, landed due to its smooth and relatively flat terrain.)
The data comes from an analysis of images taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft and computer modeling.
“These (pits) are right at the resolution limit of the cameras that they’re trying to use,” said Briony Horgan, associate professor of Earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. “The fact that they are able to pull that data out and show that it was pretty convincing, I think it’s a big step forward in looking at the moon.”
Learning about these pits and probable caves helps scientists better understand how other extreme environments behave, such as the lunar polar regions where the Artemis mission is going, said Noah Petro, chief of NASA’s Planetary Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry Lab. The NASA Artemis program aims to return humans to the moon and land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface by 2025.
“Artemis has the goal of sending humans to the region around the South Pole, where we know there are some very cold places,” said Petro via email. “Fortunately, we have a large amount of data for the south pole region where Artemis will visit.”
Give me shelter
The extreme temperatures of the moon’s surface have made it difficult for NASA to create fully operational heating and cooling equipment that would produce enough power to allow for longer-term lunar exploration or habitation, according to the news release. However, NASA may not need equipment as complex as currently assumed to make exploration and habitation a reality, this research has shown.
With the help of the lunar orbiter, scientists discovered pits on the moon in 2009, a finding that prompted scientists to wonder if there were connecting caves that could be explored or even used as shelters.
“About 16 of the more than 200 pits are probably collapsed lava tubes,” Horvath said in the news release.
When a lava tube — a long, hollow tunnel and cavelike structure formed by lava — collapses, it opens a pit that can create an entrance to the rest of the cave.
There are at least two, likely three, pits that have overhangs that lead to caves, the release said.
Caves would be a stable environment for lunar habitats since they offer some protection from solar radiation and micrometeorite impacts, Horgan said. These formations could also provide a measure of protection against cosmic rays, according to NASA.
It would be helpful to build on the current research with radar data to find additional potential caves, Horgan added.
The research “gives engineers who are really thinking about how to design a habitat on the moon real numbers to work with,” she said. “That’ll be incredibly important going forward.”
Currently, NASA has plans for robotic exploration on the moon through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Starting in December 2022, cargo flights will deliver devices that navigate and map the lunar surface, conduct investigations, measure radiation levels and assess how human activity impacts the moon. These flights give scientists the ability to reach anywhere on the lunar surface, including Mare Tranquillitatis, Petro said.
“Continuing to map the temperature of the lunar surface is a high priority for LRO, as we’ll be able to use that information not only to better understand the environment future missions to the surface will experience,” Petro said, “but we can also learn about how different types of surface material respond to the changing lighting conditions at the lunar surface.”
Bones of an adult mammoth and her calf have been uncovered at a 37,000-year-old butchering site in New Mexico, which suggest humans settled in North America 17,000 years than previously believed.
A team of scientists, led by The University of Texas at Austin, extracted collagen from the bones, allowing them to carbon date the settled age of 36,250 to 38,900 years old.
The bones were discovered in a three-foot-tall pile, with 95 percent belonging to the adult, and featured slaughter marks and fractures from blunt force impact
The discovery adds to the growing evidence that there were societies before people crossed the Bering Strait land bridge some 20,000 years ago. The bridge, also called Beringia, connected Siberia and Alaska during the last Ice Age, and allowed people to come from Asia into North America.
Timothy Rowe, lead author of the study, told DailyMail.com that the ancient humans likely came from Asia, but whether they took a coastal or overland route to the America’s remains an open question. A separate study in 2021 found some of the first Americans crossed the Bering Sea in paddle boats, stopping along chain of islands that were above the surface during the last Ice Age.
Previous studies have produced remains of ancient humans dating back 20,000 years ago and other artifact that suggest there were people in the area before Clovis – those who crossed the land bridge. However, the mammoth bones are the earliest evidence found to date.
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Scientists discovered a three-foot-tall pile of mammoth bones that belonged to an adult female and her calf. However, 95 percent of the bones were from the adult
Rowe said in a statement: ‘It’s not a charismatic site with a beautiful skeleton laid out on its side. It’s all busted up. But that’s what the story is.’
The discovery was also made in Rowe’s backyard. His neighbor spotted a tusk protruding out from the ground and he quickly called a team in to help with the excavations.
Once most of the dirt was removed, the open-air butchering site was revealed that includes different areas separated by walls made of stone and clay.
The mammoth bones, both the adult and calf, were found in a pile with the adults head and tusks laid on top.
The bones were discovered at an open-air butchering site that included separate areas blocked off by walls.
The mammoth bones featured slaughter marks and fractures from blunt force impact
Most of the remains in the heap belonged to the adult, including 44 broken cranial fragments, and intact upper right second molar and 12 isolated tooth plates, 25 ribs broken into 52 fragments, 3 vertebrae and 15 vertebral fragments, 32 percussion-impact bone flakes, 9 ‘butterfly fragments’, 20 unidentifiable bone fragments, and 267 bags of small ‘bone scraps.’
Pictured is an illustration of what the mammoth adult looked like
‘The adult’s face (tusks, premaxillae, and partial maxillae) is the single largest, heaviest element present and was positioned on top of the bone pile,’ reads the study published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
‘It was sheared from the cranium at the nares, and its maxillary alveoli are broken and empty.
‘The calf is represented by a partial left maxilla and dentary with intact dentitions, three isolated tooth plates, left tibia diaphysis, and 10 rib fragments.’
The study also notes that the separation of the adult’s face bones from the cranium was caused by ‘the most profound skull fracture.’
Before the mammoth bones were found it was a 20,000-year-old burial in Montana that was the oldest evidence of humans settling in North America.
The discovery adds to the growing evidence that there were societies before people crossed the Bering Strait land bridge some 20,000 years ago. Pictured is a map showing how the land bridge once connected the two continents
The study also notes that the separation of the adult’s face bones from the cranium was caused by ‘the most profound skull fracture.’ Pictured are the animal’s face bones that features fractures from blunt force impact
In 1968, construction workers uncovered ancient tools and the remains of a young child at the site.
It is the oldest genome ever recovered from the New World, and artifacts found with the body show the boy was part of the Clovis culture that came across the Bering Strait land bridge.
The so-called Anzick skeleton was found with about 125 artifacts, including Clovis fluted spear points and tools made from antlers, and covered in red ochre, a type of mineral.
Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, who led the study, said in a statement: ‘The Clovis boy’s family is the direct ancestor to roughly estimated 80% of all present day Native Americans.
‘Although the Clovis culture disappeared its people are living today.’
The remains of two mammoths discovered in New Mexico show that humans lived in North America much earlier than thought. Credit: NPS.
About 37,000 years ago, a mother mammoth and her calf met their end at the hands of human beings.
Bones from the butchering site record how humans shaped pieces of their long bones into disposable blades to break down their carcasses, and rendered their fat over a fire. But a key detail sets this site apart from others from this era. It’s in New Mexico—a place where most archaeological evidence does not place humans until tens of thousands of years later.
A recent study led by scientists with The University of Texas at Austin finds that the site offers some of the most conclusive evidence for humans settling in North America much earlier than conventionally thought.
The researchers revealed a wealth of evidence rarely found in one place. It includes fossils with blunt-force fractures, bone flake knives with worn edges, and signs of controlled fire. And thanks to carbon dating analysis on collagen extracted from the mammoth bones, the site also comes with a settled age of 36,250 to 38,900 years old, making it among the oldest known sites left behind by ancient humans in North America.
“What we’ve got is amazing,” said lead author Timothy Rowe, a paleontologist and a professor in the UT Jackson School of Geosciences. “It’s not a charismatic site with a beautiful skeleton laid out on its side. It’s all busted up. But that’s what the story is.”
Credit: University of Texas at Austin
The findings were published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
Rowe does not usually research mammoths or humans. He got involved because the bones showed up in his backyard, literally. A neighbor spotted a tusk weathering from a hillslope on Rowe’s New Mexico property in 2013. When Rowe went to investigate, he found a bashed-in mammoth skull and other bones that looked deliberately broken. It appeared to be a butchering site. But suspected early human sites are shrouded in uncertainty. It can be notoriously difficult to determine what was shaped by nature versus human hands.
This uncertainty has led to debate in the anthropological community about when humans first arrived in North America. The Clovis culture, which dates to 16,000 years ago, left behind elaborate stone-wrought tools. But at older sites where stone tools are absent, the evidence gets more subjective, said retired Texas State University Professor Mike Collins, who was not involved with this paper and who oversaw research at Gault, a well-known archaeological site near Austin with an abundance of Clovis and pre-Clovis artifacts.
Close up of the bone pile during excavation. This random mix of ribs, broken cranial bones, a molar, bone fragments, and stone cobbles is a refuse pile from the butchered mammoths. It was preserved beneath the adult mammoth’s skull and tusks. Credit: Timothy Rowe / The University of Texas at Austin.
Although the mammoth site lacks clearly associated stone tools, Rowe and his co-authors discovered an array of supporting evidence by putting samples from the site through scientific analyses in the lab.
Among other finds, CT scans taken by the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility revealed bone flakes with microscopic fracture networks akin to those in freshly knapped cow bones and well-placed puncture wounds that would have helped in draining grease from ribs and vertebral bones.
“There really are only a couple efficient ways to skin a cat, so to speak,” Rowe said. “The butchering patterns are quite characteristic.”
In addition, chemical analysis of the sediment surrounding the bones showed that fire particles came from a sustained and controlled burn, not a lightning strike or wildfire. The material also contained pulverized bone and the burned remains of small animals—mostly fish (even though the site is over 200 feet above the nearest river), but also birds, rodents and lizards.
The excavation site mostly holds broken bones from the mammoths’ ribs and spine. The most prominent fossil is a portion of the adult mammoth’s skull. Credit: Timothy Rowe / The University of Texas at Austin.
Butchering marks on mammoth ribs. The top rib shows a fracture from blunt force impact; the middle rib shows a puncture wound, probably made by a tool; the bottom rib shows chopping marks. Credit: Timothy Rowe et al. / The University of Texas at Austin.
Based on genetic evidence from Indigenous populations in South and Central America and artifacts from other archaeological sites, some scientists have proposed that North America had at least two founding populations: the Clovis and a pre-Clovis society with a different genetic lineage.
The researchers suggest that New Mexico site, with its age and bone tools instead of elaborate stone technology, may lend support to this theory. Collins said the study adds to a growing body of evidence for pre-Clovis societies in North America while providing a toolkit that can help others find evidence that may have been otherwise overlooked.
“Tim has done excellent and thorough work that represents frontier research,” Collins said. “It’s forging a path that others can learn from and follow.”
Gault site research pushes back date of earliest North Americans
More information:
Timothy B. Rowe et al, Human Occupation of the North American Colorado Plateau ∼37,000 Years Ago, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (2022). DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.903795
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New Mexico mammoths among best evidence for early humans in North America (2022, August 1)
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Scientists analysing data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft and computer modelling have discovered shaded locations within pits on the Moon that always hover around a comfortable about 17 Celsius, a temperature that is suitable for humans.
The pits and caves would make thermally stable sites for lunar exploration compared to areas at the Moon’s surface, which heat up to about 127 Celsius during the day and cool to about minus 173 Celsius at night.
Lunar exploration is part of NASA’s goal to explore and understand the unknown in space, to inspire and benefit humanity.
Pits were first discovered on the Moon in 2009, and since then, scientists have wondered if they led to caves that could be explored or used as shelters. The pits or caves would also protect from cosmic rays, solar radiation and micrometeorites.
“About 16 of the more than 200 pits are probably collapsed lava tubes,” said Tyler Horvath, a doctoral student in planetary science at the University of California in Los Angeles, who led the new research that was recently published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
“Lunar pits are a fascinating feature on the lunar surface,” said LRO Project Scientist Noah Petro of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Knowing that they create a stable thermal environment helps us paint a picture of these unique lunar features and the prospect of one day exploring them.”
Horvath processed data from Diviner, a thermal camera, to find out if the temperature within the pits diverged from those on the surface.
Focusing on a roughly cylindrical 100-metre deep depression which is about the length and width of a football field in an area of the Moon known as the Mare Tranquillitatis, Horvath and his colleagues used computer modelling to analyse the thermal properties of the rock and lunar dust and to chart the pit’s temperatures over time.
The results revealed that temperatures within the permanently shadowed reaches of the pit fluctuate only slightly throughout the lunar day, remaining at around 17 Celsius. If a cave extends from the bottom of the pit, as images taken by LRO’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera suggest, it too would have this relatively comfortable temperature.
The team believes the shadowing overhang is responsible for the steady temperature, limiting how hot things get during the day and preventing heat from radiating away at night.
A day on the Moon lasts about 15 Earth days, during which the surface is constantly bombarded by sunlight and is frequently hot enough to boil water. Brutally cold nights also last about 15 Earth days.
Launched on June 18, 2009, LRO has collected a treasure trove of data with its seven powerful instruments, making an invaluable contribution to our knowledge about the Moon.
**
The above article has been published from a wire agency with minimal modifications to the headline and text.
Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of the Persons with Monkeypox.
A total of 528 cases of confirmed human monkeypox infection from five continents, 16 countries, and 43 clinical sites are included in this series (Figure 1). Demographic and clinical characteristics of the persons with infection are summarized in Table 1.
Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Persons with HIV Infection in the Case Series.
Overall, 98% of the persons with infection were gay or bisexual men, and 75% were White. The median age was 38 years. A total of 41% of the persons were living with HIV infection, and in the vast majority of these persons, HIV infection was well controlled; 96% of those with HIV infection were taking ART, and in 95% the HIV viral load was less than 50 copies per milliliter (Table 2). Preexposure prophylaxis had been used in the month before presentation in 57% of the persons who were not known to have HIV infection.
Clinical Findings
Diagnosis and Clinical Characteristics of Monkeypox in the Case Series.Lesions in Persons with Confirmed Human Monkeypox Virus Infection.
Panel A shows the evolution of cutaneous lesions in a person with monkeypox; images a1 and a2 show facial lesions, images b1 through b3 show a penile lesion, and images c1 and c2 show a lesion on the forehead. The polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR) status is indicated if available. IM denotes intramuscular, and MSM man who has sex with men. Panel B shows oral and perioral lesions (image a, perioral umbilicated lesions; image b, perioral vesicular lesion on day 8, PCR positive; image c, ulcer on the left corner of the mouth on day 7, PCR positive; image d, tongue ulcer; image e, tongue lesion on day 5, PCR positive; and images f, g, and h, pharyngeal lesions on day 0, 3, and 21, respectively, PCR positive on day 0 and 3 and negative on day 21). Panel C shows perianal, anal, and rectal lesions (image a, anal and perianal lesions on day 6, PCR positive; images b and c, rectal and anal lesions in a single person, PCR positive; image d, perianal ulcers, PCR positive; image e, anal lesions; image f, umbilicated perianal lesion on day 3, PCR positive; image g, umbilicated perianal lesions on day 3, PCR positive; and image h, perianal ulcer on day 2, PCR positive).
The characteristics of monkeypox in this case series are summarized in Table 3. Skin lesions were noted in 95% of the persons (Figure 2). The most common anatomical sites were the anogenital area (73%); the trunk, arms, or legs (55%); the face (25%); and the palms and soles (10%). A wide spectrum of skin lesions was described (see the clinical image Web library), including macular, pustular, vesicular, and crusted lesions, and lesions in multiple phases were present simultaneously. Among persons with skin lesions, 58% had lesions that were described as vesiculopustular. The number of lesions varied widely, with most persons having fewer than 10 lesions. A total of 54 persons presented with only a single genital ulcer, which highlights the potential for misdiagnosis as a different STI. Mucosal lesions were reported in 41% of the persons. Involvement of the anorectal mucosa was reported as the presenting symptom in 61 persons; this involvement was associated with anorectal pain, proctitis, tenesmus, or diarrhea (or a combination of these symptoms). Oropharyngeal symptoms were reported as the initial symptoms in 26 persons; these symptoms included pharyngitis, odynophagia, epiglottitis, and oral or tonsillar lesions. In 3 persons, conjunctival mucosa lesions were among the presenting symptoms. Common systemic features during the course of the illness included fever (in 62%), lethargy (41%), myalgia (31%), and headache (27%), symptoms that frequently preceded a generalized rash; lymphadenopathy was also common (56%).
The initial presenting feature and the sequence of subsequent cutaneous and systemic features (captured as free text) showed considerable variation. The most common presentation was an initial skin lesion or lesions, primarily in the anogenital area, body (trunk or limbs), or face (or a combination of these locations), with the number of lesions increasing over time and with or without systemic features (see the series of timelines in the clinical image Web library). Because of the observational nature of this case series, the variability in the time of presentation, and the reliance on clinical records, a clear chronology of potential exposure and symptoms was available for only 30 persons. Of these 30 persons, 23 had a clearly defined exposure event, with a median time from exposure to the development of symptoms of 7 days (range, 3 to 20). Lesions with prodrome occurred in 17 of the 30 persons; however, isolated anogenital or oral lesions were also observed (13 persons). The median time from the onset of symptoms to the first positive PCR result was 5 days (range, 2 to 20), and the median time from the development of the first skin lesion to the development of additional skin lesions was 5 days (range, 2 to 11) (see the clinical image Web library). In persons for whom data on follow-up PCR testing were available, the latest time point at which a lesion remained positive was 21 days after symptom onset.
The clinical presentation was similar among persons with HIV infection and those without HIV infection. The clinical characteristics of the persons with HIV infection are shown in Table 2. Concomitant STIs were reported in 109 of the 377 persons (29%) who were tested, with gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis found in 8%, 5%, and 9%, respectively, of the those who underwent testing.
Transmission
The suspected means of monkeypox virus transmission as reported by the clinician was sexual close contact in 95% of the persons. It was not possible to confirm sexual transmission. A sexual history was recorded in 406 of 528 persons; among these 406 persons, the median number of sex partners in the previous 3 months was 5 partners, 147 (28%) reported travel abroad in the month before diagnosis, and 103 (20%) had attended large gatherings (>30 persons), such as Pride events. Overall, 169 (32%) were known to have visited sex-on-site venues within the previous month, and 106 (20%) reported engaging in “chemsex” (i.e., sex associated with drugs such as mephedrone and crystal methamphetamine) in the same period.
A total of 70 persons (13%) were admitted to a hospital. The most common reasons for admission were pain management (21 persons), mostly for severe anorectal pain, and treatment of soft-tissue superinfection (18). Other reasons included severe pharyngitis limiting oral intake (5 persons), treatment of eye lesions (2), acute kidney injury (2), myocarditis (2), and infection-control purposes (13). There was no difference in the frequency of admission according to HIV status. Three new cases of HIV infection were identified.
Two types of serious complications were reported: one case of epiglottitis and two cases of myocarditis. The epiglottitis occurred in a person with HIV infection who had a CD4 cell count of less than 200 per cubic millimeter; the person was treated with tecovirimat and recovered completely. The myocarditis cases were self-limiting (<7 days) and resolved without antiviral therapy. One occurred in a person with HIV infection who had a CD4 cell count of 780 per cubic millimeter, and one occurred in a person without HIV infection. No deaths were reported.
In total, 5% of the 528 persons received monkeypox-specific treatment. The drugs administered included intravenous or topical cidofovir (in 2% of persons), tecovirimat (2%), and vaccinia immune globulin (<1%).
Diagnosis
Characteristics of 32 Persons with Monkeypox According to Presence or Absence of Viral DNA in Seminal Fluid on PCR.
The health setting of initial presentation reflected referral patterns and included sexual health or HIV clinics, emergency departments, and dermatology clinics and, less commonly, primary care. A positive PCR result was most commonly obtained from skin or anogenital lesions (97%); other sites were less frequently sampled. The reported percentages of positive PCR results were 26% for nasopharyngeal specimens, 3% for urine specimens, and 7% for blood specimens. Semen was tested in 32 persons from five clinical sites and was PCR positive in 29 persons (4 of these instances have previously been reported19) (Table 4).
Dogs that are fed raw meat are more likely to excrete the antibiotic-resistant bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) in their faeces, vets have warned.
Prior research has shown that there also is potential for the E. Coli to be passed from the dogs to their human owners through normal, every day interaction.
Researchers at the University of Bristol suggest that pet owners who are raw feeding their dogs should take extra precautions when cleaning up their mess.
They also suggest that the fashionable diet is not the safest choice for a domesticated dog for this reason.
Matthew Avison, Professor of Molecular Bacteriology from the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, said: ‘We should do everything we can to reduce the circulation of critically important antibiotic-resistant E. coli and other bacteria.
‘Our research adds to the increasing evidence that not feeding raw meat to dogs may help in that objective.’
Raw feeding is as it sounds – feeding your pet raw ingredients, rather than the traditional cooked food that is more commonly available (stock image)
Researchers at the University of Bristol suggest that pet owners who are raw feeding their dogs should take extra precautions when cleaning up their mess, as they are more likely excrete the antibiotic-resistant bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) in their faeces
WHAT IS ‘RAW FEEDING’?
Raw feeding is feeding your pet raw ingredients, rather than the traditional cooked food that is more commonly available.
Raw diets usually contain a combination of raw meat and other uncooked ingredients such as certain fruits and vegetables.
A lot of people who feed their dogs a raw diet do so because they see it as being a more ‘natural’ option to traditional dog food.
However, there are no studies to support that raw feeding is better than traditional dog food.
Owners who feed their dogs or cats a raw diet often claim that they see a lot of good changes in their pet.
This can range from a glossier coat and more energy, to less smelly poos!
But a lot of the apparent benefits of raw diets can be easily achieved by making sure you’re feeding your pet any balanced, age appropriate diet.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Professor Avison added: ‘Our studies show that dogs, whether puppies or adults, are more likely to carry antibiotic resistant bacteria in their intestines if they are fed raw meat than if they are fed kibble and other processed dog food.
‘This adds to the increasing body of peer-reviewed evidence that raw meat feeding is associated with various bacterial infectious diseases risks in dogs.
‘I cannot comment on any potential benefits associated with raw meat feeding but equally I have not seen any evidence that good quality processed dog food fails to provide good quality nutrition for dogs.
‘On that basis, I choose to feed my two dogs, Wilma and Doris, good quality kibble.
‘Others should be free to make their own choice but should do so in the knowledge that raw feeding comes with some potential risks.’
E. coli are bacteria that generally live in the intestines of healthy people and animals.
Infections can occur after coming into contact with the faeces of humans or animals, or by eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water.
Symptoms of an E.coli infection include bloody diarrhoea, stomach cramps, nausea and vomiting.
In rare cases sufferers can develop hemolytic uremic syndrome, a disease that affects the kidneys and blood clotting functions of infected people.
The study, published today in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, collected data from 600 adult dogs and their owners.
Owners completed questionnaires about their dogs, the dogs’ diets and environment, and provided faecal samples from their dogs.
The samples were then analysed for the presence of E. coli, while risk factor analyses were conducted using their questionnaire results.
The researchers wanted to determine any links between E. coli detection and lifestyle factors or environments reported in the owner survey.
While raw feeding was a strong risk factor for dogs living in the countryside, those for city-dwelling dogs were more complicated.
The vets claim this could reflect the variety of lifestyles and exposures among city dogs, as swimming in rivers was found to be a weak risk factor.
Professor Avison said: ‘Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are everywhere, but some antibiotics are considered critically important for use in humans.
‘We have shown that dogs fed raw meat are more likely to carry bacteria resistant to these important medicines.
‘This doesn’t mean that the animal, or the owner, will become sick.
‘E. coli is a widespread bacterium that is found in the intestines of all humans and animals.
‘However it is a common cause of many diseases including urinary tract infection and can cause serious illness including sepsis if it spreads to other parts of the body.’
In a study published last month, the researchers concluded that raw feeding is associated with carriage of antibiotic resistant E. coli in the faeces of dogs as young as 16 weeks, regardless of the length of time spent on the diet (stock image)
Results of a study of 16-week-old puppies and their owners, and associations with risk factors for carriage of E. coli resistant to at least one test antibiotic
These results support those obtained in another study that was published last month in the journal One Health.
The team recruited 223 16-week-old puppies and their owners for similar risk factor and faecal sample analyses.
They concluded that raw feeding is associated with carriage of antibiotic resistant E. coli in young dogs, regardless of the length of time spent on the diet.
It was also found that the bacteria carried by puppies are shared with humans.
Kristen Reyher, co-author and Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology and Population Health at the Bristol Veterinary School, said: ‘We know humans and animals share bacteria with one another, so what we find in your pet may well also be in you.
‘Pet owners should be encouraged to practice good hygiene and not feeding raw food to your dog can be part of this,
‘We can all do our part to decrease antibiotic resistance and its terrible effects on both human and animal health.’
How fashionable raw meat dog food could see pet owners risk suffering dangerous bugs including E.coli when ‘kissing’ their pooches after eating
Raw pet food is said to be similar to a dog’s natural diet if they were in the wild, and is claimed to give them fresher breath and a shinier coat.
But a study has found the food, made mainly from offal, uncooked meat and bones, contains food poisoning bugs including E.coli and salmonella.
Scientists say this may be harmful for elderly people, babies and people with poor immunity, who could fall ill by handling food bowls or kitchen equipment, or from their dog licking their face.
The research, published in the Veterinary Record journal, looked at raw dog food made by 10 different manufacturers, based in countries including Britain and Sweden.
Researchers found a third of the 60 samples they took contained E.coli, with almost a third containing another bug, Clostridium perfringens, known to cause outbreaks of food poisoning. Salmonella was found in seven per cent of samples.
According to the researchers, this study found the clearest indication of motor cortex replay during human sleep that has ever been seen.
New insights into brain activity when sleeping may help in the creation of tools for those suffering from neurologic disease or damage
Why do humans sleep? This issue has been debated by scientists for hundreds of years, but a recent study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers that was carried out in collaboration with experts from Brown University, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and several other institutions adds new clues for solving this mystery. Their research, which was recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience, may help to explain how individuals remember things and pick up new skills. It may also help with the creation of assistive tools for those with neurological conditions or injuries.
According to the lead author of the research and neurologist Daniel Rubin, MD, Ph.D., of the MGH Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery, scientists have long known that during sleep, a phenomenon known as “replay” takes place. Replay is thought to be a mechanism used by the brain to recall new information. When a mouse is taught to navigate a labyrinth, monitoring equipment may indicate that a precise pattern of brain cells, or neurons, light up as it follows the proper path. “Then, later on, while the animal is sleeping, you can see that those neurons will fire again in that same order,” says Rubin. Scientists theorize that this is how the brain practices newly acquired knowledge during sleep, allowing memories to be consolidated—that is, turned from short-term memories to long-term memories.
Replay, however, has only been properly shown in lab animals. “There’s been an open question in the neuroscience community: To what extent is this model for how we learn things true in humans? And is it true for different kinds of learning?” asks neurologist Sydney S. Cash, MD, Ph.D., co-director of the Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery at MGH and co-senior author of the study. Importantly, says Cash, understanding whether replay occurs with the learning of motor skills could help guide the development of new therapies and tools for people with neurologic diseases and injuries.
Researchers have found the first evidence of replay in the human motor cortex, which controls voluntary movement, in a new study. This might give insights to the developers of assistive tools for people with paralysis and also provide information about how we learn and create long-term memories. Credit: Massachusetts General Hospital
To study whether replay occurs in the human motor cortex—the brain region that governs movement—Rubin, Cash, and their colleagues enlisted a 36-year-old man with tetraplegia (also called quadriplegia), meaning he is unable to move his upper and lower limbs, in his case due to a spinal cord injury. The man, identified in the study as T11, is a participant in a clinical trial of a brain-computer interface device that allows him to use a computer cursor and keyboard on a screen. The investigational device is being developed by the BrainGate consortium, a collaborative effort involving clinicians, neuroscientists, and engineers at several institutions with the goal of creating technologies to restore communication, mobility, and independence for people with neurologic disease, injury, or limb loss. The consortium is directed by Leigh R. Hochberg, MD, Ph.D., of MGH, Brown University, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
In the study, T11 was asked to perform a memory task similar to the electronic game Simon, in which a player observes a pattern of flashing colored lights, then has to recall and reproduce that sequence. He controlled the cursor on the computer screen simply by thinking about the movement of his own hand. Sensors implanted in T11’s motor cortex measured patterns of neuronal firing, which reflected his intended hand movement, allowing him to move the cursor around on the screen and click it at his desired locations. These brain signals were recorded and wirelessly transmitted to a computer.
That night, while T11 slept at home, activity in his motor cortex was recorded and wirelessly transmitted to a computer. “What we found was pretty incredible,” says Rubin. “He was basically playing the game overnight in his sleep.” On several occasions, says Rubin, T11’s patterns of neuronal firing during sleep exactly matched patterns that occurred while he performed the memory-matching game earlier that day.
“This is the most direct evidence of replay from the motor cortex that’s ever been seen during sleep in humans,” says Rubin. Most of the replay detected in the study occurred during slow-wave sleep, a phase of deep slumber. Interestingly, replay was much less likely to be detected while T11 was in REM sleep, the phase most commonly associated with dreaming. Rubin and Cash see this work as a foundation for learning more about replay and its role in learning and memory in humans.
“Our hope is that we can leverage this information to help build better brain-computer interfaces and come up with paradigms that help people learn more quickly and efficiently in order to regain control after an injury,” says Cash, noting the significance of moving this line of inquiry from animals to human subjects. “This kind of research benefits enormously from the close interaction we have with our participants,” he adds, with gratitude to T11 and other participants in the BrainGate clinical trial.
Hochberg concurs. “Our incredible BrainGate participants provide not only helpful feedback toward the creation of a system to restore communication and mobility, but they also give us the rare opportunity to advance fundamental human neuroscience—to understand how the human brain works at the level of circuits of individual neurons,” he says, “and to use that information to build next-generation restorative neurotechnologies.”
Rubin is also an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Cash is an associate professor of Neurology at HMS. Hochberg is a senior lecturer on Neurology at HMS and a professor of Engineering at Brown University.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Neurologic Disease and Stroke, the American Academy of Neurology, the National Institute of Mental Health, Conquer Paralysis Now, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the MGH-Deane Institute, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Stanford University.
Reference: “Learned Motor Patterns Are Replayed in Human Motor Cortex during Sleep” by Daniel B. Rubin, Tommy Hosman, Jessica N. Kelemen, Anastasia Kapitonava, Francis R. Willett, Brian F. Coughlin, Eric Halgren, Eyal Y. Kimchi, Ziv M. Williams, John D. Simeral, Leigh R. Hochberg and Sydney S. Cash, 22 June 2022, Journal of Neuroscience. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2074-21.2022
The pressurized capsule of the SpaceX Cargo Dragon resupply ship with its nose cone open is pictured as the vehicle departs the International Space Station on January 23, 2022. Credit: NASA
While the International Space Station (ISS) was traveling in orbit more than 267 miles over the South Atlantic Ocean, the
The SpaceX Dragon resupply ship approaches the space station during an orbital sunrise above the Pacific Ocean. Credit: NASA TV
Among the science experiments Dragon is delivering to the space station are:
Dust from northwest Africa blows over the Canary Islands in this image captured by the NOAA-20 satellite on January 14. An upcoming NASA mission, the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), will help scientists better understand the role of airborne dust in heating and cooling the atmosphere. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
Mapping Earth’s dust
Developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) employs NASA imaging spectroscopy technology to measure the mineral composition of dust in Earth’s arid regions. Mineral dust blown into the air can travel significant distances and affect Earth’s climate, weather, vegetation, and more. For instance, an area may be warmed by dust made of dark minerals that absorb sunlight, whereas a region might be cooled by dust made of light-colored minerals. Air quality, surface conditions including the speed at which snow melts, and ocean phytoplankton health are all impacted by blowing dust. For the duration of a year, the investigation will collect images to generate maps of the mineral composition in the dust-producing regions on Earth. Such mapping could advance our understanding of how mineral dust affects human populations now and in the future.
Pre-flight preparation of tissue chips for the Immunosenescence investigation, which studies the effects of microgravity on immune function to determine the mechanisms behind immune system aging. Credit: Sonja Schrepfer, University of California San Francisco
Speedier immune system aging
Immunosenescence is the changes in the immune system due to aging. Microgravity causes changes in human immune cells that resemble immunosenescence, but they happen much faster than the actual process of aging on Earth. Sponsored by ISS National Lab, the Immunosenescence investigation, uses tissue chips to study how microgravity affects immune function during flight and whether immune cells recover post-flight. Tissue chips are small devices that contain human cells in a 3D structure, that allow researchers to test how those cells respond to stresses, drugs, and genetic changes.
“Immune aging impacts tissue stem cells and their ability to repair tissues and organs,” says principal investigator Sonja Schrepfer, professor of surgery at University of California San Francisco (UCSF). “Our studies aim to understand critical pathways to prevent and to reverse aging of immune cells.”
“Spaceflight conditions enable the study of immune aging that would not be feasible in the lab,” says co-investigator Tobias Deuse, professor of surgery at UCSF. This work could support development of treatments for immune system aging on Earth. The investigation also could support development of methods to protect astronauts during future long-duration spaceflight.
The 25th SpaceX cargo resupply services mission (SpaceX CRS-25) carrying scientific research and technology demonstrations to the International Space Station launched on July 14 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Experiments aboard the Dragon capsule include studies of the immune system, wound healing, soil communities, and cell-free biomarkers, along with mapping the composition of Earth’s dust and testing an alternative to concrete. Credit: NASA
Small satellites, big science
Five CubeSats lauched on this mission sponsored by NASA’s Launch Services Program, including BeaverCube, which launched to the space station for deployment into low-Earth orbit. Multiple cameras are employed by the small satellite including one that takes color images of Earth’s oceans and two that collect thermal images of cloud tops and the ocean surface. Cloud top and ocean surface temperatures help researchers understand Earth’s climate and weather systems. The collected data also help scientists improve their understanding of the ocean’s concentration of phytoplankton, an important factor in the generation of atmospheric oxygen.
“Most Earth observation missions primarily image over land, focusing on populated areas and targets of interest. BeaverCube will focus on imaging oceans and coastal regions, combining thermal images with visible images to help us better understand ocean fronts,” says principal investigator Kerri Cahoy, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (
Preparation of sample tubes for DynaMoS, which examines how microgravity affects metabolic interactions in communities of soil microbes. Each tube contains chitin and sterile soil inoculated with a community of microbes. Credit: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Soil in space
Complex communities of microorganisms carry out key functions in soil on Earth, including supporting plant growth and cycling of carbon and other nutrients. DynaMoS, an investigation sponsored by NASA’s Division of Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS), examines how microgravity affects metabolic interactions in communities of soil microbes. This research focuses on microbe communities that decompose chitin, a natural carbon polymer on Earth.
“Soil microorganisms carry out beneficial functions that are essential for life on our planet,” says principal investigator Janet K. Jansson, chief scientist and laboratory fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. “To harness these beneficial activities for future space missions, we need to understand more about how conditions in space, like microgravity and radiation, influence these microbes and the beneficial functions that they provide. Perhaps in the future, we will use beneficial soil microbes to enhance growth of crops on the lunar surface.”
Improved understanding of the function of soil microorganism communities also could reveal ways to optimize these communities to support agricultural production on Earth.
Selin Kocalar, the student who designed the experiment on which Genes in Space-9 is based, prepares her samples for launch. Credit: Genes in Space
Genes, no cells
Cell-free technology is a platform for producing protein without specialized equipment of living cells that need to be cultured. Genes in Space-9, sponsored by the ISS National Lab, demonstrates cell-free production of protein in microgravity and evaluates two cell-free biosensors that can detect specific target molecules. This technology could provide a simple, portable, and low-cost tool for medical diagnostics, on-demand production of medicine and vaccines, and environmental monitoring on future space missions.
“Biosensors are a class of synthetic biology tools with immense potential for spaceflight applications in contaminant detection, environmental monitoring, and point-of-care diagnostics,” said Selin Kocalar, student winner of Genes in Space 2021. “This investigation seeks to validate their use aboard the space station. If it is successful, Genes in Space-9 will lay the foundation for downstream applications of biosensors for space exploration and resource-limited settings on Earth.”
Genes in Space, an annual research competition, challenges students in grades 7 through 12 to design
Flight hardware for the Biopolymer Research for In-Situ Capabilities, an investigation of how microgravity affects the process of creating a concrete alternative made with an organic material and on-site materials such as lunar or Martian dust. Each module makes two bricks, for a total of six bricks made in space. Credit: James Wall
Better concrete
Biopolymer Research for In-Situ Capabilities looks at how microgravity affects the process of creating a concrete alternative made with an organic material and on-site materials such as lunar or Martian dust, known as a biopolymer soil composite (BPC). Using resources available where construction takes place makes it possible to increase the mass of the construction material and, therefore, the amount of shielding.
“Astronauts on the Moon and
BPCs also could offer an environmentally friendly concrete alternative for making structures on Earth. In 2018, concrete production represented 8% of global carbon emissions. BPC material has zero carbon emissions and can be made from local, readily available resources, which also simplifies supply chains. This experiment is a part of NASA’s Student Payload Opportunity with Citizen Science (SPOCS) program, which provides students enrolled in institutions of higher learning the opportunity to design and build an experiment to fly to and return from the International Space Station.
These are just a few of the hundreds of investigations currently being conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science. Advances in these areas will help keep astronauts healthy during long-duration space travel and demonstrate technologies for future human and robotic exploration beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars through NASA’s Artemis program.
