2020-03-01_Cosmos_Magazine

SCHAAK LABORATORY; PENN STATE

Creating it took no more than

the basic principles of chemistry,

researchers say.

US researchers have developed a way

to produce 65,000+ types of complex

nanoparticles, each containing up to six

different materials and eight segments,

with interfaces that could be exploited in

electrical or optical applications.

It’s a simple approach, using

straightforward chemistry and a mix-and-

match, modular strategy, they say in a paper

in the journal Science, but the resulting

nanoparticles are among the most complex

ever made. Each is about 55 nanometres

long by 20 wide: by comparison, a human

hair is about 100,000 nanometres thick.

To create them, Raymond E Schaak

and colleagues from Pennsylvania

State University took simple nanorods

composed of copper and sulfur then

sequentially replaced some of the copper

with other metals using a process called

cation exchange.

By altering the reaction conditions,

they could control where in the nanorod

the copper was replaced. They repeated

the process with other metals, which

could also be placed at precise locations.

By performing up to seven sequential

reactions with several different metals,

they could create a rainbow of particles

In the image above (taken with an

electron microscope) each colour in each

nanorod represents a different material.

• NICK CARNE

CHEMISTRY

A mega library

of nanoparticles

DIGEST

Issue 86 COSMOS – 17

Study highlights health benefits of

engaging with the arts.

Those who think enjoying a good dose of

culture is arty-farty could be missing out,

with a new study linking arts appreciation

to living longer.

Researchers at University College

London, UK, found that people who

regularly go to the theatre, concerts, the

opera, museums or art galleries have a lower

risk of dying than those who refrain.

This adds to evidence linking art

engagement with physical health and

wellbeing. The “universality of art and the

strong emotional responses it induces”,

leads some researchers to suggest it has

evolutionary benefits, write Daisy Fancourt

and Andrew Steptoe, although others

question whether art is “an evolutionary

parasite”. They argue that creativity and

imagination have been linked to increased

survival throughout human evolution and

that arts engagement enhances cognition,

empathy, social perception and emotional

intelligence.

The arts could also give life a greater sense

of meaning, reduce risk-taking behaviours,

get people out and reduce sedentary

behaviour and loneliness – all of which are

associated with better health outcomes.

Titled “The art of life and death”, the

study, published in the British Medical

Journal, followed more than 6000 adults

aged 50 and older for 14 years in the English

Longitudinal Study of Aging.

Participants self-reported arts

engagement at the study’s inception, along

with a comprehensive range of demographic,

behavioural, socio-economic and health

factors. Mortality data was sourced from

National Health Service Records.

While cognition, mental health and

physical activity were protective, arts

involvement was independently linked to

lower mortality after these variables were

factored in, and this persisted through

several analyses.

Overall, people who engaged in the arts

once or twice a year had a 14% lower chance

of dying than those who never got involved,

while enjoying culture more regularly was

associated with a 31% lower risk.

In a related commentary, Nicola Gill and

co-authors from Canterbury Christ Church

University, UK, note that people with lung

disease, depression or loneliness, who could

derive the most benefits, were least likely to

engage in the arts.

“Work must now be done to ensure that

the health benefits of these activities are

accessible to those who would benefit most,”

they write – including children.

“The current study should add weight

to growing concerns about the decline

in arts subjects and music in schools and

universities.” – NATALIE PARLETTA

SOCIETY

This matches lifespan estimates of

early modern humans – before advances in

medicine and lifestyle extended human life

in many parts of the globe.

Using chimpanzees as reference,

the study found that Neanderthals and

Denisovans had a maximum lifespan of

37.8 years, similar to modern humans

living around the same time.

Despite the successful outcome when

studying vertebrates, the researchers were

unable to accurately estimate the lifespans

of invertebrates – possibly because many

invertebrates do not exhibit the study’s

chosen genes to the same extent as

vertebrates. – IAN CONNELLAN

Culture vultures

may live longer

“Using our method, we found the

maximum lifespan of the bowhead whale

is 268 years – 57 years longer than people

thought,” Mayne says.

“We discovered that extinct woolly

mammoths lived for 60 years and the

recently extinct Pinta Island giant tortoise

from the Galápagos lived for 120 years.”

The Pinta Island giant tortoise genome

is known from the last surviving member

of the species, Lonesome George, who died

at the Charles Darwin Research Station on

Santa Cruz Island in 2012.

The researchers also studied humans

and found our maximum natural lifespan to

be 38 years.