The surprising health benefits of fecal transplants
Fecal microbiota transplants, used to restore gut health, involve transferring stool from a healthy donor to a recipient.
A new University of Chicago study in mice reveals potential long-lasting, unintended health consequences from these transplants due to microorganisms colonizing the entire intestinal tract, creating regional gut mismatches.
The study found that transplanted microbes altered intestinal environments, affecting metabolism, behavior, energy balance, and liver function in mice.
Researchers advocate for caution and suggest using microorganisms from all regions of the intestine, not just the colon, for transplants.
Dr. Eugene Chang, the study's senior author, notes that fecal microbiota transplants can cause changes in host-microbe relationships in different bowel regions that may be difficult to reverse.
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The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Chris Hadfield: ‘Worst space chore? Fixing the toilet. It's even worse when it's weightless'
What's the most chaotic thing that's ever happened to you in space? Launch – you go from no speed at all to 17,500 miles an hour in under nine minutes. The chaos is spectacular, the power of it is just wild, the physical vibration and force of it is mind-numbing – and it all happens so blisteringly fast. In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, you go from lying on your back in Florida to being weightless in space. It's just the most amazing, chaotic, spectacular, rare human experience I've ever had. As an astronaut you have to master so many skills; have you ever not known something in space and wished you did? Onboard a spaceship, if you have an electrical problem, an attitude control problem, a propulsion problem, a computer problem – one of the first things you lose is communications with Earth. So it's really important to have all the skills on board. I served as an astronaut for 21 years and I was only in space for six months – that gave me 20-and-a-half years to not have to be surprised or flummoxed while I was in space. As an example, I qualified as an emergency medical technician. I worked in the cadaver lab [of Hermann hospital in Houston, near Nasa] to get familiar with the human body and then I worked in all of the wards of the hospital. I assisted a surgeon who was doing full abdominal surgery on an accident victim and then I worked in emergency, doing all the immediate triage. I had to get all of those skills just in case we had a medical problem on the spaceship. We take preparation really seriously so that we won't just be tourists up there. You've written six books; which book or author do you always return to? It depends which book I'm writing. I've written three nonfiction and three thrillers, and when I'm writing thriller fiction I tend to read that, because it gets your mind in the groove. I have lots of favourite thriller authors – Robert Ludlum, John D MacDonald and Jonathan Kellerman … I go back and read those, study how they make you feel so compelled. What about favourite sci-fi? [Growing up] I read Asimov and Arthur C Clarke. I got to spend a day with Arthur C Clarke – he came to the Kennedy Space Centre, I spent a whole day showing him the space shuttle and the launch site, and it was like a dream come true because he'd been one of my science fiction idols growing up. [In 2015] Ray Bradbury's family asked me to write an introduction for the Folio Society re-release of The Martian Chronicles – I'd read it once a long time ago but I'd forgotten just what an exquisitely good writer he was. The Martian Chronicles was written just after the second world war, so after the first two atomic bombs had been released and killed so many people but before the very first space flight. It was a really interesting moment in time – of both despair and disgust at human behaviour and then hope. And it's a beautiful book. How likely do you think it is that there is intelligent life in space? We have found no evidence but we know that every star has at least one planet, and our telescopes are so good now that we can actually find how many of those planets are close enough to Earth that they could support life as we know it, and it's around 5%. And so if 5% of every planet could sustain life, we can count the stars in the universe and [estimate] how many planets there are that could sustain life. And the number is staggeringly huge – it's like a quintillion of planets. So the odds are overwhelming that there's got to be life in other places … [But] it was only quite recently that life on Earth evolved – through time and chance – into multi-cellular life, and then complex life, and then to be self-aware and have intelligence. My conclusion is that life will be common: we'll find slime and scum all over the place. But intelligent life I think is exquisitely rare and I think we should internalise that and think about the level of responsibility that we should adopt. What's your favourite space movie? 2001: A Space Odyssey. I just find it fascinating and intriguing and a beautiful Stanley Kubrick adaptation of Arthur C Clarke's vision of things. It's very thought-provoking even almost 60 years later. I think The Martian is a very good movie and the Andy Weir book [it's based on] – I love that. I think Ron Howard did a beautiful job with Apollo 13 – it's almost a documentary. He worked so hard, he spent time with the astronauts, he filmed in a zero G aeroplane. Tell us your favourite fact. The most experienced astronaut in all of American history is a woman named Peggy Whitson. She's flown in space multiple times [and] been longer in space than any other American. She's commanded the space station twice. She's done 10 spacewalks and she's been the chief astronaut for Nasa. She's a tour de force. She's a good friend. She's a great person. Do you have a party trick? I'm a musician, I play guitar and sing – and I have the type of head that remembers lyrics. So my party trick is that I have probably 500 songs that I can play at any moment and know every single word and every single chord all the way from the start to the finish. It's just the way my brain works. It's kind of silly but it's really fun to be a human jukebox and have people say, 'Hey, can you play that song?' When I'm on stage in Australia, I'll have a guitar and I'll play a few songs. What's the worst space chore? Fixing the toilet. They break all the time. Being elbows deep in a toilet anywhere is no fun – it's even worse when it's weightless. And the trouble with our toilets is they have really nasty, poisonous chemicals and filters in them to try and process what's going through so that we can turn our urine and sweat back into drinking water, because we recycle about 93-94% of the water on board. What's the best lesson you learned from someone you've worked with? We were in the space shuttle simulator [with commander Kent Vernon 'Rommel' Rominger] and one of the crew members, Scott, had this cool and exciting idea. He came ripping up to the cockpit and plunked his laptop down to show him the solution to the problem and he knocked over Rommel's can of Coke – it flipped upside down and started emptying itself into all of his checklists. Rommel turned the can right side up and didn't say a thing. What this guy had come up with would be hugely important in the success of our mission. A little Coke spilled is unimportant – you can get more checklists. The natural reaction would have been, 'What the heck are you doing? Don't be so clumsy and look at the mess you made.' Instead, Rommel was like, 'Who cares? What I don't want Scott to think about next time he's got a great idea is, 'Oh, I gotta be careful I don't spill the commander's Coke.'' He should be excited about new ideas. And so, for me, it was a really great study of leadership. What song do you want played at your funeral? Danny Boy. It's a lovely reversal of how people normally look at death and who's grieving and why, and how you anticipate the grieving of death. It is an exquisitely and hauntingly beautiful song, and it's worth knowing the lyrics. Chris Hadfield's Journey to The Cosmos is touring Australia: Perth (27 June), Sydney (28 June), Brisbane (29 June), Melbourne (1 July) and Adelaide (3 July)
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Obama's doctor says Biden's physician should have given him cognitive tests
Former President Joe Biden 's doctor should have given him more cognitive tests, according to the doctor of former President Barack Obama. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who served as Obama's doctor between 2009 and 2013, told the New York Post on Saturday that Biden and any politician over the age of 70 should be given "a few hours" of annual mental exams that should be accessible to the public. 'My position is that a 78-year-old candidate, Trump at the time, an 82-year-old president [Biden] would both benefit from neurocognitive testing,' Kuhlman said. He went on to say that "any politician over the age of 70 has normal age-related cognitive decline," and pointed out that he's been recommending annual mental exams for more than a year. Biden's doctor, Kevin O'Connor, oversaw three physicals for the president during his time in office, but Kuhlman says the physical reports did not include notes from a neurocognitive specialist. He also pointed out that Biden did not take the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which Donald Trump agreed to take during his first term. That test is a two-minute screening test of about 30 questions that probes for signs of dementia, according to Kuhlman. Obama's doctor said that he had "no doubts" that Trump "aced" the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, but said he believes that the White House should also release the CT scans taken after Trump's attempted assassination last year. While the Montreal test is able to detect some basic signs of dementia, the doctor noted that it wasn't adequate for determining more serious cognitive issues. According to Kuhlman, mental processing speed and spacial visualization all begin to decline around the age of 60. Kuhlman said he respected O'Connor's medical judgement, but added that "sometimes those closest to the trees miss the forest." O'Connor told the New York Post in July 2024 — just days after the then-president announced he would not run for re-election — that Biden's cognitive health was "excellent." Then-White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted to the public that Biden didn't "need a cognitive test" because he "passes a cognitive test every day." She has since decided to leave the Democratic Party and write a tell-all book about her time in the White House, earning her a savaging by some Democrats. Visitor logs to the White House show that Biden did submit an evaluation form to an expert in Parkinson's Disease, but O'Connor said that the meeting was part of Biden's annual physical. Kuhlman says that the doctor who evaluated Biden in that visit, Kevin Cannard, had been evaluating Biden for 14 years, and that he trusts the doctor's evaluation. O'Connor was subpoenaed by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee on Thursday to stand for questioning about Biden's mental abilities during a hearing on June 27. Shortly after the House investigation was launched, the Trump administration issued a memo stating that it was issuing its own investigation into whether or not people other than Biden used an autopen signature device to sign off on executive actions during the late period of Biden's presidential term. Both investigations follow the release of a book by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, titled Original Sin, that alleges a mass coverup of Biden's cognitive impairment by those closest to him.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Dramatic move by Pentagon hint Trump could be siding with another billionaire amid Musk fallout
The Pentagon appears to be contemplating pivoting away from Elon Musk 's SpaceX following the almighty blowup between President Donald Trump and the world's richest man earlier this week. The fallout appears to be impacting the nation's space program as the Trump administration looks toward another billionaire to replace Musk in the race to Mars. Officials at NASA and the Pentagon quietly reached out to SpaceX's competitors, urging them to accelerate development of alternative rockets and spacecraft. Decisions appear to have been taken quickly after Musk made a defiant threat to pull SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, a lifeline to the International Space Station, after Trump first threatened to cancel SpaceX's lucrative government contracts. 'It turned really terrifying,' one NASA official admitted to the Washington Post after initially finding the feud 'entertaining.' Although Musk eventually walked back his threat, the damage was done. Officials from NASA and the Pentagon, already uneasy with their reliance on SpaceX, were rattled to the core. SpaceX has become indispensable as it transports astronauts and cargo to the ISS, launches sensitive military satellites, and operates Starlink, the world's largest satellite constellation. The flare-up served to remind officials of the risks of tying national interests to a mercurial billionaire. 'When you realize that he's willing to shut everything down just on an impulse … that kind of behavior and the dependence on him is dangerous,' a former space agency official said. NASA insiders said Musk's threat 'crossed a line,' invoking memories of the 2018 episode when Musk smoked marijuana during a podcast interview, which prompted NASA to launch a safety investigation into SpaceX. The clash was also inflamed by the White House's decision to abruptly withdraw Jared Isaacman's nomination as NASA Administrator. Isaacman, closely aligned with Musk, had twice flown to space aboard SpaceX vehicles. In the aftermath, government officials reached out to Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, RocketLab, and Stoke Space, querying when their rockets might be ready to shoulder critical missions. Fatih Ozmen, CEO of Sierra Space, which is developing the Dream Chaser spaceplane, confirmed that NASA was 'working closely' with his company stating, 'NASA mentioned to us that they want diversity and do not want to rely on a single provider.' For some insiders, it wasn't hard to connect the dots: Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, has long been a rival to Musk. Now, with the Biden-era antagonism between Trump and Bezos thawing, some see a political recalibration. Bezos' Blue Origin has lagged behind SpaceX for years, but its New Glenn rocket is finally gaining traction, albeit slowly. The Pentagon's recent 'lanes' strategy to diversify launch providers now looks prescient, with officials seeking to avoid 'overreliance on any single provider or solution.' A source familiar with the Defense Department's strategy said the White House sees an opening to back Bezos as a counterweight to Musk's volatility. 'They want someone who's predictable,' the person said to The Post. Even Congress appeared to be spooked by the behavior. A key committee demanded updates on Boeing's long-delayed Starliner capsule, which has struggled to match the reliability of Musk's Dragon. NASA, under pressure, said Friday that Starliner's next mission could come 'early 2026,' though it remains unclear whether it will fly astronauts or cargo only. Indeed, just how reliant NASA were on SpaceX was illustrated last year when American astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were left on the International Space Station by Boeing's troubled Starliner capsule. Wilmore and Williams had set off for an eight-day Starliner test flight that swelled into a nine-month stay in space Boeing, which has taken $2 billion in charges on its Starliner development, faces a looming decision by NASA to refly the spacecraft uncrewed before it carries humans again. Boeing spent $410 million to fly a similar uncrewed mission in 2022 after a 2019 testing failure. Reflying Starliner uncrewed 'seems like the logical thing to do,' Williams said, drawing comparisons with Elon Musk's SpaceX and Russian capsules that flew uncrewed missions before putting humans aboard. She and NASA are pushing for that outcome, Williams added. 'I think that's the correct path,' said Williams, who is 'hoping Boeing and NASA will decide on that same course of action' soon. Results from Starliner testing planned throughout the summer are expected to determine whether the spacecraft can fly humans on its next flight, NASA officials have said. Todd Harrison, a defense analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, likened Musk's social media post to 'an embargo of the space station.' 'Musk was saying he is going to cut NASA off from its own laboratory in space,' he added. Harrison also recalled Musk's refusal to activate Starlink Internet for a Ukrainian military strike in 2022, a decision that raised alarms about national defense being at the mercy of a single CEO. 'The nation's missile defenses could be held hostage to the twittering whims of Elon Musk,' Harrison warned. Former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman, who worked at SpaceX, voiced the fears of many in the astronaut corps: 'When your hopes and dreams are tied up in this, you can't help but think, "Oh my goodness, am I going to fly in space?"' Meanwhile, Trump, who once championed Musk as a visionary, appears to be cooling. His allies note that the president has no tolerance for perceived disloyalty and Musk's defiance has not gone unnoticed. Some aides believe Trump's sharp pivot is personal as much as political. RocketLab's CEO Peter Beck had previously warned how Musk's acquisition of Twitter, now rebranded as X, and his flirtation with politics could backfire. 'It certainly makes people uncomfortable. At the end of the day, if you're delivering important national security missions, the buck stops with the CEO,' Beck said. Pentagon officials remain wary, not least because few companies have rockets certified for critical national security missions. Blue Origin's New Glenn has flown once, and United Launch Alliance's Vulcan only twice. RocketLab's Neutron has yet to launch at all. SpaceX's Falcon 9 still dominates, launching with near clockwork precision. But now, Trump's administration appears ready to gamble on fostering competition, even if it means leaning more heavily on Bezos. 'Sierra Space stands ready,' Ozmen declared. Others in the sector are similarly jockeying for position, sensing that Musk's once-unshakable grip may be loosening.
