If You Think Abortion's Bad, Try Childbirth, Jen Gunter Tells U.S. Politician

Many of the side effects of abortion cited by its opponents are actually more true of labour and childbirth.

By Maija Kappler
07/22/2020


LEFT: GETTY. RIGHT: THE CANADIAN PRESS.Jen Gunter, right, shot back at Debbie Lesko about her comments on the abortion pill.

Note to the many people out there spreading misinformation about reproductive rights: you do not want to get into a Twitter fight with Dr. Jen Gunter.

On Wednesday, Republican congresswoman Debbie Lesko took to Twitter to discourage the use of Mifegymiso, the two-pill combo that terminates a pregnancy.

“Chemical abortion pills,” as she called them, can cause “intense pain, excessive bleeding, infection, death,” she wrote.

Women who take chemical abortion pills face:

❌intense pain
❌excessive bleeding
❌infection
❌death

This isn’t health care, and it’s not pro-woman. #prolife— Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (@RepDLesko) July 20, 2020


In a follow-up tweet, she added that the abortion pill is “cost-effective for the abortion industry, costly for the lives of women and children.”


Lesko, who represents a district in Arizona, has made her anti-abortion beliefs clear. She’s attempted to introduce legislation that limits access to abortion services.

Several doctors immediately replied to challenge her claims — and one of them, naturally, was Canadian gynecologist and vaginal mythbuster extraordinaire Dr. Jen Gunter.
“You are incredibl[y] [uninformed] or a liar. Which one is it?” Gunter wrote before launching into a Twitter thread.

Well, actually. No.
You are incredible uniformed or a liar. Which one is it?
Neither here nor there really, because I am about to take you to school. https://t.co/Oih594j15s— Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) July 20, 2020



She pointed out that all of the side effects Lesko mentioned are in fact much more true of labour and childbirth than about abortion.

Taking the abortion pill can cause you to feel tired and crampy, and in rare causes, it can cause nausea, chills, or fever. But generally people are able to go back to work or school the next day.

The pain of labour, on the other hand, is comparable to the amputation of a finger, which Gunter pointed out by citing an excerpt from a joint statement of the American Congress of OB/GYNs and The American Society of Anesthesiologists. Not exactly a picnic.

The next charge, excessive bleeding, is true in part. The abortion pill expels the contents of the uterus — so yes, people who take it can expect to bleed

But again, bleeding is also a big part of having a baby. “Pregnancy isn’t coming out of a uterus without blood, be it abortion, miscarriage, vaginal delivery or C-section,” Gunter said.

During childbirth, blood vessels open when the placenta detaches from the uterus. The average person loses about a pint of blood during vaginal childbirth, and about double that during a C-section.

Infection rates and death are where Lesko really starts exaggerating, Gunter explained.

The rate of endometritis infection from a medical abortion pill happens in about 0.24 out of every 1000, she said, citing numbers that line up with similar research. That same infection happens in between 10 and 20 out of 1000 vaginal births, and 50 out of 1000 C-sections.

Maternal health is a significant problem, particularly in the U.S. In 2018, there were 17.4 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births — and more than half of them were preventable.

In Canada, the rate per 100,000 live births that year was 8.3 maternal deaths. And as Gunter pointed out, the mortality rate is much worse for Black women.

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One of the reasons maternal health in the U.S. is so bad is that it’s not seen as a priority, vice president for health policy and advocacy at the American Congress of OB/GYNs Barbara Levy told NPR.

“We worry a lot about vulnerable little babies,” she said. Fetal and infant health has improved dramatically, but “we don’t pay enough attention to those things that can be catastrophic for women.”

Of the millions of doses of the abortion pill that have been prescribed, 24 users have died, although there’s some controversy about whether or not the deaths can be attributed to the abortion pill.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, unsafe abortion kills at least 22,800 women a year, mostly in areas where the procedure is illegal. Some of the methods desperate people resort to when they have no safe way of ending a pregnancy include drinking toxic fluids, causing injury to the vagina or cervix, inflicting trauma on the abdomen, or being operated on by an unskilled provider.
Gunter ended her Twitter thread by inviting Lesko to “a public discussion” about abortion. So far, no answer.

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AOC Gave The Most Important Feminist Speech In A Generation
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's remarks were an eloquent dismantling of the playbook men have used to keep women in their place for centuries.

By Emily Peck, HuffPost US

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took to the floor of Congress on Thursday and gave one of the most bracing, empowering and feminist political speeches in a generation.

Her words came in response to the rage-filled mutterings of Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.). But it would be a mistake to view what happened as simply the next stage in some typical political squabble or beef. Or, as some have attempted to argue, political opportunism.

The Democratic congresswoman from New York did so much more than deliver the proverbial “clapback.” This wasn’t simply a viral moment. Ocasio-Cortez offered an eloquent and expert dismantling of the playbook that men have used to keep women in their place for centuries. 

Her speech was a clear signifier of the rising power of women in politics, which helped hasten her into office in 2018, along with a historic number of other female candidates.

“I think it is the most important feminist speech in a generation,” said Jennifer Lawless, a politics professor at the University of Virginia. She compared it to then-first lady Hillary Clinton’s groundbreaking “women’s rights are human rights” speech before the United Nations in 1995.

Yoho harassed Ocasio-Cortez in the halls of Congress on Monday, calling her “disgusting” because of her (fairly commonplace) views on poverty. Then, he walked away and called her a “fucking bitch” as a reporter from The Hill looked on.

A couple of days later, Yoho made a bad situation worse, delivering a classic nonapology before Congress. The short version: He didn’t do it but if he did, he was sorry if someone was offended and he is the father of daughters.

That probably would have satisfied his colleagues in the days before Me Too, and before women had amassed as much real power in Congress. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the second most powerful Democrat in the House, at first said he believed Ocasio-Cortez would “appreciate the apology.”

She did not.

“Rep. Yoho decided to come to the floor of the House of Representatives and make excuses for his behavior, and that I could not let go,” Ocasio-Cortez said in her speech Thursday. “I could not allow my nieces, I could not allow the little girls that I go home to, I could not allow victims of verbal abuse and worse to see that — to see that excuse and to see our Congress accept it as legitimate and accept it as an apology and to accept silence as a form of acceptance.”

The way these situations typically go: Women who are viewed as powerful, and therefore scary, are demonized as “crazy bitches” or some other misogynistic slur. Female politicians of color, in particular, have been on the receiving end of horrific disrespect, hateful comments and abuse. The men levying the accusations are usually the ones acting with unhinged fury — and their anger is typically viewed as perfectly fine.

Recall Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s wild angry speech before the Senate at his confirmation hearings versus the calm, respectful manner of his accuser Christine Blasey Ford. President Donald Trump has returned to the “crazy bitch” well many times over the years.

In politics, women typically don’t confront the situation head-on. As Lisa Lerer pointed out in The New York Times, Hillary Clinton has been called a “bitch” approximately 100 bajillion times but has never directly addressed it.

Some women take a more sideways approach, reclaiming an insult like “Nevertheless, she persisted” and turning it into something empowering.

Well, Ocasio-Cortez went right for it. On the floor of Congress, she slowly and carefully repeated the words that Yoho muttered to himself: “fucking bitch.” And then she proceeded to tear it all down, shining light on a dehumanizing process that has long been in the shadows and mostly accepted as a woman’s burden.

“This is not new, and that is the problem,” she said. “It is cultural. It is a culture of lack of impunity, of accepting violence and violent language against women and an entire structure of power that supports that.”

She then listed other politicians who have similarly insulted her, including the president. 

“Dehumanizing language is not new, and what we are seeing is that incidents like these are happening in a pattern, Ocasio-Cortez said. “This is a pattern of an attitude towards women and dehumanization of others.”

It was a perfect balm for our times, exposing a system that for so long was taken for granted, the patriarchal air we breathe. The speech came a few days after a wall of “moms” confronted federal officers in Portland, and it came on the same day that Trump tried to play into the supposed fears of suburban women ― whom he actually tagged with the dated moniker, housewife. 

Ocasio-Cortez was also carrying on the work of Me Too and the protests rocking this country to demand humanity for people of color.

We’ve arrived at a time when calling out men for sexism in politics is finally considered acceptable, Lawless said. “Societal views have changed for the better and, as a result, there is no reason whatsoever to worry that fighting back against harassment could be detrimental to a woman’s electoral viability, approval ratings or political future.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s words made it clear that equality is not simply about electing women.

“It’s about treating women with dignity, respect and civility,” she said.

And, just for good measure, the congresswoman flipped a classic excuse for misogyny on its head: Men in politics have gotten away with their bad behavior toward women — or their misguided policies — by explaining that they actually know women, personally, and therefore are good guys. “As the father of daughters” is a popular refrain.

“Mr. Yoho mentioned that he has a wife and two daughters. I am two years younger than Mr. Yoho’s youngest daughter. I am someone’s daughter, too,” she said. “My father, thankfully, is not alive to see how Mr. Yoho treated his daughter. My mother got to see Mr. Yoho’s disrespect on the floor of this House towards me on television, and I am here because I have to show my parents that I am their daughter and that they did not raise me to accept abuse from men.”

Then, just so everyone was clear:

“What I believe is that having a daughter does not make a man decent,” she said. “Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man, and when a decent man messes up, as we all are bound to do, he tries his best and does apologize.”

Cannabidiol may reduce behavioral problems in children with intellectual disabilities
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Reviewed by James Ives, M.Psych. (Editor)

Jun 24 2020

Cannabidiol, a type of medicinal cannabis, may reduce severe behavioral problems in children and adolescents with an intellectual disability a new study has found.

The pilot study, led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, recorded a clinically significant change in participants' irritability, aggression, self-injury, and yelling. The intervention was also found to be safe and well-tolerated by most study participants.

The randomized controlled trial involved eight participants, aged 8-16, years who took either cannabidiol or a placebo over eight weeks. Participants were recruited from pediatric clinics from both hospital and private pediatric practices.

Although the pilot study was not large enough to make definitive statements, the early findings strongly support a larger follow-up trial. Only a large scale randomized controlled trial can produce the definitive results necessary to drive changes in prescribing and clinical care guidelines. The researchers are planning a large study to definitively test the findings.

The researchers are also seeking funding for further research into the effectiveness of medicinal cannabis in children with developmental disorders such as autism and Tourette syndrome.

Associate Professor Daryl Efron, a clinician-scientist at MCRI who led the study, said this was the first investigation of cannabidiol to manage severe behavioral problems in children and adolescents with an intellectual disability. Most of the participants also had autism.

The study found the medication was generally well-tolerated and there were no serious side effects reported. All parents reported they would recommend the study to families with children with similar problems.

Associate Professor Efron said severe behavioral problems such as irritability, aggression and self-injury in children and adolescents with an intellectual disability were a major contributor to functional impairments, missed learning opportunities and reduced quality of life.

He said conventional psychotropic medications, including anti-psychotics and anti-depressants, were prescribed by Australian pediatricians for almost half of young people with an intellectual disability, despite limited evidence of their effectiveness. Given how extremely difficult behavioral problems were to treat in these patients, new, safer interventions were needed to treat this highly vulnerable patient group, he said.


Current medications carry a high risk of side-effects, with vulnerable people with intellectual disability being less able to report side-effects. Common side-effects of antipsychotics, such as weight gain and metabolic syndrome, have huge health effects for a patient group already at increased risk of chronic illness."

Associate Professor Daryl Efron, Clinician-Scientist at MCRI

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Cannabidiol is already being used increasingly to manage a range of medical and psychiatric conditions in adults and epilepsy in children.

Associate Professor Efron said there was intense interest from parents and physicians in medicinal cannabis as a treatment for severe behavioral problems in youth with an intellectual disability.

"Parents of children with an intellectual disability and severe behavioral problems are increasingly asking pediatricians whether they can access medicinal cannabis for their child and some parents have reported giving unregulated cannabis products to their children," he said.

"We are also finding many physicians feel unprepared to have these conversations with their patients." Researchers from The Royal Children's Hospital, the University of Melbourne and Monash University also contributed to the study.
Source:


Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Journal reference:
Efron, D., et al. (2020) A pilot randomised placebo‐controlled trial of cannabidiol to reduce severe behavioural problems in children and adolescents with intellectual disability. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. doi.org/10.1111/bcp.14399.

Synthesizing Cannabis from Yeast

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By Hidaya Aliouche, B.Sc.

A team from the University of California have developed a means of biosynthesizing the major cannabinoids of Cannabis sativa L. in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a galactose substrate. Their work presents a platform form the production of both natural and unnatural cannabinoids for study in the development of treatments for several health problems.

Image Credits: Mitch M / Shutterstock.com

This was achieved by introducing cannabis pathway enzymes into yeast and manipulating the flux of native pathways central to cannabinoid synthesis.

A core component of their biosynthetic approach was exploiting the promiscuity of several pathways and their fatty acid substrates to produce cannabis analogs exhibiting different affinity and potency for receptor binding.
The limitations of the cannabis plant

Cannabis sativa has been cultivated worldwide for thousands of years. Research has investigated the constituents of cannabis and their analogs, demonstrating their potential medicinal properties.

Consequently, certain cannabinoid formulations have been legally approved for use in the treatment of several medical problems. However, the study and clinical use of cannabinoids are limited by legal limitations – as has the nature of cannabinoids whose structural complexity makes them unamenable to bulk synthesis.

To overcome this, synthesis in yeast represents an inexpensive means of producing cannabinoids as the repertoire of cannabinoids can be expanded and produced in greater quantities.

Co-opting yeast metabolism

To achieve the production of cannabinoids in yeast, the group engineered the biosynthetic pathway. This began with establishing a pathway for the initial intermediate, olivetolic acid.

Olivetolic acid, together with the mevalonate pathway intermediate geranyl pyrophosphate (GPP) are the precursors to Cannabigerolic acid (CBGA). CBGA is the core cannabinoid from which others are derived. This conversion is performed by geranylpyrophosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase (GOT).

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Namely, CBGA is the precursor to tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) and cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) in addition to several of their cannabinoids. GPP was produced by introducing an expression cassette encoding the Enterococcus faecalis genes and overexpression of the native mevalonate pathway gene.

Hexanoyl-CoA, the precursor to olivetolic acid, was produced by an additional heterologous biosynthetic pathway using genes from several bacteria and the cannabis plant itself. Alternatively, hexanoic acid was used as a substrate for the enzyme endogenous acyl activating enzyme (AAE), which converts hexanoic acid into hexanoyl-CoA.
Overcoming a roadblock: compensating for absent GOT activity in cannabis

Keasling et al. were unable to detect GOT activity in the cassette taken from cannabis. To overcome this, the group identified a candidate prenyltransferase from Cannabis that displayed GOT activity.

Expression of genes encoding enzymes to produce olivetolic acid were also introduced. Resulting CBGA was subsequently transformed into the cannabinoid's THCA & CBDA through the action of the cannabinoid synthetases. Following exposure to heat, THC and CBDA were decarboxylated to produce THC and CBD - the primary cannabinoids of interest.

Expanding the chemical space of cannabinoids

Once the intrinsic cannabinoid pathways were expanded, Keasling et al. exploited their capacity to produce unnatural cannabinoids. These encompass cannabinoids that do not result from intrinsic pathways – and can be further derivatized with chemical groups, expanding the range of cannabinoid analogs possible.

Unnatural analogs all an area of active investigation as they demonstrate potentially greater medicinal properties. One of the major pharmacophores, the region of the compound responsible for the biological/ pharmacological interaction, of interest is the sidechain of THC as it can modulate the cannabinoid receptor.

A biosynthetic approach to produce this form of cannabinoid analog was devised by the team; this exploited the promiscuity of yeast metabolic pathways and the nature of the fatty acid precursors.

The team identified a function of the pharmacophore was further altered by post-fermentation modifications, yielding side chains that are difficult to produce by direct incorporation. Proof-of-concept PTMs was performed which yielded a range of products that demonstrated the chemical space accessible to modification can be expanded.

The combined effect was the skew of pathways towards precursors, and eventually, analogs of THCA.

This demonstrated the flexibility of the pathways, producing a greater variety of novel cannabinoids which can be further modified by chemical derivatization post-production – increasing the candidate pool of cannabinoids for potentially clinically useful formulations.
New cannabinoids promise unexpected medical uses

The work published presents the basis for future large-scale fermentation of cannabinoids that does not depend on Cannabis cultivation. The ability to control the flux through these engineered pathways and expand the repertoire of cannabinoids yielded promises a means to produce newer and better-optimized medicines.

Source

Xiaozhou et al. (2019) Complete biosynthesis of cannabinoids and their unnatural analogues in yeast. Nature doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-0978-9

Further Reading
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Cannabis and Psychosis
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More...

Last Updated: Jun 19, 2020



Written by Hidaya Aliouche
Hidaya is a science communications enthusiast who has recently graduated and is embarking on a career in the science and medical copywriting. She has a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from The University of Manchester. She is passionate about writing and is particularly interested in microbiology, immunology, and biochemistry.

Pets Show Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in Italian Study

By Dr. Liji Thomas, MD

Jul 24 2020

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.
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The current COVID-19 pandemic is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which is thought to have originated in animals. This jumped species barriers to infect humans and is now showing rapid and easy transmission between them.



A new study* shows that reverse transmission is probable, with 3-4% of a large number of domestic pets showing antibodies to the infection, though no virus was recovered from any animal.

Almost from the beginning, there have been reports that the virus can infect pet cats and dogs, with some animals showing symptoms of infection. Though these fears were initially decried, sporadic cases continue to be reported.

In these pets, the respiratory or fecal specimens, or both, have tested positive for the virus by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain testing (RT-PCR). Specific antibodies against the virus have also been detected in pet sera.

Targeted experiments also show that dogs are not easily infected and mostly develop an asymptomatic infection, with low viral titers being shed. On the other hand, cats show respiratory infection and shed high titers of the virus, and spread it to other animals as well.
The study: testing pets for SARS-CoV-2

The current study aimed at a more wide-scale testing of animal infection in their natural farm or home conditions. The researchers carried out a comprehensive survey of dogs and cats in Italy, from March to May 2020, in families with cases of COVID-19 or families living in severely affected areas.

Their own vets tested all the animals in the study during routine visits, including over 900 dogs and over 500 cats.

The samples were from nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal or other severely affected areas in humans, or from other convenient sites. This yielded approximately 300 and 180 oropharyngeal swabs, 180 and 80 nasal samples, and 55 and 30 rectal swabs from dogs and cats, respectively.

Altogether, there were 1420 swabs, including around 40 dogs and cats each that were symptomatic at the time of sampling, and about 60 dogs and cats each from families that had one or more positive cases.

However, all were negative on PCR, including those living in households with confirmed cases of COVID-19 and those with and without respiratory symptoms. This suggests the animals were not actively infected at that time.
Serologic testing

Serum samples from around 190 and 60 dogs and cats were available along with the full history and location, and 200 and 90 cats approximately, lacking history but with known locations.

The virus was tested for by RT-PCR targeting the viral nucleoprotein and envelope protein antigens. Plaque neutralization assays for neutralizing antibodies were also carried out to find the highest dilution at which the plaque number was reduced by 80%.

This revealed the presence of specific neutralizing antibodies in 13 dogs and 6 cats, amounting to about 3% and 4% each. The titers detected ranged from 1:20 to 1:160 and from 1:40 to 1:1280 in dogs and cats, respectively. None of these animals were symptomatic at the time of testing.

COVID-19-positive household distribution

The break up among the dogs was as follows: 6/47 dogs and 1/22 cats from COVID-19 positive households, 1/7 dogs from households suspected to be positive, and 2/133 dogs, and 1/38 cats, from households negative for COVID-19.

This means that in households confirmed or suspected to have at least one case, 13% to 14% of dogs were antibody positive, as compared to 5% of cats in only confirmed positive households. In negative households, this dropped to approximately 2% of animals, whether dogs or cats.
Age- and sex-stratified distribution

When stratified by age, they found that of 423 animals of known age, none were infected among the animals below one year. About 7%, 3% and 3% of animals aged 1-3 years, 4-7 years and 8 years or more were positive.

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Some important associations were made. When there were 10 or more samples available, the human case count was strongly and positively correlated with the positive tests in dogs, and also with cats, but to a smaller and less significant extent. Community sampling in humans yielded a comparable seropositivity percentage at a similar period in Europe.

The evidence supports the ability of dogs and cats to seroconvert when living as pets in a COVID-19 positive household and in regions with high burden of human disease. The greater tendency of dogs to develop neutralizing antibodies may reflect the greater susceptibility of dogs to the infection.

More male than female dogs were infected, which may be due to the physiological differences in the sexes. This is different from humans, where infection rates are similar in both even though the disease severity is greater in males.
Implications and importance

The researchers point out, “This is the largest study to investigate SARS-CoV-2 in companion animals to date. We found that companion animals living in areas of high human infection can become infected.”

As often seen in humans, none of the animals below one year of age developed infection as assessed by PCR. This agrees with earlier research findings, and also indicates that older animals should be used in experimental studies, since otherwise the true susceptibility of the animal model may not be detected.

All animals tested positive by PCR, despite the significant percentage of seroconversion. This may mean that viral shedding is very short-lived in pet animals.

This has been observed in studies showing that shedding in cats ceases by 10 days following experimental infection, and neutralizing antibodies are detected by 13 days. In dogs, fecal samples showed the presence of the virus at up to 6 days post infection, but oropharyngeal swabs were negative.

The study notes that a natural infection in a Pomeranian, among the earliest reported, was associated with positive viral RNA in nasal swabs for 13 days, albeit at low levels, but not in fecal or rectal specimens. This may indicate variation in shedding pattern between animals.

Moreover, in another experimental animal study, half the dogs who were infected had demonstrable antibodies by 14 days. This indicates the difficulty in SARS-CoV-2 detection whether in humans or animals.

In the current study, the period that elapsed from infection to seroconversion is unknown. Even if the time of sampling was known, there could well have been delays in sampling due to the difficulty of visiting the vet during the period of lockdown. Therefore, the researchers advise that pets also be sampled to understand the true incidence of infection and viral shedding in the household and the community.

The researchers say that pets are unlikely to be an important route of viral spread, but when animals are present at high density, as on mink breeding farms, the virus may spread from animals to humans more readily.

Once the human-to-human spread is terminated, contact tracing will become more important. At that point, serologic surveys of pets may help provide a broad picture of the changing disease conditions within the community and an early warning of any transmission route left open.

*Important Notice

bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

Journal reference:
Patterson, E. I. et al. (2020). Evidence of Exposure To SARS-Cov-2 In Cats and Dogs from Households in Italy. bioRxiv preprint. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.21.214346. 

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.21.214346v1

Posted in: Disease/Infection News

Written by
Dr. Liji Thomas

Dr. Liji Thomas is an OB-GYN, who graduated from the Government Medical College, University of Calicut, Kerala, in 2001. Liji practiced as a full-time consultant in obstetrics/gynecology in a private hospital for a few years following her graduation. She has counseled hundreds of patients facing issues from pregnancy-related problems and infertility, and has been in charge of over 2,000 deliveries, striving always to achieve a normal delivery rather than operative.

UPDATED
First active Methane Seep discovered in Antarctica

Discovery provides a new understanding of the methane cycle.

BY ASHWINI SAKHARKAR

JULY 23, 2020

The white microbial mats seen here are telltale signs of areas where methane may be released from underground methane deposits. Credit: Andrew Thurber Oregon State University.

Methane seeps a location where methane gas escapes from an underground reservoir and into the ocean. Methane seeps have been found all through the world’s oceans.

A recently discovered methane seep in the Ross Sea is the first active seep found in Antarctica. This discovery offers a new understanding of the methane cycle and the role methane found in this region may play in warming the planet.

Andrew Thurber, a marine ecologist at Oregon State University, said, “Methane is the second-most effective gas at warming our atmosphere and the Antarctic has vast reservoirs that are likely to open up as ice sheets retreat due to climate change. This is a significant discovery that can help fill a large hole in our understanding of the methane cycle.”

Sea stars gather around a microbial mat that can indicate presence of a methane seep. Credit: Andrew Thurber, Oregon State University.

Scientists discovered that microbes around the Antarctic seep are slightly different than those found elsewhere. This helps scientists in understanding methane cycles as well as the factors that determine whether methane will reach the atmosphere and contribute to further warming.

Thurber said, “An expansive microbial mat, about 70 meters long by a meter across, seafloor the sea floor about 10 meters below the frozen ocean surface. These mats, which are produced by bacteria that exist in a symbiotic relationship with methane consumers, are a telltale indication of the presence of a seep.”

“The microbial mat is the road sign that there’s a methane seep here. We don’t know what caused these seeps to turn on. We needed some dumb luck to find an active one, and we got it.”

A scientist explores the shallow areas of Antarctica looking for microbial mats, which are telltale signs of areas where methane may be released from underground methane deposits. Credit: Andrew Thurber, Oregon State University

Scientists studied the site for five years to see how microbes respond to the formation of a seep. The interesting fact was the microbial community did not develop as previously predicted based on other methane seeps we have studied around the globe.

It was assumed that microbes should respond quickly to changes in the environment, but that wasn’t reflected in what OSU’s team saw in Antarctica.

Thurber said, “To add to the mystery of the Antarctic seeps, the microbes we found were the ones we least expected to see at this location. There may be a succession pattern for microbes, with certain groups arriving first and those that are most effective at eating methane arriving later.”
\

“We’ve never had the opportunity to study a seep as its forming or one in Antarctica, because of this discovery we can now uncover whether seeps just function differently in Antarctica or whether it may take years for the microbial communities to become adapted.”

“It is important to understand how methane seeps behave in this environment so researchers can begin factoring those differences into climate change models.”

Journal Reference:

Andrew R. Thurber et al. Riddles in the cold: Antarctic endemism and microbial succession impact methane cycling in the Southern Ocean. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1134

NOISE POLLUTION 

COVID-19 lockdowns halve human-related seismic vibrations across globe
By Nick Lavars July 23, 2020


A reduction in human activity has resulted in a pronounced "quiet period" for seismic noise
dusan964/Depositphotos

As much of the world has ground to a halt in 2020 due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, it has provided scientists with a unique opportunity to observe some of the impacts we humans have on the planet. Researchers from Imperial College London have delved into what these lockdowns have meant for human-caused Earth vibrations, leading to the discovery of what they say is the longest and most pronounced quiet period of seismic noise in recorded history.

With less humans on the move, we have seen significant dips in carbon emissions and air pollution at different points of 2020, with the latter even being shown to boost the output of solar panels in certain cities.

The new study centers on seismic noise generated by vibrations in the Earth. While these can come from natural phenomena like earthquakes and volcanoes, they can also be generated by human activity such as travel and industry.

These vibrations are measured by seismometers, and by looking at data taken from stations around the world scientists can track declines in human-generated seismic noise. These have previously been observed during lulls like the Christmas and New Year period, but the new analysis shows that the COVID-19 lockdowns have taken things to a whole new level.

The data was sourced from 268 seismic stations in 117 different countries, and significant reductions in noise were observed at 185 of those following the lockdowns in many areas. In all, this amounted to an average drop in human-generated vibrations of 50 percent between March and May this year, with the largest drops seen in dense urban areas such as New York City and Singapore.

They study drew on data from 268 seismic stations in 117 countries
Lecocq et al.

“This quiet period is the longest and largest dampening of human-caused seismic noise since we started monitoring the Earth in detail using vast monitoring networks of seismometers,” says study co-author Dr Stephen Hicks.

Beyond offering another interesting insight into the effects of the pandemic, the research also opens up new pathways of study relating to human-generated noise and natural seismic vibrations. The quiet time has enabled the scientists to tune into more subtle earthquake signals that would otherwise be drowned out, which might be indicative of impending disasters and could lead to new and improved techniques to detect the warning signs.

“The lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic may have given us a glimmer of insight into how human and natural noise interacts with the Earth,” says Hicks. “We hope this insight will spawn new studies that help us listen better to the Earth and understand natural signals we would otherwise have missed.”

The research was published in the journal Science, while the video below offers a visualization of the shift in seismic noice as the lockdowns took effect.

COVID-19 lockdown caused 50% global reduction in human-linked Earth vibrations

Source: Imperial College London

NOISE POLLUTION
Boost for earthquake, volcano research from fall in noise during Covid-19 lockdowns
Michael Daly Jul 24 2020

LAWRENCE SMITH/JASON DORDAY STUFF.CO.NZ

Auckland has become a ghost town during the level 4 lockdown, with deserted streets, motorways and beaches.

A quietening during Covid-19 lockdowns of the seismic noise created by human activity could lead to new insights into earthquake and volcanic activity, particularly in urban areas.

Seismologists analysed datasets from more than 300 international seismic stations – some in New Zealand - and found the buzz of human activity dropped dramatically during lockdowns, the University of Auckland said.

The study provided the first evidence that previously concealed earthquake signals, especially during daytime, were much clearer on seismic sensors with reduced noise from human activity.

Less seismic noise during lockdowns could help researchers uncover new insights about earthquake and volcanic behaviour, particularly in urban areas.

Researchers hoped the findings would help them detect previously hidden signals from earthquakes and volcanoes in future, the university said.


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University of Auckland seismologist Dr Kaspar van Wijk was among those involved in the study.

“One day a volcano in Auckland’s volcanic field will erupt but it will create seismic signals before that happens and this study reminds us that if humans made less noise, we would get an earlier warning,” he said.

Professor Martha Savage, from Victoria University of Wellington, also took part. The study could contribute to geological research, she said.

“Earthquake signals can often be concealed or obscured by seismic noise, but they appeared much more clearly on the seismometers during lockdown. This data could be used to find new insights about earthquake activity and volcanic activity, particularly in urban areas.”

DOMINICO ZAPATA/STUFF
The Waikato Expressway during the lockdown for coronavirus.

A team of 76 researchers from 66 institutions in 27 countries worked on the study. They were able to clearly link reductions in human activity with lower seismic readings, Savage said.

“This is exciting for future research, as it gives us a way to broadly track human activity in near real-time without affecting people’s privacy, as we don’t need to track specific people or sources of noise.

“This could be used now to track the effects of pandemics and the recovery from Covid-19 and how it has impacted human activity.”

The quiet period during the lockdowns was the most prominent seismic noise reduction on record.

UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
Seismologist Dr Kasper van Wijk from the University of Auckland

A report on the study, published in the journal Science, said the researchers found a near-global reduction in noise of up to 50 per cent, starting in China in late January, then followed by Europe and the rest of the world in March and April.

Human activity caused vibrations that spread into the ground as high-frequency seismic waves, and the biggest falls in seismic noise from those waves during the lockdowns was found in populated areas.

While lockdown effects were seen most strongly at surface seismic stations, researchers also detected them underground, including on seismometers installed in boreholes in Auckland to minimise the effects of human activity.

One of those seismometers is buried 380 metres under Eden Park and another is 98m down under Motutapu Island.

Measurements of high-Frequency Seismic Ambient Noise (hiFSAN) levels at both stations varied between weekdays and weekends before the lockdown, suggesting both were sensitive to human activity, the report said.

While the island station was quieter overall, the lockdown led to a halving of seismic noise at both stations.

A spike in noise at the Motutapu station during lockdown was thought to have been caused by strong winds and high waves. After restrictions were lifted, seismic noise returned to pre-lockdown levels.

ABIGAIL DOUGHERTY/STUFF
Built on a volcanic field, Auckland is akey focus for seismologists

Understanding the sources of seismic noise in urban areas was vital, with human activity degrading the capability of seismic networks to detect signals associated with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the report said.

The ability to analyse the full spectrum of behaviour capable of generating earthquakes was essential for monitoring fault dynamics, and for earthquake forecasting and seismic hazard assessment.

Small earthquakes should dominate datasets but many of the smallest earthquakes were often missing.

“This detection issue is especially problematic in populated areas, where anthropogenic noise energy interferes with earthquake signals,” the report said.

Low noise levels during lockdowns could allow detection of seismic signals from new sources in areas with incomplete seismic catalogues. Those signals could be used to find similar activity before and after lockdown when there was more seismic noise.

The same approach worked for tremor signals masked by human activity that were vital for monitoring potential volcanic unrest.

Any increase in the use of low-cost sensors in urban areas would need a better understanding of the sources of seismic noise caused by human activity to suppress false detections.

Huxley, Julian. 1924. “America Revisited III: The Negro Problem.” 
Spectator 133 (November): 821–22.

HP LOVECRAFT, ALEISTER CROWLEY ARE IN GOOD COMPANY WITH THIS ARYAN PSEUDO ANTHROPOLOGICAL PSEUDO SCIENTIFIC TREATISE BY THE HUMANIST JULIAN HUXLEY. IN FACT HE OUT DOES THEM IN RACISM. TRIGGER WARNING
OPPS TOO LATE YOU LOOKED

THE USE OF THE N WORD IS NOT THE MOST OFFENSIVE IT IS THE MAMMIE BEING CHILD LIKE
BLACK FOLKS NOT HAVING WHITE BRAINS ETC. ETC.

ARYAN PRIVILEGE WAS PROUDLY PRACTICED IN THOSE DAYS 

SURPRISING CONSIDERING THAT THE ABOLITIONISTS PUBLISHED HIS DADDY T H HUXLEY ON THE NEGRO QUESTION.

Professor Huxley on the Negro question

by Taylor, P. A

Publication date 1864

Publisher London : Printed and pub. for the Ladies' London Emancipation Society, by Emily Faithfull

https://archive.org/details/professorhuxleyo00tayl/page/14/mode/2up

A  Planetary  Utopia By Julian Huxley Unesco Courier (Feb 1991)

https://archive.org/details/huxleythequestforutopia/mode/2up

 

On Living In A Revolution by Julian Huxley
Publication date 1944


Scientific Research And Social Needs
by Julian Huxley
Publication date 1934
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.187165/page/n13/mode/2up