Unsolved Mysteries Research Articles

Laboratory evidence of Weibel magnetogenesis driven by temperature gradient using three-dimensional synchronous proton radiography.

The origin of the cosmic magnetic field remains an unsolved mystery, relying not only on specific dynamo processes but also on the seed field to be amplified. Recently, the diffuse radio emission and Faraday rotation observations reveal that there has been a microgauss-level magnetic field in intracluster medium in the early universe, which places strong constraints on the strength of the initial field and implies the underlying kinetic effects; the commonly believed Biermann battery can only provide extremely weak seed of 10-21 G. Here, we present evidence for the spontaneous Weibel-type magnetogenesis in laser-produced weakly collisional plasma with the three-dimensional synchronous proton radiography, where the distribution anisotropy directly arises from the temperature gradient, even without the commonly considered interpenetrating plasmas or shear flows. This field can achieve sufficient strength and is sensitive to Coulomb collision. Our results demonstrate the importance of kinetics in magnetogenesis in weakly collisional astrophysical scenarios.

The Tomb and treasury of Hülegü Khan

AbstractThe Il-Khan ruler Hülegü (1215–1265 CE) was a grandson of Genghis Khan (the founder of the Mongol Empire), a son of Tolui, and a brother of both Möngke Khan and Kublai Khan. He died on February 8, 1265, CE, at an estimated age of 48 years. Unlike our knowledge about the death and burial of Genghis Khan (d. 1227 CE), which is recorded in one of the oldest of the autochthonous chronicles, The Secret History of the Mongols, with no reference to time or place, the approximate location of Hülegü’s final resting place is referenced in several documents. Contemporary Persian resources unanimously suggest that the treasury and royal tomb of Hülegü Khan lie somewhere in Lake Urmia on Shahi Island (Jazīreh-ye-Shāhī), Northwest Iran. Rashīd al-Dīn posited that the Hülegü’s treasury is filled with pillow-size gold ingots and treasures gathered from across the Ilkhanid Empire. The exact location and discovery of this hidden treasure and the burial place of Hülegü remain one of the most persistent unsolved mysteries and none of the later archaeological studies challenged this attribution. This paper will discuss the idea that Shahi Island contains the fabled tomb of the legendary ruler of Ilkhanid Iran (1256–1335 CE) Hülegü, his sons Abaqa Khan (1234–1282 CE), as well as Mongol queens, high priests, and other elites. The findings of this research are important because they could launch a new era for Mongol studies and the archaeology of hidden treasures.

Knowns and unknowns about the neurobiology of stuttering.

Stuttering occurs in early childhood during a dynamic phase of brain and behavioral development. The latest studies examining children at ages close to this critical developmental period have identified early brain alterations that are most likely linked to stuttering, while spontaneous recovery appears related to increased inter-area connectivity. By contrast, therapy-driven improvement in adults is associated with a functional reorganization within and beyond the speech network. The etiology of stuttering, however, remains enigmatic. This Unsolved Mystery highlights critical questions and points to neuroimaging findings that could inspire future research to uncover how genetics, interacting neural hierarchies, social context, and reward circuitry contribute to the many facets of stuttering.

How important is EMT for cancer metastasis?

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a biological phenomenon of cellular plasticity initially reported in embryonic development, has been increasingly recognized for its importance in cancer progression and metastasis. Despite tremendous progress being made in the past 2 decades in our understanding of the molecular mechanism and functional importance of EMT in cancer, there are several mysteries around EMT that remain unresolved. In this Unsolved Mystery, we focus on the variety of EMT types in metastasis, cooperative and collective EMT behaviors, spatiotemporal characterization of EMT, and strategies of therapeutically targeting EMT. We also highlight new technical advances that will facilitate the efforts to elucidate the unsolved mysteries of EMT in metastasis.

A model for the hydrogenation and charge states of fullerene C60. Implications for diffuse interstellar band research

The diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are a set of sim 600 absorption features at optical and near-infrared wavelengths that are found in the interstellar medium in the Milky Way and other galaxies. They remain mostly unidentified and represent the greatest unsolved mystery in astronomical spectroscopy of the past 100 years. Many studies indicate that the carrier molecules are likely carbonaceous molecules, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) or fullerenes, a theory that is supported by the identifications of five DIBs in the near-infrared attributed to C$_ This work aims to narrow down which compounds related to C$_ $ could be promising DIB carrier candidates.\ We did so by conducting a theoretical study of its hydrogenation and charge balance. We defined a system of relevant reactions, and for each reaction we computed or derived from the literature a reaction rate coefficient. Assuming a steady state, we then computed a distribution of relative abundances in each hydrogenation and charge state. From the model outcomes, we expect the most abundant hydrogenated buckminsterfullerene compound in the diffuse interstellar medium to be C$_ $H$^+$.

The peroxisome: an update on mysteries 3.0.

Peroxisomes are highly dynamic, oxidative organelles with key metabolic functions in cellular lipid metabolism, such as the β-oxidation of fatty acids and the synthesis of myelin sheath lipids, as well as the regulation of cellular redox balance. Loss of peroxisomal functions causes severe metabolic disorders in humans. Furthermore, peroxisomes also fulfil protective roles in pathogen and viral defence and immunity, highlighting their wider significance in human health and disease. This has sparked increasing interest in peroxisome biology and their physiological functions. This review presents an update and a continuation of three previous review articles addressing the unsolved mysteries of this remarkable organelle. We continue to highlight recent discoveries, advancements, and trends in peroxisome research, and address novel findings on the metabolic functions of peroxisomes, their biogenesis, protein import, membrane dynamics and division, as well as on peroxisome-organelle membrane contact sites and organelle cooperation. Furthermore, recent insights into peroxisome organisation through super-resolution microscopy are discussed. Finally, we address new roles for peroxisomes in immune and defence mechanisms and in human disorders, and for peroxisomal functions in different cell/tissue types, in particular their contribution to organ-specific pathologies.

The primordial black holes solution to the cosmological monopole problem

Recently, the pulsar timing array (PTA) collaborations, including CPTA, EPTA, NANOGrav, and PPTA, announced that they detected a stochastic gravitational wave background spectrum in the nHz band. This may be relevant to the cosmological phase transition suggested by some models. Magnetic monopoles and primordial black holes (PBHs), two unsolved mysteries in the universe, may also have their production related to the cosmological phase transition. Inspired by that, we revisit the model proposed by Stojkovic and Freese, which involves PBHs accretion to solve the cosmological magnetic monopole problem. We further develop it by considering the increase in the mass of the PBHs during accretion and taking the effect of Hawking radiation into account. With these new considerations, we find that solutions to the problem still exist within a certain parameter space. In addition, we also generalize the analysis to PBHs with an extended distribution in mass. This may be a more interesting scenario because PBHs that have accreted magnetic monopoles might produce observable electromagnetic signals if they are massive enough to survive in the late universe.

Quantum Geometry Conserves Baryon Symmetry - The Matter - Antimatter Universe

The Universe that we live in is a universe of matter, even though we know that there must be just as much antimatter around that will balance the matter it appears that the antimatter is nowhere to be found. We know this to be simply true, as a matterantimatter universe would vanish in one annihilation event, which is what apparently happened very, very soon after the big bang. We are here by grace of a very small imbalance in favor of matter, one particle of matter surviving for every one billion matter-antimatter pairs. Other than the mirror matter-antimatter universe hypothesis, or matter-antimatter bubble universe, most research in baryon asymmetry, baryogenesis, is directed at finding a good mechanism for symmetry breaking, following the three conditions set by Sakharov in 1967 [1]. To date there are no viable theories, and the matter-antimatter imbalance remains as one of the great unsolved mysteries in physics. However, this then implies that nature has created a universe that is so out of balance that the dance partner is nowhere to be found. Quantum Geometry is a new proposal to allow baryon symmetry to be conserved, and a universe with 50% matter and 50% antimatter, to actually exist, everywhere. At the lowest level of existence, that of the fundamental particles, both quarks and antiquarks can be used to construct the composite particles of the second level, the subatomic particles, without annihilation. In the heart of the sub-atomic particles, the proton and neutron, the geometry of the gluon equilibrium allows these particles to contain quarks and antiquarks, the proton holding four quarks and one antiquark, the pentaquark, and the neutron being made up of three quark-antiquark pairs [2]. These sub-atomic particles then interact further as particles of matter, avoiding annihilation in the world of matter. Then, Quantum Geometry is used to propose a composite electron. This sub-atomic particle would be made of four antiquarks and one quark, an antimatter pentaquark. The atom then becomes the third level building block of matter, made of protons with a baryon number of +1, neutrons with a baryon number of 0, rather than also +1, and a composite electron with a baryon number of -1, rather than being a point-particle fermion. This allows the universe we see to have a baryon number of 0, to have baryon symmetry, without having to search for the antimatter or to consider that it has all disappeared in an explosion of light. Every atom contains an equal amount of matter and antimatter, held in equilibrium by a powerful geometry that is fully explained in this new theory of Quantum Geometry that will take us beyond relativity theory. Our universe is a balanced geometric matter-antimatter universe, at all levels, each balanced through a zero-point that is anchored in absolute time.

Fetal "gallstones" are still an unsolved mystery. Case series.

Echogenic content in the fetal gallbladder is rather an incidental finding during third-trimester ultrasonography. The etiology, clinical course, and prognosis of this condition are still unclear. We highlight the demographic, clinical and ultrasound characteristics of our patients with echogenic content in the fetal gallbladder. This is a retrospective single-center study conducted at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca, Romania, between March 2022 and April 2023. All pregnant patients who were admitted to the hospital and had echogenic content in the fetal gallbladder detected by ultrasound were identified. The clinical and ultrasonography parameters were obtained from the databases of the ultrasound units and the medical records of the patients. Four patients were found to have echogenic content in the fetal gallbladder. The mean maternal age at diagnosis was 27.5 years (range 25-31). All patients had singleton pregnancies. The mean gestational age at diagnosis was 36.5 weeks (range 35-40). In all cases, the predominant aspect of echogenic content on ultrasound was multiple hyperechogenic foci; additionally, in one case, sludge was also observed. The mean maximal length of the hyperechogenic foci was 3.375 mm (range 1.6-5.4). All fetuses were delivered at full term, either vaginally or by cesarean section. The mean weight at birth was 3082.5 g (range 2800-3450). In all four cases, the EC disappeared spontaneously at birth. Neither of the four newborns displayed digestive symptoms or complications during the follow-up. The EC is still a medical mystery since little is known about its etiology and long-term outcome. Many cases are likely to be undetected until after birth; therefore, fetal gallbladder examination should be included in the US routine. The condition appears to be benign, and usually, it improves naturally after birth. Consecutively, asymptomatic newborns with EC can be managed through a wait-and-see approach.

An Unsolved Mystery: Angelica Kauffman's Elusive Self-Portrait

Abstract: This article explores the provenance of two portraits of the eighteenth-century Swiss painter Angelica Kauffman. One the original self-portrait and the other evidently a contemporary copy, the paintings have intersecting histories that have led to confusion and some enduring mysteries. The author sifts through documentary sources and consults with experts at the Angelika Kauffmann Research Project to firmly establish which is the original self-portrait and—even more tantalizingly—attempt to reconstruct the paintings' distinct but intertwining histories, speculate on the identity of the copyist, and explain how various misunderstandings (some of which linger into the present day) might have occurred.

Neurocognitive impairment in obesity and liver disease-An unsolved mystery.

Neurocognitive impairment in obesity and liver disease-An unsolved mystery.

Reply to Letter to the Editor: Neurocognitive impairment in obesity and liver disease-An unsolved mystery.

Reply to Letter to the Editor: Neurocognitive impairment in obesity and liver disease-An unsolved mystery.

Unsolved mystery, the etiology of acute pancreatitis after liver resection: a case report and literature review

Link of Video Abstract: https://youtu.be/WQnJQwwYcHcIntroduction: After liver resection, pancreatitis is a well-known yet uncommon consequence. The actual cause is unclear, and the postoperative condition may mask the clinical symptoms. When a patient unexpectedly worsens after surgery, postoperative pancreatitis should always be taken into consideration due to its high fatality risk. After liver resection, we present our patient with acute pancreatitis. The paper was written using certain hypotheses. First, the surgeon should be aware of the possibility of pancreatitis following liver surgery, which is not included in the literature as a side effect of liver surgery. The second step is to increase our knowledge and develop measures to reduce the risk of acute pancreatitis following liver surgery. Case Description: We present here a case of acute pancreatitis following liver resection surgery from our institution, and we strongly suspect that the results of our postoperative white bile leak test contributed to this. According to the literature analysis, this test is risk-free and won't have a materially detrimental impact on the patient. Keep in mind the white test rule, which suggested things like focus and spooling following the test. Conclusion: The white test is effective for identifying bile leakage following liver resection, however, we do not advise frequent use of this test since there is a chance that it can trigger acute pancreatitis, which can have a substantial negative impact on the patient's morbidity or death. The precise process is still a mystery and will require further experimental research.

Black Holes in Globular Clusters

Black holes are the laboratory for extreme physics research in the universe, and the detection of black holes is one of the most cutting-edge international scientific goals at present. Globular clusters are old, self-gravity-bound object systems in the Milky Way that contain millions of stars with a high stellar densities inside. Hundreds of pulsar objects have been observed in globular clusters, but the existence of black holes in globular clusters remains an unsolved mystery. A globular cluster may have an intermediatemass black hole at its centre, with masses ranging from 1, 000 to 10, 000 times solar masses. At the same time, there may be a large number of stellar black holes in globular clusters, which will affect the evolution of globular clusters and form. some special objects in globular clusters, which can be observed and confirmed by astronomical observation equipment. This paper will focus on the possible observational features of the presence of black holes in globular clusters and their effects on the properties of globular clusters. Black holes are coupled with their host globular clusters through dynamics, which are important sites for the formation of black hole X-ray binaries and gravitational wave sources, and black holes change the dynamical structure and evolutionary processes of their host clusters. Therefore, searching for X-ray sources, detecting gravitational wave signals, and studying the characteristics of globular clusters are important astronomical evidence for detecting black holes in globular clusters.

A review on the -amyloid precipitation hypothesis

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a well-known mental illness and memory loss is its most common symptom. Until now, the reason of AD has been an unsolved mystery, with the two most prominent previous hypotheses being -amyloid deposition and Tau protein phosphorylation. However, this year, a seminal paper studying the -amyloid precipitation hypothesis was found to be falsified, therefore, a large number of scientists have questioned the research value of this hypothesis. This paper is a review of the -amyloid precipitation hypothesis. The development of -amyloid precipitation hypothesis is described and previous studies on A*56, A42, and A40 are reviewed. It is concluded that -amyloid precipitation should continue to be studied. The author also argues that the falsification does not mean that the "amyloid" hypothesis is wrong; the only protein suspected of falsification is A*56. The A hypothesis can still be pursued because there are many other A oligomers that have been shown to be neurotoxic.

An exploratory study of the future paranormal tourist experience on ghost tours

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the paranormal tourist experience on ghost tours, taking into account the participants’ perceptions and their prior knowledge of the paranormal, in order to determine the principal components of the future of paranormal tourist experience.Design/methodology/approach The study is divided into two phases. The first phase is based on participant observation during a ghost tour. The second phase is based on a previously published framework for paranormal tourism. It introduces a qualitative adaptation of the orchestra model to look in-depth at how experiences with paranormal tours might shape the future of tourism as a major subtype.Findings Paranormal tourism has external (situational-enchantment, historical, mystical, ghostly and unsolved mysteries) and internal (affective, cognitive, sensory, behavior and relationship) components that are inter-linked. Future paranormal tourist experiences (FPTEs) must be focused on enhancing these aspects in order to offer an immersive experience.Originality/valueConsequently, this paper proposes the FPTE model.

Unsolved mysteries in marine nitrogen fixation.

Biological nitrogen (N2) fixation is critical in global biogeochemical cycles and in sustaining the productivity of the oceans. There remain many unanswered questions, unresolved hypotheses, and unchallenged paradigms. The fundamental balance of N input and losses has not been fully resolved. One of the major N2-fixers, Trichodesmium, remains an enigma with intriguing biological and ecological secrets. Cyanobacterial N2 fixation, once thought to be primarily due to free-living cyanobacteria, now also appears to be dependent on microbial interactions, from microbiomes to unicellular symbioses, which remain poorly characterized. Nitrogenase genes associated with diverse non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs (NCDs) are prevalent, but their significance remains a huge knowledge gap. Answering questions, new and old, such as those discussed here, is needed to understand the ocean's N and C cycles and their responses to environmental change.

Prey species and abundance affect growth and photosynthetic performance of the polyphagous sea slug Elysia crispata.

Some sacoglossan sea slugs steal functional macroalgal chloroplasts (kleptoplasts). In this study, we investigated the effects of algal prey species and abundance on the growth and photosynthetic capacity of the tropical polyphagous sea slug Elysia crispata. Recently hatched sea slugs fed and acquired chloroplasts from the macroalga Bryopsis plumosa, but not from Acetabularia acetabulum. However, adult sea slugs were able to switch diet to A. acetabulum, rapidly replacing the great majority of the original kleptoplasts. When fed with B. plumosa, higher feeding frequency resulted in significantly higher growth and kleptoplast photosynthetic yield, as well as a slower relative decrease in these parameters upon starvation. Longevity of A. acetabulum-derived chloroplasts in E. crispata was over twofold that of B. plumosa. Furthermore, significantly lower relative weight loss under starvation was observed in sea slugs previously fed on A. acetabulum than on B. plumosa. This study shows that functionality and longevity of kleptoplasts in photosynthetic sea slugs depend on the origin of the plastids. Furthermore, we have identified A. acetabulum as a donor of photosynthetically efficient chloroplasts common to highly specialized monophagous and polyphagous sea slugs capable of long-term retention, which opens new experimental routes to unravel the unsolved mysteries of kleptoplasty.

Pro Calatoria Themide

Summary Pro Calatoria Themide. Iusta Case and the Living Conditions of Freed Slaves. The Iusta Case has always been understood as a dispute in which Iusta was claiming her freeborn status (ingenua). Under this conception, however, some unsolved mysteries remain. The author tries to reconstruct the case from the perspective that Iusta was claiming to be a beneficiary of the fideicommissio of Stephanus as one of his freed slaves, by drawing a parallel with D. 34,16,1. Based on this understanding, the documents found in Casa del Bicentenario are, in accordance with Themis’ defence strategy, all in support of Stephanus’ widow who refused to pay the maintenance of the young Iusta for the rest of her life.

Unsolved mystery of Fas: mononuclear cells may have trouble dying in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome

BackgroundPatients with Sjögren’s syndrome, like other patients with autoimmune disorders, display dysregulation in the function of their immune system. Fas and Fas Ligand (FasL) are among the dysregulated proteins.MethodsWe studied Fas and FasL on IL-2Rα+ cells and in serum of patients with Sjögren’s syndrome (n = 16) and healthy individuals (n = 16); both from same ethnic and geographical background. We used flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent for this purpose. We also measured the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax by reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) and percentage of apoptotic and dead cells using Annexin V and 7-AAD staining in lymphocytes.ResultsFasL was increased in patients’ T and B cells while Fas was increased in patients’ monocytes, T and B cells. No signs of increased apoptosis were found. sFas and sFasL in patients’ serum were increased, although the increase in sFasL was not significant. We suspect an effect of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory therapy on B cells, explaining the decrease of the percentage Fas+ B cells found within our samples. In healthy individuals, there was a noticeable pattern in the expression of FasL which mutually correlated to populations of mononuclear cells; this correlation was absent in the patients with Sjögren’s syndrome.ConclusionsMononuclear cells expressing IL-2Rα+ had upregulated Fas in Sjögren’s syndrome. However, the rate of apoptosis based on Annexin V staining and the Bcl-2/Bax expression was not observed in mononuclear cells. We suspect a functional role of abnormal levels of Fas and FasL which has not been cleared yet.