New York Attorney General sues Buffalo Diocese for 'sex abuse cover-up' 

OF THE FAILURE OF CELIBACY

11/23/2020

The Buffalo Diocese has been grappling with coverup allegations

New York's Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against the Buffalo Catholic Diocese, alleging its leaders protected priests accused of child sex abuse.

Attorney General Letita James said the diocese and two now-retired leaders failed to refer over two dozen accused priests to the Vatican for removal.

In response, the diocese pledged "full cooperation" with authorities.

It is the first suit to come from a state inquiry that began in 2018. Seven other dioceses are under investigation.

Announcing the lawsuit on Twitter, Ms James promised to bring those responsible to justice.

"While we will never be able to undo these horrific acts, we will do everything in our power to hold the Buffalo Diocese and its leadership accountable and ensure this never happens again."

The lawsuit, which included a 218-page report on the two-year investigation into the diocese, alleges that though leaders found sex abuse complaints to be credible, they protected the accused.

They also failed to properly supervise or monitor these priests, the lawsuit claims.

By instead marking them as "unassignable", the accused were able to retire or take leave, while receiving benefits, rather than being potentially removed from the clergy by the Vatican.

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New York and other states have launched new investigations in recent years.

The Buffalo diocese said it would review the suit brought by Ms James and cooperate fully. "In the meantime, we wish to reiterate that there is zero tolerance for sexual abuse of a minor or...of sexual harassment of an adult in the Diocese of Buffalo by any member of the clergy, employee or volunteer," a spokesman said.

What does the lawsuit say?

In 2002, US Catholic churches adopted policies to protect minors from clergy sex abuse, following a Boston Globe newspaper investigation that put the issue in the national spotlight.

Sex abuse and the Catholic Church

The state says sexual abuse complaints in Buffalo "continued unabated" from 2002 onward, but the diocese "operated to conceal the actual nature and scope of the sexual abuse allegations".


Ms James' office argues in the suit that there must be independent review mechanisms, external oversight, and mandatory reporting to the Attorney General for five years.


By failing to refer priests, the diocese prevented "determination of the merits of the allegations", and "deprived the accused and victims of an opportunity to be heard", the report states.

In addition, the suit seeks to hold the two bishops who oversaw the alleged cover-up, Bishop Richard Malone and Auxiliary Bishop Edward Grosz individually responsible.

They are accused of violating nonprofit and estate, powers and trusts laws.

The two former leaders would be barred from any future service in a secular leadership role in the state, and the state is also seeking damages against them for the waste of "charitable assets caused by their misconduct".

They do not face any criminal charges.

Bishop Malone resigned last December amid accusations of covering up abuses, while Bishop Grosz retired this March.

What are the abuse allegations?

The state report says in a number of instances, priests were allowed to remain in ministry or falsely classified as retired, on medical leave or sabbatical when they were in fact removed over allegations of abuse.

One priest was allowed to remain in ministry out of state even after the diocese learned of eight alleged sexual abuse cases involving young girls, the report states.

Another who was found by the church to have groomed a minor and "engaged in inappropriate sexual misconduct with adults" was also allowed to remain.

Other priests in the diocese were accused of other abuses, including taking minors to see pornographic movies, discussing inappropriate topics, and molesting young girls and altar boys.

SCOTLAND

'Clear support' for industrial action over Covid safety 

Survey of over 18,500 teachers reveals that fewer than a third feel safe from Covid infection in Scottish schools

Henry Hepburn

Today 

Fewer than a third of teachers feel safe from potential Covid-19 infection in schools, according to a survey by Scotland’s largest teaching union.

The EIS has now indicated that there is "clear support for moving to industrial action" in areas worst affected by the coronavirus.

The union surveyed 18,733 teachers across Scotland on Covid safety in schools over the past week, gauging teachers’ views on issues such as procedures in schools, whether schools should remain fully open or move to blended or remote learning in areas under more severe restrictions, and teachers’ willingness to take industrial action in areas where they believe schools are unsafe.

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Open letter to Nicola Sturgeon: 'You have the lives of school staff in your hands'

Also today: 'Teachers feel underappreciated like never before'

Background: Most severe Covid restrictions to cover much of Scotland

School staffing during Covid: Scottish Parliament backs call for extra 2,000 teachers

Coronavirus: Questions raised over data on teachers with Covid

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The survey findings include:

• Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of teachers either "supported" (48 per cent) or "fully supported" (16 per cent) the Scottish government decision to prioritise keeping schools open, where possible.
• Fewer than one-third of teachers (31 per cent) felt "safe" (26 per cent) or "very safe" (5 per cent) in schools under current Covid safety measures.
• In coronavirus Level 3 areas, there was clear support (86 per cent) for schools remaining open, although 48 per cent believed this should be on a blended learning model to enable physical distancing.
• In coronavirus Level 4 areas, 51 per cent believed that remote learning should be introduced on safety grounds, although 45 per cent supported either a blended learning approach (34 per cent) or maintaining current arrangements but with extra safety mitigations (11 per cent).
• Despite the support for keeping schools open where safe to do so, 66 per cent indicated a willingness to support industrial action, including strike action, in protest at failure to move to blended or remote learning in Level 4 areas.
• 33 per cent were either in a "vulnerable" category themselves (9 per cent) or lived with, or provided care for, someone who was in a vulnerable group (24 per cent); these groups include members who are in the former shielding category, identify as BAME (black, Asian and/or minority ethnic) and who are pregnant.

EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said: "These survey findings confirm that the majority of Scotland’s teachers want to be in school working with pupils, and support the aim of keeping schools open where possible. Despite this, however, it is clear that a significant number of teachers – 43 per cent – do not feel safe working in schools under the existing arrangements.

Coronavirus: Teachers feel 'at risk' in schools

"This feeling of being at risk is particularly heightened for teachers in secondary schools, for teachers in higher risk areas under Level 3 or Level 4 restrictions, and for teachers in vulnerable groups or who live with or provide care for vulnerable family members."

Mr Flanagan added: "Although members hold a range of opinions on the best means of keeping pupils and teachers safe, there is clear support for moving to industrial action in higher risk areas to protest where teachers feel that the measures required to keep schools safe have not been delivered."

Mr Flanagan said: "For Level 4 restrictions to be as effective as we would wish them to be, short-term closure or part closure of schools need to be considered."

The EIS survey results were released during the Scottish government's daily coronavirus briefing. First minister Nicola Sturgeon said she had not seen the EIS release and would examine it before responding.

Sample comments from teachers in the survey include:

• “My fear is that I am bringing in hundreds of potential contacts into my home. My children attend a different secondary school, and they are also bringing hundreds of contacts into the home every day. Despite the mitigations, pupils are not wearing face coverings as recommended in the guidance and this has the potential to infect others as social distancing between pupils is impossible in schools.”
• “It seems that the council is not keen to let the staff, pupils and parents know what the prevalence is in the school...The absence of information leads to rumour and a less trusting environment, and less goodwill.”
• “While staff and pupils are all trying their best to comply with wearing face coverings and regular handwashing and sanitising, the idea that staff and pupils can always remain at a two-metre distance is unrealistic and at times practically impossible.”
• “I would like to see us campaigning to be held on an equal footing to NHS staff as regards priority for flu vaccines.”
• “We cannot do everything, and at times are being asked to teach online and teach in class as well as keep track of kids who are isolating on top of massive pressure from the SQA [Scottish Qualifications Authority]. In these uncertain times, I feel that teachers are being asked to step outside of our jobs and put our health (mental and physical) on the line with little to no consideration.”
• “It appears like we don’t matter and are totally replaceable within our school roles...The government forget that we are not replaceable to our own kids and families.”

Henry Hepburn

Henry Hepburn is the news editor for Tes Scotland

Clashes in Poland as police remove pro-choice activists chained to Warsaw’s Ministry of Education
23 Nov, 2020 Get short URL

Demonstrators scuffle with police during a protest in Warsaw, 

Poland on November 23, 2020 

© Maciek Jazwiecki/Agencja Gazeta/via REUTERS

Police in Warsaw clashed with demonstrators who chained themselves to the gates of the Ministry of National Education and staged a roadblock on a bridge on Monday in protest over Poland’s toughening of abortion rights.

Huge protests have erupted in recent weeks over the ruling in October by Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal that the abortion of fetuses with serious defects was unconstitutional.

On Monday, police drafted in a tow truck to remove cars from the Polish capital’s Łazienkowski Bridge after they had been left there as part of a blockade organized by the national Women’s Strike movement (Strajk Kobiet).

Outside the Ministry of National Education, protesters raised a banner that read “Free Abortion, Free Education,” and reportedly chanted “schools free of fascism.”

Blokada ministerstwa edukacji, baner wolna aborcja, wolna edukacja, tłum krzyczy strażacy chodźcie z nami oraz faszyści policja jedna koalicjaWarszawa 23 XI 2020@WlodekCiejkaTvpic.twitter.com/mAH4chex8f— Jarek Witkowski 📷😜🍏🐧⛺🚴‍♀️🚂🇵🇱🇪🇺☮😜 (@JarekWitkowski7) November 23, 2020

Policja zatrzymuje kolejnych protestujących pod MEN. #STRAJKKOBIETpic.twitter.com/SQitzRx4pi— Mateusz Maranowski (@m_maranowski) November 23, 2020

One person needed medical assistance after using quick-drying glue to stick their hand to the entrance of the building, a Warsaw Police spokesperson said.

A police statement also said that an ambulance was called for another protester who had cut her hand on the grates of a police-car window.

According to Szpila, an “anti-repression” group, four protesters were detained by police.

Officers did not confirm how many arrests had been made during Monday’s protests, but said that all those detained had now been released.

Journalist Agata Grzybowska, who works for Gazeta Wyborcza and Associated Press, was reportedly arrested after failing to identify herself, with footage posted to social media showing her being hauled into a police van.

.@AP and @gazeta_wyborcza journalist Agata Grzybowska is being held by the police at Wilcza 21. She was documenting protests outside of Ministry of National Education. She clearly showed her Press ID, other journalists tried to defend her. shame @Policja_KSP@PolskaPolicjapic.twitter.com/HNIBry5LR5— Janina Ochojska (@JaninaOchojska) November 23, 2020

#Poland: We strongly protest the detention earlier today of @AP & @gazeta_wyborcza photojournalist Agata Grzybowska in #Warsaw.She was escorted to a police van & arrested despite showing officers her "press" ID. Agata must be released immediately. @PLPermRepCoE@Bart_Wielinskipic.twitter.com/VBwc6qPYGS— IPI - The Global Network for Press Freedom (@globalfreemedia) November 23, 2020

Protesters could later be seen massing in the street outside the police station where Grzybowska was believed to be held, chanting “free the detainees!”

Demonstracja solidarnościowa #Strajkkobiet przed komisariatem na Wilczej, gdzie zostały przewiezione osoby zatrzymana przed @MEN_GOV_PLpic.twitter.com/LpLeT6KbPW— Marcin Terlik (@MarcinTerlik) November 23, 2020

Warszawa. Ulica Wilcza. Protestujący nie przepuszczają karetki na sygnale. pic.twitter.com/Y5pIluE7ZD— Jakub Marciniak 🇵🇱 (@marciniak_j01) November 23, 2020

A police car involved in the response to the protests was also damaged, a spokesman for the force said, although he denied reports that a vehicle had collided with a protester.

Monday’s protests come after a large demonstration in the Polish capital at the end of October, which drew tens of thousands of people. The country already had some of Europe’s strictest abortion laws before the ruling, which effectively now bans the medical procedure.

Looking for a chess set for Christmas? ‘Queen’s Gambit’ on Netflix is making it tough


BY MIKE STUNSON
NOVEMBER 23, 2020 

The Queen's Gambit official trailer

Netflix's The Queen’s Gambit - an adaptation of Walter Tevis’ novel - follows a young chess prodigy’s rise from an orphanage to the world stage. But genius comes with a cost. The show debuts stars Anya Taylor-Joy. BY NETFLIX

The Netflix limited series “The Queen’s Gambit” has attracted a new generation of chess players, while making it increasingly difficult to find a chess set.

Already the most-watched scripted limited series in Netflix’s history, “The Queen’s Gambit” has led to a surge in popularity for chess. The show centers around Beth Harmon, who learns chess at a Kentucky orphanage before later becoming one of the best chess players in the world.

Google searches for “How to play chess” reached a 9-year peak following the release of the series, Netflix said Monday.

October sales for chess sets at Goliath Games “were up 178%” in October from the same period last year and sales at toy company Spin Master “increased triple digits,” NPR reported. Sales spiked 215% on eBay, according to NPR.

“Six months ago, a year ago, these retailers weren’t saying, let’s load up on chess sets,” toy analyst Gerrick Johnson told NPR. “Good luck finding a chess set this holiday!”

READ NEXT
LINDA-BLACKFORD
The writer, the series, the chess and the Kentucky stories behind ‘The Queen’s Gambit’
NOVEMBER 19, 2020 11:47 AM

In the digital age, you can play chess online or even watch live games. Chess24.com, which live streams matches, has “seen an enormous surge in interest,” Insider reported.

Last month, 4.2 million hours of chess were watched on Twitch, compared to 2.4 million hours in October 2019, the New York Times reported. Popularity in the sport has also surged because of the COVID-19 pandemic, outlets have reported.

One chess streamer, Levy Rozman, said he experienced “The Queen’s Gambit effect” on one of his videos, Salon reported.

“I had a video called ‘How to play the Queen’s gambit’ that I made on August 31st... It’s now the most-viewed video I have,” he said. “It gained 150,000 views in two weeks. My average for views was like 70,000 a day. I’m now at half a million.”


Chess.com, where you can play against others online, had record days for most new members almost every day of November, Nick Barton, director of business development, told the Boston Globe.

Membership to the U.S. Chess Federation is also rising because of the show, according to the Times.

“More and more people are playing more and more games than ever before in history,” David Llada, a spokesman for the International Chess Federation, told the Times.

About 30 million children are in a school chess program, but Llada told Insider he expects that to rise to 50 million.

“Millions have realized now what a cool game it is,” Llada told Insider.

The Queen's Gambit: Meet the real life women chess masters

Meet 25-year-old Alexandra and her 18-year-old sister Andrea.

Hundreds of thousands of people watch their games of chess on Twitch and YouTube.

After chess-based drama The Queen’s Gambit soared to popularity on Netflix, Radio 1 Newsbeat spoke to Alexandra and Andrea about how realistic it is, and what the online chess community is like.

Interviews by Annabel Rackham, edited by Kirsty Grant.

Researchers observe instance of cannibalism in wild white‐faced capuchin monkeys

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A team of researchers with the University of Tokyo, Área de Conservación Guanacaste, the University of Calgary and Tulane University has reported observation of an instance of cannibalism in wild white‐faced capuchin monkeys. In their paper published on the open access site Ecology and Evolution the group describes an incident in which adult wild white‐faced capuchin monkeys consumed some of the remains of a 10-day old infant.

As the researchers note, cannibalism has been observed in a wide variety of animals, though it is rare in mammals. In this new effort, the researchers were taking part in a decades-long study of white-faced capuchins in the Santa Rosa National Park in Costa Rica. As they were observing the monkeys going about their normal daily activities, they saw a 10-day old infant fall from a tree. The mother ran to its side but could not revive it. Soon, it became clear that the infant was dead. At that point, the mother wandered away from the infant, leaving it on the forest floor. A few minutes later, a two-year-old male approached the dead infant and began nibbling on its fingers. He was joined soon thereafter by a 23-year-old alpha female who began chewing on the infant's toes and feet.

Cannibalism has been observed in other animals, the researchers note, during times of food scarcity, but that was not the case with the monkeys they were studying. They note that most often when a young capuchin monkey dies, the mother carries it off into the forest, away from other members of the group. In this instance, the mother was quite young and did not appear to know what she was supposed to do when she found her young offspring had died from its fall—that might explain why others in the group chose to eat it. The researchers note that cannibalism is rare among primates because it carries the risk of disease. The observation of cannibalism in the capuchin monkeys is the first ever seen in the species. And though they are omnivorous, they very rarely eat anything they have not killed themselves.

Notably, the young male and older female did not entirely consume the infant carcass—after eating its hands and lower extremities, they left it alone on the forest floor. Soon thereafter, the researchers retrieved the body for study purposes.


Explore further Evidence of capuchin monkeys using tools 3000 years ago

More information: Mari Nishikawa et al. Infant cannibalism in wild white‐faced capuchin monkeys, Ecology and Evolution (2020). DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6901

Journal information: Ecology and Evolution

Scientists characterize second known minimoon

by Kevin Schindler, Lowell Observatory

International Gemini Observatory image of 2020 CD3 (center, point source) obtained with the 8-meter Gemini North telescope on Hawaii’s Maunakea. The image combines three images each obtained using different filters to produce this color composite. 2020 CD3 remains stationary in the image since it was being tracked by the telescope as it appears to move relative to the background stars, which appear trailed due to the object’s motion. 

Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/G. Fedorets

Astronomers using data collected with the Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT) have helped to characterize only the second known minimoon of Earth, a newly discovered asteroid with the designation 2020 CD3, or CD3 for short. The LDT observations helped to clarify both the rotation rate and the orbit of this diminutive body, the latter of which helped prove that CD3 is a natural body and not some relic piece of human-made space junk.

Minimoons are small asteroids temporarily captured into orbit around Earth. Within about a year, they are flung back into interplanetary space. The first known minimoon, 2006 RH120, was detected 14 years ago.

CD3 was discovered on February 15, 2020 by Kacper Wierzchos and Teddy Pruyne via the Catalina Sky Survey, operating out of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Due to the rarity of minimoons, a global effort led by postdoctoral research fellow Grigori Fedorets of Queen's University Belfast was quickly launched to study this object. Twenty-three researchers from 14 academic institutions in seven countries participated, using several telescopes including the LDT. The team made observations through mid-May 2020 and published their results today in The Astronomical Journal.

Lowell Observatory astronomer Nick Moskovitz and former Lowell postdoctoral fellow/current Arecibo Observatory scientist Maxime Devogele participated in the effort, assisted in observing on the LDT by the University of Maryland's Quanzhi Ye. By measuring CD3's changing brightness over time (i.e. its light curve) with the Large Monolithic Imager (LMI) on the LDT, they established its rotation rate to be about three minutes. Fedorets said, "The rotation rate was probably the largest unanswered question of this research. The Lowell team showed that it rotates slower than anticipated for objects of this size range."

Moskovitz and his Lowell colleagues also used the LMI/LDT combination to precisely measure CD3's position to refine its orbit. This information, combined with CD3's physical characteristics—such as an inferred silicate composition—indicate this is certainly a natural object. This distinguishes it from another recently discovered object, 2020 SO, which scientists believe may be the upper stage of NASA's Surveyor 2 spacecraft.

The study estimates CD3 is approximately 1-1.5 meters in diameter—about the size of a small car— and that it came within about 13,000 kilometers (8,100 miles) of Earth at closest approach. Observing objects this small is challenging and requires a telescope big enough to see them. In addition, their transient nature means the window of time to observe them can close quickly. Enter the 4.3-meter LDT, Lowell Observatory's flagship telescope. Its large size and ready availability make it optimized for such studies. Moskovitz said, "This object wasn't bright enough to study for very long. The fact that we have this telescope in our backyard and were able to rapidly respond really made a difference."

The global response to CD3 may very well serve as a template for future minimoon studies, which scientists anticipate to happen soon. According to Fedorets, "Minimoons are expected to be discovered in high numbers in the following decade, with the opening of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory expected in 2023." This facility is now being built in Chile and features an 8.4-meter telescope that will allow astronomers to detect many more small bodies such as minimoons.

Scientists are interested in learning more about these bodies for several reasons. Because minimoons are close to Earth, they are potentially accessible targets for robotic or human exploration. Such efforts will be scientifically valuable to understand the origin of these objects and their relationship to other asteroid and comet populations in the solar system. These objects could also someday be commercially important as targets for in-space resource mining.


Explore further Earth captures new 'mini moon'
More information: Grigori Fedorets et al. Establishing Earth's Minimoon Population through Characterization of Asteroid 2020 CD3, The Astronomical Journal (2020). 

DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/abc3bc

Journal information: Astronomical Journal

Provided by Lowell Observatory

A planet-forming disk still fed by the mother cloud

by Max Planck Society

This false-color image shows the filaments of accretion around the protostar [BHB2007] 1. The large structures are inflows of molecular gas (CO) nurturing the disk surrounding the protostar. The inset shows the dust emission from the disk, which is seen edge-on. The "holes" in the dust map represent an enormous ringed cavity seen (sideways) in the disk structure. Credit: MPE

Stellar systems like our own form inside interstellar clouds of gas and dust that collapse producing young stars surrounded by protoplanetary disks. Planets form within these protoplanetary disks, leaving clear gaps, which have been recently observed in evolved systems, at the time when the mother cloud has been cleared out. ALMA has now revealed an evolved protoplanetary disk with a large gap still being fed by the surrounding cloud via large accretion filaments. This shows that accretion of material onto the protoplanetary disk is continuing for times longer than previously thought, affecting the evolution of the future planetary system.

A team of astronomers led by Dr. Felipe Alves from the Center for Astrochemical Studies (CAS) at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to study the accretion process in the stellar object [BHB2007] 1, a system located at the tip of the Pipe Molecular Cloud. The ALMA data reveal a disk of dust and gas around the protostar, and large filaments of gas around this disk. The scientists interpret these filaments as accretion streamers feeding the disk with material extracted from the ambient cloud.

The disk reprocesses the accreted material, delivering it to the protostar. The structure observed is very unusual for stellar objects at this stage of evolution—with an estimated age of 1,000,000 years—when circumstellar disks are already formed and matured for planet formation. "We were quite surprised to observe such prominent accretion filaments falling into the disk," said Alves. "The accretion filament activity demonstrates that the disk is still growing while simultaneously nurturing the protostar."

The team also reports the presence of an enormous cavity within the disk. The cavity has a width of 70 astronomical units, and it encompasses a compact zone of hot molecular gas. In addition, supplementary data at radio frequencies by the Very Large Array (VLA) point to the existence of non-thermal emission in the same spot where the hot gas was detected. These two lines of evidence indicate that a substellar object—a young giant planet or brown dwarf—is present within the cavity. As this companion accretes material from the disk, it heats up the gas and possibly powers strong ionized winds and/or jets. The team estimates that an object with a mass between 4 and 70 Jupiter masses is needed to produce the observed gap in the disk.

Two different observations of the protoplanetary disk show signatures of the formation of a companion to the protostar . The gray scale represents the dust thermal emission from the disk, same as in the inset of Fig. 1. The red/blue contours show the molecular CO brightness emission levels from the northern/southern side of the dust cavity observed with ALMA. The brighter CO emission from the south indicates that the gas is hotter there. This location coincides with a zone of non-thermal emission tracing ionized gas (green contours) observed with the VLA (middle), which is observed in addition to the protostar (center of the image). The team proposes that both the ionized gas and the hot molecular gas are due to the presence of a protoplanet or a brown dwarf in the cavity. The configuration of such a system is shown in the sketch on the right. Credit: MPE; illustration: Gabriel A. P. Franco

"We present a new case of star and planet formation happening in tandem," states Paola Caselli, director at MPE and head of the CAS group. "Our observations strongly indicate that protoplanetary disks keep accreting material also after planet formation has started. This is important because the fresh material falling onto the disk will affect both the chemical composition of the future planetary system and the dynamical evolution of the whole disk." These observations also put new time constraints for planet formation and disk evolution, shedding light on how stellar systems like our own are sculpted from the original cloud.


Explore further 

Astronomers observe how two suns collect matter in a binary system

More information: Felipe O. Alves et al. A Case of Simultaneous Star and Planet Formation, 

The Astrophysical Journal (2020). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/abc550

Journal information: Astrophysical Journal

Provided by Max Planck Society

Moths strike out in evolutionary arms race with sophisticated wing design

by University of Bristol

Composite image of the moth Antheraea pernyi (top) and the butterfly Graphium agamemnon (bottom) showing photographs on the left and ultrasound echo image (tomography) on the right. Note how moth wings have weaker echoes (acoustic image) than butterfly wings. Credit: Simon Reichel, Thomas Neil, Zhiyuan Shen & Marc Holderied

Ultra-thin, super-absorbent and extraordinarily designed to detract attention, the wings of moths could hold the key for developing technological solutions to survive in a noisy world.


As revealed in a new study published today in PNAS, researchers from the University of Bristol have discovered the precise construction of moths wings that have enabled the species to evade its most troublesome predator in a 65 million-year-old evolutionary arms race.

Using an array of analytical techniques, including airborne cross-sectional imaging, acoustic-mechanics and refractometry, the team from Bristol's School of Biological Sciences found that the very thin scale layer on moth wings has evolved extraordinary ultrasound-absorptive properties that provide stealth acoustic camouflage against echolocating bats.

What makes the team's discovery even more remarkable is that they have identified the first known naturally occurring acoustic metamaterial. A metamaterial traditionally describes an artificial composite material engineered to display physical properties that surpass those available in nature. Naturally occurring metamaterials are extremely rare and had previously never been described in the world of acoustics.

False-colour 3D representation of a 0.21 mm x 0.28 mm wing section of the moth Lasiocampa quercus showing structure, diversity and arrangement of base scales (orange) and cover scales (blue and yellow). 

Credit: Simon Reichel, Thomas Neil, Zhiyuan Shen & Marc Holderied

Earlier this year, behavioural acoustics and sensory ecology expert Dr. Marc Holderied and his co-researchers reported how deaf moths had evolved ultrasound absorbing scales on their bodies that allowed them to absorb 85 per cent of the incoming sound energy that bats use to detect them.

The need to survive meant that moths evolved a 1.5mm deep scale protective barrier that acts as a porous sound absorber. Such a protective barrier would not work on the wings though, where the increased thickness would hinder the moths' ability to fly. A key feature of acoustic metamaterials is that they are much smaller than the wavelength of sound that they are acting on, allowing them to be much thinner than traditionally constructed sound absorbers.

In this latest study, the Bristol team, led by co first authors Dr. Thomas Neil and Dr. Zhiyuan Shen, reveal that moths have gone one life-saving step further, creating a resonant absorber that is 100 times thinner than the wavelength of the sound it absorbs, thus enabling the insects to maintain their lightness while reducing the potential for bats to detect the echoes of their wings in flight.

By examining the sophisticated cross-sectional images of sound captured using ultrasound tomography, the team discovered that moth wings have evolved to make a resonant absorber that is effective protection against echolocating bats. The findings could significantly bolster the efforts of material scientists, acousticians and sonar engineers to design bio-inspired sound absorbers with exceptional deep-subwavelength performance.

False-colour 3D representation of a 0.21 mm x 0.28 mm wing section of the moth Lasiocampa quercus showing structure, diversity and arrangement of base scales (orange) and cover scales (blue and yellow).

 Credit: Simon Reichel, Thomas Neil, Zhiyuan Shen & Marc Holderied

"Most amazingly, moth wings also evolved a way to make a resonant absorber absorb all bat frequencies, by adding another amazing feature—they assemble many of these resonators individually tuned to different frequencies into an array of absorbers, which together create broadband absorption by acting as an acoustic metamaterial—the first known in nature," said head researcher Dr. Holderied. "Such a broadband absorption is very hard to achieve in the ultrathin structures of moths' wings, which is what makes it so remarkable."

This goes well beyond the limits attainable with classical porous absorbers of the kind currently used to absorb sound in office environments which use large, thick materials.

Dr. Holderied added: "The promise is one of much thinner sound absorbers for our homes and offices, we would be getting close to a much more versatile and acceptable sound absorber 'wallpaper' rather than bulky absorber panels."

This latest study builds on the team's earlier work on acousto-mechanics of individual scales, and shows how the more traditional sound absorption by scales on moth bodies can be achieved with much thinner structures on wings to provide whole organism acoustic protection.

Explore further

Resonant mechanism discovery could inspire ultra-thin acoustic absorbers

More information: Thomas R. Neil el al., "Moth wings are acoustic metamaterials," PNAS (2020). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2014531117

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Provided by University of Bristol

#SPACERACE 2.0

China launches mission to bring back material from moon

by Sam McNeil

Flags with the logo of the Communist Party of China fly in the breeze near a launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Wenchang in southern China's Hainan province, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Chinese technicians were making final preparations Monday for a mission to bring back material from the moon's surface for the first time in nearly half a century—an undertaking that could boost human understanding of the moon and of the solar system more generally. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

China launched an ambitious mission on Tuesday to bring back rocks and debris from the moon's surface for the first time in more than 40 years—an undertaking that could boost human understanding of the moon and of the solar system more generally.

Chang'e 5—named for the Chinese moon goddess—is the country's boldest lunar mission yet. If successful, it would be a major advance for China's space program, and some experts say it could pave the way for bringing samples back from Mars or even a crewed lunar mission.

The four modules of the Chang'e 5 spacecraft blasted off at just after 4:30 a.m. Tuesday (2030 GMT Monday, 3:30 p.m. EST Monday) atop a massive Long March-5Y rocket from the Wenchang launch center along the coast of the southern island province of Hainan.

Minutes after liftoff, the spacecraft separated from the rocket's first and second stages and slipped into Earth-moon transfer orbit.

The launch was carried live by national broadcaster CCTV which then switched to computer animation to show its progress into outer space.

The typically secretive administration had previously only confirmed the launch would be in late November. Spacecraft typically take three days to reach the moon.

The mission's key task is to drill 2 meters (almost 7 feet) beneath the moon's surface and scoop up about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of rocks and other debris to be brought back to Earth, according to NASA. That would offer the first opportunity for scientists to study newly obtained lunar material since the American and Russian missions of the 1960s and 1970s.

People ride bicycles along a road near a launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Wenchang in southern China's Hainan province, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Chinese technicians were making final preparations Monday for a mission to bring back material from the moon's surface for the first time in nearly half a century—an undertaking that could boost human understanding of the moon and of the solar system more generally. 

(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The Chang'e 5 lander's time on the moon is scheduled to be short and sweet. It can only stay one lunar daytime, or about 14 Earth days, because it lacks the radioisotope heating units to withstand the moon's freezing nights.

The lander will dig for materials with its drill and robotic arm and transfer them to what's called an ascender, which will lift off from the moon and dock with the service capsule. The materials will then be moved to the return capsule to be hauled back to Earth.

The technical complexity of Chang'e 5, with its four components, makes it "remarkable in many ways," said Joan Johnson-Freese, a space expert at the U.S. Naval War College.

"China is showing itself capable of developing and successfully carrying out sustained high-tech programs, important for regional influence and potentially global partnerships," she said.

A worker talks on a cellphone near a flag with the logo of the Communist Party of China at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Wenchang in southern China's Hainan province, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Chinese technicians were making final preparations Monday for a mission to bring back material from the moon's surface for the first time in nearly half a century—an undertaking that could boost human understanding of the moon and of the solar system more generally. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

In particular, the ability to collect samples from space is growing in value, said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Other countries planning to retrieve material from asteroids or even Mars may look to China's experience, he said.

While the mission is "indeed challenging," McDowell said China has already landed twice on the moon with its Chang'e 3 and Chang'e 4 missions, and showed with a 2014 Chang'e 5 test mission that it can navigate back to Earth, re-enter and land a capsule. All that's left is to show it can collect samples and take off again from the moon.

"As a result of this, I'm pretty optimistic that China can pull this off," he said.

The mission is among China's boldest since it first put a man in space in 2003, becoming only the third nation to do so after the U.S. and Russia.

Workers gather near a building at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Wenchang in southern China's Hainan province, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Chinese technicians were making final preparations Monday for a mission to bring back material from the moon's surface for the first time in nearly half a century—an undertaking that could boost human understanding of the moon and of the solar system more generally. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

While many of China's crewed spaceflight achievements, including building an experimental space station and conducting a spacewalk, reproduce those of other countries from years past, the China National Space Administration is now moving into new territory.

Chang'e 4—which made the first soft landing on the moon's relatively unexplored far side almost two years ago—is currently collecting full measurements of radiation exposure from the lunar surface, information vital for any country that plans to send astronauts to the moon.

China in July became one of three countries to have launched a mission to Mars, in China's case an orbiter and a rover that will search for signs of water on the red planet. The CNSA says the spacecraft Tianwen 1 is on course to arrive at Mars around February.

China has increasingly engaged with foreign countries on missions, and the European Space Agency will be providing important ground station information for Chang'e 5.

Workers wearing face masks stand near a launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Wenchang in southern China's Hainan province, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Chinese technicians were making final preparations Monday for a mission to bring back material from the moon's surface for the first time in nearly half a century—an undertaking that could boost human understanding of the moon and of the solar system more generally. 

(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

U.S. law however still prevents most collaborations with NASA, excluding China from partnering with the International Space Station. That has prompted China to start work on its own space station and launch its own programs that have put it in a steady competition with Japan and India, among Asian nations seeking to notch new achievements in space.

China's space program has progressed cautiously, with relatively few setbacks in recent years. The rocket being used for the current launch failed on a previous launch attempt, but has since performed without a glitch, including launching Chang'e 4.

"China works very incrementally, developing building blocks for long-term use for a variety of missions," Freese-Johnson said. China's one-party authoritarian system also allows for "prolonged political will that is often difficult in democracies," she said.

In this Nov. 17, 2020, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a Long March-5 rocket is seen on the launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Wenchang in southern China's Hainan Province. Chinese technicians were making final preparations Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, to launch a Long March-5 rocket carrying a mission to bring back material from the lunar surface in a potentially major advance for the country's space program. (Guo Cheng/Xinhua via AP)

A worker walks past a billboard with a quotation from Chinese President Xi Jinping in a building at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Wenchang in southern China's Hainan province, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Chinese technicians were making final preparations Monday for a mission to bring back material from the moon's surface for the first time in nearly half a century—an undertaking that could boost human understanding of the moon and of the solar system more generally. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

In this Nov. 17, 2020, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a Long March-5 rocket is moved at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Wenchang in southern China's Hainan Province. Chinese technicians were making final preparations Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, to launch a Long March-5 rocket carrying a mission to bring back material from the lunar surface in a potentially major advance for the country's space program. (Guo Cheng/Xinhua via AP)

A patch for the China Lunar Exploration Program is displayed on the uniform of a worker at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Wenchang in southern China's Hainan province, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Chinese technicians were making final preparations Monday for a mission to bring back material from the moon's surface for the first time in nearly half a century—an undertaking that could boost human understanding of the moon and of the solar system more generally. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

In this July 17, 2020, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a Long March-5 rocket is seen at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan Province. Chinese technicians were making final preparations Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, to launch a Long March-5 rocket carrying a mission to bring back material from the lunar surface in a potentially major advance for the country's space program. (Zhang Gaoxiang/Xinhua via AP, File)

In this Nov. 17, 2020, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a Long March-5 rocket is seen on the launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Wenchang in southern China's Hainan Province. Chinese technicians were making final preparations Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, to launch a Long March-5 rocket carrying a mission to bring back material from the lunar surface in a potentially major advance for the country's space program. 

(Guo Cheng/Xinhua via AP)

While the U.S. has followed China's successes closely, it's unlikely to expand cooperation with China in space amid political suspicions, a sharpening military rivalry and accusations of Chinese theft of technology, experts say.

"A change in U.S. policy regarding space cooperation is unlikely to get much government attention in the near future," Johnson-Freese said.

Explore further China prepping for mission to bring back material from moon

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Nature is widely adapted to current climate—making it harder to adjust to a new one

by University of Helsinki

Willow flowers provide nectar for a great many insects active early in the spring. The onset of blooming in goat willow (Salix caprea) was one of the phenological events studied across the former Soviet Union. 

Credit: Svetlana Bondarchuk

To do the right thing at the right time, organisms need to glean cues from their environment. With ongoing climate change, the timing of these cues, like the accumulation of warm days, is rapidly shifting. Now a network of researchers working on an unprecedentedly large dataset of seasonal events has shown that the timing of species' activity fail to keep up with their cues, and that how quickly activity shifts reflects past evolution.


The observed patterns of local adaptation translate to a massive imprint on nature's calendar, making geographic variation in the timing of natural events more pronounced in spring and less pronounced in autumn. Since organisms have evolved to respond differently in different areas, it will take further evolution to adjust to the new climate.

In nature, species' activities are timed to their environment. For plants to bloom when their pollinators are around, for birds to breed when there is food for their chicks—and then to leave before snow covers the ground—they must follow cues in their environment.

"One such cue relates to temperatures: in warm years, all types of events tend to occur early, and in cold years, they tend to occur late. How much events shift with shifts in temperature is described by something that we call a 'reaction norm,'" explains Professor Tomas Roslin, one of the lead authors of the study, who runs twin research teams at both the University of Helsinki and in Uppsala, at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Since keeping track of the seasons is so important, it can be subject to selection in nature. As a result, species' reaction norms can be adapted to their local environment. With a given shift in the cue, individuals in one place may shift the timing of their activity more than in another. Now, what happens when the local environment changes—as it is now doing across the world?

While much research on nature's calendar has so far focused on events occurring in the spring, the massive data set compiled by researchers across the former Soviet Union include events from all parts of the year - such as the timing of autumn colouration in trees. 

Credit: Svetlana Bondarchuk

To answer this question, researchers have compiled meticulously collected observations of hundreds of seasonal phenomena made over decades at several hundred sites throughout the former Soviet Union. This massive data set has opened an unprecedented opportunity to explore climate change responses over an enormous area and over an enormous time scale.

Large local differences in how species respond to year-to-year variation

"We looked at events ranging from the first song of the great tit through the appearance of the common toad and the appearance of the first porcini mushroom to the end of birch leaf fall," says Maria Delgado, the other lead author of the study, from the Oviedo University in Spain. "What we saw was a general rigidity in species' response to year-to-year variation in climate, i.e. the earlier the year, the more did the timing of the phenological event lag behind the timing of the cue from temperatures."


"On top of this, we saw large differences between seasons and sites. Differences in the reaction norms of different sites accentuated phenological responses in the spring and dampened them in the autumn. As a result, among population variation in the timing of events is greater in the spring and less in the autumn than if all populations followed the same reaction norm. Overall, such patterns will affect species' response to climate change in opposite ways in spring and autumn."
  

To stay tuned to their environment, species need to respond to both short- and long-term variation in climatic conditions. How well interacting species - such as these flowers and hover flies - keep pace with each other in a changing climate will depend partly on evolution. 

Credit: Svetlana Bondarchuk

Built on a strength in numbers

The data forming the basis of the study is quite the story, since they build on a previously uncovered archive of nature's calendar. For many decades—in some cases a full century—scientists have been recording events in more than 150 protected areas across the former Soviet Union. These data were meticulously compiled as an annual report, one for each protected area. For the longest time, this unique scientific contribution then laid hidden in the archives.

"But over the past decade, we have now been trying to mobilize these data. To this end, we have been working with an amazing group of more than 300 colleagues in over 80 organizations from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan," explains Evgeniy Meyke, who together with Otso Ovaskainen coordinated the data basing of the enormous material from the University of Helsinki.

Now compiled, The Chronicles of Nature program provides an archive exceptional in almost every aspect: It is comprehensive in nature, and spans over all sorts of species and events, long time periods (almost a century), large areas (half of Asia), and it has been systematically collected by dedicated, full time scientific staff. Many to the participating scientists have spent their entire life in collecting these data, and at the time of publication, six were already deceased. The current paper is thus a homage to their work.

"This has been a thrilling journey—and it is only a beginning. We are excited by the enthusiasm of the environmental science professionals who initiated this collaboration. They gave the world an opportunity to connect with the results of their life long work, which had remained mostly unknown to the international scientific community," says Otso Ovaskainen, professor of mathematical ecology at the University of Helsinki, and the primus motor behind the project. "Sadly, in most of the participating countries, protected areas and their staff are currently facing tough challenges. We hope that our findings will summon the interest of the international community, and focus attention on the global importance of these areas and the irreplaceable scientific work done by their staff. Should these time series break, there is no way to re-forge them."


Explore further

Changing weather patterns throwing ecosystems out of whack

More information: Maria del Mar Delgado el al., "Differences in spatial versus temporal reaction norms for spring and autumn phenological events," PNAS (2020). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2002713117

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Provided by University of Helsinki