November 10, 2023: A tick-associated allergy to red meat, "heartbreak" stars and Anthony Fauci's thoughts about long COVID. —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | | The bite of a tick species found in the U.S. South, Midwest and mid-Atlantic can trigger bizarre and sometimes dangerous allergies to beef, pork, venison, dairy and gelatin. More specifically, the allergy is to a sugar found in red meat and other sources. However, nearly half of all U.S. physicians are unaware of the allergy, called alpha-gal syndrome. More than 110,000 people in the U.S. tested positive for alpha-gal antibodies from 2010 to 2022, according to a July report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The biology: The condition is caused by an immune reaction to the sugar alpha-gal (galactose-α-1,3-galactose), which is found in the flesh of most nonprimate mammals. The sugar is not present in humans. In people who have the condition and consume meats or products containing alpha-gal, the immune system recognizes the sugar as foreign. Reactions range from diarrhea to hives to anaphylactic shock. There is no treatment, and many patients must alter their diet for years.
What the experts say: After time spent outdoors, check for ticks and remove any that you find as soon as possible. In addition, prevent bites from any ticks at all. Protective measures include using Environmental Protection Agency–registered repellents and walking in the middle of a trail.
| | | In a two-star system located some 200,000 light-years from Earth, waves of hot gas swell to the height of three of our suns and then collapse onto the surface of the pair's supergiant star, according to a recent study. In many eccentric binary systems such as this, one star distorts its partner's shape as they orbit each other—a bit like how the moon creates ocean tides as it orbits Earth. Typically, these stellar tides of hot gas bulge to a height of about 0.1 percent of the star's overall diameter. But at this particular system, called MACHO 80.7443.1718, the smaller star has been causing tides on its giant companion with amplitudes reaching 20 percent of the larger star's size, distorting it into the shape of a rugby ball, says study co-author and astrophysicist Morgan MacLeod.
How it was observed: The stellar tides of hot gas cause variations in the star system's brightness that astronomers can detect on Earth.
The upshot: Can the system indefinitely support such giant waves? No, MacLeod and his colleague conclude. A computer model of the stars' movements found that the spray of hot gas and debris from the waves is causing the larger star to lose mass. Thus this doomed pair's nickname: "heartbreak" stars. | | | MACHO 80.7443.1718's smaller star causes waves on its massive companion. Credit: Melissa Weiss/Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian | | | • Is long COVID real? Yes, says Anthony Fauci. Long COVID is the recently identified syndrome of neurological, psychological and physical issues that lasts long after the disease-causing virus, SARS-CoV-2, is gone. But postviral illnesses have been on Fauci's radar for decades, writes medical anthropologist Emily Mendenhall of her recent interview with the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci, currently a faculty member at Georgetown University, discussed early encounters with patients whose symptoms affected bodily systems from the brain to the gut—a condition that doctors now recognize as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). What makes long COVID distinct from ME/CFS, even when the symptoms are the same, is the presence of a specific virus and the knowledge of when the infection occurred, Fauci told Mendenhall. | 6 min read | | | ICYMI (Our most-read stories of the week) | | | • Understanding Consciousness Goes Beyond Exploring Brain Chemistry | 6 min read | • Earth Reacts to Greenhouse Gases More Strongly Than We Thought | 11 min read | • Orcas Are Learning Terrifying New Behaviors | 7 min read
| | | Hope your weekend includes time with friends and family, including any dog or cat members of your household. Pets are quite competent at communicating with us. But can dogs use our language? Check out Scientific American's recent story about those paw-friendly buttons that represent words such as "walk" and "play." Stephanie Pappas gets to the bottom of research on whether dogs and other animals can learn human words for abstract concepts and use them to communicate in complex ways. Or enjoy our latest TikTok, which features "Sparky" and addresses the subject in a more light-hearted way: | —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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