Wednesday, November 24, 2021

 British Columbia

Wet'suwet'en pipeline opposition leader released with conditions

Sleydo' Molly Wickham must stay 75m away from Coastal GasLink worksites and equipment

Andrew Kurjata · CBC News · 
Sleydo' Molly Wickham embraces supporters after being released from Prince George Regional Correctional Centre Tuesday evening. (Andrew Kurjata/CBC)

A key leader in the fight against the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northwestern B.C. has been released from jail with the condition she not interfere with construction of the project.

Sleydo', also known as Molly Wickham, is free to return to her home territory in northwestern B.C. and engage in fishing, hunting, trapping and cultural practices, so long as she stays 75 meters away from Coastal GasLink worksites and equipment.

It is a stronger condition than that given to other Wet'suwet'en members who were released on the condition they stay at least 10 meters away from worksites and equipment. 

Lawyers for Coastal GasLink argued Sleydo' should not be allowed into a court-ordered exclusion zone of the pipeline at all, contending that she has continuously stated her intention to take steps to stop construction and encouraged others to do the same.

Justice Marguerite Church of the Supreme Court of B.C. said such a broad ruling would interfere with the rights of Sleydo' to practice her culture as a Wet'suwet'en woman, and felt the 75 meter limitation was an acceptable compromise. However, she warned that if Sleydo' violated the conditions of her release she may face a more stringent order in the future.

Multiple arrests

Sleydo' is one of the main spokespeople for the Gidim'ten clan of the Wet'suwet'en who on Nov. 14 issued notice they would be setting up a blockade to enforce the eviction of Coastal GasLink workers from its territory.

On Friday, Nov. 18, RCMP arrived in the region to take part in what they called a "rescue mission" of more than 500 workers who the company said were unable to get food, water or supplies because of the blockade.

After clearing the blockade, RCMP continued enforcement for a second day, which included the arrest of Sleydo' and fourteen others, including two journalists.

While some of those arrested Nov. 17 were released in Houston, the rest were transferred to Prince George where they were held over the weekend before two days of court hearings started Monday.

Conditions differ for Wet'suwet'en and non-Wet'suwet'en

The conditions for release varied depending on the identity of the person. While Wet'suwet'en members were told they could return to the exclusion zone to engage in cultural practices, non-Wet'suwet'en members are not allowed to return at all except in cases where they have to pick up belongings or travel home or — in the case of the journalists — for legitimate work purposes.

Shay Lynn Sampson, a member of the Gitxsan Nation who was released Monday, said the conditions for release were "racist." (Andrew Kurjata/CBC)

Among those not allowed to travel to the exclusion zone is a Mohawk man who was identified as being culturally Wet'suwet'en by virtue of being engaged to a member of the nation and been welcomed by chiefs.

Hereditary chief Woos of the Cas Yikh (Grizzly Bear House) of the Gidim'ten clan said the courts have no authority over who is and isn't a member of the Wet'suwet'en or who is allowed on their land.

"It's our land. It's Cas Yikh territory," he said. "It's a great insult."

Shay Lynn Sampson, a member of the neighbouring Gitxsan Nation who was released Monday called the conditions "racist".

"We go to our land for many different reasons," she said. "The court has no business deciding what is traditional cultural practices and what is not."

Speaking Tuesday evening after her release, Sleydo' said the courts have done an inadequate job of recognizing Indigenous sovereignty.

"This injunction doesn't take into account Wet'suwet'en law," she said. "I can't go freely on my territory ... we're going to challenge it to the full effect that we can."

Everyone released is expected back in court the week of Feb. 14 for the next portion of their hearings.

With files from Lenard Monkman

Pipeline dispute in B.C.: Journalists released, Leonardo DiCaprio shows support for First Nation

Kendra Mangione
CTVNewsVancouver.ca 
Reporter and Producer
Updated Nov. 22, 2021 


VANCOUVER -

Two journalists have been been released three days after their arrest while covering an ongoing B.C. pipeline dispute that has drawn the attention of Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

The journalists were arrested while covering the RCMP's enforcement of an injunction against protesters in northern B.C.

They were released by a B.C. Supreme Court judge Monday on the condition that they appear in court again in February. They must also comply with the same terms protesters are bound by, outlined in an injunction granted to Coastal GasLink by the same judge nearly two years ago.

Mounties said Friday that two people were arrested at the site for refusing to leave what they called in a statement "building-like structures," and that those people "later identified themselves as independent journalists."

Addressing the arrests in a statement Monday, B.C. RCMP Assistant Commissioner Eric Stubbs wrote that police understand the "important constitutional role" of the media, and that the RCMP's relationship with journalists is "based on mutual respect and professionalism."

He said that the two individuals who were arrested were not detained for performing their jobs, nor were they denied access to the area or told to stay in a specific place during enforcement efforts.

Stubbs said they were among a group of 11 who were told they were breaching the injunction, and did not identify themselves as journalists during a 60-minute period during which the injunction was read and protesters were given the opportunity to leave.

He said they only identified themselves when the arrests began, and that at that point they were held in custody until they could appear before a judge, as per the injunction order.

They were among 20 people who appeared before the Prince George court Monday.

Stubb said the RCMP's expectation is that members of the media identify themselves as soon as possible, and outlined the protocol in those cases, including that journalists' presence must not be interfering with those seeking to enforce the law, or take actions that could be considered aiding or abetting protesters.

B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said a free press is critical to democracy and he hoped the situation would not escalate.

The province has been doing “a significant amount of work over the last number of months to try and de-escalate tensions in the area,” he told a news conference.

The arrests were made in an area not far from a drilling site for an under-construction natural gas pipeline, and came at the same time as the arrests of several members of the Gidimt'en clan.

On Monday, actor DiCaprio shared a post from the clan on Twitter, expressing his support for pipeline opponents.


"After setting up a blockade to protect their land, community, and sacred headwaters Wedzin Kwa from Coastal GasLink’s planned fracked gas pipeline, the Wet’suwet’en Nation has faced militarized raids from the RCMP. We must protect the rights of land defenders," he wrote.

The clan is one of five in the Wet'suwet'en Nation. Members had set up blockades along a forest service road earlier this month. The road was cleared on Thursday, according to the RCMP.

Opposition among Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs to the 670-kilometre pipeline route sparked rallies and rail blockades across Canada early last year, while the elected council of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation and others in the area have agreed to the project.

With files from The Canadian Press


Photo posted by Gidimt'en Checkpoint on Facebook on Nov. 14, 2021.



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GoFundMe to help beloved Canadian actor Scott Hylands

Liz Braun
Nov 22, 2021  
Scott Hylands
Scott Hylands PHOTO BY GOFUNDME /TORONTO SUN

Well-known Canadian actor Scott Hylands could use your help.

Hylands, 78 — perhaps best known for the hit detective TV series Night Heat — was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) on Oct. 1

This is shattering news to his family. Only six weeks prior to diagnosis, Hylands was performing his self-written, sold-out, one-man Shakespeare play Lend Me Your Ears , on Salt Spring Island, BC.

And just a few weeks after that, he was celebrating his daughter’s wedding.

Intensive chemotherapy is required to fight AML, and it works best in conjunction with a drug called Venclexta.

Venclexta is approved in Canada but it costs between $60,000 and $80,000 for treatment. Studies from the U.S. show that Venclexta plus chemotherapy shows excellent results for remission. And the drug is targeted especially to the actors’ age group.

A GoFundMe to raise the money for Venclexta has been organized by Hylands’ wife, Veronica Hylands.

The Scott Hylands Immunotherapy Fundraiser began with a modest appeal to the community on Salt Spring Island, where the Hylands lived for 25 years and raised their two children. That helped them raise just over half the $50,000 goal.

Word got out quickly in the industry, and many of Hylands’ old cast-mates, including Jeff Wincott and actor-director Clark Johnson, as well as other people on both sides of the camera, have contributed.

Former Night Heat co-star Wincott (currently starring in The Issue With Elvis ) spoke fondly of his work experience with Hylands, saying he’d been as much a teacher as a partner on the show.

“I was lucky to have worked with him on my first big acting job. He taught me a lot. He was always prepared, professional and he cared deeply about doing good work, a lesson and example I carried with me throughout my career,” Wincott said.

In an interview on Monday, Veronica Hylands, the actor’s wife of 31 years, said the first shipment of Venclexta was on its way.

“They’re calling it a miracle drug,” she said. “With the combination of chemotherapy and Venclexta, the prognosis improves astronomically.”

She and their two adult children are still in shock over Hylands’ diagnosis. His wife said he has otherwise been the healthiest person she knows.

“This is overwhelming to us,” she said.

Despite the success Hylands had on TV a generation ago, he is, like so many Canadians, a journeyman actor.

“There are no residuals,” said Veronica Hylands. “I’m sure people will wonder, ‘You don’t have the money?” and yes, his show was successful, but that was 30 years ago. He still works for a living at his age.

“We don’t live high off the hog,” she said.

She doesn’t sound embarrassed — she just wants people to know they wouldn’t ask if they didn’t need the help. It’s unfamiliar territory. The Hylands contribute regularly to Sick Kids Hospital, B.C. Kids and other good causes.

“We’ve never had to ask a penny from anyone before,” she said. “If the drug weren’t so promising, we wouldn’t be doing this.”

One thing the GoFundMe has shown her is that there’s a lot of love out there for her husband — in film, TV and theatre. All kinds of people in the entertainment industry have contributed to the GoFundMe, said Hyland.

“We are thriving on the kindness of people. There are people stepping up to help, some we haven’t spoken to in 30 years,” she said.

“The response from his old cast-mates has been wonderful. There were people who worked on that show who were kids back then. They never really spoke to him, but out of respect, they have contributed.

“It’s because he always treated everyone equally.”

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Washington state cops use DNA to clear 1959 child murder, the 'Mount Everest of cold cases'

The killer's daughter volunteered to submit a DNA sample that revealed John Reigh Hoff was the probable murderer

Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Publishing date:Nov 22, 2021 • 
  
Candy Rogers, 9, disappeared in March 1959. Her remains were found two weeks later. She had been raped and strangled to death. Cops have finally named her killer.
 PHOTO BY HANDOUT /SPOKANE POLICEW
Article content

Homicide detectives in Washington state have closed the horrific 1959 murder of a nine-year-old girl who was selling mints.

With the help of the killer’s family.

Cops say they used DNA evidence to crack the 62-year-old cold case sex slaying of Candy Rogers in Spokane.

Candy disappeared on March 6, 1959 and her body was discovered two weeks later, raped and strangled with her own clothes. She had been selling Camp Fire Girl mints.

Now, detectives say her killer was U.S. Army deserter John Reigh Hoff. Hoff took his own life in 1970.

Det. Zac Storment told reporters that a long nightmare has finally come to a conclusion in the Pacific Northwest city.
The killer is US Army deserter John Reigh Hoff. Hoff committed suicide in 1970. 
HANDOUT/ SPOKANE POLICE

“It’s the Mount Everest of our cold cases, the one we could never seem to overcome, but at the same time nobody ever forgot,” he said, adding that the DNA evidence recently linked Hoff to the murder.

His sister had been a friend of Candy’s.

The victim’s surviving relatives cried tears of joy after learning who murdered the “cute” little girl.

“I feel like Candy’s loss was just a horrible loss. She was just so cute,” cousin Joanne Poss said.

Storment said detectives conducted a DNA test on a well-preserved semen sample found on Candy’s clothes. It linked to three brothers, John Reigh, Andrew and Terry Allen Hoff.

The killer’s daughter volunteered to submit a DNA sample that revealed John Reigh Hoff was the probable killer. His sister, who was 10 at the time, was Candy’s “big sister” in the Camp Fire Girls.

“It takes a while for it to sink it,” said Hoff’s daughter Cathie, who was nine when he killed himself. “It’s just sad when you find out … that someone in your family could do something like that.”

Candy Rogers, 9, disappeared in March 1959. Her remains were found two weeks later. She had been raped and strangled to death. Cops have finally named her killer.
 HANDOUT/ SPOKANE POLICE

Hoff would attack another woman in similar fashion in 1961 and was jailed for six months. A brief foray into the military ended with desertion.

He was 31 when he killed himself.

“I thank God that I lived long enough to see the end of this case,” retired Spokane Police Capt. Richard Olberding said. He was one of the cops who found the girl’s tiny body.

Candy was an only child and both her parents are now dead.

bhunter@postmedia.com
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Curious Kids: Why are there so few impact craters on Earth?

The Conversation
23 Nov 2021

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U.S. deer are catching COVID-19. What that means for our fight against the virus

By Leslie Young Global News
Posted November 22, 2021
Scientists are finding increasing evidence that some deer are susceptible to the virus that causes COVID-19. File / Global News

Many white-tailed deer in the northern U.S. have caught COVID-19, some new studies suggest, with potential implications for the pandemic fight.


And while the same hasn’t yet been found in Canadian deer, scientists say that finding the virus in wild animals could spell the end for any hopes of completely eliminating COVID-19 in humans.

“Any disease that gets into multiple species, we can’t eradicate,” said Scott Weese, a veterinary infectious disease specialist with the Ontario Veterinary College and director of the Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses.

Two recent U.S. studies have found evidence that COVID-19 is in the deer population. In one study, researchers sampled 283 deer in Iowa from April 2020 to January 2021 and found that one-third of them had evidence of COVID-19 infection. The researchers said these infections likely resulted from multiple human-to-deer and deer-to-deer transmissions.

Another study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in 40 per cent of the 385 wild deer they sampled in 2021 from four states: New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Illinois. These antibodies suggest that the deer were exposed to COVID-19 at some point, the researchers wrote.

These scientists said they examined deer because they knew that the animals were biologically susceptible to infection by this kind of virus and can exhibit prolonged virus shedding, are social animals and often live near urban centres.

Canadian scientists have been watching the American research with interest, said Jeff Bowman, a wildlife research scientist with Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry.

They’ve been looking for the possibility that wildlife species, including deer, could become a “reservoir” for SARS-CoV-2, he said.

“If the virus circulates in the wildlife population, then it can become sustained within that population and become a source to reinfect humans,” he said.

It’s also possible that having a virus circulate in animals could result in new variants, said Weese.

“The more they transmit, the more they mutate because the more they replicate, it’s more random error that can happen,” he said. “And when they move into a different species, maybe it’s more likely to happen because they’re adapting to that species a little bit.”

That’s isn’t necessarily dangerous for humans, he said, but what health professionals don’t want to see is the virus mutating in a deer and still being infectious for people.

“Maybe it’s different enough that our immune system doesn’t recognize it as well,” he said, adding this is a low-risk, but not impossible, scenario.

A group of Canadian organizations, including the Public Health Agency of Canada, Ontario’s Ministry of Health and the Canadian Wildlife Health Centre, have been sampling a variety of animals – including mink, raccoons, skunks and bats – and so far haven’t turned up any evidence of the virus, Bowman said, although mink on farms in B.C. have been infected with COVID-19. They’re still collecting samples on muskrats, otters, beavers and white-tailed deer.


READ MORE: Nova Scotia pays for COVID-19 vaccines for mink, B.C. says no before closing industry

READ MORE: B.C. announces plan to phase out mink farms due to COVID-19 concerns

It’s possible that if deer in the northern U.S. have been infected, some Canadian deer might be, too, at least in places where the countries share a land border, Weese says.

“Deer don’t care where they’re walking,” he said, though he’s watching for the eventual results of the Canadian studies.

Weese said researchers aren’t sure how the virus got into deer in the first place – guesses include through deer farms or perhaps people feeding wild deer – and they also aren’t sure how likely it is that a person could catch COVID-19 from an infected deer.

“It’s probably pretty unlikely,” he said.

Most people don’t have close contact with deer, though people who work with farmed deer could be at risk.


The other at-risk group, he thinks, could be hunters.

“A wounded deer that’s breathing and they’re getting close to it, that could do it,” he said, as could handling the deer during butchering.

Wisconsin has released guidelines for hunters on how to protect themselves from potential infection, which include wearing a mask while cleaning the carcass and washing your hands, tools and surfaces that have come into contact with the animal afterwards. The state notes, however, that the CDC says there is currently no evidence that wildlife might be a source of infection for people in the U.S.


READ MORE: Quebec zoo hoping to vaccinate wild animals against COVID-19 over coming weeks

“The greatest risk of catching SARS-CoV-2, of transmitting that virus, is human-to-human,” Bowman said. “And we think that the risk of transmission of that virus from animals to human is lower. There is no evidence, for example, of a virus being transmitted through the preparation of food or the consumption of food, for example, from wild game.”

Scientists need to think broadly about the implications of viruses passing between animals and people for this pandemic, and the next one, Weese said.

“We’re one big ecosystem and the virus doesn’t care … if we’re a human or a dog or a cat or what we call an animal.”
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Evidence found of genetic evolution in Europeans over past several thousand years

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

evolution
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in China has found evidence of natural selection based evolutionary changes to people living in Europe over the past two to three thousand years. In their paper published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, the group describes their comparative study of people living in the U.K. today, with those living across Europe over the past several thousand years.

Noting that few studies have been conducted with the goal of learning more about  in people living in relatively , the researchers designed a study that was meant to learn more about how natural selection has impacted people living in Europe over the past several thousand years.

To that end, they obtained access to the U.K. Biobank and the data it holds, some of which is genetic. They also obtained similar data from other entities holding  retrieved from the remains of people living in Europe over the past several thousand years. The team then selected 870  that have been identified as being associated with certain genes related to phenotype and compared those found in modern British people (most of whom have European backgrounds) with those found in people living across Europe over the past few thousand years.

In looking at the data, the researchers found evolution at work in 755 genes related to the traits they had selected over the past 2,000 to 3,000 years—and they included skin pigmentation, dietary traits and body measurements. All three traits were found to be under near constant selection pressure, leading to near constant changes to the genome.

They note that  changes were expected due to the differences in exposure to ultraviolet light—the early migraters to Europe were known to have dark skin; over time, they became lighter. They also found changes related to consumption of vitamin D, heat regulation and body measurements. Such changes they note, were also likely due to changes in climate. The researchers also found that some expected changes had not come about—genetic factors associated with inflammatory bowel disease and anorexia nervosa, for example, had not changed much.

The research team acknowledges that their results are still preliminary as more detailed work is needed.Survey shows huge bird population drop in Europe and the UK over past 40 years

More information: Weichen Song et al, A selection pressure landscape for 870 human polygenic traits, Nature Human Behaviour (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01231-4

Journal information: Nature Human Behaviour 

© 2021 Science X Network

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Mapping where carbon needs to remain in its natural place to avoid climate catastrophe

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

Mapping where carbon needs to remain in its natural place to avoid climate catastrophe
Fig. 1: Irrecoverable carbon in Earth’s ecosystems. a–d, Inlays show areas of high 
irrecoverable carbon density in the Pacific Northwest of North America (a), western South
 America (b), the Congo Basin (c) and the island of Borneo (d). Areas with zero
 irrecoverable carbon are displayed in gray to demonstrate the footprint of global 
manageable carbon. Credit: DOI: 10.1038/s41893-021-00803-6

An international team of researchers has created a map that highlights parts of the world that hold very high concentrations of carbon. In their paper published in the journal Nature Sustainability, the group describes their map and how it was created, noting that if the carbon in such areas is released, it would likely set off a climatic catastrophe. Peter Thornton with Oak Ridge National Laboratory has published a News & Views piece in the same journal issue, outlining the work done by the team in this new effort.

Scientists have known for many years that there are certain areas of the world that hold a tremendous amount of —permafrost in the North, for example, or redwood trees along the northwest coast of the United States. In this new effort, the researchers have sought to highlight the important role these regions play in efforts by humanity to reduce .

The researchers note that other highly concentrated areas include the Amazon basin, the Congo Basin and parts of Borneo. Some are home to mangroves, others to peatlands. They describe these natural carbon sinks as 'irrecoverable' resources because if the carbon is released from them by human activities, it could take centuries for the areas to recover.

To learn more about the location of the planet's irrecoverable resources, the team studied  and prior estimates of how much carbon is sequestered in these sinks. They then created a map of the world highlighting in purple hues these carbon sinks. In looking at the map, it is easy to see where they are—what is not so easy is developing a plan that protects such areas from encroachment. One striking feature of the map is how small irrecoverable resource areas are. They occupy just over 3 percent of Earth's total land area.

The researchers conclude that allowing all of the carbon in all of the world's natural sinks to be released would likely lead to catastrophe—139 gigatons of carbon would be dumped into the atmosphere, likely pushing the temperature of the planet far beyond the universal goal of 1.5 degrees C, with all of its associated climatic consequences.Brazilian forests found to be transitioning from carbon sinks to carbon sources

More information: Monica L. Noon et al, Mapping the irrecoverable carbon in Earth's ecosystems, Nature Sustainability (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41893-021-00803-6

Peter Thornton, Mapping classes of carbon, Nature Sustainability (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41893-021-00783-7

Journal information: Nature Sustainability 

© 2021 Science X Network

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When bees get a taste for dead things: Meat-eating 'vulture bees' sport acidic guts

by University of California - Riverside

When bees get a taste for dead things
Raw chicken baits attracting vulture bees in Costa Rica. Credit: Quinn McFrederick/UCR

A little-known species of tropical bee has evolved an extra tooth for biting flesh and a gut that more closely resembles that of vultures rather than other bees.

Typically, bees don't eat meat. However, a species of stingless bee in the tropics has evolved the ability to do so, presumably due to intense competition for nectar.

"These are the only bees in the world that have evolved to use  not produced by plants, which is a pretty remarkable change in dietary habits," said UC Riverside entomologist Doug Yanega.

Honeybees, bumblebees, and stingless bees have guts that are colonized by the same five core microbes. "Unlike humans, whose guts change with every meal, most bee species have retained these same  over roughly 80 million years of evolution," said Jessica Maccaro, a UCR entomology doctoral student.

Given their radical change in food choice, a team of UCR scientists wondered whether the vulture bees'  differed from those of a typical vegetarian bee. They differed quite dramatically, according to a study the team published today in the American Society of Microbiologists' journal mBio.

To track these changes, the researchers went to Costa Rica, where these bees are known to reside. They set up baits—fresh pieces of raw chicken suspended from branches and smeared with petroleum jelly to deter ants.

The baits successfully attracted vulture bees and related species that opportunistically feed on meat for their protein. Normally, stingless bees have baskets on their hind legs for collecting pollen. However, the team observed carrion-feeding bees using those same structures to collect the bait. "They had little chicken baskets," said Quinn McFrederick, a UCR entomologist.

For comparison, the team also collected  that feed both on meat and flowers, and some that feed only on pollen. On analyzing the microbiomes of all three bee types, they found the most extreme changes among exclusive meat-feeders.

"The vulture bee microbiome is enriched in acid-loving bacteria, which are novel bacteria that their relatives don't have," McFrederick said. "These bacteria are similar to ones found in actual vultures, as well as hyenas and other carrion-feeders, presumably to help protect them from pathogens that show up on carrion."

One of the bacteria present in vulture bees is Lactobacillus, which is in a lot of humans' fermented food, like sourdough. They were also found to harbor Carnobacterium, which is associated with flesh digestion.

"It's crazy to me that a bee can eat dead bodies. We could get sick from that because of all the microbes on meat competing with each other and releasing toxins that are very bad for us," Maccaro said.

The researchers noted that these bees are unusual in a number of ways. "Even though they can't sting, they're not all defenseless, and many species are thoroughly unpleasant," Yanega said. "They range from species that are genuinely innocuous to many that bite, to a few that produce blister-causing secretions in their jaws, causing the skin to erupt in painful sores."

In addition, though they feed on meat, their honey is reportedly still sweet and edible. "They store the meat in special chambers that are sealed off for two weeks before they access it, and these chambers are separate from where the honey is stored," Maccaro said.

The research team is planning to delve further into vulture bee microbiomes, hoping to learn about the genomes of all bacteria as well as fungi and viruses in their bodies.

Ultimately, they hope to learn more about the larger role that microbes play in overall bee health.

"The weird things in the world are where a lot of interesting discoveries can be found," McFrederick said. "There's a lot of insight there into the outcomes of natural selection."Newly identified bacteria may help bees nourish their young

More information: Laura L. Figueroa et al, Why Did the Bee Eat the Chicken? Symbiont Gain, Loss, and Retention in the Vulture Bee Microbiome, mBio (2021). DOI: 10.1128/mBio.02317-21

Journal information: mBio 

Provided by University of California - Riverside 

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Peeking into a chrysalis, videos reveal growth of butterfly wing scales

by Jennifer Chu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Vanessa cardui
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

If you brush against the wings of a butterfly, you will likely come away with a fine sprinkling of powder. This lepidopteran dust is made up of tiny microscopic scales, hundreds of thousands of which paper a butterfly's wings like shingles on a wafer-thin roof. The structure and arrangement of these scales give a butterfly its color and shimmer, and help shield the insect from the elements.

Now, MIT engineers have captured the intricate choreography of butterfly scales forming during metamorphosis. The team has for the first time continuously observed the  scales growing and assembling as a developing butterfly transforms inside its chrysalis.

With some minor surgery and a clever imaging approach, the researchers were able to watch wing scales form in specimens of Vanessa cardui, commonly known as the Painted Lady butterfly. They observed that, as a wing forms, cells on its surface line up in orderly rows as they grow. These cells quickly differentiate into alternating "cover" and "ground" scales, producing an overlapping shingle-like pattern. As they reach their full size, the scales sprout thin ridges along their length—tiny corrugated features that control the insect's color and help it to shed rain and moisture.

The team's study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers the most detailed look yet at the budding architecture of butterfly scales. The new visualizations also could serve as a blueprint for designing new functional materials, such as iridescent windows and waterproof textiles.

"Butterfly wings control many of their attributes by precisely forming the structural architecture of their wing scales," says lead author Anthony McDougal, a research assistant in MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering. "This strategy might be used, for example, to give both color and self-cleaning properties to automobiles and buildings. Now we can learn from butterflies' structural control of these complex, micro-nanostructured materials."

McDougal's co-authors at MIT include postdoc Sungsam Kang, research scientist Zahid Yaqoob, professor of mechanical engineering and biological engineering Peter So, and associate professor of mechanical engineering Mathias Kolle.

A firefly field

The cross-section of a butterfly's wing reveals an intricate scaffold of scales and ribs whose structure and arrangement varies from species to species. These microscopic features act as tiny reflectors, bouncing light around to give a butterfly its color and shine. The ridges on a wing's scales serve as miniature rain gutters and radiators, funneling moisture and heat to keep the insect cool and dry

Researchers have tried to replicate the optical and structural properties of butterfly wings to design new solar cells and optical sensors, rain- and heat-resistant surfaces, and even paper currency patterned with iridescent encryptions to discourage counterfeiting. Knowing what processes butterflies harness to grow their scales could help to further direct this kind of bioinspired technology development.

Currently, what's known about scale formation is based on still images of developing and mature butterfly wings.

"Previous studies provide compelling snapshots at select stages of development; unfortunately, they don't reveal the continuous timeline and sequence of what happens as scale structures grow," Kolle says. "We needed to see more to start understanding it better."

In their new study, he and his colleagues looked to continuously observe how scales grow and assemble in a living, morphing butterfly. They chose to study specimens of Vanessa cardui, as the butterfly's wings have features that are common across most lepidopteran species.

The team raised Painted Lady caterpillars in individual containers. Once each caterpillar encased itself in a chrysalis, indicating the beginning of its metamorphosis, the researchers carefully cut into the paper-thin material and peeled away a small square of cuticle, or covering of the developing wing, exposing the scales growing underneath. They then used a bioadhesive to stick a transparent coverslip over the opening, creating a window through which they could watch as the butterfly and its scales continued to form.

To visualize this transformation, Kolle and McDougal teamed up with Kang, Yaqoob, and So—experts in a type of imaging called speckle-correlation reflection phase microscopy. Rather than shine a wide beam of light on the wing, which could be phototoxic to the delicate cells, the team applied a "speckle field"—many small points of light, each shining on a specific point on the wing. The reflection of each tiny light can be measured in parallel with every other point in the field to quickly create a detailed, three-dimensional map of the wing's structures.

"A speckled field is like thousands of fireflies that generate a field of illumination points," So says. "Using this method, we can isolate the light coming from different layers, and can reconstruct the information to map efficiently a structure in 3D."

Making connections

In their visualizations of the growing butterfly wing, the team watched the formation of highly detailed features, from micrometer-sized scales to even finer, nanometer-high ridges on individual scales.

They observed that, within days, cells quickly lined up in rows, and soon after differentiated in an alternating pattern of cover scales (those overlying the wing) and ground scales (those tucked underneath). As they reached their final size, each  grew long, thin ridges resembling tiny corrugated roofing.

"A lot of these stages were understood and seen before, but now we can stitch them all together and watch continuously what's happening, which gives us more information on the detail of how scales form," McDougal says.

Interestingly, the team found that ridges on scales formed in an unexpected way. Scientists had assumed these grooves were a consequence of compression: As scales grow, they were thought to squeeze in like an accordion. But the team's visualizations showed that instead of shrinking as any material would when compressed, the scales continued to grow in size as ridges appeared on their surface. These measurements suggest another ridge-forming mechanism must be at work. The group hopes to explore this, and other processes in the developing butterfly wing, which can help to inform the design of new functional materials.

"This paper focuses on what's on the surface of the butterfly wing," McDougal notes. "But underneath the surface, we can also see cells putting down roots like carrots, and sending out connections to other roots. There's communication underneath the surface as cells organize. And on the surface, scales are forming, along with features on the scales themselves. We can visualize all of it, which is really beautiful to see."Scientists use CRISPR to tweak butterfly wing color, change wing scale surface structure

More information: In vivo visualization of butterfly scale cell morphogenesis in Vanessa cardui, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2112009118.

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 

Provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

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Here's Why Earthquakes' 'Four-Leaf Clover' Shockwaves Are Dangerous Instead of Lucky


(Trugman et al., Geophysical Research Letters, 2021)
NATURE

DAVID NIELD
21 NOVEMBER 2021


Geologists have measured a devastating 'four-leaf clover' pattern of earthquake shockwaves in greater detail than ever before – and the resulting findings could be crucial in making our buildings and cities more resistant to large quakes in the future.


This four-pronged pattern has been analyzed before, but never in as much depth as this. The team behind the new study is hoping that it might remove some of the mystery surrounding how earthquake shockwaves spread out across different frequencies.

Crucially, the cloverleaf shockwaves spread at low frequencies of under 10 hertz, a level of vibration that many buildings and structures are particularly vulnerable to.

The four-leaf clover pattern is visible at lower frequencies. (Trugman et al., Geophysical Research Letters, 2021)

"We find that at low frequencies, a simplified and widely used four-lobed model of earthquake ground motions does a good job describing the observed seismic wavefield," write the researchers in their published paper.

"At higher frequencies, however, this four-lobed radiation pattern becomes less clear, deteriorating due to complexity in earthquake source processes and fault zone structure."

The researchers looked at data from one of the densest seismic arrays on the planet: the LArge-n Seismic Survey in Oklahoma (LASSO), which is made up of 1,829 seismic sensors within an area of just 15 by 20 miles (25 by 32 kilometers).

LASSO was used to measure P-wave data from 24 small earthquakes across a period of 28 days in 2016, and it's this data that the new study digs into. Having sensors so close to the epicenter of the quakes meant that patterns could be spotted before they smoothed out and evened off over greater distances.

By using algorithms to filter shockwaves by frequency, the four-leaf clover pattern emerged, but only at the lower frequencies. That might be because lower frequency seismic waves can bypass the jumble of broken rock found at earthquake faults, rather than being reflected and scattered in many different directions.

"What happens when you have an earthquake is that pieces of broken rock inside the fault zone start to move around like pinballs," says geophysicist Victor Tsai, from Brown University in Rhode Island.

The earthquakes recorded by the LASSO array were relatively small – barely perceptible to the sensors – but the same patterns should be repeated across stronger quakes, the researchers predict. The next step is to put that to the test.

Ultimately, new data like this can make earthquake assessments and modeling more accurate. It shows that while people on the ground might experience a consistent level of shockwaves (the higher frequency ones), the buildings around them might be under a greater or lesser level of stress (the lower frequency shockwaves), depending on where they are in the four-leaf clover pattern.

While earthquake faults vary in terms of their age, their geological composition, and other factors, the underlying physics should be the same. The scientists are hoping to put together a catalog of earthquake zones, showing the faults with the most potential for dangerous seismic waves and resulting damage.

"What's important in these results is that close to the source we're seeing a variation in ground motion, and that's not accounted for in any sort of hazard model," says the study's first author, earthquake geophysicist Daniel Trugman from the University of Texas at Austin.

The research has been published in Geophysical Research Letters.
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