EXPLORE | BREAKTHROUGHS
PHOTOS, FROM TOP: NOVO IMAGES, GLASSHOUSE VIA ZUMA WIRE;
EYE OF SCIENCE; HIND ABDO, IN HIND ABDO AND OTHERS, SCIENCE, 2019DISPATCHES
FROM THE FRONT LINES
OF SCIENCE
AND INNOVATIONNEUROSCIENCEWhat feels
your pain?
When a needle
sticks you, where
does the pain come
from? The obvious
answer: nerves
in skin. But new
research in mice
suggests the origin
might be a pre-
viously unknown
organ under the
skin called the noci-
ceptive glio-neural
complex (marked
in green, below).
When glial cells
were turned off via
gene editing, the
mice were less sen-
sitive to pain such
as pinpricks. Still
to be explored:
how the organ
works in humans
and whether it can
be manipulated
to help treat pain.
—CATHERINE ZUCKERMANLearn more about plastic waste and take the
pledge to reduce it at natgeo.com/plasticpledge.Avocado pits to bioplastic
A Mexico-based company, Biofase,
is transforming avocado pits into
bioplastic that can replace 60 percent
of the plastic in cutlery. The avocado
compounds are said to break down
like any organic waste, so less plastic
ends up in landfills. —DANIEL STONECELL BIOLOGYTOUGH TARDIGRADES:
MIGHT IN MINIATURE
THE TINY MOSS DWELLERS PROTECT THEIR DNA
FROM NATURE’S HARSHEST PUNISHMENTS.
TARDIGRADES—ALSO KNOWN AS water bears for their rotund bod-
ies—are marvels of biology. When dry spells strike their moist
homes, such as the film of water atop lichens and mosses, they
dehydrate into a protective dormant state that also helps them
withstand intense heat, x-ray radiation, and even outer space.
Scientists are beginning to learn how they do it. In 2016 Japanese
researchers found that a species of tardigrade contains a unique
protein, called Dsup, that protects its DNA from damage. Now
scientists at UC San Diego have shown that Dsup is in a second
tardigrade species, which hints at the protein’s ubiquity within the
group—and have uncovered more about how the protein works.
The team found that Dsup binds to the “spools” that package DNA
in cells and that it creates shields against hydroxyl radicals, highly
reactive and damaging oxidants that can form when radiation
splits water molecules. The discovery could yield new insights
for humans, such as how to protect cell cultures used in medical
research from radiation and other stressors. —MICHAEL GRESHKO