Sunday, March 22, 2020

One tough power source: Creating a lithium-ion battery that cannot catch fire

by Adam Hadhazy, Johns Hopkins University One tough power source

Credit: TOBATRON

The popular myth that a spider is never more than a few feet away is arguably more true of lithium-ion batteries than of arachnids. Powering everything from smartphones and laptops to electronic cigarettes, lithium-ion batteries beat out alternative sources of power because of their top-notch energy density and long life cycle, meaning they can be recharged over and over again before breaking down. Yet for all these advantages, lithium-ion batteries come with a major concern: They can catastrophically ignite when they overheat.

At the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, a new type of lithium-ion battery that cannot catch fire is in the works. A team of researchers led by Konstantinos Gerasopoulos, a senior research scientist at the lab, recently made breakthroughs in their development efforts. The new battery is thin and flexible, unlike today's lithium-ion batteries that must be packaged in rigid cylindrical or polygonal cases to wall off their volatile contents. The APL battery is also tough, able to withstand submersion in water, cutting, and even ballistic impacts.

"We wanted to create a battery that is as thin and powerful as the electronics it's intended to power," Gerasopoulos says. "And to do that, we needed to transform the battery's safety."

Swap out for safety

In batteries, a liquid electrolyte conveys electrons between two electrodes, providing an electric current that powers your device. Standard lithium-ion batteries contain an electrolyte with an organic solvent that, while efficient, happens to be flammable. Gerasopoulos and colleagues have developed a new class of electrolyte that uses lithium salts dissolved in water as an inflammable solvent. A polymer matrix—basically, a kind of plastic sponge—soaks up the water, and the ultimate result is a bendable, soft, contact lens-like electrolyte.

The positive with the negative

Usually, lithium-ion battery electrodes are foil-like and, when bent too much, can crinkle and be damaged. APL's battery electrodes are instead crafted with Kapton, a flexible film often used to insulate a spacecraft from extreme temperatures. As an added bonus, Kapton is a readily available, off-the-shelf material, reducing the battery's cost and complexity to manufacture.

More power for longer

The current iteration of the new electrolyte sustains 4.1 volts—not quite as much as conventional lithium-ion batteries, but it's inching closer. The APL team also wants to improve the battery's life cycle from around a hundred charges to more like a thousand, matching today's typical battery performances. Continued tweaking of the polymer's chemistry for better electrochemical stability should deliver on these two objectives.

Fireproof, lightweight solid electrolyte for safer lithium-ion batteries

Robopets: Using technology to monitor older adults raises privacy concerns

by L.f. Carver, The Conversation

Robotic pets could increasingly provide social companionship and health

monitoring in elder care. Credit: Shutterstock

Social isolation and loneliness are concerns for many older adults, and can be triggered by the need to transition to a condo, rental accommodation, long-term care facility or retirement home.

Sometimes, the only thing standing between an older adult and loneliness may be a beloved pet. This reciprocal relationship of affection and attention between human and non-human animal translates into physical and mental health benefits. However, in many cases, pets can't move with their older adults since very few jurisdictions guarantee the right to bring an animal into a rental unit or condominium.

My research asks: what are the factors that impact well-being in older age? I explore the impacts of technology on privacy, autonomy and well-being, as well as the effects of the human-animal bond on health and well-being. I am also interested in whether social robots, including robopets, can produce the same effects.

In-home surveillance

Whether moving to a long-term care facility or a smaller home, many older adults find themselves subjected to increasing surveillance. Well-meaning family and caregivers install cameras, sensors and other devices to monitor independent older adults.

Social robots are new tools in the care of older adults. Some provide health-related services such as medication reminders, but most try to make up for the absence of human and animal companionship. These robots have artificial intelligence (AI) that is designed to interact with and provide comfort to the user.

For example, ElliQ is a small table-mounted device that interacts with a screen to enable "family members to easily check in." It also interacts with the user, suggesting activities, responding to their voice or touch or look. ElliQ is always on, collecting data on the user that is transmitted to the manufacturer.

Jennie is a robot dog controlled by voice commands and through a smartphone app. Robot pets, like other social robots, are designed to respond to the user's emotions and, to do so, it engages in constant surveillance.

The responsiveness of social robots and robot pets relies on sensors to detect emotional responses, record emotions and forward this information to be analyzed by algorithms that inform the robot's response. The results of the data analysis prompt the robot to smile or purr or snuggle. In the case where a health response is required, some robots can inform the caregiver of elevated blood pressure.

Collecting personal data

Every step of this data process involves personal and sensitive information about an individual. For example, user identification data might be leaked at the sensing layer or in the cloud where the data is analyzed to determine the right response. User profiles contain not only identifying information such as name and address, but also data gathered on user moods, behaviors and habits.

Between the potential for data exploitation and "the ubiquitous use of cameras and voice monitoring equipment in a home environment, there are privacy concerns that can affect human mental health."

Older adults are not always aware of the extent of the monitoring, which can lead to feelings of shame and humiliation if, for example, a person is caught on camera singing, dancing, engaging in sexual acts or crying. It is not that older adults don't realize that there is monitoring equipment, it is the 24/7 always-on aspect that may be unfamiliar to them. While enabling older adults to live with less human or animal contact, these monitoring systems and robots can increase their exposure and vulnerability.

Peer networks

The increasing number of surveillance-based options for providing care and companionship to older adults also ignores the reality that there are often other older adults who want to contribute meaningfully to their community. Using technology to build opportunities for human-to-human or human-to-animal interactions is one way to increase well-being without sacrificing privacy. For example, during virus season, technology could be used to develop something as simple as a telephone tree so that people can check in and connect in times of social distancing.

For older adults who are comfortable with technology, there are programs like Tech Buddies, which offers basic tech tutorials, including lessons on iPads, tablets, computers, laptops, smartphones and overall features of social media. And of course, the internet can be used to find services available to assist seniors with tasks around the house, to find nursing care or even friendly visitors.

Other internet-based programs have been developed to support older adults to "age in place" with their companion animals. For example, Pet Assist, in Calgary, Alta., will help older adults manage pet-related tasks at home.

After all, patting a robot dog is not the same as cuddling with a beloved pet. And a real dog will never tell anyone that you danced around the house in your underwear.

Aging with pets isn't just a sentimental concern, but a matter of health and wellness

Government must address hurdles putting people off electric cars

by Swapnesh Masrani, The Conversation

Ambitious targets have been set by the UK and Scottish governments to become net-zero carbon economies by 2050 and 2045 respectively. But a variety of initiatives will be required on the part of government, industry and society to achieve this target.

Every industry will be required to have carbon reduction at the centre of what it does and rapidly introduce new technologies to achieve zero emissions from their activities. The question is how this should be done.

Take the case of cars, which are a major contributor of carbon emissions. According to one estimate, transport contributes to 30% of the EU's total emissions, with road transport contributing 72%. With this figure expected to rise, any strategy to reduce overall emissions should tackle this element aggressively.

The UK government has announced its intention to ban petrol, diesel and hybrid cars by 2035. With a third of the UK's carbon emissions coming from road transport, the government's combative posturing is understandable. But is banning combustion fuel technology the most appropriate way to reduce emissions from road transport?

This is how we do it

There are two issues to consider: one, readiness of alternative technologies to replace petrol and diesel on a mass scale; and two, in a democratic society, bans should be used as only a measure of last resort.

There is overwhelming scientific evidence that smoking causes serious harm to a person's health to the extent it could kill them. But cigarette production is not banned. To control consumption of cigarettes, governments have introduced a wide range of legislation that limits their sale rather than banning their manufacture.

So rather than banning the production of petrol and diesel cars, governments should rapidly introduce effective policies that would make the cleaner technologies more attractive to users. Research on long-term technological change shows once a technology is entrenched in an industry, it leads to "path-dependency, which means that because shifting to alternative technologies can be costly—both for manufacturers and customers—industries often remain locked into existing technology.

Insights from our research into the century-long decline of Dundee's jute textile industry suggests that for any new technology to break dependency on existing dominant technology it must address two conditions: price (compared to the existing cost) and technical performance.

Looking back

The car industry has its roots in electric technology. The rechargeable battery was the dominant technology from the mid to late 19th century. But the discovery of new petroleum reserves and the invention of the combustion fuel engine in the early 20th century gave the petrol car a price and performance advantage over electric technology. This led to widespread adoption, making the combustion fuel engine dominant for over a century, leaving the car industry path-dependent on this technology.

But the industry has invested in innovation to break this dependency with alternative technologies, and hydrogen and electric have been around for quite some time. The electric car made a comeback in 1970s in response to the oil crisis. But with the fall in prices later that decade, the electric car was no longer an attractive proposition. In 1996 General Motors introduced its EV1 in response to the 1990 legislaton by the state of California which required 2% of their sales to be zero emissions.

Toyota also introduced its hybrid Prius in 1997 followed by Audi and Honda models. However, all the early electric cars had less than a 100-mile range and were relatively expensive. The cost and limited range issues have continued to hinder the widespread uptake of alternative technologies and the industry has remained locked into the combustion fuel engine in the two decades since.

Getting in gear

These days we are beginning to see performance issues addressed in electric cars. Many are now able to cover anywhere from 150 to 230 miles without recharging. Of course this is still far from what a diesel would offer on a full tank, but customers are gaining confidence.

Car manufacturers—existing makes and new players like Tesla—possess the technology to improve the performance of electric cars, and this will continue to advance. It is in their commercial interest to develop swiftly, to give them a competitive edge. But the main hurdle is price; electric cars are still more expensive than petrol and diesel cars—something industry bodies have emphasised.

Banning the production of petrols and diesels will not make electric cars cheaper. If the price of electric cars remains higher, it will only trap customers into a costly commitment. An MIT study has found that a mid-sized electric car is likely to be around £4,300 more expensive to the manufacturer than combustion fuel through to 2030. If the UK government is serious about facilitating this technology shift, it must provide serious long-term policies to help reduce the cost of electric cars.

There are two ways to make the price of electric technology more competitive. First, make owning petrol and diesel cars expensive by imposing a "gasoline car tax." This is currently practised in a mild version in the form of a congestion charge in many cities, and a higher car tax on diesel engines. But it has not helped to achieve the ambitious electric goal.

Imposing further tax such as additional fuel duty could make driving petrol and diesel vehicles more expensive—but without viable cheaper alternatives, it will not go down well with the electorate and could add to economic woes. The second, and recommended option, that emerges from our research is to introduce incentives that make purchasing and running an electric car cost effective.

Today, many people have a genuine desire to buy an electric car. This market will only increase—customers are already sold on the benefits. But the price tag holds most back from making that final purchase decision. The trajectory of electric technology is at a critical juncture where a properly competitive price will convince buyers to make it their next purchase. And if the government gets it right, this model can be applied to other industries where there is a pressing need to shift to lower-carbon technologies.

Four ways the UK government must phase out petrol, diesel and hybrid cars by 2035

Will the US government nationalize Boeing?

by Luc Olinga

Twelve years after the US government bailed out General Motors and Chrysler,

Washington policy makers are debating how to spare Boeing as it reels from

dual crises over the coronavirus and 737 MAX

About 12 years after the US government bailed out General Motors and Chrysler, Washington policymakers are debating how to throw Boeing a lifeline as it reels from dual crises over the coronavirus and 737 MAX.

The aerospace giant, which manufactures the US presidential jet Air Force One in addition to defense and commercial aircraft, has asked for $60 billion in federal support for the US aerospace industry, but it is not yet clear how such a bailout would function.

"Boeing is on the brink," prominent hedge fund investor Bill Ackman said this week. "Boeing will not survive without a government bailout."

Boeing's financial picture was already under pressure even before the coronavirus.

The 737 MAX, which had been the company's top-selling plane, has been out of service for more than a year following two deadly crashes. The lengthy grounding has cost the company upwards of $18 billion, a figure that is expected to rise.

The coronavirus has now worsened that picture considerably, obliterating demand for flying and putting Boeing's airline customers in financial distress.

The situation has pummeled shares of Boeing, leaving its market capitalization Friday at around $54 billion.

Also Friday Boeing announced that it was suspending its dividend until further notice and that Chief Executive Dave Calhoun and Chairman Larry Kellner would forgo pay until the end of the year.

The company, which had previously announced it was suspending share buybacks, said the program would remain paused indefinitely.

Boeing's dual crises would threaten the survival of other companies, but it still retains considerable support in Washington because of its importance to the US economy, with about 130,000 employees. And that figure does not include a much larger group workers employed by Boeing's 17,000 suppliers.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed aggressive measures to assist the companies, telling reporters at a briefing, "we have to protect Boeing and help Boeing."

Auto bailout a model?

In a securities filing Thursday, Boeing said there are a "variety of approaches" currently being discussed to support the US aerospace industry, but the company declined to comment further on the options.

Aid for aerospace is not included in the $1 trillion stimulus package now being crafted on Capitol Hill, although it does including help for airlines.

One option that has been discussed is for the government to take an equity stake in Boeing.

"Taxpayers should receive equity in a company in return for assistance so that the public benefits from its investment when the company is fiscally stable," said Oregon Democratic Representative Earl Blumenauer.

If Boeing follows the model set by General Motors and Chrysler after the 2008 financial crisis, it would file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 and restructure its finances.

The auto bailout was launched by former president George W. Bush in 2008 under the Troubled Assets Relief Program, and carried through by Barack Obama's administration.

The federal government injected $81 billion into two of Detroit's "Big Three" automakers and took equity stakes in the companies, and then sold those shares in December 2013.

GM filed for bankruptcy in June 2009 and received $50 billion in support that allowed the government to take a 61 percent stake in "new GM." The company was effectively nationalized, although officials avoided that term.

The restructuring cost shareholders $11.2 billion, but saved some 1.5 million jobs, according to the Center for Automotive Research.

Scott Hamilton of Leeham News, which specializes in aviation, said a US takeover of Boeing could pose competitive concerns in the defense industry.

"Boeing is the nation's number two defense contractor. How would this affect defense contract bids? I imagine Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman might have some concerns," Hamilton said.

"I don't think there's much of a rationale for a US stake in Boeing," said Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, a research consultancy focused on aviation and defense.

The government also could make aid conditional on splitting the company into two entities, one focused on commercial planes and the other on defense, experts said.

Another possibility could be a merger of Boeing into one of the other defense giants, experts said.

Lockheed Martin did not respond to queries, while Northrop declined comment.

Boeing seeks $60 bn in US support for aerospace industry

New satellite-based algorithm pinpoints crop water use

by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The growing threat of drought and rising water demand have made accurate forecasts of crop water use critical for farmland water management and sustainability.

But limitations in existing models and satellite data pose challenges for precise estimates of evapotranspiration—a combination of evaporation from soil and transpiration from plants. The process is complex and difficult to model, and existing remote-sensing data can't provide accurate, high-resolution information on a daily basis.

A new high-resolution mapping framework called BESS-STAIR promises to do just that, around the globe. BESS-STAIR is composed of a satellite-driven biophysical model integrating plants' water, carbon and energy cycles—the Breathing Earth System Simulator (BESS)—with a generic and fully automated fusion algorithm called STAIR (SaTellite dAta IntegRation).

The framework, developed by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was tested in 12 sites across the U.S. Corn Belt, and its estimates have achieved the highest performance reported in any academic study so far.

The study, published in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, was led by Postdoctoral Research Associate Chongya Jiang, from CABBI's sustainability theme, and project lead Kaiyu Guan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES) and a Blue Waters Professor at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).

"BESS-STAIR has great potential to be a reliable tool for water resources management and precision agriculture applications for the U.S. Corn Belt and even worldwide, given the global coverage of its input data," Jiang said.

Traditional remote-sensing methods for estimating evapotranspiration rely heavily on thermal radiation data, measuring the temperature of the plant canopy and soil as they cool through evaporation. But those methods have two drawbacks: the satellites can't collect data on surface temperatures on cloudy days; and the temperature data aren't very accurate, which in turn affects the accuracy of the evapotranspiration estimates, Jiang said.

The CABBI team instead focused on the plant's carbon-water-energy cycles. Plants transpire water into the atmosphere through holes on their leaves called stomata. As the water goes out, carbon dioxide comes in, allowing the plant to conduct photosynthesis and form biomass.

The BESS-STAIR model first estimates photosynthesis, then the amount of carbon and water going in and out. Previous remote-sensing methods did not consider the carbon component as a constraint, Jiang said. "That's the advance of this model."

Another advantage: Surface temperature-based methods can only collect data under clear skies, so they have to interpolate evapotranspiration for cloudy days, creating gaps in the data, he said. The all-weather BESS-STAIR model uses surface reflectance, which is similar on clear and cloudy days, eliminating any gaps.

The STAIR algorithm fused data from two complementary satellite systems—Landsat and MODIS—to provide high-resolution data on a daily basis, providing both high spatial and high temporal resolution. Landsat collects detailed information about Earth's land every eight to 16 days; MODIS provides a complete picture of the globe every day to capture more rapid land surface changes.

This isn't the first time researchers have combined data from the two satellite sensors, but previous methods only worked in a small region over a short time period, Guan said. The previous algorithms were difficult to scale up and weren't fully automatic, requiring significant human input, and they couldn't be applied across broad areas over a longer time period.

By contrast, the CABBI team's framework was evaluated in different regions across the U.S. Corn Belt over two decades, Jiang said. Researchers built a pipeline on NCSA's supercomputer to automatically estimate surface reflectance as well as evapotranspiration on a large scale for extended time periods. Using data from 2000 to 2017, the team applied BESS-STAIR in 12 sites across the Corn Belt, comprehensively validating its evapotranspiration estimates with flux tower measurements at each site. They measured overall accuracy as well as and spatial, seasonal, and interannual variations.

"We are able to provide daily, 30m-resolution evapotranspiration anytime and anywhere in the U.S. Corn Belt in hours, which is unprecedented," Guan said.

The breakthrough will have real-time, practical benefits for U.S. farmers coping with the increasing severity of droughts, as documented in a number of recent studies.

"Precision agriculture is one of our major targets. Evapotranspiration is very important for irrigation and also very important to water management," Guan said. "This is a solution that goes beyond experimental plots and impacts the real world, for millions of fields everywhere."Corn productivity in real time: Satellites, field cameras, and farmers team up

More information: Chongya Jiang et al, BESS-STAIR: a framework to estimate daily, 30 m, and all-weather crop evapotranspiration using multi-source satellite data for the US Corn Belt, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.5194/hess-24-1251-2020

CORONAVIRUS KILLS CAPITALISM

Pandemic money: where's it coming from and who pays?

by Corentin Dautreppe and Jitendra Joshi In London

Officials hope that flooding markets with money will help ensure the economy won't freeze up

The mammoth bailout sums unleashed to combat the 2008 financial crisis fuelled populist backlashes in many countries as taxpayers were handed a whopping bill.

This time feels different. Governments and central banks are all too aware that they face an unprecedented test from an invisible enemy that could kill their economies.

The sums mobilised now—trillions in direct fiscal and monetary support, and loan guarantees—outstrip what was offered in 2008 to rescue banks from their own folly.

What's on offer?

All major economies are battling to halt the carnage on financial markets, intervening directly to save businesses and jobs, and indirectly via their central banks.

"We are witnessing a panic movement in which markets, like businesses, are seeking liquidity at all costs, and selling anything that is sellable," said Agnes Benassy-Quere, professor at the Paris School of Economics.

There is "no other way than to issue a lot of debt and to make sure that it will be bought by central banks", she said.

While the virus appears contained in China, European countries and the United States are going all out with spending promises to limit the fallout of their own runaway outbreaks.

The biggest stimulus package comes from Washington where Senate Republicans on Thursday introduced a $1 trillion plan in line with demands from President Donald Trump.

Democrats are unconvinced by some of Trump's wish-list. But eschewing the traditional Republican aversion to debt and deficits, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell underscored that "this is no ordinary time".

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the government had "no problem issuing more debt" at super-low rates after recent interventions by the Federal Reserve.

What's the cost?

The Fed and others including the European Central Bank are engaged in shock-and-awe tactics to reassure the markets and ensure plenty of money is on hand for businesses.

Their actions, slashing interest rates or engaging in outright purchase of government debt ("quantitative easing") finally brought some calm to markets on Friday.

One benefit for governments—at least richer ones with access to deep capital markets—is that they can issue long-term bonds now at fixed rates at next-to-no cost.

"The only issue is in 10-20 years when you have to refinance the debt," said Charlie Robertson, global chief economist at Renaissance Capital in London.

"No one foots the bill because borrowing costs are close to zero—it's magic money," he said, adding there is no risk of inflation given the scale of the shock.

The situation is a lot more alarming for developing economies that lack both access to cheap borrowing and advanced medical systems.

"If South Africa can't afford to control the virus, it will spread again. No country can afford to keep every other country banned from travelling," Robertson told AFP.

"So I would argue there has to be a global financing solution to address this virus crisis," he said, urging action from the G7 and G20 nations.

What more can be done?

As the G20's Saudi presidency readies a virtual summit, Allianz chief economist Ludovic Subran agreed concerted action is needed for poorer nations, especially in Africa.

"All the international measures have been taken without any coordination, it is quite unprecedented," he said.

Christopher Dembik, Saxo Bank's head of macroeconomic research, said advanced economies should emulate the United States and Hong Kong in offering cash directly to households.

"We must go beyond tax deferrals and state guarantees," he said, suggesting also a "temporary but drastic drop in corporate taxation" to stop companies collapsing en masse.

Aside from extreme budgetary cases like Italy, "there is absolutely no concern about sovereign debt" because central banks themselves are amassing the new issuances, he noted.

Italy, which has surpassed China to register the most coronavirus deaths, wants its EU partners to go further by tapping the eurozone's 410-billion-euro ($440-billion) war chest.

The US owes $23.5 trillion but can still afford a big coronavirus stimulus package

Pandemics don't heal divisions, they reveal them

by Steven Friedman, The Conversation Zika virus

Transmission electron microscope image of negative-stained,

Fortaleza-strain Zika virus (red), isolated from a microcephaly case in Brazil.

The virus is associated with cellular membranes in the center. Credit: NIAID

Some around the world predict that the COVID-19 will heal divisions and narrow inequalities. A pandemic, they claim, can remind us of our common humanity and the need to discard prejudices. It can also highlight inequalities and injustices and prompt people in power to deal with them.

In Europe, some predict it will highlight the plight of people in the 'gig economy' who do not enjoy a guaranteed wage. In the US, there are hopes that it may make it easier for people who cannot get to polling booths to vote.

In South Africa, some hope it will prompt action against the conditions which make it harder for poor people to protect themselves.

The claim that pandemics prompt the rich and people in power to care more about social inequities anywhere is dubious. Those who believe this like to quote the historian Walter Scheidel's 2017 book The Great Leveler which, they claim, argued that pandemics can dent inequality by showing that human progress depends on tackling inequality.

But Scheidel didn't argue that epidemics showed the rich how much they had in common with the poor. His point is that they weakened the rich in ways which helped the poor, which is not at all what the optimists have in mind.

In a recent interview, Frank Snowden, an American historian of epidemics, said he agreed with a World Health Organisation (WHO) official that the virus should teach us that "the health of the most vulnerable people among us is a determining factor for the health of all of us."

But he was not optimistic that the lesson would be learned.

Snowden finds that pandemics can heighten prejudice against the poor. In Paris, after the 1848 revolution or the (1871) Paris Commune, people were "slaughtered" because the "people who were in command saw that the working classes were dangerous politically, but they were also very dangerous medically."

So, attitudes which prop up inequality and division may actually worsen under the pressure of an epidemic. It seems logical to expect those who are threatened by their fellow citizens to feel even more prejudice when they face a medical threat.

Reactions in South Africa today may not show that prejudices against the poor are getting worse. But they are very much alive and give little reason for hope that the virus will bring South Africans closer together or trigger more energetic action against poverty.

Irrational responses

The first evidence came before the virus reached the country. Radio talk shows were inundated by callers warning that 'porous borders' placed the country at risk. This expressed a widespread South African prejudice: immigrants from elsewhere in Africa are a disease-bearing threat.

This was irrational—poor people do not visit China or the European countries where the virus has spread. But prejudices are irrational.

As the virus arrived, new prejudices emerged. Demands for controls mounted: South Africans would only be safe if borders were closed and everyone's movement was controlled. President Cyril Ramaphosa was denounced for not locking everyone down.

Snowden's work shows that harsh lockdowns don't work. Controls on 'social distance' do, but only if people are treated sympathetically. If they are not, they don't trust the authorities and will not report cases.

But middle classes used to living far from the poor do see control as the solution to all problems. The focus on Ramaphosa showed a deep-seated view – 'leaders' are assumed to require supernatural powers and so are blamed for everything which goes wrong. This is an anti-democratic view which shows no faith in the abilities of grassroots citizens (or much grasp of reality: presidents don't single-handedly control epidemics).

It also judges political leaders on how 'tough' they get, which is unlikely to heal any divisions.

Prejudices

Attitudes towards poor black people living in shack settlements and urban townships are more complicated.

It's frequently said that the virus is sure to decimate these areas. This partly supports the view that eyes are being opened to poverty because it is based on real concern: it is harder for people who may lack access to clean water, live in overcrowded conditions, rely on public transport and lack quality health care to protect themselves. People in these areas who have jobs are unlikely to enjoy the luxury of working at home.

But most of the 'concern' expresses prejudices which feed division and inequality. Many in the middle-class see the places where poor people live as dangerous and disease-ridden –– the way upper class Europeans saw slums in their countries. Their residents are assumed to be ignorant and dirty although in reality they are well-informed on the virus and are often more concerned about personal hygiene than the middle class.

It also expresses common prejudices about majority rule—it is assumed that it will always end in disaster, even if the government seems to be doing what it should. On some radio channels, the government is denounced by callers for not informing the public, although it has constantly done just that: many in the racial minorities assume that nothing a majority black government says can be believed.

Given South Africa's racial divisions, it is perhaps no surprise that some black people replied with their own myth: that the virus could not affect you if you were black. Perhaps the fact that the virus began with people returning from skiing holidays was too good to pass up for people used to enduring the myth that some South Africans are inherently better than others.

Another response—although this was not purely South African – was panic buying . There are many interpretations of why this happens but the people doing it were affluent enough to afford bulk buying, their first instinct was to grab what they could, and they may be stocking up so they can opt out of society rather than joining others to fight the virus, the response Ramaphosa proposed when he announced the government measures.

None of these responses signal that divisions are narrowing. Nor, despite some concern for people living in poverty, do they suggest that the threat of an epidemic has prompted new desire to change the conditions in which poor people live.

So, South African attitudes may not express a desire to make poor people pay for a virus they did not bring. But they also give little cheer to those who expect a new era of solidarity and social concern.S.Africa to close borders to all citizens from high-risk countries

Provided by The Conversation

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

COVID-19: Nitrogen dioxide over China

by European Space Agency

This image, using data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, shows the nitrogen dioxide emissions over China from 7 to 16 March 2020. Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Recent data have shown a decline of air pollution over northern Italy coinciding with its nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). This new map shows the variation of nitrogen dioxide emissions over China from December to March—thanks to the Tropomi instrument on board the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite.

As news of the coronavirus broke out in the Hubei province, China, in late December 2019, stricter measures were put in place. As a result, by late January, factories were closed and streets were cleared as Chinese authorities had ceased daily activities to stop the spread of the illness.

This led to the dramatic reduction in nitrogen dioxide emissions—those released by power plants, industrial facilities and vehicles—in all major Chinese cities between late-January and February. The drop in emissions also coincided with Lunar New Year celebrations, which usually sees a similar drop in emissions each year.

The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) observed a decrease of fine particulate matter—one of the most important air pollutants—in February 2020 compared to the previous three years. By combining satellite observations with detailed computer models of the atmosphere, their studies indicated a reduction of around 20-30% in surface particulate matter over large parts of China.

As the coronavirus epidemic eases in China, many provinces have downgraded their emergency response levels. Schools, factories and other public spaces are starting to re-open and workers are gradually returning to their jobs.
This animation, using data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, shows the nitrogen dioxide emissions from 20 December 2019 until 16 March 2020 – using a 10-day moving average. The drop in emissions in late-January is visible, coinciding with the nationwide quarantine, and from the beginning of March, the nitrogen dioxide levels have begun to increase. Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2019-20), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

This animation, using data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, shows the nitrogen dioxide emissions from 20 December 2019 until 16 March 2020—using a 10-day moving average. The drop in emissions in late-January is visible, coinciding with the nationwide quarantine, and from the beginning of March, the nitrogen dioxide levels have begun to increase.

Josef Aschbacher, ESA's Director of Earth Observation Programmes, says, "Satellites offer a unique vantage point to monitor the health of our planet. Sentinel-5P is one of seven Copernicus satellites in orbit today. It currently provides the most accurate measurements of nitrogen dioxide and other trace gases from space.

"As nitrogen dioxide is primarily produced by traffic and factories, it is a first-level indicator of industrial activity worldwide. What is clearly visible is a significant reduction of nitrogen dioxide levels over China, caused by reduced activity due to COVID-19 restrictions, but also the Chinese New Year in January."

He continues, "The Copernicus program is a perfect example of how space serves all European citizens by combining the political strength of the EU with the technical excellence of ESA."

Sentinel-5 Precursor is the first Copernicus mission dedicated to monitoring our atmosphere. With air pollution a major concern, the satellite carries the state-of-the-art Tropomi instrument to map a multitude of trace gases such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, formaldehyde, sulphur dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide and aerosols – all of which affect the air we breathe and therefore our health, and our climate. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab

Claus Zehner, ESA's Copernicus Sentinel-5P mission manager, comments, "We can certainly attribute a part of the nitrogen dioxide emission reduction to the impact of the coronavirus. We currently see around a 40% reduction over Chinese cities, however these are just rough estimates, as weather also has an impact on emissions.

"We are conducting a detailed scientific analysis which will soon provide more insights and quantified results in the following weeks and months."

The Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor mission, also known as Sentinel-5P, is dedicated to monitoring air pollution by measuring a multitude of trace gases as well as aerosols—all of which affect the air we breathe.

Coronavirus: Nitrogen dioxide emissions drop over Italy

pH

Novel bacterial acid tolerance system sheds light on development of antimicrobials

by Chinese Academy of Sciences

E. coli acid tolerance system regulated by two-component system CpxRA.

Credit: ZHAO Mohan

Growth ability at acidic conditions is important to bacteria. Enteric bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella can colonize and cause disease in the host's intestinal tract, but they have to combat acidic environments during the whole process of invading the host.

The stomach, with pH value as low as 1.5 to 2.5, is recognized as a natural antibiotic barrier. After entering into the small intestine, E. coli will encounter a less acidic environment (with pH value of 4-6), reproduce rapidly, and ultimately cause disease to the host.

Recently, a research team led by Prof. Xian Mo and Prof. Zhao Guang from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) discovered a novel bacterial acid tolerance system that confers the growth capability to E. coli at pH of 4.2.

Up to now, five acid resistance systems have been reported. These acid resistance systems can enable E. coli to survive in gastric acid for hours, but they play no role in rapid multiplication of E. coli under moderate acidic conditions.

CpxA, the newly discovered system, can sense acidification directly through protonation of histidine residues. It will also activate its cognate regulator protein CpxRx to stimulate the expression of fabA and fabB genes for biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, increasing unsaturated fatty acid contents in membrane lipid. Changes in membrane lipid composition lower the fluidity and proton permeability of the cell membrane, increasing the intracellular pH homeostasis.

Experimental results showed that E. coli mutants deficient in this system cannot grow in mouse intestine. Besides E. coli, this acid tolerance system also exists in pathogenic bacteria including Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio cholerae, Yersinia pestis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which may be a new target for the development of antimicrobials.

The related findings were published in Nature Communications on Mar. 20.

Dangerous bacteria a true survivor

More information: Ying Xu et al. An acid-tolerance response system protecting exponentially growing Escherichia coli, Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15350-5

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