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January 2023

January 2023 Table of Contents

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January 2023

Life on the Ocean Surface

The myriad species floating atop the world’s seas are complicating efforts to clean up plastic pollution

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Feature

Close-up shot of sea surface with small waves

The Constellation of Creatures Inhabiting the Ocean Surface

Amanda Heidt | Jan 2, 2023 | 10+ min read

The myriad species floating atop the world’s seas, called neuston, are mysterious and understudied, complicating efforts to clean up plastic pollution.

Speaking of Science

Ten Minute Sabbatical

Take a break from the bench to puzzle and peruse

Infographics

Illustration showing where neuston reside

Infographic: Neuston Drift Atop the World’s Oceans

The sea surface is home to a diverse group of animals adapted to life in the open ocean, but increasingly, they’re sharing that space with plastic debris.

<em>Chlamydia</em> invades a host cell, forms a membrane-bound vacuole, or inclusion, and then modifies the protein composition of the structure’s membrane. If immune cells detect <em>Chlamydia</em> before it forms the inclusion, they trigger T cells to produce interferon-γ (IFN-γ), a powerful cytokine. IFN-γ activates the protein mysterin (also called RFN213), which attaches ubiquitin to the inclusion membrane, signaling the cell to destroy the inclusion’s contents by dumping them into a lysosome (left). C. trachomatis produces GarD, a protein that integrates into the inclusion membrane itself and somehow prevents mysterin from attaching ubiquitin, allowing the bacterium to evade immune destruction while continuing to multiply and eventually bursting from the cell (right).

Infographic: How Chlamydia Evades Immune Detection

Chlamydia trachomatis, the bacterium that causes chlamydia, hides from the immune system by cloaking itself in the host cell’s membrane then modifying the membrane’s protein composition.

Slideshows

Slideshow: Meet the Neuston, the Diverse Organisms Living at the Ocean’s Surface

The ocean’s surface harbors an ecosystem of colorful, understudied life, ranging from protists and cnidarians to insects.

The Literature

How Chlamydia Guards Itself Against the Immune System

The bacterium produces a particular protein that allows it to sneak past the human immune system even while triggering inflammation.

Scientist to Watch

Monir Moniruzzaman Studies the Secrets of Giant Viruses

The University of Miami researcher studies how a mysterious group of supersized viruses infects and influences the evolution of their hosts.

Reading Frames

Book cover of The Phantom God by John C. Wathey

Opinion: Neuroscience Could Help Demystify Religious Experience

If we ask the right questions, modern tools could help researchers solve mysteries such as why many people believe in a God that both provides unconditional love and levies eternal damnation.

Foundations

A black-and-white photo of a person’s hands holding a black-and-white barred chicken. The feathers of its breast have been pulled back to reveal a large tumor.

Transmissible Tumors, 1909

Pathologist Peyton Rous made a groundbreaking discovery in the early 20th century, but his work wasn’t widely recognized until more than 40 years later.