Curio Cabinet

Hold onto your iron throne, dire wolves are back! For the first time in history, an extinct species has been revived…sort of. Dire wolves were large canids that went extinct around 13,000 years ago. Now, an American biotech company called Colossal Biosciences is claiming to have brought the species back from extinction via three dire wolf cubs, fittingly named Romulus, Remes, and Khaleesi. Some experts, however, disagree on whether these pups are truly dire wolves. Others are taking the time to remind the public that, despite their appearance, dire wolves weren’t actually wolves at all.
 
Dire wolves are often portrayed as giants, larger than any living wolf species, but that’s not particularly accurate. Dire wolves were only slightly larger than modern gray wolves: the former grew to lengths of around six feet and weighed around 150 pounds, while the latter is just a little smaller, reaching similar lengths and weighing around 110 pounds. Dire wolves were native to the Americas, and like modern wolves they hunted in packs, preying on large animals like bison and camels, though their diets also included extinct megafauna like giant ground sloths and mastodons.
 
Despite their similarity to extant wolves, recent genetic discoveries revealed that dire wolves weren’t very closely related to them. In fact, dire wolves’ lineage diverged from that of modern canines like coyotes, wolves, and dogs almost 6 million years ago. They ended up looking and behaving like modern wolves through a process called convergent evolution, in which two or more species evolve similar traits in order to fill a certain ecological niche—in this case, the role of pack-hunting predator.
 
As for the recently “de-extincted” dire wolves, there’s no doubt that there are no other canines like them alive today. Whether that actually makes them true dire wolves is a topic of some debate among experts. The pups weren’t, after all, cloned from a full, intact genetic sample from an extinct dire wolf. Instead, damaged and fragmented dire wolf DNA was extracted from fossils and then edited into the DNA of a modern gray wolf. This has caused some biologists to contend that the pups are modified gray wolves with some dire wolf traits. Regardless, such “de-extinction” technology could one day make it possible to see all sorts of long-gone animals (or at least something close to them) again. Hopefully it's not a Jurassic Park situation.

 
[Image description: A photo of a gray wolf lying in the grass.] Credit & copyright: USFWS National Digital Library, Hollingsworth, John and Karen, USFWS. Public Domain.

You can always come back home…but it might take a while to adjust. Earlier this month, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams of NASA returned to Earth after a 9-month stay at the International Space Station (ISS). We’ve written before about the duo’s lengthened stay in space. Originally, the astronauts were meant to spend a week-long layover at the ISS after arriving via the Boeing Starliner last June. Then, technical issues compromised their ability to return safely and ended up delaying their return time and time again. After finally catching a ride back to Earth aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on March 18, Wilmore and Williams were carried away on stretchers. Unfortunately, this wasn’t just out of an abundance of caution. Prolonged stays in space can actually have serious health consequences, affecting the body in various negative ways.
 
According to NASA’s Human Research Program (HRP), which has been studying the issue for five decades, astronauts lose around 1 to 1.5 percent of their bone density for every month they spend in space. That makes them more vulnerable to fractures, but their problems don't end there. There's also the issue of muscle loss, which can severely weaken astronauts even with regular exercise. During the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s, astronauts who spent just days in microgravity had to be pulled out of their capsules upon landing because they were unable to stand on their own. If all that weren't enough, dangerous levels of radiation in space increase the risks of cancer and other diseases. The confined environments inside spacecraft aren't great for mental health either, and crewmembers getting along can become a problem even among the most well-disciplined astronauts. Solving all of these issues, while not as glamorous as the technological innovations involved in space travel, are some of the most limiting factors for extended missions (like a hypothetical manned mission to Mars). There's a long way to go before we can go such a long way.

 
[Image description: A starry night sky with some purple visible.] Credit & copyright: Felix Mittermeier, Pexels

Anyone worrying about a potential The Last of Us situation can breathe a sigh of relief. A new, experimental antibiotic is showing great promise in fighting fungal infections, even ones that have typically been resistant to drugs. Unlike bacterial infections, fungal infections have always been notoriously difficult to treat. Antibiotics usually have no effect on them, and fungal cells are similar enough to human cells that other potential treatments have a difficult time distinguishing between the infection and the cells it’s attacking. Fungus is an extremely tenacious form of life that evolves fast, which means that it can develop resistance to anti-fungal drugs very quickly. Mandimycin, a drug discovered by researchers from China Pharmaceutical University, works differently than other anti-fungal medications. Although it’s an antibiotic, it’s been shown to kill fungi responsible for drug-resistant infections, including those on the World Health Organization’s fungal priority pathogens list. The drug works by targeting fungal cells’ phospholipids, lipids that help form the cells’ membranes and regulate their permeability. When mandimycin binds to these lipids, holes appear in the fungal cells’ membranes, killing the cells. While mandimycin is part of the same class of drugs as the effective anti-fungal amphotericin B, the new drug’s side effects seem, at least in mice, to be much less severe. Amphotericin B is usually considered a “last resort” medication since it can lead to side effects like double vision, shortness of breath, and even seizures. Hopefully those unlucky enough to face a fungal infection will soon have a gentler, yet more effective option.

[Image description: A red-and-white toadstool on Kaien Island, British Columbia.] Credit & copyright: Extemporalist, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
 

It sounds gross, but it really is good for you! This month in 1942, Anne Miller became the first patient to be successfully treated for a streptococcal infection with penicillin, the first antibiotic. The antibiotic properties of penicillin, a drug derived from a mold called Penicillium, were first discovered by Alexander Fleming in the late 1920s. Yet, it wasn’t until March 14, 1942, that the drug was used to save a civilian’s life. Miller was an everyday woman who had the tragic misfortune of suffering a complicated miscarriage. Within weeks, she began experiencing symptoms of a grave infection with a fever reaching 106.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The culprit was streptococcal septicemia, a deadly infection that was once common after miscarriages. Penicillin's potential had long been known by this point, and its use was already being tested in the U.K, but there were a couple of problems keeping it from widespread usage. First, a little conflict called WWII was taking place at the time, making it difficult to safely transport penicillin across the Atlantic. Secondly, penicillin was exceedingly difficult to extract, making it prohibitively expensive. Its supply was so limited that ome patients who were being treated for infections that penicillin could have defeated passed away anyway because they couldn't receive a full course.
 
As luck would have it, Miller's physician, Dr. John Bumstead, just so happened to be treating Dr. John Fulton, who just so happened to be friends with Howard Florey, an Australian researcher who was a pioneer in the use of penicillin for therapeutic purposes. Bumstead pleaded with Fulton to acquire a sample of the precious penicillin from his friend, and Florey obliged, using his connections in the pharmaceutical industry to secure a sample produced in the U.S. The penicillin was delivered to the hospital where Miller and Fulton were staying, and thanks to the miracle drug, Miller made a full recovery. She would go on to live another 57 years, passing away at the age of 90 in 1999. Next time you see a moldy piece of bread, show a little respect!

 
[Image description: A close-up photo of moldy bread.] Credit & copyright: Ciar, Wikimedia Commons. The copyright holder of this work, has released it into the public domain. This applies worldwide.