Study maps human uptake of microplastics across 109 countries

by Syl Kacapyr, Cornell University

Dietary and airborne MP uptake pathway overview and uptake reduction by water quality

 control aided by aquatic plastic debris removal in 109 major developing and industrialized

 countries.

 Credit: Environmental Science & Technology (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c00010

Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines top the global per capita list of dietary uptakes of microplastics, while China, Mongolia and the United Kingdom top the list of countries that breathe the most microplastics, according to a new study by Cornell researchers mapping microplastic uptake across 109 countries.

The study, published April 24 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, builds on existing data models estimating how much microplastic humans unwittingly eat and inhale as a result of untreated plastic debris degrading and dispersing into the environment.

To more comprehensively estimate human consumption, the Cornell study accounts for each country's eating habits, food processing technologies, age demographics and breathing rates—all factors that contribute to differences in how residents of each country consume microplastics.

"The uptake of microplastics at the country level is a critical indicator of plastic pollution and public health risks," said Fengqi You, the Roxanne E. and Michael J. Zak Professor in Energy Systems Engineering, who co-authored the study with doctoral student Xiang Zhao. "Comprehensive global mapping supports local pollution mitigation efforts through enhanced water quality control and effective waste recycling."

The study assesses dietary uptake by compiling data on microplastic concentrations in subcategories of major food groups such as fruits, vegetables, proteins, grains, dairy, drinks, sugars, salt and spices. The models also use data detailing how much of those foods are consumed in different countries. For instance, table salt consumption, per capita, is about equal in Indonesia and the U.S., but the microplastic concentration in Indonesian table salt is around 100 times higher.

Overall, the study found that Indonesians eat about 15 grams of microplastics per month—more than any other country—with the majority of plastic particles coming from aquatic sources such as seafood. That is a 59-fold increase in daily microplastic consumption from 1990 to 2018, the date range used for the models. U.S. dietary intake of microplastics is estimated to be about 2.4 grams per month, while the lowest is Paraguay at 0.85 grams.

Per capita daily MP dietary and inhalation uptake rates at the country level in 109

 industrialized and developing countries within Asia, Europe, Africa, and North and 

South America, focusing on the world’s major coastlines that are affected by plastic 

pollution. 

Credit: Environmental Science & Technology (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c00010

Data on airborne microplastic concentration, age demographics and human respiration rates were used to calculate microplastics being inhaled. Residents of China and Mongolia topped the list, breathing in more than 2.8 million particles per month. U.S. residents inhale about 300,000 particles per month. Only residents in the Mediterranean and nearby regions breathed less, with countries like Spain, Portugal and Hungary breathing about 60,000 to 240,000 particles per month.

"Industrialization in developing economies, particularly in East and South Asia, has led to increased consumption of plastic materials, waste generation and human microplastic uptake. Conversely, industrialized countries are experiencing a reverse trend, supported by greater economic resources to reduce and remove free plastic debris," said You, who is a senior faculty fellow at the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.

You added that the study can inform reduction strategies for microplastic uptake that are tailored to local economies and industrial contexts, but that such efforts require international collaboration, such as technology support from developed countries to advance waste reduction strategies.

According to the study, a 90% reduction in aquatic plastic debris could lead to substantial decreases in microplastic exposure, potentially by up to 51% in developed countries and 49% in highly industrializing regions.

The study was published on the heels of an April 23–29 meeting of an international committee negotiating the U.N. Plastics Treaty, a legally binding agreement that would establish global rules around plastic production and disposal. The agreement is expected to be finalized later this year, with a focus on international collaboration to reduce microplastics in marine environments.

"Cleaning the global surface water system is a marathon influenced by local industrial and socioeconomic settings," Zhao said. "However, our global map that pinpoints aquatic microplastic hotspots can initiate this journey, and our study highlights that addressing microplastic uptake requires a multifaceted approach, including sustainable packaging solutions, enforcing stringent waste management regulations and advancing water treatment technologies."

More information: Xiang Zhao et al, Microplastic Human Dietary Uptake from 1990 to 2018 Grew across 109 Major Developing and Industrialized Countries but Can Be Halved by Plastic Debris Removal, Environmental Science & Technology (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c00010

Journal information: Environmental Science & Technology 

Provided by Cornell University Every breath you take: Following the journey of inhaled plastic particle pollution

A Million-Year-Old Skull Could Prove the Dragon Man’s Direct Line to Humans

The plot thickens in the saga of our evolution.

BY TIM NEWCOMB

PUBLISHED: MAY 22, 2024

Junatura//Getty Images

A reconstruction of an ancient Chinese skull may tie the Dragon Man lineage even closer to Homo sapiens.

Scientists have revealed potential ties between Denisovans, Dragon Man, and Yunxian Man lines.

Potential links between the archaic humans and Homo Sapiens are still a source of intrigue.

The exact ties between archaic human lines and Homo sapiens may remain unknown, but a recent effort to analyze ancient Chinese skulls potentially just brought those links closer together.

To better understand the growth of the Homo family—and specifically where H. sapiens fits into the history of the world—researchers have long studied other Homo lines. This research has led them to investigate lineages ranging from the relatively well-known Denisovans to lesser-known lines based on just a few found skulls, such as the Dragon Man and Yunxian Man lineages from China.

Proof of First Trek from Africa to Australia

With some of the found skulls potentially being 1 million years old, there isn’t exactly a wealth of data to go off, so a team of researchers reconstructed one of three Yunxian Man skulls from what is believed an unknown human species from the Yunyang District of Hubei province in Central China. The findings—published on the non-peer-reviewed pre-print server bioRxiv—claim that this ‘Yunxian 2’ skull just might be of the same lineage as the Dragon Man, and potentially one of the last common ancestors of H. sapiens

“It is very controversial whether these fossil humans represent different species or lineages,” the authors wrote in the study. “The 1-million-year-old Yunxian 2 fossil from China is crucial for understanding the cladogenesis of Homo and the origin of Homo sapiens.”

Using new technology, the team restored and reconstructed the cranium, and the results suggested that whoever this skull used to belong to was “an early member of the Asian ‘Dragon Man’ lineage, which probably includes the Denisovans, and is the sister group of the H. sapiens lineage.”

The team said that both the H. sapiens and Dragon Man lineages having deep roots extending beyond the Middle Pleistocene age, and the Yunxian fossil cranium “suggests it represents a population lying close to the last common ancestor of the two lineages.”

Ancient Cave Paintings Held Astronomical Readings

Some researchers believe that the Homo lines eventually diverged. In that split, the Denisovans—which could have included both the Dragon Man and Yunxian Man lines—wenr extinct, while the H. sapiens line continued to evolve into modern humans. Those sister lines have a long history of interaction until they don’t, and finding that point of divergence has so far eluded scientists.

To complicate the effort beyond having so few fossils to work with, the Yunxian Man fossil is believed to be roughly 1 million years old—much older than either the Dragon Man or H. sapiens. Still, it could mean that Yunxian Man offers a common link, as an ancestor of sorts, between the Dragon Man and H. Sapiens.

“It is reasonable to conclude,” the authors wrote, “that Yunxian is morphologically and chronologically close to the last common ancestor of the lineages of H. sapiens and Dragon Man.”

 

Researchers track secret Russian missile launchers in Ukraine using public satellite data

by Adam Bartley and Tom Saxton, The Conversation

The interference signature of an S-300 system in the Kherson Oblast, a Russian-occupied

 region of Ukraine. Credit: ESA/Tom Saxton

In the occupied far east of Ukraine, Russian forces are aiming waves of missiles against Ukrainian civilian targets. Each of Russia's state-of-the-art missile launch systems costs more than US$100 million (A$150 million). They allow Russia to launch attacks from safe positions many kilometers behind the front lines.

The S-300 surface-to-air missile launcher is designed to avoid detection. Their locations are closely guarded secrets. However, using publicly available satellite images, we have detected telltale signs of the operation of these weapons that give away their location.

This is just one example of why the strategic and tactical use of publicly available data on the internet has become an increasing source of concern for militaries. So-called "open-source intelligence" (or OSINT) has become a top priority of intelligence agencies worldwide.

As more and more data is digitized and placed online, open-source intelligence has become a powerful tool. Social media platforms, satellite images and leaked data can all be sources of intelligence information.

We have seen significant use of open-source intelligence via social media in the Ukraine conflict. The movements of soldiers and military vehicles have been widely documented. Russian information operations attempting to falsely portray Ukrainian forces as targeting civilians have also been exposed.

Open-source intelligence is a cheap and efficient way for analysts to inform decision-making. In a conflict such as the Russia–Ukraine war, open-source intelligence can act as a force multiplier.

Tracking missile systems online

In 2018, researchers discovered an unexpected use of the Sentinel-1 satellite, a public-access scientific satellite operated by the European Space Agency. It could reveal the location of the United States' Patriot surface-to-air missile systems. The Sentinel-1 picks up radar emissions from the missile system's radar, which shows up as bands of interference in the imagery.

Surface-to-air missile systems are usually designed to be highly mobile, so they can be deployed anywhere to surprise enemies. Open-source intelligence means anyone with an internet connection may now be able to locate these assets.

This poses new challenges for military leaders. The strategies and processes they have developed to protect civilians, soldiers and critical infrastructure—as well as their own weapons and other assets—from enemy drones, missiles, or targeted ground assaults may no longer be effective.

How vulnerable are Russian systems?

For Russia and Ukraine, these challenges are playing out in real time. We used Sentinel-1 to locate active and mobile Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile systems in Eastern Ukraine—and if we can find them, so can anyone else.

How did we do it? First, we analyzed multiple social media sources for confirmed locations of S-300s. We then viewed Sentinel-1 imagery of these locations and increased the sensitivity to reveal radar interference from the missile systems. The interference patterns show the radar source sits along a certain line.

The above image shows how it works. With a known location, it took only a few minutes to acquire the image and reveal the radar interference. This image shows an S-300 system from the Kherson Oblast, a Russian-occupied region of Ukraine, which was neutralized days after the satellite captured the interference.

The S-300 is widely regarded as Russia's counterpart to the US Patriot system. In Russia's war on Ukraine, it is tasked with defending against missiles and aircraft but has recently been used to target Ukrainian civilians.

To date, only around nine Russian S-300 missile launchers have been confirmed destroyed over the course of the war. This illustrates how rare and highly protected they are, reserved for protecting the most vital assets and regions of the Russian military.

For better and worse

The S-300 is exported to Iran, China and many other nations. Russia's is not the only military that may be compromised by the location of S-300 systems through public satellite imagery. Of course, these systems need to be in operation to emit interference.

This grants advantages to non-state combatants and states with less sophisticated militaries. These forces may be able to locate and potentially destroy hundred-million-dollar assets with publicly available data.

Ukraine's military has shown how efficient low-cost drones can be in destroying expensive air defense systems. Open-source data, such as the electronic emissions collected from scientific satellites, illustrates how ordinary and even innocuous tools can be used for warfare.

The overall ethical implications of open-source intelligence are mixed. Public data may be used by malicious non-state actors or terrorist groups, for example.

On the other hand, analysts and journalists can use such processes and methods of data gathering and analysis to investigate war crimes and abuses of human rights or create more accurate reporting of events. The Institute for the Study of War, for instance, has employed satellite imagery and social media documentation to demonstrate Russia's military buildup on Ukraine's borders in 2021 and 2022, thereby exposing Russian intentions.

The future of open-source intelligence

Open-source intelligence, and the critical skills required to examine public data, have become increasingly important for militaries and intelligence organizations. However, open-source data platforms, such as satellite imagery provided by the European Space Agency, are likely to produce ongoing challenges for militaries.

How will the world respond? Institutions, business, government sites and other bodies may decide to cut off the flow of public data in order to reduce its unintentional impact.

This too would create challenges. Censorship of publicly available data would pose risks to transparency of information and degrade public trust in companies and public institutions. Removing public access to information would mean people and organizations with less money could no longer access it.

Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Unique weather phenomenon may have helped Ukraine identify and sink Russian ship Moskva

 

A diaspora-based model of human migration

by PNAS Nexus

Vienna model results. A) Heat map of Vienna of the observed arrivals in Austria for the four top diasporas in Austria. B) Heat map of the diaspora model estimates in Vienna. C) Heat map of the gravity model estimates in Vienna. D) Spider plots of the top four diasporas in Austria, where each section is one of Vienna's 23 districts. The ratio between the modeled and the observed arrivals—the estimate ratio—is displayed for each district for both the gravity model in gray (GER) and the diaspora model in red (DER). The inner circle (dark red) is when the observed and the modeled arrivals are equal. When the polygons are smaller than the circle, the model underestimates the number of migrants but overestimates that number when it is bigger. Credit: Prieto-Curiel et al

How do migrants choose their destinations? Existing models, known as "gravity models," use population size and travel distance as explanatory variables—and often fail, especially at the neighborhood scale. Many migrants prefer to move to a location near friends, family, or co-nationals.

This pattern might be partly driven by factors that repeat (such as the cost of living) and partly driven by homophily, the tendency to interact with others who are similar. Early migrants tend to reduce uncertainty and provide information for later arrivals. Building on these observations, Rafael Prieto-Curiel and colleagues construct a migration model based on the power of the diaspora to shape migration flows.

In one study, published in PNAS Nexus, the authors explore arrivals to Austria from other parts of the world, estimating that 10,000 individuals of a given nationality will attract roughly 1,204 new arrivals from that same nationality to the same postcode each year.

Results of the arrival flows of the top metropolitan areas in the US: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Miami. We plot the observed flows (blue), the diaspora model estimates (red), and the gravity model estimates (gray) for eight estimated diasporas: Oceania (OC), North America (NA), Caribbean Islands (CAR), Africa (AF), South America (SA), Central America (CA), Europe (EU) and Asia (AS). The diasporas are ranked according to their total arrival flow in the US in 2019. The smallest diaspora is from Oceania, with around 110,000 individuals, while the largest is from Asia, with more than 25 million migrants. Credit: Prieto-Curiel et al

In the United States, the model can predict arrivals from a given country to a given city from previous migration figures from that country to that city.

The model helps explain why people from South America are four times more likely to move to Miami than to Houston, despite the cities being roughly similar in size and roughly equidistant to both regions of origin. The diaspora model outperforms the gravity model at the city and neighborhood scale and can be used to inform infrastructure planning and policy.

More information: Rafael Prieto-Curiel, The diaspora model for human migration, PNAS Nexus (2024). DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae178. academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/art … /3/5/pgae178/7674968

Journal information: PNAS Nexus 

Provided by PNAS Nexus

Estimating flows of forced migrants from war and crisis

Study finds Black and Hispanic Americans are disproportionately exposed to wider temperature swings

by PNAS Nexus

Daily temperature variation around the world. Credit: Liu & Smith-Greenaway

Extreme heat can harm human health, but so can extreme temperature swings. Large daily temperature variation (DTV) has been associated with elevated mortality in studies around the world. Trees and other vegetation can lower DTV, as trees reduce temperature through transpiration during the day and also trap long-wave radiation in the atmosphere under the canopy at night, increasing temperature

But green space is not equally distributed in most cities. Shengjie Liu and Emily Smith-Greenaway examined inequality in DTV exposure in the US, using monthly nighttime and daytime land surface temperature data from satellites. The authors find that exposure to large DTV differs significantly between white and non-white populations at the census tract level. The work was published in PNAS Nexus.

Specifically, the authors note larger DTV exposure among Black and Hispanic populations, who experience temperature swings of up to 3 degrees Celsius larger than white census tracts. Unequal exposure to DTV is also observed between low-income and high-income populations, though to a lesser degree.

The differences in DTV seem to be driven by green space in the urban environment, although the inequalities in this case are larger than the inequalities in experiencing the urban heat island effect, a more well-known consequence of the different urban fabrics that comprise different American neighborhoods. According to the authors, DTV should be considered a fundamental source of climate-induced health disparities.

More information: Shengjie Liu et al, Racial and ethnic minorities disproportionately exposed to extreme daily temperature variation in the United States, PNAS Nexus (2024). DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae176. academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/art … /3/5/pgae176/7674967

Journal information: PNAS Nexus Provided by PNAS NexusAir pollution exposure inequality persists in Massachusetts

'We'll be studying this event for years': Recent auroras may have been the strongest in 500 years, NASA says

By Harry Baker published May 22, 2024


Vibrant auroras that were recently observed by millions of people across the globe were some of the most widespread in the last five centuries, NASA says. The light shows may have also reached the equator.

Auroras were photographed above the Pacific island of New Caledonia on May 11, likely for the first time ever. (Image credit: Frédéric Desmoulins)

The unprecedented auroras that recently wowed millions of people across the globe were some of the most intense light shows our planet has seen for half a millennium, NASA has revealed. The dancing lights, which may have reached the equator, were triggered by Earth's most powerful geomagnetic storm in more than two decades.

Between May 10 and May 12, our planet experienced a major geomagnetic disturbance after at least five solar storms slammed into Earth back-to-back, temporarily weakening the magnetosphere. The solar storms, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), were launched by solar flares from the gigantic sunspot AR3664, which was more than 15 times wider than Earth at the time — the biggest dark patch to appear on the sun for a decade. Several of these solar flares reached "X-class" status — the most powerful type of surface explosion the sun can produce.

The resulting geomagnetic storm was mainly ranked as G4, or "severe," which is the second-highest class of geomagnetic storm. But on two occasions, the storm temporarily reached "extreme" G5 conditions, on par with the fallout from the Carrington event of 1859 — the most powerful solar storm in recorded history, which triggered auroras as far south as Cuba and Hawaii. This was the first time Earth experienced G5 conditions since the Great Halloween storms of 2003.

Fortunately, this superpowered storm did not cause any major issues on Earth apart from some temporary satellite and communications disruptions. However, the event did paint large parts of our planet's skies with vibrant, multicolor auroras as the weakened magnetosphere allowed large amounts of solar radiation to bombard the upper atmosphere and excite gas molecules.

These light shows covered vast areas of both of Earth's hemispheres and were "possibly one of the strongest displays of auroras on record in the past 500 years," NASA representatives wrote in a statement.


"We'll be studying this event for years," Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla, the acting director of NASA's Moon to Mars Space Weather Analysis Office, said in the statement. "It will help us test the limits of our models and understanding of solar storms."

 

Sustainable, high-performance paper coating material could reduce microplastic pollution

by The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

(a) Chemical structure of boric acid-crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) coating on paper, 

(b-c) Oxygen and water vapor barrier properties, (d-f) Tensile strength in dry and moist 

conditions. OTR: Oxygen transmission rate, WVTR: Water vapor transmission rate. 

Credit: The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

Plastic pollution presents a global challenge that must be solved. In particular, packaging accounts for 30–50% of the total plastic consumption. While paper packaging is eco-friendly, it lacks crucial functionalities like moisture resistance and strength. Traditional coating materials exacerbate plastic pollution, prompting the need for sustainable alternatives.

Polyethylene (PE) and ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) are typically used as coating materials to improve the low barrier properties of paper packaging, but these substances do not decompose and worsen microplastic pollution when disposed of in the natural environment.

In response to this problem, packaging materials made from bio-based substances and biodegradable plastics have been developed, but in most cases, as the packaging performance improves, the biodegradability diminishes rapidly.

A joint research team led by Professor Jaewook Myung of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor Hanseul Yang of the Department of Life Sciences, and Professor Jongcheol Seo of the Department of Packaging and Logistics at Yonsei University tackled the challenge of balancing packaging performance and sustainability. They successfully developed a sustainable, marine biodegradable, high-performance paper coating material.

The work was published in the journals Green Chemistry and Food Chemistry.

(a) Normal paper and boric acid-crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) coated paper, 

(b) Biodegradation of the coated paper by marine bacteria, (c) Result of cytotoxicity test 

using human embryonic kidney and mouse embryonic fibroblast cells. (d) Vital organs a

\fter one-month exposure of the coated papers to mice. 

Credit: The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

The team utilized boric acid-crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), a biodegradable plastic, to coat the paper, thereby enhancing its biodegradability, barrier properties, and strength. The resulting coated paper exhibited superior performance compared to conventional plastics, with excellent barrier properties and physical strength, even in humid conditions.

The team also conducted an in-depth examination of biodegradation and biocompatibility to systematically evaluate the sustainability of the newly developed coated paper. Biodegradation was assessed by simulating the marine environment, known for its challenging biodegradability conditions.

The team employed a respiratory system-based bioreactor to measure the degree of carbon mineralization into carbon dioxide. After 111 days of biodegradation, it was found that the coated papers achieved 59–82% biodegradation depending on the coating component.

The phenomenon in which marine bacteria are decomposing the coating material was captured through a scanning electron microscope. In addition, in vitro biocompatibility was confirmed through human embryonic kidney and mouse embryonic fibroblast cells, as well as high in-vivo biocompatibility of the coated paper was verified through mouse experiments.

Through this study, the joint research team proposed a coating strategy that can improve packaging performance while upholding sustainability to address the drawbacks of paper packaging. The boric acid-crosslinked PVA-coated paper eliminates the need for artificial composting conditions or sewage treatment facilities.

Being biodegradable in natural environments and characterized by low toxicity, this newly coated paper does not exacerbate environmental pollution when accidentally discarded. Thus, it presents a sustainable substitute for plastic packaging materials.

End-of-life scenario of papers coated by BA-crosslinked PVA in the marine environment. The coated papers potentially be disintegrated by marine microorganisms and ocean waves and tides. The depolymerization of PVA coating and paper is then mediated by extracellular depolymerases such as oxidases and cellulases, after which the small subunits (oligomers and monomers) are assimilated by microbial cells. The carbon components in the coated papers are ultimately mineralized into CO2, posing no harm in the ocean. Credit: The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

Professor Jaewook Myung at KAIST, who led the sustainability study of coated paper, said, "The development of a marine biodegradable high-performance paper coating is the result of combining the innovative technologies of three leading research teams in each field. We will continue to develop sustainable materials with excellent performance."

Professor Jongchul Seo of Yonsei University, who led the research on the development of high-performance paper coating, saidProvided by The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) 

Scientists create green composite material from Japanese washi paper

 

Previously unknown dormouse habitat identified

by Theresa Hübner, Bayreuth University

Radio transmitters (blue) were glued into the fur of the hazel dormice. Credit: Journal of Vertebrate Biology (2024). DOI: 10.25225/jvb.23118

Bayreuth researchers have shown for the first time that the dormouse, which is strictly protected in Germany, not only uses woody structures as a habitat, but also reed beds. The study is published in the Journal of Vertebrate Biology.

The dormouse has become particularly rare due to the destruction of its habitats and is strictly protected under Annex IV of the European Habitats Directive. Until now, it was assumed that the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius), which is native to Germany, mainly uses woody structures for resting, foraging and nesting.

During construction work, for example, the presence of the dormouse has so far only been checked in forest habitats and hedgerows. Evidence that it uses reed beds is therefore of great importance for nature conservation and the adaptation of conservation measures.

The destruction of habitats threatens many wild animals. The dormouse, which is usually described as a strictly arboreal species, i.e. only found in forests and wooded areas, is therefore a strictly protected species.

Researchers from Bayreuth have now been able to show for the first time that dormice use reed beds as a habitat. The study was recently published in the Journal of Vertebrate Biology and was part of geoecology student Raja Wipfler's Master's thesis.

Previous studies had already found initial evidence of dormice in reed beds. "We followed up on these indications in the study using telemetric investigations," says Prof. Dr. Manuel Steinbauer from the Department of Sports Ecology, who supervised the work.

To this end, eight dormice were caught in the Regnitz Valley south of Bamberg and each fitted with a radio transmitter. They were then released into their natural habitat, where reed beds and woody structures are located in close proximity to each other. Wipfler tracked the mice for at least three nights in order to monitor the whereabouts of the nocturnal animals.

The researchers found that the dormice used reeds and the adjacent woodland in roughly equal proportions: At night, 41.1 % of the measuring points were in reeds, 50.7 % in woody vegetation and 8.2 % in other vegetation. A closer look at the data revealed preferences of the observed mice: six of the eight dormice used the reeds and the woody vegetation.

In contrast, one mouse used only the reeds and another only the woodland as its habitat. It was also shown that the dormice not only stay in the reeds during their active phases at night, but also use this habitat to sleep during the day. The researchers also found a dormouse nest in the reeds.

Wipfler, Steinbauer and Christian Strätz from the Bayreuth Office for Ecological Studies named protection from predators as one of the reasons for using reeds. Reeds could also play a role as a habitat for insects, which are a food source for dormice, and as nesting material. Dormice could also move into the reeds to avoid competition for food and nesting sites with the larger and stronger yellow-necked mice (Apodemus flavicollis) and wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus).

The fieldwork for the study was carried out in spring and summer 2022, after Christian Strätz , Raja Wipfler and Dr. Elisabeth Obermeier from the University of Bayreuth's Botanical Garden found initial evidence of dormice in reed beds in 2019 using nesting tubes they had developed themselves.

More information: Raja Wipfler et al, Hazel dormice use reed beds for nocturnal activity and daytime resting, Journal of Vertebrate Biology (2024). DOI: 10.25225/jvb.23118

Provided by Bayreuth University 

Small rodent species may become endangered

Climate: More people died from hot or cold weather conditions than COVID in parts of UK

Hippocratic Post | 23rd May 2024 | 

Credit: shutterstock



Research has highlighted how weather extremes worsened by climate change are now a major national public health threat. The study, led by the University of Bristol and published today in Nature Communications, showed how the death toll from temperature hazards overtook the number of deaths from COVID-19 in the South West region of England, when the UK was in the throes of the pandemic.

Lead author Dr Eunice Lo, Research Fellow in Climate Change and Health at the University’s Cabot Institute for the Environment and Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research, said: “The statistics are stark and illustrate how high the health burden of adverse weather is in the UK in the current climate. I anticipated higher levels of mortality than normal as the country was also experiencing a record heatwave during the peak of the pandemic, but the extent of the increases are surprising and concerning.”

The researchers sprang into action after Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK Government’s former Chief Scientific Adviser, highlighted at COP26 that the climate crisis was a far bigger problem than COVID-19, which would prove more fatal without immediate changes.

Their findings clearly evidence such claims with analysis revealing temperature-related mortality exceeded COVID-19 mortality by 8% in South West England between 2020 and 2022. Temperature-related deaths were also just a quarter less than deaths from COVID-19 in London and not far from a third less (58%) in East Midlands over the same period.

Dr Lo said: “The pandemic rightfully generated huge media attention with the spotlight on daily briefings announcing the latest death toll and public health interventions. Although many, and in some parts of the country more, people were dying from high and low temperatures, this largely went under the radar.

“Ironically the record temperatures, topping 40 degrees, were associated with positive news of people enjoying the sunshine which perhaps reflects a general lack of awareness about how harmful excess heat can be.”

The research highlighted how the coinciding crises presented by COVID-19 coupled with a heatwave or conversely an extreme cold snap put health services under unprecedented pressure, potentially increasing avoidable loss of life.

Findings showed combined excess deaths from extreme temperatures and COVID-19 between 2020 and 2022 were at least twice as high than the previous decade, depending on the region.

Dr Lo said: “The figures strongly demonstrate how negative consequences compound when there are co-occurring major health and weather-related events. For instance, extreme cold during the outbreak of an unexpected disease puts massive strain on hospital bed availability. This research therefore underscores how the UK must be more robustly prepared for such eventualities, which are likely to coincide more often in future with the growing spectre of a changing climate and other global health threats.”

Sir Patrick Vallance discussed whether it was possible to compare the relative health impacts of COVID-19 and climate change with Profs Phil Taylor, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise and Dann Mitchell, Professor of Climate Science at the University of Bristol at COP26, hosted by Glasgow in 2021.

Prof Mitchell and Dr Lo set to analysing relevant statistics to better understand the comparative health repercussions. They wrote to Sir Patrick sharing the findings and were invited to present them at the Natural History Museum.

Co-author Prof Dann Mitchell said: “Climate change is not just an environmental issue; it is a constant, underlying stressor that magnifies the impacts of other global crises, including pandemics, wars, and economic instability. Our research highlights that during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the compound effects of extreme temperatures led to significant mortality burdens in the UK.

“This was likely much larger in other, less developed countries. Our evidence illustrates how climate change can intersect with and exacerbates other crises, creating a multiplier effect that can strain health systems, destabilise economies, and heighten social tensions. To mitigate these compounded risks, it is imperative to integrate climate resilience into global health, economic, and security policies.”

Paper

‘Compound mortality impacts from extreme temperatures and COVID-19 pandemic’ by Y.T. Eunice Lo, Dann Mitchell, and Antonio Gasparrini in Nature Communications

D.E.I.

Project to understand women’s creative contributions to British filmmaking is launched

Published: 22 May 2024

Continuity Supervisor Pamela Davies with filmmaker Michael Powell. The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum.

The lost legacy of women who’ve worked in the British film industry since the dawn of sound in cinema is the focus of a new national research project.

Women’s Screen Work in the Archives Made Visible will seek to address the often-hidden histories of women in filmmaking, including those working in screenwriting or technical roles, or whose achievements have been subsumed by the directors and producers they worked for.

The research is led by the University of Exeter in partnership with the University of Southampton, Swansea University, the BFI (British Film Institute), and The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum.

Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the value of the four-year project is £1.49m. It will bring together archivists, curators, film directors and scholars to develop ways to make women’s work in film more discoverable and visible, whether in museums or archives.

Professor Shelley Cobb, Head of Film Studies at the University of Southampton, will work as part of the project, interviewing filmmakers and archivists, as well as linking with the Wessex Film and Sound Archive in Winchester.

Professor Cobb says: “I’m looking forward to hearing from filmmakers about their experience of depositing items in archives and from the archivists themselves about the process of developing feminist archival practices. We hope to shine new light on the role of women in film over the past decades – establishing new ways of evidencing this and documenting future contributions.”

“Thousands of women have contributed to shaping British filmmaking and its vibrant history over the past century,” says Professor Helen Hanson, Project Lead and Associate Professor in Film History at the University of Exeter. “Their creative contributions, however, are largely absent from public knowledge of that history, because evidence documenting their work is often buried and invisible in major film-related archives and museums.”

Alongside Professor Hanson, the project Co-Leads are Southampton’s Professor Shelley Cobb; Professor Linda Ruth Williams, University of Exeter; Dr Lisa Smithstead, University of Swansea; Wendy Russell, Special Collections Archivist at the BFI’s National Archives Special Collections; and Dr Phil Wickham, Curator of The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum in Exeter.

The researchers will primarily work in the BFI’s National Archive’s Special Collections Department at the Conservation Centre in Berkhamsted and at The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum.

The project explores how gender, race and ethnicity influences the ways that film-related collections are catalogued, described, archived and curated. It will investigate how women’s work in a range of filmmaking roles are archived and look at how the issue of ‘status’ might define whether the work of a female film-maker is regarded as ‘collectable’.

The team will interview prominent female directors, and build case studies around collections of Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham, Blinded By The Light) and Tina Gharavi (I Am Nasrine), examining of the rich production materials relating to their screen work, including details of projects that were never realised, as well as scripts, storyboards, notes, photographs and publicity materials, preserved and cared for by the Special Collections team at the BFI National Archive.

“The BFI is delighted to be part of this important and timely project to highlight the vital contribution women have made to the history of British cinema,” says Wendy Russell. “The opening up of women’s success stories, as well as the barriers they may have faced in the film industry both above and below the line is long overdue and will enhance our understanding and knowledge of the BFI National Archive’s Special Collections. We are immensely grateful to Tina Gharavi and Gurinder Chadha for the generous donation of their personal archives, which will play a key part in this project.”

There will also be a specific focus on making women’s screen work visible, culminating in a major exhibition and new book towards the end of the project.

“Film history has traditionally been written around male directorial figures and influenced by the auteur theory,” says Professor Williams. “But filmmaking is a collaborative process, shaped by highly specialised artists, technicians and practitioners working in sound, set design, scripting and so many other disciplines. Many of these stories – which are more often than we might think women’s stories – can now only be found in the margins of history, So, what we hope to achieve through this collaborative project is to find new ways to archive and exhibit the role of women in film and change how we think about the histories of women in film around the world.”