DeepMind’s annual report: Why it’s hard to run a commercial AI lab

By

 Ben Dickson

 -

December 21, 2020

This article is part of our series that explore the business of artificial intelligence

Last week, on the heels of DeepMind’s breakthrough in using artificial intelligence to predict protein folding came the news that the UK-based AI company is still costing its parent company Alphabet Inc hundreds of millions of dollars in losses each year.

A tech company losing money is nothing new. The tech industry is replete with examples of companies who burned investor money long before becoming profitable. But DeepMind is not a normal company seeking to grab a share of a specific market. It is an AI research lab that has had to repurpose itself into a semi-commercial outfit to ensure its survival.

And while its owner, which is also the parent company of Google, is currently happy with footing the bill for DeepMind’s expensive AI research, it is not guaranteed that it will continue to do so forever.

DeepMind’s profits and losses

DeepMind’s AlphaFold project used artificial intelligence to help advance the complicated challenge of protein folding.

According to its annual report filed with the UK’s Companies House register, DeepMind has more than doubled its revenue, raking in £266 million in 2019, up from £103 million in 2018. But the company’s expenses continue to grow as well, increasing from £568 million in 2018 to £717 in 2019. The overall losses of the company grew from £470 million in 2018 to £477 million in 2019.

At first glance, this isn’t bad news. Compared to the previous years, DeepMind’s revenue growth is accelerating while its losses are plateauing.

DeepMind’s revenue and losses from 2016 to 2019

But the report contains a few more significant facts. The document mentions “Turnover research and development remuneration from other group undertakings.” This means DeepMind’s main customer is its owner. Alphabet is paying DeepMind to apply its AI research and talent to Google’s services and infrastructure. In the past, Google has used DeepMind’s services for tasks such as managing the power grid of its data centers and improving the AI of its voice assistant.

What this also means that there isn’t yet a market for DeepMind’s AI, and if there is, it will only be available through Google.

The document also mentions that the growth of costs “mainly relates to a rise in technical infrastructure, staff costs, and other related charges.”

This is an important point. DeepMind’s “technical infrastructure” runs mainly on Google’s huge cloud services and its special AI processors, the Tensor Processing Unit (TPU). DeepMind’s main area of research is deep reinforcement learning, which requires access to very expensive compute resources. Some of the company’s projects in 2019 included work on an AI system that played StarCraft 2 and another that played Quake 3, both of which cost millions of dollars in training.

A spokesperson for DeepMind told the media that the costs mentioned in the document also included work on the AlphaFold, the company’s celebrated protein-folding AI, another very expensive project

There are no public details on how much Google charges DeepMind for access to its cloud AI services, but it is most likely renting its TPUs at a discount. This means that without the support and backing of Google, the company’s expenses would have been much higher.

Staff costs is another important issue. While participation in machine learning courses has increased in the past few years, scientists that can engage in the kind of cutting-edge AI research DeepMind is involved in are very scarce. And by some accounts, top AI talent command seven-digit salaries.

The growing interest in deep learning and its applicability to commercial settings has created an arms race between tech companies to acquire top AI talent. Most of the industry’s top AI scientists and pioneers are working either full- or half-time at large companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. The fierce competition for snatching top AI talent has had two consequences. First, like every other field where supply doesn’t meet demand, it has resulted in a steep incline in the salaries of AI scientists. And second, it has driven many AI scientists from academic institutions that can’t afford stellar salaries to wealthy tech companies that can. Some scientists continue to stay in academia for the sake of continuing scientific research, but they are too few and far between.

And without the backing of a large tech company like Google, research labs like DeepMind can’t afford to hire new researchers for their projects.

So, while DeepMind shows signs of slowly turning around its losses, its growth has made it even more dependent on Google’s financial resources and large cloud infrastructure.

Google is still satisfied with DeepMind

DeepMind’s developed an AI system called AlphaStar that can beat the best players at the real-time strategy game StarCraft 2

According to DeepMind’s annual report, Google Ireland Holdings Unlimited, one of the investment branches of Alphabet, “waived the repayment of intercompany loans and all accrued interest amounting to £1.1 billion.”

DeepMind has also received written assurances from Google that it will “continue to provide adequate financial support” to the AI firm for “a period of at least twelve months.”

For the time being, Google seems to be satisfied with the progress DeepMind has made, which is also reflected in remarks made by Google and Alphabet executives.

In July’s quarterly earnings call with investors and analysts, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said, “I’m very happy with the pace at which our R&D on AI is progressing. And for me, it’s important that we are state-of-the-art as a company, and we are leading. And to me, I’m excited at the pace at which our engineering and R&D teams are working both across Google and DeepMind.”

But the corporate world and scientific research move at different paces.

Scientific research is measured in decades. Much of the AI technology used today in commercial applications has been in the making since the 1970s and 1980s. Likewise, a lot of the cutting-edge research and techniques presented at AI conferences today will probably not find their way into the mass market in the coming years. DeepMind’s ultimate goal, developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), is by the most optimistic estimates at least decades away.

On the other hand, the patience of shareholders and investors is measured in months and years. Companies that can’t turn over a profit in years or at least show hopeful signs of growth fall afoul of investors. DeepMind currently has none of those. It doesn’t have measurable growth, because its only client is Google itself. And it’s not clear when—if ever— some of its technology will be ready for commercialization.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is satisfied with the pace of AI research and development at DeepMind

And here’s where DeepMind’s dilemma lies. At heart, it is a research lab that wants to push the limits and of science and make sure advances in AI are beneficial to all humans. Its owner’s goal, however, is to build products that solve specific problems and turn in profits. The two goals are diametrically opposed, pulling DeepMind in two different directions: maintaining its scientific nature or transforming into a product-making AI company. The company has already had troubles finding balance scientific research and product development in the past.

And DeepMind is not alone. OpenAI, DeepMind’s implicit rival, has been facing a similar identity crisis, transforming from an AI research lab to a Microsoft-backed for-profit company that rents its deep learning models.

Therefore, while DeepMind doesn’t need to worry about its unprofitable research yet, but as it becomes more and more enmeshed in the corporate dynamics of its owner, it should think deeply about its future and the future of scientific AI research.

https://bdtechtalks.com/

Ben Dickson

Ben is a software engineer and the founder of TechTalks. He writes about technology, business and politics.

Philippines troops, ministers get COVID-19 vaccine before approval

FILE PHOTO: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte reviews military cadets during change of command ceremonies of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, metro Manila, Philippines October 26, 2017. REUTERS/Dondi Tawatao

28 Dec 2020 

MANILA: Some Philippine soldiers and Cabinet ministers have already received COVID-19 vaccine injections, officials said on Monday (Dec 28), despite an absence of regulatory approval that the country's health ministry said was vital to ensure safety.

Interior minister Eduardo Ano said some Cabinet members have already received COVID-19 vaccines and army chief Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana said some troops have been vaccinated but the number was not large. Neither said what brand of vaccine was administered.

The health ministry in a statement said all vaccines must first be evaluated by experts, and "only vaccines which have been approved and found to be safe should be administered".

Food and Drug Administration head Rolando Enrique Domingo said Philippine regulators have yet to approve any COVID-19 vaccine, making any importation, distribution and sale of one illegal.

Domingo warned the public that unapproved vaccines exposed them to "all sorts of dangers" and told CNN Philippines that side effects were possible "especially if you don't know how these things have been handled".

So far only Pfizer has applied for emergency use approval of its COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines, while Sinovac, Gamaleya, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen and Clover's late-stage trial applications have yet to be approved

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the ministry had no information about the soldiers' vaccination and military spokesman Colonel Edgard Arevalo said there had been no inoculation sanctioned by the armed forces leadership.

The Presidential Security Group (PSG) ,which is tasked with protecting Duterte, said some of its personnel have already been inoculated.

"The PSG administered COVID-19 vaccine to its personnel performing close-in security operations to the president," unit chief Brigadier General Jesus Durante said in a statement, without specifying how many got the drug.

Duterte has not been vaccinated, according to his spokesman, Harry Roque, who said he had no problem with soldiers being given the shots and protecting themselves.

During a televised meeting with health officials on Saturday, Duterte said "almost all" soldiers have already been inoculated.

He said "many", without identifying who, in the Philippines had received a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).

Sinopharm could not be immediately reached for comment.

Asked if the soldiers' vaccination was authorised by the president's office, Sobejana said: "Well of course, our president is our commander-in-chief."

Roque said on Monday the Sinopharm drug was given to the soldiers, confirming Duterte's comments at the weekend that "a select few" had been inoculated with the Chinese vaccine.

He played down concerns about the safety of the Sinopharm drug, saying it was meant to send a message of hope to Filipinos.

"The news is that the vaccine is already here and if we cannot be given Western vaccines, our friend and neighbour China is willing to give us vaccines," Roque said.

"It's not prohibited under the law to get inoculated with an unregistered (vaccine). What is illegal is the distribution and selling."

Thai protest demands help for shrimp sellers after COVID-19 outbreak

Anti government protesters sell shrimps in front of government house as people now fear to eat shrimps due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Bangkok, Thailand Dec 26, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun)

26 Dec 2020 

BANGKOK: Thai protesters demonstrated on Saturday (Dec 26) to demand more action to help seafood sellers hit by a COVID-19 outbreak as the government urged people to eat more shellfish.

Thailand's worst outbreak of the new coronavirus was reported just over a week ago, with more than 1,500 infections now linked to a shrimp market outside Bangkok. Most of those infected have been migrant workers from Myanmar.

Seafood sellers say business has fallen in a country whose economy had already been badly hit by a collapse in tourism.

"We want the government to create confidence in shrimp consumption," said Piyarat Chongthep, among the scores of protesters at Government House, some of whom briefly scuffled with police.

People line up to buy shrimps from anti government protesters selling shrimps in front of government house amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Bangkok, Thailand Dec 26, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun)

Police stand guard as anti government protesters try sell shrimps in front of government house amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Bangkok, Thailand Dec 26, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun)

The issue is the latest seized on by protesters who for months have been demanding the removal of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, a new constitution and reforms of the monarchy.

At a seafood-eating event in a nearby province, government ministers said they were trying to promote seafood.

"We are building confidence that you can have seafood without getting infected," Anucha Nakasai, minister for the prime minister's office, told reporters.

A major shrimp exporter, Thailand sold 36 billion baht (US$1.2 billion) worth in the first 10 months of 2020, industry association data showed.

"The problem now is there is no market," said one shrimp seller at Government House.

COVID-19 task force spokesman Taweesin Wisanuyothin reported 110 new coronavirus infections, of which nearly all 94 were connected to the seafood market.

Thailand has a total of 6,020 confirmed cases and 60 deaths, low rates for a country of 70 million people.

China passes law to protect Yangtze River

The country’s ‘mother river’ has suffered a series of environmental problems and this year a 10-year fishing ban was instituted to conserve stocks

New legislation comes into force in March and is designed to strengthen sustainable development

Alice Yan in Shanghai
Published: 27 Dec, 2020
Why you can trust SCMP

The country’s “mother river” has suffered a series of environmental problems and this year a 10-year fishing ban was instituted to conserve stocks. Photo: Simon Song

China has passed a law to protect the Yangtze, which has been described as the country’s “mother river”.

The Yangtze River Protection Law will come into force on March 1 after being approved by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the country’s top legislative body, on Saturday.

It is the first law to protect a particular waterway in China.

The 6,300km (3,900-mile) Yangtze is the longest river in Asia and provides a vital lifeline for hundreds of millions of people.

Its valley covers an area of 1.8 million sq km, about a fifth of the national total, while the Yangtze River Economic Zone covers 11 provinces and cities, accounting for 40 per cent of the total population and GDP.

It provides a third of the country’s fresh water resources and three fifths of its hydroenergy reserves, but has suffered a series of environmental problems in recent years, including heavy pollution.

It is the site of 40 per cent of the country’s wastewater discharges and has high levels of chemicals such as ammonia nitrate, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide of up to twice the national average.

China imposed a 10-year fishing ban at the beginning of this year to conserve its dwindling fish stocks.




China’s Yangtze fishing communities struggle amid 10-year fishing ban


The ban, initially covering 332 stretches of the river, will be extended to the whole waterway and its major tributaries next year.

Figures from the agriculture ministry earlier this month show that around 231,000 fishermen had relinquished their rights along the Yangtze.

Vice-premier Han Zheng said earlier this week that more assistance should be given to these fishermen to help them find new jobs and places to live.

China to showcase ‘dual circulation’ strategy in Yangtze River Delta
25 Aug 2020



He also called for stronger efforts to prevent illegal fishing and urged the public to support the ban.

State news agency Xinhua said the new law was designed to strengthen environmental protections, use resources efficiently and ensure sustainable development.

There are nine chapters in the law, covering areas such as design and management, resource protection, anti-pollution measures, green development and legal responsibilities.

It will also require stricter supervision and establish a coordination mechanism to direct the protection work undertaken by different provinces.

The new legislation confirms the fishing ban and has clauses restricting sand excavation and chemical production along its length.

Bangladesh set to move second batch of Rohingya refugees to remote island: Officials

Rohingya refugees are seen aboard a ship as they are moved to Bhasan Char island in Chattogram, Bangladesh, Dec 4, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Mohammad Ponir Hossain)

27 Dec 2020 01:01PM(Updated: 27 Dec 2020 01:10PM)

DHAKA: Bangladesh is set to move a second batch of Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar to the remote island of Bhasan Char in the Bay of Bengal this month, officials said on Sunday (Dec 27), despite calls by rights groups not to carry out further relocations.

About 1,000 Rohingya refugees, members of a Muslim minority who have fled Myanmar, will be moved to the island in the next few days after Bangladesh relocated more than 1,600 early this month, two officials with the direct knowledge of the matter said.

READ: 'What choice do we have?': Rohingya women face odyssey of misery

"They will be moved to Chittagong first and then to Bhasan Char, depending on the high tide," one of the officials said. The officials declined to be named as the issue had not been made public.

Mohammed Shamsud Douza, the deputy Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, said the relocation was voluntary. "They will not be sent against their will."

The United Nations has said it has not been allowed to carry out a technical and safety assessment of Bhasan Char, a flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal, and was not involved in the transfer of refugees there.
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Bangladesh says it is transferring only people who are willing to go and the move will ease chronic overcrowding in camps that are home to more than 1 million Rohingya.

But refugees and humanitarian workers say some of the Rohingya have been coerced into going to the island, which emerged from the sea 20 years ago.
READ: Video chat only hope for divided Rohingya couple

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abdul Momen told Reuters earlier this month the United Nations should first assess and verify how conducive the environment in Myanmar's Rakhine state was for repatriating the refugees, before carrying out an assessment of Bhasan Char.

Several attempts to kickstart repatriation of Rohingya to Myanmar have failed after refugees said they were too fearful of further violence to return.

Source: Reuters/zl

New studies suggest vaping could cloud your thoughts

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER

Research News

 

Two new studies from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) have uncovered an association between vaping and mental fog. Both adults and kids who vape were more likely to report difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions than their non-vaping, non-smoking peers. It also appeared that kids were more likely to experience mental fog if they started vaping before the age of 14.

While other studies have found an association between vaping and mental impairment in animals, the URMC team is the first to draw this connection in people. Led by Dongmei Li, Ph.D., associate professor in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at URMC, the team mined data from two major national surveys.

"Our studies add to growing evidence that vaping should not be considered a safe alternative to tobacco smoking," said study author Li.

The studies, published in the journals Tobacco Induced Diseases and Plos One, analyzed over 18,000 middle and high school student responses to the National Youth Tobacco Survey and more than 886,000 responses to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System phone survey from U.S. adults. Both surveys ask similar questions about smoking and vaping habits as well as issues with memory, attention and mental function.

Both studies show that people who smoke and vape - regardless of age - are most likely to report struggling with mental function. Behind that group, people who only vape or only smoke reported mental fog at similar rates, which were significantly higher than those reported by people who don't smoke or vape.

The youth study also found that students who reported starting to vape early - between eight and 13 years of age - were more likely to report difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions than those who started vaping at 14 or older.

"With the recent rise in teen vaping, this is very concerning and suggests that we need to intervene even earlier," said Li. "Prevention programs that start in middle or high school might actually be too late."

Adolescence is a critical period for brain development, especially for higher-order mental function, which means tweens and teens may be more susceptible to nicotine-induced brain changes. While e-cigarettes lack many of the dangerous compounds found in tobacco cigarettes, they deliver the same amount or even more nicotine.

While the URMC studies clearly show an association between vaping and mental function, it's not clear which causes which. It is possible that nicotine exposure through vaping causes difficulty with mental function. But it is equally possible that people who report mental fog are simply more likely to smoke or vape - possibly to self-medicate.

Li and her team say that further studies that follow kids and adults over time are needed to parse the cause and effect of vaping and mental fog.

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In addition to Li, authors of the youth study include Catherine Xie, and Zidian Xie, Ph.D. For the adult study, Li was joined by co-authors Zidian Xie, Ph.D., Deborah J. Ossip, Ph.D. Irfan Rahman, Ph.D., and Richard J. O'Connor, Ph.D. Both studies were funded by the National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Tobacco Products.

One psychedelic experience may lessen trauma of racial injustice

Lower stress, depression recalled after using drug, study finds

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A single positive experience on a psychedelic drug may help reduce stress, depression and anxiety symptoms in Black, Indigenous and people of color whose encounters with racism have had lasting harm, a new study suggests.

The participants in the retrospective study reported that their trauma-related symptoms linked to racist acts were lowered in the 30 days after an experience with either psilocybin (Magic Mushrooms), LSD or MDMA (Ecstasy).

"Their experience with psychedelic drugs was so powerful that they could recall and report on changes in symptoms from racial trauma that they had experienced in their lives, and they remembered it having a significant reduction in their mental health problems afterward," said Alan Davis, co-lead author of the study and an assistant professor of social work at The Ohio State University.

Overall, the study also showed that the more intensely spiritual and insightful the psychedelic experience was, the more significant the recalled decreases in trauma-related symptoms were.

A growing body of research has suggested psychedelics have a place in therapy, especially when administered in a controlled setting. What previous mental health research has generally lacked, Davis noted, is a focus on people of color and on treatment that could specifically address the trauma of chronic exposure to racism.

Davis partnered with co-lead author Monnica Williams, Canada Research Chair in Mental Health Disparities at the University of Ottawa, to conduct the research.

"Currently, there are no empirically supported treatments specifically for racial trauma. This study shows that psychedelics can be an important avenue for healing," Williams said.

The study is published online in the journal Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy.

The researchers recruited participants in the United States and Canada using Qualtrics survey research panels, assembling a sample of 313 people who reported they had taken a dose of a psychedelic drug in the past that they believed contributed to "relief from the challenging effects of racial discrimination." The sample comprised adults who identified as Black, Asian, Hispanic, Native American/Indigenous Canadian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander.

Once enrolled, participants completed questionnaires collecting information on their past experiences with racial trauma, psychedelic use and mental health symptoms, and were asked to recall a memorable psychedelic experience and its short-term and enduring effects. Those experiences had occurred as recently as a few months before the study and as long ago as at least 10 years earlier.

The discrimination they had encountered included unfair treatment by neighbors, teachers and bosses, false accusations of unethical behavior and physical violence. The most commonly reported issues involved feelings of severe anger about being subjected to a racist act and wanting to "tell someone off" for racist behavior, but saying nothing instead.

Researchers asked participants to recall the severity of symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress linked to exposure to racial injustice in the 30 days before and 30 days after the experience with psychedelic drugs. Considering the probability that being subjected to racism is a lifelong problem rather than a single event, the researchers also assessed symptoms characteristic of people suffering from discrimination-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"Not everybody experiences every form of racial trauma, but certainly people of color are experiencing a lot of these different types of discrimination on a regular basis," said Davis, who also is an adjunct faculty member in the Johns Hopkins University Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. "So in addition to depression and anxiety, we were asking whether participants had symptoms of race-based PTSD."

Participants were also asked to report on the intensity of three common kinds of experiences people have while under the influence of psychedelic drugs: a mystical, insightful or challenging experience. A mystical experience can feel like a spiritual connection to the divine, an insightful experience increases people's awareness and understanding about themselvess, and a challenging experience relates to emotional and physical reactions such as anxiety or difficulty breathing.

All participants recalled their anxiety, depression and stress symptoms after the memorable psychedelic experience were lower than they had been before the drug use. The magnitude of the positive effects of the psychedelics influenced their reduction in symptoms.

"What this analysis showed is that a more intense mystical experience and insightful experience, and a less intense challenging experience, is what was related to mental health benefits," Davis said.

The researchers noted in the paper that the study had limitations because the findings were based on participant recall and the entire sample of recruited research volunteers had reported benefits they associated with their psychedelic experience - meaning it cannot be assumed that psychedelics will help all people of color with racial trauma. Davis and Williams are working on proposals for clinical trials to further investigate the effects of psychedelics on mental health symptoms in specific populations, including Black, Indigenous and people of color.

"This was really the first step in exploring whether people of color are experiencing benefits of psychedelics and, in particular, looking at a relevant feature of their mental health, which is their experience of racial trauma," Davis said. "This study helps to start that conversation with this emerging treatment paradigm."

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This work was funded by the University of Ottawa, the Canada Research Chairs Program and the National Institutes of Health. Additional co-authors included Yitong Xin of Ohio State's College of Social Work; Nathan Sepeda of Johns Hopkins; Pamela Grigas and Sinead Sinnott of the University of Connecticut; and Angela Haeny of Yale School of Medicine.

Neurologists say there is no medical justification for police use of neck restraints

In a perspective piece, they note that some police departments justify these tactics with misleading language.

MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL

Research News

BOSTON - Some police departments in the United States continue to teach officers that neck restraints are a safe method for controlling agitated or aggressive people, but that's a dangerous myth, according to a Viewpoint written by three neurologists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in JAMA Neurology.

The killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died while being arrested in May 2020 after a police officer pressed a knee to his neck for more than eight minutes, helped spark a national conversation about racial injustice in the United States. Floyd's death made headlines, as did that of Eric Garner in 2014 after police placed him in a chokehold. Yet a number of other Americans have died during confrontations with police officers who used neck restraints, says MGH neurologist Altaf Saadi, MD, senior author of the Viewpoint column.

Along with coauthors Jillian M. Berkman, MD, and Joseph A. Rosenthal, MD, PhD, Saadi was disturbed by the use of neck restraints by police departments in the United States. They found that some prohibit chokeholds and other neck restraints, but others teach the techniques for the purpose of subduing allegedly uncooperative people during encounters. Notably, some police agencies advise that carotid restraint--compressing the two large blood vessels on either side of the neck, which is known as a stranglehold--is a safe, nonlethal tactic that temporarily renders a person unconscious by reducing blood flow to the brain.

"As a neurologist, I know that there is never a scenario where stopping the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain is medically appropriate," says Saadi. "What shocked me most was that much of the literature supporting these techniques hides behind medical language, but lacks a real understanding of the pathophysiology of the significant harm they cause to an individual. As neurologists, we are taught that 'time is brain,' because there's such a rapid loss of human nervous tissue when the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain is reduced or stopped."

In their Viewpoint, Saadi and her colleagues describe how carotid compression--which can occur with as few as 6 kilograms (13 pounds) of force, or about the weight of a typical house cat--can result in stroke, seizure and death. They call for the creation of a system for reporting on law enforcement's use of neck restraints, including how often the technique is used and if it results in death or disability.

"It's in the public's best interest to have this data," says Saadi. She believes that increasing awareness about the impact of neck restraints could help curb their use. Ultimately, says Saadi, there is no medical justification for neck restraints in policing.

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Altaf Saadi, MD, is also an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School. Jillian M. Berkman, MD, is a resident physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Joseph A. Rosenthal, MD, PhD, is a resident physician at MGH.

About the Massachusetts General Hospital

Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The Mass General Research Institute conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the nation, with annual research operations of more than $1 billion and comprises more than 9,500 researchers working across more than 30 institutes, centers and departments. In August 2020, Mass General was named #6 in the U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals."

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible f

Groups of bacteria can work together to better protect crops and improve their growth

AMERICAN PHYTOPATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Research News

 

IMAGE: SCIENTIST SUSANNA HARRIS IN THE LAB. view more 

CREDIT: NOAM ECKSHTAIN-LEVI, SUSANNA LEIGH HARRIS, REIZO QUILAT ROSCIOS, AND ELIZABETH ANNE SHANK

Certain bacteria, known as plant-growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), can improve plant health or protect them from pathogens and are used commercially to help crops. To further improve agricultural yields, it is helpful to identify factors that can improve PGPB behavior.

Many PGPB form sticky communities of cells, known as biofilms, that help them adhere to plant roots. A group of scientists in North Carolina and Massachusetts were interested in finding other plant-associated bacteria that could help PGPB better adhere to plant roots, with the hope that increasing the number of PGPB cells attached to roots would increase their beneficial activities.

Using a liquid-growth-based method, they identified multiple bacterial strains that increased the adherence of PGPB to plant roots over time. These results indicate that the physical or chemical interactions between these different bacterial species result in better long-term maintenance of PGPB on roots.

"Our results highlight how bacteria can use each other for their own benefit. These findings could be used to create groups of bacteria that are able to work together to better protect crop plants and improve their growth," said Elizabeth Shank, the senior scientist involved with this research. "The results of this research might also be used to better understand and design microbial treatments that could improve crop yields in agricultural settings."

To conduct this research, Shank and her colleagues performed a high-throughput screen of bacteria originally obtained from the roots of wild-grown plants, ensuring that identified bacteria might naturally come into contact on the roots of plants in native soil environments. They also looked at how other native microbes might alter the behavior of each PGPB strain, emphasizing the importance of understanding how groups of plant-associated microbes affect plants.

This research specifically focused on a PGPB currently used in agricultural treatments so that their findings related to commercial interventions. According to Shank, "One important impact of our work may be further encouraging agricultural biotechnology companies to consider using groups of multiple bacteria (rather than a single isolate) in their search for better and longer-lasting biological treatments to improve crop yield and help increase food production."

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Their research also demonstrates how a reasonably fast and straightforward screen can identify important bacterial interactions and provides a starting point for future work studying the mechanisms of these cell-to-cell relationships. For more information, read "Bacterial Community Members Increase Bacillus subtilis Maintenance on the Roots of Arabidopsis thaliana" in the Phytobiomes Journal. For supplemental information, including a 60-second video, visit: https://susannalharris.com/research/.

New research makes strong case for restoring Hong Kong's lost oyster reefs

Seven square meters of a HK oyster reef can filter up to one Olympic swimming pool of water in a single day

THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Research News

 

IMAGE: OYSTER REEFS IN HONG KONG view more 

CREDIT: ©KYLE OBERMANN/COURTESY TNC

New research produced jointly by The Swire Institute of Marine Science (SWIMS), Faculty of Science, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), published recently in the scientific journal Restoration Ecology, shows the enormous potential of restoring lost oyster reefs, bringing significant environmental benefits.

Benefits of oyster reefs

Hong Kong was once home to thriving shellfish reefs, but due to a combination of factors including over-exploitation, coastal reclamation and pollution, shellfish populations have declined drastically. Restoring oyster reefs along urbanized coastlines can mitigate some of the environmental problems typical of coastal development, such as damage from storm surge and loss of biodiversity.

"Globally, we have lost 85% of shellfish reefs, making it the most endangered marine habitat on earth," said Marine Thomas, Conservation Project Manager, for TNC in Hong Kong. "Most people associate oysters with food, but less well-known is that oysters create reef habitats that support coastal marine life. Only by restoring these lost habitats can we start to bring back some of the associated environmental benefits."

A primary benefit that healthy oyster reefs contribute to coastal environments is their role as natural water purifiers: This new study found that, just 7 m2 of Hong Kong oyster reef can filter up to one Olympic swimming pool of water each day; a single Hong Kong oyster (Crassostrea hongkongensis) can filter up to 30 liters of water per hour at summer temperatures, among the highest filtration rates recorded of any oyster species.

Even more importantly, oyster reefs provide habitat and nursery grounds for many native species that are otherwise lost from our shores. Another recent SWIMS study conducted in partnership with TNC found that these reefs house six times more species than bare muddy shores. The research found over 80 species on intertidal muddy shores in Deep Bay, 95% of which were found in oyster reefs, and almost 60% of which were exclusively found in those reefs.

Oyster reefs restoration

"A previous SWIMS study found that Hong Kong is home to approximately 6,000 marine species and 26% of all marine species in China. This new research adds to that list, as we've identified a small crab previously not seen in Hong Kong. This shows us just how under-studied these ecosystems are," said Dr Bayden D Russell, an Associate Director of SWIMS and Associate Professor in the Research Division for Ecology and Biodiversity, HKU.

Another benefit of restored reefs is increased production of commercially and recreationally valuable fish and crabs.

Further, demonstration of successful restoration in one of Asia's coastal mega-cities can also act as model, providing evidence for the environmental and societal benefits of ecological restoration within the region.

In some parts of the world, oyster reef restoration has only been successful by transplanting juvenile oysters cultivated in hatcheries into the wild. However, this new research demonstrates that natural recruitment of oysters in Hong Kong is high, meaning that restoration could potentially be achieved without the need for hatchery-reared oysters.

"We were excited to find high natural recruitment levels which suggests that oyster reef restoration is possible without hatchery intervention," said Dr Russell. "We think that this recruitment is because traditional oyster farming in the Pearl River Delta has maintained populations of native oysters in the system in spite of the loss of oyster reefs and these farms could potentially act as a source of larvae."

In assessing 10 sites where small remnant shellfish habitats are found in Hong Kong, the study also found that large oysters (beyond 1 year old) are very hard to find in the wild, due to on-going harvesting pressures.

"While we are excited by the biological feasibility of restoration, unfortunately the human aspect remains our biggest challenge to bring these habitats back at scale. Shellfish habitats are still severely under protected in Hong Kong, with very little public awareness of their ecological value. Wild harvesting is a huge problem - as soon as oysters or mussels are big enough to eat, someone will harvest them. We are working with Government on gaining more protection and recognition for these important ecosystems and hope to include them in the next Hong Kong Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP)," said Ms Thomas.

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Paper reference:

Lau SCY, Thomas M, Hancock B, Russell BD (2020) Restoration potential of Asian oysters on heavily developed coastlines. Restoration Ecology, 28, 1643-1653.
https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13267

Image download:
https://www.scifac.hku.hk/press