115. Increasing Muscle Mass…Thank Bears, Jet Fuel Creating Solar Tower, Beating Neuralink To The Punch

Summary: News: Serum from hibernating black bears boosts muscle mass in human cells | New Atlas (01:16) The incredible ability of bears to hibernate for months at a time has inspired some interesting lines of research around how their secrets might benefit human health, and among them is a focus on muscle wasting. First let’s talk about bear hibernation: The main difference between hibernation and torpor is during torpor, the animal is able to wake up quickly to avoid danger, or if the opportunity exists, exit the den to feed.  Hibernation is a voluntary state an animal enters to conserve energy, when food is scarce, and minimize exposure to the winter elements. During hibernation an animal lowers its body temperature, slows its breathing rate, heart rate, and metabolic rate-the rate its body uses energy. Bears technically do not hibernate, they enter a state similar to it called topor. Fun fact: Bears can sleep more than 100 days without eating, drinking, or passing waste! Bears can actually turn their pee into protein. Scientists in Japan have made a fascinating discovery in this space:Demonstrating how human muscle cells can be infused with serum from hibernating black bears to prevent atrophy and increase muscle mass. This new study focused on skeletal muscle, which is susceptible to wasting caused by immobility.Led by scientists at Hiroshima University and Hokkaido University The research team took cultured human skeletal muscle cells and infused them with serum drawn from the blood of hibernating black bears, which led to significant protein growth after 24 hours.Interestingly, serum collected during the bears' active summer season did not induce these same effects. Believe this is due to a factor in the hibernating bear serum that suppresses a "destruction mechanism" behind muscle degradation Study first-author Mitsunori Miyazaki, stated:“We have indicated that ‘some factor’ present in hibernating bear serum may regulate protein metabolism in cultured human skeletal muscle cells and contribute to the maintenance of muscle mass … However, the identification of this 'factor' has not yet been achieved." Doing so could open up some exciting possibilities around protecting humans during deep space travel, or preventing muscle wastage in people who are immobile due to aging or disease.   Alzheimer’s Breakthrough: Genetic Link to Gut Disorders Confirmed | Neuroscience News (08:18) A world-first Edith Cowan University (ECU) study has confirmed the link between the two, which could lead to earlier detection and new potential treatments.The findings add to the evidence the gut-brain axis may play a role in the development of neurodegenerative disorders. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), has no known curative treatments and is expected to affect more than 82 million people and is estimated to cost US$2 trillion by 2030. The study analyzed large sets of genetic data from AD and several gut-disorder studies – each of about 400,000 people.The first comprehensive assessment of the genetic relationship between AD and multiple gut disorders. They discovered people with AD and gut disorders have genes in common – which is important for many reasons. Research lead Dr Emmanuel Adewuyi explains:“The study provides a novel insight into the genetics behind the observed co-occurrence of AD and gut disorders … This improves our understanding of the causes of these conditions and identifies new targets to investigate to potentially detect the disease earlier and develop new treatments for both types of conditions.” When researchers conducted further analysis into the shared genetics, they found other important links between AD and gut disorders – such as the role cholesterol may play. Dr Adewuyi provides context:“Whilst further study is needed into the shared mechanisms between the conditions, there is evidence high cholesterol can transfer into the central nervous system, resulting in abnormal cholesterol metabolism in the brain… For example