LANL publish drought findings for piñon pine, juniper plants
Sandia National Labs team with Explora for X-R Conference
It's a behavior never studied before in plants, and it could mean that our forests are more resilient than previously thought. 'There's a lot that we don't understand yet. Even if there are papers out there that say piñon juniper forests will die in 2030 or 2050. Something like that. But those models don't take this into account,' says Sanna Sevanto, LANL senior researcher.
Sevanto also believes that this plant behavior may be bred into our own crops, making them more productive during droughts.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
BD Announces First Pharma-Sponsored Clinical Trial Using BD Libertas™ Wearable Injector Technology for Biologic Drugs
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The pharma-sponsored combination product clinical trial represents a significant advancement in accelerating innovation in drug-device combination products that provide greater flexibility for patients, including potential conversion from infused medications that require patients to travel to a hospital or clinic to more convenient patient care in various settings, including self-injection at home. "This trial demonstrates BD's commitment to helping pharma companies by advancing large-volume injection science, ensuring therapies are accessible and patient friendly by offering more efficient and convenient options for biologics," said Patrick Jeukenne, worldwide president of BD Pharmaceutical Systems. "BD's enhanced testing capabilities acquired through ZebraSci and the proven capabilities of the BD Libertas™ Wearable Injector technology further position BD as an innovative leader in drug delivery." The BD Libertas™ Wearable Injector is an innovative, prefilled, patient ready-to-use drug delivery systemiii designed to enable delivery of complex biologics via subcutaneous injection. The biologics market is expected to grow to more than $670 billioniv by 2030 and for pharmaceutical companies developing these complex drugs, the BD Libertas™ Wearable Injector offers a customizable, patient-centric solution. The BD Libertas™ Wearable Injector: Supports delivery of high-viscosity biologics (up to 50 centipoise), enabling a wide range of subcutaneous therapies Is offered in 2 to 5 mL and 5 to 10 mL configurations providing flexibility for diverse therapeutic requirements Features a fully mechanical, patient ready-to-use design with a simple "peel, stick and click" mechanism, requiring no end-user filling or assemblyiii BD's ongoing validations of fill-finish and final assembly processes with multiple Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMOs) enable the company to support pharmaceutical partners from development through commercial-scale production. For more information about how BD Libertas™ Wearable Injector is enabling biologic therapy delivery, visit About BD Libertas™ Wearable InjectorBD Libertas™ Wearable Injector is a product in development; some statements are forward looking and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties. BD Libertas™ Wearable Injector is a device component intended for drug-device combination products and not subject to FDA 510(k) clearance or separate EU CE mark certification. About BD BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world and is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. The company supports the heroes on the frontlines of health care by developing innovative technology, services and solutions that help advance both clinical therapy for patients and clinical process for health care providers. BD and its more than 70,000 employees have a passion and commitment to help enhance the safety and efficiency of clinicians' care delivery process, enable laboratory scientists to accurately detect disease and advance researchers' capabilities to develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics. BD has a presence in virtually every country and partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. By working in close collaboration with customers, BD can help enhance outcomes, lower costs, increase efficiencies, improve safety and expand access to health care. For more information on BD, please visit or connect with us on LinkedIn at X (formerly Twitter) @BDandCo or Instagram @becton_dickinson. Contacts: Media: Investors: Fallon McLoughlin Adam Reiffe BD Corporate Communications BD Investor Relations 201.258.0361 201.847.6927 i Early feasibility clinical study of investigational BD Libertas™ Wearable Injector (WI) evaluated 5ml, non- Newtonian ~8cP subcutaneous placebo injections in 52 healthy adult subjects for functionality, tissue effects, subject tolerability (100mm Visual Analog Scale (VAS)) and acceptability (questionnaires with 5-point Likert or yes /no responses). 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Forbes
27 minutes ago
- Forbes
Former Citigroup Chair Sandy Weill's New $100 Million Gift To Harness AI For A West Coast Cancer Hub
Philanthropists Joan and Sandy Weill Walter Zarnowitz/UCSF S anford 'Sandy' Weill, the former CEO and chairman of banking giant Citigroup, and his wife Joan have been big donors to medical research on both coasts of the U.S. Now, the couple are taking it up a notch. On Wednesday, two Bay Area universities–University of California, San Francisco and Stanford University–announced a $100 million gift over 10 years from the Weill Family Foundation for a new cancer hub that is designed to advance cancer research and treatment via four specific projects. The gift, a matching grant, has the goal of raising an additional $100 million for the new initiative, called the Weill Cancer Hub West. A quarter of the matching funds have already been raised, the universities said. 'I think the time for cancer is now,' Sam Hawgood, UC San Francisco's chancellor, tells Forbes . Hawgood cites advances in technology and cancer research including advanced computation and the ability to sequence the genomes of single cells at scale. 'Those kinds of tools open up a whole new opportunity space–and the space is almost too big for any single university.' Though the death rate from cancer has fallen by about a third in the past quarter century–partly due these better tools, cancer is still on the rise, with almost 20 million new cases annually and about 10 million deaths globally each year. Sandy Weill, who retired as Citigroup CEO in 2003 and as chairman in 2006 and dropped off Forbes' billionaires list in 2022 as a result of his charitable giving, is now age 92 and devoting most of his time to philanthropy via he and Joan's $425 million (assets) charitable foundation. He's a big fan of collaborative research. 'When people are willing to partner and collaborate with other bright people, you get a much better chance of coming to a solution,' Weill said in an interview at his home in Sonoma, California last week. The Weill Cancer Hub West will harness recent promising developments to tackle cancer. One project will use the gene editing tool CRISPR to engineer immune cells inside the body by injecting the CRISPR machinery into a patient, deliver it to a patient's immune cells, and reprogram those cells to go after the cancer. Jennifer Doudna, the UC Berkeley biochemist who shared the Nobel prize in chemistry 2020 for the CRISPR gene editing breakthrough, will participate in this research effort as well. Another project, in the area of cellular therapy, aims to build weaponized cells that are personalized to each patient to go after solid tumors–like breast cancer or pancreatic cancer. To date, this kind of cellular therapy has shown results in liquid tumors that circulate in the blood stream, in cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, but not yet in solid tumors. 'We haven't begun to scratch the surface of how we engineer cells' for this kind of treatment, says Dr. Crystal Mackall, the founding director of Stanford's Center for Cancer Cell Therapy. Mackall will co-lead this project with UCSF immunology and microbiology professor Kole Roybal. A third project will investigate the links between cancer, diet and drugs–including the very popular weight loss drugs called GLP-1 agonists (like Ozempic and Wegovy). Anecdotal information has shown a reduction in cancer by those taking the weight loss drugs, possibly because of reduced inflammation, says Alan Ashworth, president of UCSF's cancer care center. The group will also study whether different diets, like a ketogenic diet, can slow cancer progression. 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Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Should You Sunscreen Your Cat?
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. For all of the eons that animal life has existed on Earth, the sun has been there too. And for all of those eons, animal life has had only one solution for intense exposure to the sun: evolution. Some creatures have thick, dark skin that's resistant to UV harm; others sprout fur, scales, or feathers that block the sun's rays. Many fish, reptiles, amphibians, and birds may produce a compound that protects their cells against the sun's damaging effects. Hippos, weirdly, ooze a reddish, mucus-y liquid from their pores that absorbs light before it can destroy their skin. And plenty of creatures have evolved behaviors that take advantage of their environment—rolling around in dirt or mud, simply retreating into the shade. But certain modern animals have sun problems that natural selection can't easily solve. Some reside at zoos that can't perfectly replicate their habitat; others live at latitudes that their ancestors didn't experience. Others spend too much time sunbathing in a living-room window, or sport sparse or light-colored fur or hair because their domesticators liked the way it looked. For these animals, people have come up with a shorter-term solution: sunscreen. If, that is, a creature is willing to accept the treatment. Indu, an Asian elephant who lived at the Phoenix Zoo, was game. A few years ago, Heather Wright, one of the zookeepers, noticed the tops of Indu's ears pinking, peeling, and flaking in the summer heat, much like her human keepers' did. So her caretakers picked up some zinc-oxide-based sunblock—specially formulated for sensitive (human) skin—and dabbed it on the elephant. Indu, to be fair, was used to a level of care most wild animals don't enjoy. 'We had already been applying lotion,' to manage dryness, Wright told me. The elephant knew the drill: Once in the barn, she'd lumber up to a window with an opening for her ear and stick the appendage through. As far as zoo staff members could tell, the treatment helped. 'There's nothing magical' about other animals' skin, Leslie Easterwood, a large-animal veterinarian at Texas A&M University, told me: Bake it in the sun, and it will burn. Scientists have spotted whales suffering from sunburns; cats, dogs, horses—even alpacas, turtles, and penguins—can develop all kinds of skin cancers. Pigs, in particular, 'have skin most similar to humans,' Mitchell Song, a veterinary dermatologist based in Arizona told me. At Zoo Miami, keepers have spread mud on older, arthritic wild pigs who can't wallow as well as they did in their youth; they've also applied sunscreen to a babirusa, a species of swine native to Indonesia's forests, and to a Kunekune pig, Gwen Myers, the zoo's chief of animal health, told me. In some sunny places, vets commonly recommend sunscreen for pets and other domesticated creatures, especially light-colored dogs and horses. Steve Valeika, a veterinarian in North Carolina, advises the same for 'white cats that go outside.' This particular conundrum is one of our own making. 'You don't see a lot of white-skinned animals in the wild,' Anthea Schick, a veterinary dermatologist in Arizona, told me. Only thanks to generations of selective breeding have they become a frequent presence in and around people's homes. Of course, to sunscreen your pet, you have to … sunscreen your pet. Some pet owners, vets told me, are definitely flummoxed by the suggestion: 'It's not widely discussed,' Schick told me. Vets are more unified in recommending teeth brushing for cats—and most cat owners still just decide they'd rather not. But some animals would certainly benefit from block: Schick told me she's seen her fair share of badly burned dogs, especially after long bouts of sunbathing that scorch their bellies. 'We see a lot of sun-induced skin cancers that could be avoided,' she said. Pit bulls, Dalmatians, and other short-haired breeds are especially vulnerable; even long-haired white cats are sensitive around their eyes, their nose, and the tips of their ears. And Easterwood estimates that the majority of paint horses, left unprotected, will eventually develop skin issues. Squamous-cell-carcinoma cases make up the majority of her workload: 'I see it every single day,' she said. The vets I spoke with generally agreed: Don't bother with sprays, which a lot of animals find annoying or downright terrifying; reapply often, and well; it is way, way, way harder to sunscreen a cat than a dog, though some brave souls manage it. But although some vets recommended human sunscreens, formulated for kids or sensitive skin, others told me they preferred blends marketed for animals. (The FDA has dubbed just one pet sunscreen, made by a company called Epi-Pet and marketed to dogs and horses, 'FDA compliant'—not the same as FDA approval, which requires rigorous safety testing.) Several warned against zinc oxide, which can be toxic to animals if ingested in large quantities; others felt that zinc oxide was worth the risk, unless administered to a tongue-bathing cat. Regardless of the product they're offered, most animals generally aren't as eager as Indu to subject themselves to a human-led sun-protection ritual. And even she was usually plied with a five-gallon bucket of fruits and vegetables while her keepers tended her ears. At Zoo Miami, keeper Madison Chamizo told me she and her colleagues had to spend months training an okapi—an African mammal closely related to a giraffe—to accept caretakers gently scrubbing sunscreen onto her back with a modified Scotch-Brite dishwand, after she lost some patches of hair on her back to a fungal infection. But for creatures in very sunny parts of the world, the alternatives are, essentially, being cooped up indoors, kept away from windows, or wrestled into full-body sunsuits. (Some dogs don't mind; cats, once again, are unlikely to comply.) And some sun-related problems, sunscreen can't fix. Gary West, the Phoenix Zoo's vet, told me he suspects that UV glare has caused eye inflammation in some of his animals; Myers, in Miami, worries about the sensitive skin around some species' eyes. 'They're not really going to wear sunglasses for us,' Myers told me. So she and her colleagues have started to wonder: 'Gosh, is this an animal that we could put a sun visor on?' Article originally published at The Atlantic Solve the daily Crossword
