Scientists discover chemical signals in starfish that stop them eating

Peer-Reviewed Publication

QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Like humans, starfish produce chemicals that tell them they’re full and to stop eating, according to a new study published today in the journal eLife.

Starfish feed in a bizarre way - turning their stomachs out of their mouth when they come across a tasty meal like a mussel or oyster - and then digesting their chosen prey outside of their body.

Previous studies have shown that molecules similar to the human ‘love hormone’ oxytocin cause starfish to extend their stomach out of their mouths and initiate feeding. However, it was not known which chemicals have the power to do the opposite and terminate feeding behaviour in these animals.

Using the common starfish Asterias rubens for experiments, the research team investigated the effects of SK/CCK-type neuropeptides - a type of hormone known to inhibit feeding in humans and insects. They found that when they injected the hormones into the starfish, the animals retracted their stomachs. Even when the scientists presented the starfish with their favourite meal, a mussel, they found that the starfish were less inclined to feed after being injected with the SK/CCK-type neuropeptides.   

Starfish belong to a group of animals known as echinoderms. Echinoderms occupy a unique evolutionary position, acting as a ‘missing link’ between well-studied vertebrates and insects such as the fruit fly, Drosophila. This feature makes starfish and other echinoderms like sea urchins, useful animal models to help fill in gaps in our understanding of how different proteins evolved.

Dr Ana Tinoco, Postdoctoral Research Assistant at Queen Mary and one of the lead authors of the study, said: “The unusual way that starfish feed where they evert their stomachs out of their mouths, makes them a good model to study chemicals that regulate feeding processes. Whilst we already knew that this type of hormone was important for feeding, what’s fascinating is that the important role of these chemicals in feeding in other animals has been preserved in starfish despite their dramatically different feeding behaviour, lack of a brain and unique body plan.”

Professor Maurice Elphick, Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience at Queen Mary, said: “Our findings provide new evidence that SK/CCK-type neuropeptides have an evolutionarily conserved role as inhibitory regulators of feeding. The discovery of SK/CCK-type neuropeptides in starfish could also be useful for development of novel drugs to treat eating disorders. To accomplish this, more research needs to be done to determine the 3D structure of the receptor proteins that mediate effects of SK/CCK-type neuropeptides in humans and other animals.

“With recent breakthroughs in the use of AI to determine protein structures the potential of using basic science research like this to develop new treatment options becomes much more achievable.”

ENDS

Notes to editor

• Research paper: ‘Ancient role of sulfakinin/cholecystokinin-type signalling in inhibitory regulation of feeding processes revealed in an echinoderm’ Ana B Tinoco et al. eLife 2021.
• Supporting images and videos are available here.
• For more information or a copy of the paper please contact:

Sophie McLachlan

Faculty Communications Manager 

Queen Mary University of London

sophie.mclachlan@qmul.ac.uk

Tel: 020 7882 3787

About Queen Mary

Queen Mary University of London is a research-intensive university that connects minds worldwide. A member of the prestigious Russell Group, we work across the humanities and social sciences, medicine and dentistry, and science and engineering, with inspirational teaching directly informed by our world-leading research. In the most recent Research Excellence Framework we were ranked 5th in the country for the proportion of research outputs that were world-leading or internationally excellent. We have over 25,000 students and offer more than 240 degree programmes. Our reputation for excellent teaching was rewarded with silver in the most recent Teaching Excellence Framework. Queen Mary has a proud and distinctive history built on four historic institutions stretching back to 1785 and beyond. Common to each of these institutions – the London Hospital Medical College, St Bartholomew’s Medical College, Westfield College and Queen Mary College – was the vision to provide hope and opportunity for the less privileged or otherwise under-represented. Today, Queen Mary University of London remains true to that belief in opening the doors of opportunity for anyone with the potential to succeed and helping to build a future we can all be proud of.

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JOURNAL

eLife

DOI

10.7554/eLife.65667 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Ancient role of sulfakinin/cholecystokinin-type signalling in inhibitory regulation of feeding processes revealed in an echinoderm

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

7-Sep-2021

Scientists discover two new species and new genus of freshwater mussels in Borneo

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM

Research led by the University of Nottingham has discovered two new species and a new genus of freshwater mussel in Borneo for the first time in almost 100 years.

Dr Alexandra Zieritz, in the university’s School of Geography, with collaborators from Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, USA and Portugal, made the discoveries in small streams in the Gomantong Forest Reserve, Sabah, and near the village of Kuala Mendalam, Sarawak, respectively.

The scientists found that both species are unique to Borneo and are described by the researchers as “quite different from anything we have known to date”, therefore representing a new freshwater mussel group, or genus. The team named the species Khairuloconcha sahanae, in honour of the late Dr Sahana Harun, and Khairuloconcha lunbawangorum, after the indigenous Lun Bawang tribe of Borneo.         

Their discovery comes 94 years after the last freshwater mussel from Borneo was described (Ctenodesma scheibeneri in 1927) — the other 17 species known from that island were described much earlier (between 1840 and 1903). Borneo has an exceptionally high number of endemic freshwater mussels, with 15 of the 20 currently recognised native species being restricted to this island.

The findings of the team’s four-year study are published in the journal Aquatic Conservation: A new genus and two new, rare freshwater mussel (Bivalvia: Unionidae) species endemic to Borneo are threatened by ongoing habitat destruction.

The team are also responsible for the first ever DNA sequence data of Bornean freshwater mussels, generated in 2016.

Dr Alexandra Zieritz, Anne McLaren Fellow at the University of Nottingham and lead author of the study, said: “The new species of freshwater mussels we have discovered are very rare, known only from a single site each (one in Sarawak, one in Sabah), and highly threatened by ongoing habitat destruction.

“One of these species is at especially high risk of extinction, as the only site it's known from has already been dedicated for an industrial oil palm plantation. We are in the process of preparing the paperwork with the Universiti of Malaysia Sarawak to get this area protected. This would not only help the unique biodiversity in this area but also the indigenous Lun Bawang tribe after which we named that species, ‘Khairuloconcha lunbawangorum’.”

The authors note that the declines of existing populations of freshwater mussels on Borneo have likely been caused by industrial-scale deforestation and land-use change from primary rainforest to agricultural monocultures (predominantly oil palm plantations).

The experts say these practises result in high levels of soil erosion, strongly increasing sediment yield (amount of sediment run-off), and organic and inorganic pollution (via agricultural run-off) of rivers, all of which negatively affects freshwater mussels directly, by degrading habitat quality, or indirectly by reducing host fish populations that they require to complete their life cycles. Other potential drivers of declines in Borneo’s freshwater mussel populations include pollution from domestic and industrial sewage, hydrological alterations, mining, climate change and invasive species.

Why are freshwater mussels important?

Freshwater mussels are a crucial part of many freshwater habitats globally. They live on the bottom of all kinds of freshwater habitats, including rivers, streams, lakes and ponds, where they filter algae, bacteria and other organisms from the water, thereby acting as biological filters and playing a major role in nutrient cycling. They can remove algae, bacteria and other material at a rate of about 1 litre of water per hour per mussel. Much of this material is subsequently transported to the benthos (organisms living on the bottom of the habitat), providing food for insects and other invertebrates, which thrive in mussel beds in terms of both abundance and diversity.

They have also been shown to enhance biodiversity of insect larvae and other small organisms by providing a three-dimensional habitat. Especially in Asia, people use them directly as a food source and their pearls and shells for ornamental purposes. Other ecosystem services that they provide worldwide include their use in biomonitoring (i.e. monitoring of water quality) and bioremediation (e.g. wastewater treatment).

Dr Zieritz said: “The discovery means that there is a lot that we do not yet know about Borneo’s freshwater mussel diversity. Despite our efforts over these past few years, we have so far only surveyed a small proportion of the island, restricted to Malaysian Borneo and Brunei. Hardly any recent data on freshwater mussels are available for Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, which makes up 73 per cent of the island.

“Despite these constraints, we already found two new species, suggesting that there may be more species waiting to be discovered and which likely require protection. However, considering the rapid rate of habitat destruction, we need to act fast in locating the remaining populations of native and endemic Bornean mussels, so that they can receive the necessary protection. It may also be worth noting that the situation is most likely similar for other obscure freshwater organisms, such as beetles, snails or mayflies, for which we have even less data at the moment.”

The collaborators on the study were: Leonardo Jainih of Universiti Malaysia Sabah; John Pfeiffer of National Museum of Natural History; Khairul Adha A. Rahim of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak; Hari Prayogo of Tanjungpura University; Muhammad Sofwan Anwari of Tanjungpura University; Arman Hadi Fikri of Universiti Malaysia Sabah; Farah Diba of Tanjungpura University; Hussein Taha of Universiti Brunei Darussalam; Zohrah Sulaiman of Universiti Teknologi Brunei; Elsa Froufe of CIMAR/CIIMAR-UP Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, AEE; Manuel Lopes-Lima of CIBIO/InBIO – Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, University of Porto.

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DOI

DOI 10.1002/aqc.3695 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

A new genus and two new, rare freshwater mussel (Bivalvia: Unionidae) species endemic to Borneo are threatened by ongoing habitat destruction

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

3-Sep-2021

 

Physicists point out window of opportunity for manned Mars mission

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SKOLKOVO INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (SKOLTECH)

 

IMAGE: EFFECT OF HARMFUL RADIATION ON AN ASTRONAUT PROTECTED BY 10 GRAM PER SQUARE CENTIMETER ALUMINUM SHIELDING. THE PICTURE ON THE LEFT ILLUSTRATES 100 PROTONS HITTING THE SPACECRAFT WITH ENERGIES OF 100 MEGAELECTRONVOLTS. ON THE RIGHT, THERE ARE ONLY 10 PROTONS COMING IN, BUT WITH 10 TIMES MORE ENERGY. THE BLUE LINES INDICATE PRIMARY PROTONS, WITH THE RESULTING SECONDARY PARTICLES SHOWN IN RED (NEUTRONS), YELLOW (GAMMA RAYS), AND CYAN (ELECTRONS). THE GREEN DOTS INDICATE PARTICLE-MATTER INTERACTIONS. view more 

CREDIT: CREDIT: DR. MIKHAIL DOBYNDE/SKOLTECH

Skoltech alumnus Dr. Mikhail Dobynde and his colleagues from the U.S. and Germany have identified a window of opportunity for a manned spaceflight to Mars and back in the mid-2030s. According to simulations run by the team, that period will be favorable in terms of the relative positions of the planets and solar activity, with the radiation emitted by the sun offsetting the more dangerous cosmic rays from the interstellar space. The findings are reported in Space Weather.

With a renewed interest in manned spaceflight, national space agencies and private corporations are eyeing the moon and Mars as the most enticing destinations for the coming decades. But while the news about the space race between Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and SpaceX might make it look like earlier launch dates are always better launch dates, space weather actually has a major say in when a certain mission is possible or feasible.

The radiation hazard in space is a major concern in any long-term mission. It is more than unhealthy for the astronauts, and there is a limit to how much shielding a spaceship can be fitted with before it gets too heavy and expensive to launch. This is why Skoltech researcher Dr. Mikhail Dobynde and his co-authors suggest adapting to space weather as opposed to going against it.

A spacecraft on a course from the Earth to Mars and back is exposed to cosmic rays coming from interstellar space and to energetic particles emitted by our own sun, which operates under the so-called 11-year cycle: Every 11 years, the sun exhibits a maximum in its activity, emitting the most radiation.

While this might appear counterintuitive, flying a spacecraft to Mars during the solar maximum is actually not a bad idea at all. The reason is that solar energetic particles are easy enough to shield from, and putting up with their outbursts provides an unexpected benefit: The flux of radiation from the sun actually wards off the more harmful galactic cosmic rays.

The researchers ran a simulation predicting radiation levels inside a spacecraft. The study accounts for 28 kinds of hazardous particles of interstellar origin and 10 emitted by the sun during solar flares. These are all ions — positively charged atomic nuclei with ripped off electrons — with the difference that potentially heavier and more dangerous species can come in from outside the solar system. To give you an idea of how nasty these galactic rays can be, they can actually bump into the atoms making up the spacecraft hard enough to cause a nuclear reaction and make the ship itself radioactive! In that sense, solar radiation is the astronaut’s best friend.

“We have identified the optimal combination of spacecraft shielding and the launch date which enables the longest flight duration. Our calculations show that the best time to start a manned flight to Mars and back is during the decaying phase of solar activity. If the average shielding is 10 cm of aluminum, the mission could last up to four years without exceeding the allowed radiation risk limit. Since the next solar max is coming up fairly soon — somewhere around the year 2025 — Mars might just have to wait until the mid-2030s,” commented the study’s first author, Dr. Mikhail Dobynde of Skoltech. The study also featured researchers from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, the University of Potsdam, the University of California at Los Angeles, and MIT.

The authors continue their studies on the efficiency of different shielding materials and the radiation environments on the surface of Mars and the moon.

___

 

Skoltech is a private international university located in Russia. Established in 2011 in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Skoltech is cultivating a new generation of leaders in the fields of science, technology, and business, conducting research in breakthrough fields, and promoting technological innovation with the goal of solving critical problems that face Russia and the world. Skoltech is focusing on six priority areas: data science and artificial intelligence, life sciences, advanced materials and modern design methods, energy efficiency, photonics and quantum technologies, and advanced research. Website: https://www.skoltech.ru/.

Nikolay Posunko,

Copywriter

N.Posunko@skoltech.ru

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JOURNAL

Space Weather

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1029/2021SW002749 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

ARTICLE TITLE

Beating 1 Sievert: Optimal Radiation Shielding of Astronauts on a Mission to Mars

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

7-Aug-2021

Disclaimer: AAAS and E

These fridge-free COVID-19 vaccines are grown in plants and bacteria

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SAN DIEGO

Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed COVID-19 vaccine candidates that can take the heat. Their key ingredients? Viruses from plants or bacteria.

The new fridge-free COVID-19 vaccines are still in the early stage of development. In mice, the vaccine candidates triggered high production of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. If they prove to be safe and effective in people, the vaccines could be a big game changer for global distribution efforts, including those in rural areas or resource-poor communities.

“What’s exciting about our vaccine technology is that is thermally stable, so it could easily reach places where setting up ultra-low temperature freezers, or having trucks drive around with these freezers, is not going to be possible,” said Nicole Steinmetz, a professor of nanoengineering and the director of the Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

The vaccines are detailed in a paper published Sept. 7 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The researchers created two COVID-19 vaccine candidates. One is made from a plant virus, called cowpea mosaic virus. The other is made from a bacterial virus, or bacteriophage, called Q beta.

Both vaccines were made using similar recipes. The researchers used cowpea plants and E. coli bacteria to grow millions of copies of the plant virus and bacteriophage, respectively, in the form of ball-shaped nanoparticles. The researchers harvested these nanoparticles and then attached a small piece of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to the surface. The finished products look like an infectious virus so the immune system can recognize them, but they are not infectious in animals and humans. The small piece of the spike protein attached to the surface is what stimulates the body to generate an immune response against the coronavirus.

The researchers note several advantages of using plant viruses and bacteriophages to make their vaccines. For one, they can be easy and inexpensive to produce at large scales. “Growing plants is relatively easy and involves infrastructure that’s not too sophisticated,” said Steinmetz. “And fermentation using bacteria is already an established process in the biopharmaceutical industry.”

Another big advantage is that the plant virus and bacteriophage nanoparticles are extremely stable at high temperatures. As a result, the vaccines can be stored and shipped without needing to be kept cold. They also can be put through fabrication processes that use heat. The team is using such processes to package their vaccines into polymer implants and microneedle patches. These processes involve mixing the vaccine candidates with polymers and melting them together in an oven at temperatures close to 100 degrees Celsius. Being able to directly mix the plant virus and bacteriophage nanoparticles with the polymers from the start makes it easy and straightforward to create vaccine implants and patches. 

The goal is to give people more options for getting a COVID-19 vaccine and making it more accessible. The implants, which are injected underneath the skin and slowly release vaccine over the course of a month, would only need to be administered once. And the microneedle patches, which can be worn on the arm without pain or discomfort, would allow people to self-administer the vaccine.

“Imagine if vaccine patches could be sent to the mailboxes of our most vulnerable people, rather than having them leave their homes and risk exposure,” said Jon Pokorski, a professor of nanoengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, whose team developed the technology to make the implants and microneedle patches.

“If clinics could offer a one-dose implant to those who would have a really hard time making it out for their second shot, that would offer protection for more of the population and we could have a better chance at stemming transmission,” added Pokorski, who is also a founding faculty member of the university’s Institute for Materials Discovery and Design.

In tests, the team’s COVID-19 vaccine candidates were administered to mice either via implants, microneedle patches, or as a series of two shots. All three methods produced high levels of neutralizing antibodies in the blood against SARS-CoV-2.

Potential pan-coronavirus vaccine

These same antibodies also neutralized against the SARS virus, the researchers found.

It all comes down to the piece of the coronavirus spike protein that is attached to the surface of the nanoparticles. One of these pieces that Steinmetz’s team chose, called an epitope, is almost identical between SARS-CoV-2 and the original SARS virus.

“The fact that neutralization is so profound with an epitope that’s so well conserved among another deadly coronavirus is remarkable,” said co-author Matthew Shin, a nanoengineering Ph.D. student in Steinmetz’s lab. “This gives us hope for a potential pan-coronavirus vaccine that could offer protection against future pandemics.”

Another advantage of this particular epitope is that it is not affected by any of the SARS-CoV-2 mutations that have so far been reported. That’s because this epitope comes from a region of the spike protein that does not directly bind to cells. This is different from the epitopes in the currently administered COVID-19 vaccines, which come from the spike protein’s binding region. This is a region where a lot of the mutations have occurred. And some of these mutations have made the virus more contagious.

Epitopes from a nonbinding region are less likely to undergo these mutations, explained Oscar Ortega-Rivera, a postdoctoral researcher in Steinmetz’s lab and the study’s first author. “Based on our sequence analyses, the epitope that we chose is highly conserved amongst the SARS-CoV-2 variants.”

This means that the new COVID-19 vaccines could potentially be effective against the variants of concern, said Ortega-Rivera, and tests are currently underway to see what effect they have against the Delta variant, for example.

Plug and play vaccine

Another thing that gets Steinmetz really excited about this vaccine technology is the versatility it offers to make new vaccines. “Even if this technology does not make an impact for COVID-19, it can be quickly adapted for the next threat, the next virus X,” said Steinmetz.

Making these vaccines, she says, is “plug and play:” grow plant virus or bacteriophage nanoparticles from plants or bacteria, respectively, then attach a piece of the target virus, pathogen, or biomarker to the surface.

“We use the same nanoparticles, the same polymers, the same equipment, and the same chemistry to put everything together. The only variable really is the antigen that we stick to the surface,” said Steinmetz.

The resulting vaccines do not need to be kept cold. They can be packaged into implants or microneedle patches. Or, they can be directly administered in the traditional way via shots.

Steinmetz and Pokorski’s labs have used this recipe in previous studies to make vaccine candidates for diseases like HPV and cholesterol. And now they’ve shown that it works for making COVID-19 vaccine candidates as well.

Next steps

The vaccines still have a long way to go before they make it into clinical trials. Moving forward, the team will test if the vaccines protect against infection from COVID-19, as well as its variants and other deadly coronaviruses, in vivo.

###

Paper: “Trivalent subunit vaccine candidates for COVID-19 and their delivery devices.” Co-authors include Angela Chen, Veronique Beiss, Miguel A. Moreno-Gonzalez, Miguel A. Lopez-Ramirez, Maria Reynoso and Joseph Wang, UC San Diego; Hong Wang and Brett L. Hurst, Utah State University.

This work was funded in part by a National Science Foundation both through a RAPID grant (CMMI-2027668) and through the UC San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC, grant DMR-2011924).

Disclosure: Nicole Steinmetz and Jon Pokorski are co-founders of and have a financial interest in Mosaic ImmunoEngineering Inc. All other authors declare no competing interests.

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JOURNAL

Journal of the American Chemical Society

DOI

10.1021/jacs.1c06600 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Trivalent subunit vaccine candidates for COVID-19 and their delivery devices

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

7-Sep-2021

COI STATEMENT

Nicole Steinmetz and Jon Pokorski are co-founders of and have a financial interest in Mosaic ImmunoEngineering Inc. All other authors declare no competing interests.

Officials leading hurricane response need ‘risk literacy’

Higher numeracy led to better evacuation decisions, study finds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

COLUMBUS, Ohio – When a hurricane is bearing down on a coastal city, emergency management officials are tasked with making life-and-death choices: Do they mandate that people leave the area? Which communities should evacuate, and when?

 

New research suggests that emergency management officials often do not have the numeracy skills needed to make the best decisions based on data they receive about which residents to evacuate during a hurricane and when to make the decision.

 

The study, published online Aug. 30 in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, showed that the most numerate officials were almost twice as likely as less numerate ones to provide additional evacuation times to their coastal communities. Less numerate ones, on the other hand, gave their communities less advance warning, and when they finally did issue evacuations, over-evacuated tens of thousands more people.

 

And, the study found, federal agencies need to supply emergency management officials with the most complete information available in order for them to make the best choices for people who live in a disaster’s path.

 

This is not to say emergency management officials are not good at math, said Noah Dormady, lead author of the study and an associate professor of public policy at The Ohio State University.

 

“It’s more they haven’t received the right training in probability and risk to effectively understand scientific forecasts that contain probability information,” Dormady said.

 

The study was based on a pair of experiments designed to study and evaluate officials’ decision-making during a natural disaster. The study is among the first to evaluate evacuation decision-making by emergency management officials, rather than by individuals deciding whether or not to leave an area because of a storm.  

 

The study involved 81 emergency managers and other public safety officials predominantly from coastal states that are affected by hurricanes, as well as 227 Ohio State graduate and upper-division students from related fields of study. The researchers began their experiments by testing each subject’s ability to make decisions using probability and statistics – a sort of baseline math test that allowed them to evaluate each participant’s numeracy.  In other words, how well they understood the ways probability and statistics might play out in the real world.

 

Researchers then provided the study participants with a scenario based on a real storm – Hurricane Rita in 2005.  Rita was among the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico, hitting land near the Louisiana-Texas border, killing 120 people and causing an estimated $18.5 billion in damages. Participants were not told the scenario was based on Rita, so they could not use any knowledge of the storm to guide their decisions.

 

Participants were randomly assigned to treatments with varying amounts of information about the approaching storm. Some subjects received a great deal of information, including the forecasted track and potential alternative tracks; others received limited information.

 

The researchers asked study participants to determine whether to evacuate, when to evacuate and whom to evacuate. Decisions were structured to coincide with the release of advisories from the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

 

Basing the experiments on a real disaster allowed researchers to determine which choices were “good.” Because the outcome was known to the researchers, they could evaluate the areas affected – those that either under-evacuated or over-evacuated regions.

 

The researchers found that people who scored well on the baseline math test made better choices on behalf of the community. People with higher numeracy issued evacuation orders that gave people more time to leave the storm’s path. People who have the practical ability to evaluate and understand risk ordered evacuations in the simulated disaster about nine hours earlier than people who did not have that skillset, the study found.

 

“This tells us that public trust in evacuation orders, which has been waning for years, could be improved if the population had greater confidence in their emergency management leaders’ ability to make sound decisions when they are given probabilistic forecasts,” Dormady said. “People need to trust that their neighborhood is not being over-evacuated out of an abundance of caution simply because public officials didn’t understand the risk.”

 

The study also found that officials who had the most complete set of forecast data were more likely to issue evacuation orders earlier, giving people in the hurricane’s path more time to get out of town than they would have had otherwise. That additional time was significant, the study found, adding between 16.6 and 22.8 hours to a community’s evacuation time.

 

Those hours, Dormady said, could be the difference between life and death for people in a storm’s path, and could also make evacuations, which are often a safety risk themselves, more safe. In fact, in some major disasters, more people die from poorly administered evacuations than from the catastrophic event itself.

 

“Extra hours are crucial – they give people more time to pack and prepare, they give emergency management officials more time to communicate the importance of evacuating, and they make evacuations, overall, more safe,” said Dormady, “And what we saw is that more complete forecast information gave emergency management officials the tools they needed to make better choices for their communities.”  

 

Co-authors of this study include Anthony Fasano, Drew Flanagan and William Welch at Ohio State, Alfredo Roa-Henriquez at Johns Hopkins University, and Dylan Wood at the University of Notre Dame.

 

This work was funded by the National Science Foundation.

 

 

#

 

 

CONTACT: Noah Dormady, dormady.1@osu.edu

 

Written by Laura Arenschield, arenschield.2@osu.edu

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JOURNAL

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

DOI

10.1175/BAMS-D-21-0008.1 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Informational Determinants of Large-area Hurricane Evacuations

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

30-Aug-2021

 

Neanderthal genes tell us about how old our ancestors were when they had children

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: ARCHAIC SEQUENCE LENGTH DECAY (BLACK BANDS ON CHROMOSOMES) FOR DIFFERENT POPULATIONS SAMPLED AT MULTIPLE TIME POINTS. THE LENGTH OF GENERATION INTERVALS (GI) IS REPRESENTED BY THE COLOR GRADIENT ON THE TREE (YELLOW : LONG GI; MAROON : SHORT GI). view more 

CREDIT: MOISÈS COLL MACIÀ, AARHUS UNIVERSITY

A new study suggests that generation intervals have fluctuated during the past 40,000 years of human evolution in contrast to what has been commonly assumed. The results indicate that human life history can change appreciably in response to external and cultural factors

The authors from Aarhus University in Denmark and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany used Neanderthal fragments scattered in non-African genomes as molecular clocks to estimate generation intervals in Eurasian and American populations.

“This new way of using genomic data enabled us to retrieve information about our human life traits buried in the past, which complements what can be learned from archaeology about our history,” says Professor Mikkel Heide Schierup, leader of the project.

The research team report in Nature Communications on 7. September, that humans in populations in Europe reproduced on average at a younger age than populations from east Eurasia and America over the past 40,000 years.

“We estimate a difference of 3 to 5 years between the mean generation interval among populations. We believe that this difference was probably more dramatic. If the change happened during the last 10,000 years for example, we are probably diluting the signal over the 40,000 years period we study,” says PhD student Moisès Coll Macià, first author of the study.

The results obtained about generation intervals are reflected in the accumulation of genetic changes in different parts of the world.

“Older parents transmit different mutations than younger ones to their children. In this study, we find that populations estimated to have older parents from their Neanderthal legacy also have mutations suggesting older parenthood” says Coll Macià.

These mutational differences also allowed the researchers to tease apart whether changes in generation interval is due to changes in the fathers’ age at reproduction, the mothers’ age at reproduction or both.

“For instance, we see that east Asian populations tended to have older fathers than mothers, while European populations had similar ages for both,” says Coll Marcià”.

So why did the lengths of generations differ historically around the world?

The authors speculate that this was probably a response to changes in the environment. Differences in climate, but also technological and cultural developments in human societies, might have made living conditions more or less favorable to reproduce and thus played an important role in deciding which was the best time to have descendants.

“In the future, we will be able to use the wealth of ancient and modern human genome sequences appearing at a fast rate to make a fine map of changes to age of human reproduction, that we can relate to environmental and cultural conditions,” professor Schierup suggests.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-021-25524-4 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Different historical generation intervals in human populations inferred from Neanderthal fragment lengths and mutation signatures

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

7-Sep-2021

 

How can we overcome negotiation impasses? New research from ESMT Berlin explores effective solutions

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ESMT BERLIN

Martin Schweinsberg, assistant professor of organizational behavior at ESMT Berlin and a leading expert in negotiations, together with professor Stefan Thau from INSEAD and professor Madan M. Pillutla from London Business School, examined the impact of impasses in negotiations research. Much of the research on negotiations ignores impasses – situations in which one or two parties discontinue the negotiation, because one or both parties prefer no agreement, or because they could not reach an agreement even if they would have benefitted from the agreement.  

Professor Schweinsberg says, “Many business activities entail negotiations, whether it’s defining a deadline, convincing a stakeholder to support a new strategy, or deciding on a business acquisition. Research shows that leaders spend around 15% to 26% of their working hours negotiating – and many of these negotiations end without an agreement. Understanding why negotiations end with an impasse can help leaders become more effective, improve business outcomes, and make employees happier.” 

The researchers reviewed and systematically coded more than 1,000 research papers on negotiations to understand what we know about why negotiations end without an agreement. Three specific types of negotiation impasses emerged from this careful analysis, and each impasse type requires specific solutions to be resolved. 

Wanted impasse 

Wanted impasses occur when both parties desire an impasse, potentially caused by egocentric biases, time pressure, impoverished communication channels, or simply because they have more attractive alternatives. Wanted impasses can be resolved by negotiating on the levels of interest not positions, accelerating negotiation processes, and offering symbolic concessions. 

Forced impasse 

Forced impasses occur when one party seeks an impasse against the will of the other party and can be caused by interpersonal factors including extreme first offers, dominance, and anger expressions. Forced impasses are resolved by taking the other party’s perspective, swapping lead negotiators, and eventually mediation or arbitration.  

Unwanted impasse 

Unwanted impasses occur when neither party seeks an impasse, and the negotiation still ends without an agreement. Unwanted impasses can be caused by high levels of informational complexity, distorted framing of the negotiation, or by agents. Unwanted impasses can be resolved by framing the negotiation so that both parties recognize the negotiation’s win-win potential, by reducing the agent fees, or by simplifying complex information. 

The negotiation experts suggest that academic research on negotiation impasses is rare partially because negotiation exercises assume that a deal will take place and ignore impasses how to deal with negotiations that end without an agreement. 

“In classroom and laboratory situations, impasses are rare,” says Professor Schweinsberg. “Their prevalence in the real world (around 29% of negotiations, according to our survey) is not mirrored in the negotiation literature. Leaders need to be effective when negotiations are deadlocked and negotiation scholars should help leaders with that.” 

The findings can help management scholars understand the mechanism underlying challenges across all kinds of negotiations, whether they are at the personal, professional, or organizational level.  

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This research was published open access in the Journal of Management and can be read for free here: https://negotiationimpasses.com/paper/. 

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JOURNAL

Journal of Management

DOI

10.1177/01492063211021657 

 

NSF grant means first of it's kind laser system coming to US

University of Central Florida will be home to multi-user high-peak-power, high-repetition-rate ultrafast infrared laser system.

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

 

IMAGE: LI FANG LEADS THE TEAM THAT WILL SET UP THE LASER, WHICH WILL BE THE BACKBONE OF A MULTI-USER FACILITY FOR ATTOSECOND SOFT X-RAYS AND TERAHERTZ (UFAST). THIS FACILITY ONCE COMPLETE WILL BE ONE OF A KIND IN THE WORLD AND IS EXPECTED TO ENHANCE U.S. COMPETITIVENESS IN HIGH-FLUX ULTRAFAST TECHNOLOGIES AND ATTOSECOND SCIENCE. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded UCF a grant to purchase and install an almost $2 million high-peak-power, high-repetition-rate ultrafast infrared laser system — a first of its kind in the world.

The money is an investment in the cutting-edge research being conducted at UCF, which is advancing knowledge and technologies in physical, chemical, and planetary sciences, as well as optical engineering. 

The laser will be the backbone of a multi-User Facility for Attosecond Soft x-rays and Terahertz (UFAST). This facility once complete will be one of a kind in the world and is expected to enhance U.S. competitiveness in high-flux ultrafast technologies and attosecond science.

“UFAST will provide unique and versatile tools for in-depth scientific investigations and will advance knowledge in multiple research fields that may lead to applications, such as low-cost and efficient solar panels, light-frequency electronics, new laser cutting technology, and plasma synthesis, as well as extend our understanding of our solar system,” says Li Fang, project lead and an assistant professor of physics. Fang was recently awarded a Department of Energy Career Award for her cutting edge work.

The physics field that will be advanced by UFAST studies and documents processes that occur on the timescale of attoseconds, which is one billionth of a billionth of a second. The ability to make measurements with attosecond precision allows researchers to study the fast motion of electrons inside atoms, and molecules, and solid materials at their natural time scale. Measuring this fast motion can help researchers understand fundamental aspects of how light interacts with matter, which can inform efforts to harvest solar energy for power generation, detect chemical and biological weapons, perform medical diagnostics, and more.

UCF already has a reputation in attosecond science. 

In 2012 a team from UCF created the world’s shortest laser pulse — a 67-attosecond pulse of extreme ultraviolet light — and in the process gave scientists a new tool to watch quantum mechanics in action. In 2017, the same team beat its own record with a 53- attosecond pulse. It was another breakthrough work at UCF’s Institute for the Frontier of Attosecond Science and Technology (iFAST).

The NSF funding comes from its Major Research Instrumentation program, which was created to support the acquisition or development of a multi-user research instruments. According to the NSF the MRI program provides support to acquire critical research instrumentation without which advances in fundamental science and engineering research may not otherwise occur.

 The grant will enable transformational scientific investigations, attract talented students to UCF and attosecond science, and improve the diversity of our future workforce, Fang says. 

“In addition to the multidisciplinary nature of its applications, the facility will be accessible to users across the U.S. and from around the globe and will stimulate collaborations across research fields and institutions, as well as between experimentalists and theorists,” she says.  

UFAST will not only advance science, but it will give UCF graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral scholars access to pioneering ultrafast research and technologies not easily accessible anywhere else.

This new high-power laser will drive the world’s fastest tabletop soft x-ray source of unprecedented power, as well as other highly sought-after light sources in the long-wavelength and terahertz range. These advanced light sources will enable several advanced detection technologies. 

“The new infrared laser is unique,” says CREOL and physics Professor Zenghu Chang, a co-principal investigator. “This new laser infrastructure and the light sources it enables at UFAST will strengthen UCF’s excellence in laser technology and bring excellent opportunities to the attosecond science community.”

The rest of the grant team includes: CREOL professors Konstantin Vodopyanov and M.J. Soileau; associate professors of Physics Michael Chini, Madhab Neupane, and Adrienne Dove; assistant professors of Physics Mihai Vaida, Chris Bennet, and Kerri Donaldson Hanna; and CREOL assistant professor Xiaoming Yu.