Saturday Quotes: Grouping Tips for Black Holes; microbes influence alcohol consumption; a new dinosaur has just fallen

What did scientists do this week? Exactly four things, all of which are summarized below.

“This sweet baby can hold 4.3 million suns”

Supermassive black holes: how can they get so huge? This simple question is much more complicated than it seems. The science is maddening. But an international team of astronomers may have found an answer. In the relatively nearby galaxy ESO320-G030, which surrounds a supermassive black hole, they discovered a powerful rotating magnetic wind.

They chose the galaxy for observation because it is very active, forming new stars at a rate 10 times faster than our own galaxy, and is therefore very bright in the infrared, allowing details to be captured in the center of the galaxy otherwise obscured by visible light and dust clouds.

Using ALMA, they peered into the surrounding dust to zoom in on the dense gas around the black hole. They were able to discern patterns in the gas strongly suggesting the presence of a rotating magnetized wind. Unlike other types of winds and jets, which tend to push matter away from supermassive black holes, magnetic wind can introduce material into the black hole, making it larger over time. The researchers say the process is analogous to the way baby stars accumulate matter, but on a much larger scale.

Microbial Temperance League

Binge drinking is generally defined as consuming a large amount of alcohol in a short period of time, resulting in a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or greater. Excessive alcohol consumption poses short-term health risks, but also carries an increased risk of alcohol use disorders later in life. Although young people have reported a decrease in their use of illicit drugs and alcohol in recent years, researchers find that many young people regularly drink to excess.

Current supports for alcohol use disorders are primarily through interventions such as therapy and peer-led support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, as there are few approved medications available; researchers want to develop new, more effective pharmaceutical treatments.

A team from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine reports that heavy drinkers have different gut microbiota patterns than non-drinkers; their gut microorganisms also produce a different mix of short-chain fatty acids, associated with the fermentation of dietary fiber and undigested proteins. They hypothesized that the microbiome might influence drinking behaviors.

Using mice bred to express binge drinking behavior, researchers explored whether changes in diet exerted an influence on drinking habits. The mice were allowed to drink alcohol for four nights and, during the experiment, were fed their diet with different types of short-chain fatty acids for 10 days. The researchers found that increasing valeric acid in their diet corresponded to a 40% reduction in alcohol consumption in the engineered mice.

“Multiple mechanisms are likely at play in how valerate reduces alcohol consumption,” says Yanjiao Zhou, a microbiome scientist at the UConn School of Medicine. “But the impact of this microbial metabolite on brain epigenetics may be very powerful in regulating alcohol consumption behaviors.”

When version 3.14 is not good enough

A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science modeling high-energy particle interactions has accidentally discovered a new serial representation of pi. Since these interactions involve many parameters, one of the researchers was tasked with the optimization. Using the Feynman diagram, a mathematical representation of energy exchange during particle interaction and diffusion, and the Euler-Beta function, they managed to optimize their model of particle interactions but had also produces a new serial representation of pi combining specific parameters so that researchers can quickly arrive at the value of pi, which can then be incorporated into calculations.

“Our initial efforts were never about finding a way to observe pi. All we did was study high energy physics in quantum theory and try to develop a model with fewer parameters and more precise to understand how particles interact. We were very excited when we discovered a new way to observe Pi,” says Aninda Sinha, professor at the Center for High Energy Physics.

A new dinosaur has just fallen

A multi-institutional team of paleontologists reports the discovery of a new herbivorous dinosaur in northern Montana, boasting a spectacular set of ruffled horns resembling the headdress worn by Loki, the trickster god in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And since the specimen is now in Denmark, the researchers decided to call it Lokiceratops rangiformis. The fossilized bones were discovered in 2019, three kilometers south of the Canadian border.

After assembling the skull fragments, Joseph Sertich, a researcher at Colorado State University, and Mark Loewen, a professor at the University of Utah, realized they had discovered a new species. Lokiceratops lived around 78 million years ago; the same rock layer yielded the remains of four other species, indicating that they had all lived at the same time. They estimate that Lokiceratops was 22 feet long and weighed 11,000 pounds, making it the largest horned centrosaurine dinosaur in North America.

“This new dinosaur pushes the boundaries of bizarre ceratopsian headgear, sporting the largest frilled horns ever seen in a ceratopsian,” Sertich said.

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