Mice live longer and healthier when inflammation-boosting protein is blocked

Hello Nature readers,
Today, we discover what happens to the brain when taking psilocybin, find out how to extend the life- and healthspan of mice and learn about efforts to rid biology of offensive plant names.

Your brain on shrooms

Psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound in magic mushrooms, temporarily resets entire brain networks that are responsible for our sense of time and self. After seven volunteers took a huge dose of psilocybin, groups of their neurons that normally fire together became desynchronized. Most of these changes lasted for a few hours, but one key link between different parts of the brain remained disrupted for weeks. “I’ve never seen an effect this strong,” says psychiatric neuroscientist Shan Siddiqi.

Blocking protein lets mice live longer

Genetically engineered mice that can’t produce the inflammation-boosting protein IL-11 live 25% longer while also remaining healthy. The same was true when researchers used an antibody to block the protein’s action in middle-aged mice. IL-11 also exists in humans. “There’s a real opportunity here to translate this into clinical therapies,” says biologist Cathy Slack. “And that’s where the field is kind of stuck at the moment.”

Botanists vote on plant name changes

Taxonomists are gathering to vote on whether to change plant names such as that of the flowering shrub Hibbertia, named after George Hibbert, a merchant who profited from the slave trade who fought abolition. “It would be great to have some mechanism for weeding out some of the most offensive names,” says biogeographer Lennard Gillman. Some botanists worry that mass changes will sow confusion, while others say that the naming system is always in flux.

Frustration around Indian census delay

Researchers in India say they are frustrated by the three-year delay to the country’s census. India’s last census was in 2011. The 2021 census, which was postponed because of COVID-19, has yet to be rescheduled. Without up-to-date data, studies on fertility, migration and health outcomes have become unreliable. “If the census doesn’t happen, then it will fundamentally harm Indian social sciences and our ability to understand Indian society,” says demographer Aashish Gupta.

The ‘PhD influencers’

PhD researchers are building big followings, making money and overturning science stereotypes on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. They post about the realities of lab life, offer research tips and some get paid for creating promotional reels for scientific products. Being an influencer can come with downsides: it can distract from research and attract harsh comments about how people look. But most followers respond positively: “It can feel so isolating and seeing you persevere makes it feel possible,” a graduate student with chronic illness wrote to cancer researcher Ellie Hurer.

The mysterious case of the mass stranding

Scientists are trying to find out what caused a group of 77 apparently healthy whales to die on a beach in Scotland — one of an increasing number of mass strandings. The long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) were clustered around key individuals, which could mean that they had been spooked by an extremely loud sound. Evidence for a severe sonic event could be found in scarring of the tiny hair cells extracted from whales’ inner ears. For now, researchers need to be patient: it takes up to a year for chemicals to soften the whale earbones enough to examine them.

Video: The tiniest helicopter

At 4.21 grams, CoulombFly weighs less than a paper plane. The tiny rotorcraft is solar powered, which lets it stay in the air for much longer than the 10 minutes most other micro aerial vehicles can manage. CoulombFly is lacking a steering mechanism, so it still needs vertical rails to keep it on course.