NASA at Your Table: Climate Change and

 Its Environmental Impacts on Crop Growth

The Earth is heating up. The effects of human-caused global climate change are becoming more and more apparent as we see more record-breaking heat waves, intense droughts, shifts in rainfall patterns and a rise in average temperatures. And these environmental changes touch every part of crop production.

Around the world, agricultural practices have developed as a function of topography, soil type, crop type, annual rainfall, and tradition. This montage of six images from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor on NASA’s Terra satellite shows differences in field geometry and size in different parts of the world.

Credits: NASA's Earth Observatory

NASA, along with partner agencies and organizations, monitors all of these environmental changes happening today. In addition, NASA uses advanced computer models that pull in satellite data and then simulate how Earth’s climate will respond to continued greenhouse gas emissions in the future. Researchers do this for a range of future scenarios – and then they use the resulting climate projections to see how climate change will affect global agriculture.

“When we look at future climate change, it's not the same as the current hot years that we experience,” said Alex Ruane, co-Director of the Climate Impacts Group at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City. He coordinates and leads the climate team for the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP), an international project connecting climate science, crop modeling and economic modeling to look at the potential future of crop yields and food security.

“If we were to find a location and look at a hot year that was recently experienced, it would likely have been a heat wave that would have raised the overall temperature,” Ruane said. “Climate change is different. Climate change is every day, a little bit more and more. When those heat waves come [in the future], they're just a little bit more intense or extreme, and that has a different physiological impact [on plants].”

Those physiological changes on plants can be complex and are tied to crop type and the climate effects seen at the regional and local level.

Carbon Dioxide as a Fertilizer

Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas responsible for the increase in Earth’s global temperature. Emitted from the burning of fossil fuels, it can stay in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, which means that every year we are adding carbon dioxide to the amount that has accumulated since the start of the Industrial Revolution over 200 years ago.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts experiments on the rate of crop growth in controlled environment chambers, including with glasshouses and field plots in which they control the temperature, humidity and atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Credits: USDA

Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by plants during photosynthesis, (though not in quantities sufficient enough to remove everything humans emit.) In fact, greenhouse and field experiments have shown that higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can act as a fertilizer and increase plant growth. The amount of benefit a crop receives depends on its type. Wheat, barley and rice for example benefit more from higher carbon dioxide concentrations than corn. More carbon dioxide in the air makes the plant more efficient at absorbing the gas, and consequently it loses less water during the process, which is better for the plant’s growth. With sufficient water and other nutrients, crop yields can increase significantly.

However, those higher yields often come with drawbacks for nutrition. “Crops grow faster and bigger under higher CO2,” said Jonas Jäegermeyr, the coordinator for the Global Gridded Crop Model Intercomparison project under AgMIP at GISS. “But the protein and micronutrient content is proportionally lower.”

Quantity versus quality is one complication when looking at climate effects on crops. Another is that while higher carbon dioxide levels bring some benefits, they also bring the heat.

Turning up the Heat

Increases in regional temperatures due to climate change, especially in the tropics, can lead to heat stress for all types of crops. Many crops start feeling stressed at temperatures above about 90 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (32 to 35 degrees Celsius), said Jäegermeyr, although this will vary by crop type and depend on water availability. Heat stress’s most visible sign is wilting from water loss, and can lead to permanent damage to the plant.

This color-coded map in Robinson projection displays a progression of changing global surface temperature anomalies. Normal temperatures are the average over the 30 year baseline period 1951-1980. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal temperatures are shown in blue. The final frame represents the 5 year global temperature anomalies from 2016-2020. Scale in degrees Celsius.

Credits: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

Different regions will experience different heat intensities in the future climate, especially during extreme events like heat waves. “The pattern of where crops are grown decides the pattern of impacts,” Jäegermyer said. “The more you grow in the tropics, the harder you will be hit. Because it's already pretty warm, an additional amount of warming will be more severe than at high latitudes.”

A 2019 model study simulated future global wheat production with projected global temperatures 1.5 degrees Celsius and 2.0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. Taking into account carbon dioxide’s fertilization effect, the results showed that grain yields for winter or spring-planted wheat rose by about 5% in more temperate regions such as the United States and Europe, and declined by about 2 to 3% in warmer regions such as Central America and parts of Africa. Additionally, in hot regions including India, which produces 14% of global wheat, they more frequently saw years with low wheat yields.

Temperature also affects the life cycle of crops. A small increase in every-day temperatures during the growing season accelerates the plant’s lifecycle, said Ruane. “So what ends up happening is the plant matures more rapidly and at the end of the season when it puts the grain down, it just has not spent as much time building up leaves, collecting sunlight and making that energy that you need for the grain.” The result is fewer grains and smaller crop yields.

Show Me the Water

The last major piece of the puzzle is water. Climate change is affecting rain and snowfall patterns and giving rise to more extremes in droughts and rainfall.

“Some areas will see additional rainfall and therefore benefits,” said Jäegermeyr. “Some regions will receive too much additional rainfall and then see adverse effects from excess rain. And a ton of regions will actually see drought.” For example, monsoons may bring more rain to Southeast Asia, and droughts may become more intense in the Western United States, Australia, Africa and Central America.

The amount of water available for irrigation is already seeing climate change impacts. Mountain snow packs are shrinking in the Himalayas and California’s Sierra Nevada, which are primary sources of both drinking and irrigation water.

Groundwater levels are also sensitive to changes in climate like persistent drought and excessive rain. A 2018 study showed that where groundwater is used for agriculture, groundwater levels are generally decreasing both from the water having been extracted and its sensitivity to change. Additionally, plants access water in the soil, which in hotter regions and a hotter future is more prone to evaporation, leaving less for plants to use.

Access to water has a direct effect on crop health, and satellite observations are one of the key inputs to tools that NASA researchers and partners are building to help manage our warmer future.

Adaptation

“We care about climate change not because of degrees Celsius or parts per million CO2, but because those in turn affect all sectors and our lives,” said Ruane, referring to not only the large-scale agricultural sector and economy, but also the everyday changes that will happen as communities respond to climate change.

In addition to looking at the direct consequences of environmental factors of climate change on crops, research teams within AgMIP are also looking at the potential for adaptations, management practices and economic incentives that will help mitigate the worst outcomes.

There are three types of adaptation strategies, said Ruane: things decided upon every year, such as when to plant and a field’s crop rotation; longer term investments, such as a new tractor, improved irrigation systems or new irrigation infrastructure in currently rain-fed areas; and transformative actions, such as breeding new crop varieties or responding to large-scale shifts in a population’s diet.

“We can test different options in the virtual fields [of the model],” Ruane said. “We can also ask questions about how do the prices [calculated in] our economic models shift if people adopt the type of diet that we have here in the U.S. versus the Mediterranean diet or east Asian diet.” For example, what happens when a population eats more or less meat, or shifts from eating more wheat-based foods to eating more rice-based foods, or vice versa? The models can also explore other secondary effects of these big changes, especially unanticipated ones.

Ruane adds, “If we really want to know what's going to happen to farmers or consumers, we have to bring in the economics of the situation.” As climate change impacts food systems in the future, the effects will ripple out through the economy and into households, shaped by how people respond.

Banner image: Climate change is impacting agriculture in a number of ways. Researchers use satellite data and computer modeling to monitor and mitigate these impacts. Credits: NASA/Earth Observatory/USDA/Jesse Kirsch

---

By Ellen Gray
NASA’s Earth Science News Team

Last Updated: Sep 3, 2021

Editor: Roberto Molar-Candanosa

Offshore wind power generator needs "warning signs so birds stay away" says commenter

Frankie Entwistle | 31 August 2021 1 comment

In this week's comments update, readers are discussing the viability of an offshore wind power generator and sharing their views on other top stories.


Norwegian company Wind Catching Systems is developing a floating 300-metre-high structure, which it claims will be able to renewably power 80,000 homes without increasing power bills.

Readers have practical concerns about the wind power generator, starting with worries about wildlife.

"Wind farm? You mean giant bird chopper," said SalamOOn.

Matt G agreed: "The most efficient bird killing machine ever conceived."

"Need to put up warning signs so birds stay away," Jrj90620 joked.

Others are feeling cautiously optimistic. "I think we all want to love renewable energy solutions," said SR, diplomatically. "That said, I feel like there are more questions with this proposal than the write-up has covered to help it make sense."

"Interesting concept, which we should hope works well as planned," concluded Mr J.

Are commenters right to question the practically of the Windcatcher?

Join the discussion

 ›

Bjarke Ingels launches company to "reimagine the way we build our homes"

Commenter says "the skepticism alarms are blaring pretty loud right now"

The news about a housing design company founded by architect Bjarke Ingels, former WeWork executive Roni Bahar and former Sidewalk Labs model-lab head Nick Chim is one of our most-commented stories this week.

While some readers support the concept of offering residents the opportunity to co-design spaces tailored to their needs, many are disenchanted with Ingels and his approach.

"Would be great to learn more about this but the skepticism alarms are blaring pretty loud right now," began Onshay. "While the move to make homeownership more affordable is totally admirable, the claim that '99 per cent of homes are the same' is just untrue."

"Oh yeah, because mass manufacturing will end land speculation," pointed out Christian Kennedy.

Puzzello felt the idea has been done before. "Nothing new and theoretical announced here that hasn't been questioned or executed already in this industry," they said.

"Here's a thought: make the comments the subject of the article – they are much more intelligent than the article itself," suggested al otero, RA, earning a mention in this week's comments update.

Will Ingels' company bring something new to the market? Join the discussion ›

Carlo Ratti Associati designs hydroponic "farmscraper" for Shenzhen

Reader dubs skyscraper farm a "publicity stunt"

Commenters are unconvinced of the viability of Carlo Ratti Associati's plans to build a skyscraper in China that will serve as both a vertical hydroponic farm and a space to sell the farm's produce.

"You don’t see many vertical factories in central skyscrapers...nothing is different with plants," said Lukas_Arvidsson. "Looks more like a publicity stunt."

To which, Don_bronkema argued: "Growing in situ is more efficient".

"Now that's what I call greenwashing, quite literally," said Alfred Hitchcock.

Is Carlo Ratti Associati's hydroponic "farmscraper" an unsustainable proposal? Join the discussion ›

Kiyoaki Takeda designs Tsuruoka House to accommodate both people and plants

A plant-covered house in Tokyo has reminded readers of why they love architecture. Japanese studio Kiyoaki Takeda Architects designed the home to feature vaulted slabs filled with soil for growing plants.

"Archi not dead! This project definitely made my day!" said Bras cubas.

"This is what architecture is all about – the purity of a good concept, followed through with no compromises," agreed Woop Woop. "Very happy to witness this."

Bsl has a request: "Would love to see a high-rise built like this," they said.

Is the Tsuruoka House deserving of commenters' praise? Join the discussion ›

Read more Dezeen comments

Dezeen is the world's most commented architecture and design magazine, receiving thousands of comments each month from readers. Keep up to date on the latest discussions on our comments page.

Solar power in the Arctic? Iqaluit is giving it a go

Canada's northernmost capital city is trying to quit diesel by soaking up the sun.


Over the last six months, Canada's National Observer has been looking into what's working and what's failing in cities across Canada as they rise to the challenge of fighting climate change. In a 13-part series, we will be taking you across the country, province by province, for a look at how cities are meeting the climate emergency with sustainable solutions.

By Charles Mandel | 

Part 13 of Sustainable Cities
August 30th 2021

With the Arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, Nunavut is trying to confront climate change by cutting its reliance on diesel-generated electricity.

Qulliq Energy Corporation, the territory's power provider, has launched a net-metering program that allows residents with solar panels to send energy back to the grid and receive a discount on the power they draw in return.

But high overhead costs pose a challenge for homeowners — one Iqaluit resident paid $19,000 for his solar array, a price tag many can't afford.


Nunavut’s capital city would seem a less than auspicious place for solar power, given that on Dec. 21 — the shortest day of the year — there is only three and a half hours of daylight.

But in the summer of 2020, installers attached 12 solar panels to Iqaluit lawyer Paul Crowley’s 1,800-square-foot house. Then, in November, his renewable energy system came online, and he connected to the Nunavut power grid.

During the darkest days of winter, Crowley’s home draws substantial power from the grid. However, even in those months, his solar panels manage to supplement his energy requirements.

“The monitoring that we have on the panels shows me that even in the short days of December, January, when it was sunny — and of course that doesn’t happen every day — we were getting sometimes over half of our power from the panels, and those are in the shortest days,” Crowley noted. By mid-February, he says his home was receiving “upward of 70 per cent” of its power from the solar panels.

Paul Crowley stands next to the solar panels on his house in Iqaluit. Photo by Lynn Peplinski

Greenhouse gas emissions in Nunavut are rising and that trend is expected to continue until 2030

.

As Nunavut grapples with the accelerated pace of climate change in Canada's North, it is hoping to reduce its carbon footprint. The territory has not set its own climate targets but does comply with the federal carbon pricing system, which will raise the price of carbon to $50 per tonne by 2022. Still, greenhouse gas emissions in Nunavut are rising and that trend is expected to continue until 2030.

With help from the federal government, Nunavut is trying to reduce its reliance on diesel by investing in solar and energy conservation measures. Community energy audits provide advice to residents on how to improve efficiency and reduce energy consumption.

High overhead costs pose a challenge for homeowners like Crowley hoping to make the switch to solar energy

.

Fishing boats on the waterfront of Iqaluit. 

Photo by Sebastian Kasten / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Currently, the net-metering program is open to residential customers in Nunavut and to one hamlet account per community. Rick Hunt, the president and CEO of Qulliq Energy Corporation (QEC), says the utility hopes to launch a commercial and institutional power producers program for existing businesses by the end of fiscal year 2021, pending territorial cabinet approval.

I’ve been wanting to do this for years, for not just the savings, but for wanting to avoid burning diesel if we can as much as possible.
Paul Crowley, Iqaluit homeowner

Crowley hopes that by the time the northern days stretch longer, the solar panels will supply more power than he uses from QEC’s diesel-generated electricity, allowing him to send any excess energy he produces back into the grid.

In return for that extra energy, Crowley will receive credit for future power use from the QEC, allowing him to offset his home power bill, which runs between $2,000 and $3,000 annually.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for years, for not just the savings, but for wanting to avoid burning diesel if we can as much as possible,” Crowley said, referencing the fact Iqaluit’s residents draw on energy produced from central diesel power plants for their electricity and heat.

With his 4,440-watt array — more than enough to power his home’s lights, heating, hot water system, computers and other assorted gadgets drawing on electricity — Crowley gained the distinction of becoming the first resident of Iqaluit to install home solar panels under the QEC’s net-metering program, first announced in 2018.

The solar array on Paul Crowley's house cost nearly $20,000 to install.

 Photo by Lynn Peplinski

A lot of people are curious about his $19,000 solar array, Crowley said, “but they want to see how it goes before they jump in.”

I think it really comes down to not everyone has that money to put upfront, so financing it is a challenge for many people.
Paul Crowley, Iqaluit homeowner

And that’s the problem: to date, a lot of people appear unwilling to take that leap of faith.

So far, only 14 individuals have opted into the net-metering program, all of them in Iqaluit. Those who have signed up receive a bi-directional meter that tells the QEC how much energy the customers have consumed, and how much energy they send back into the grid, and which may be used in conjunction with the solar array.

Crowley said after people admire his solar panels, they immediately ask him if there are subsidies. However, such a program doesn’t exist. Crowley paid for his system upfront and will amortize it over the next 10 to 12 years.

The creation of a subsidy program would go a long way to encouraging people to add solar, according to Crowley. “I think it really comes down to not everyone has that money to put upfront, so financing it is a challenge for many people.”

Iqaluit skies.

 Photo by Abishek Indukuri / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The initiative makes a lot of sense in the territory. In its 2018 report, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada issued a dire warning about the impacts of the climate crisis on the region.All 25 of Nunavut’s communities are powered by stand-alone diesel generators.

They included a reduction in sea ice offering less protection from waves and storm surges, making communities more vulnerable to coastal erosion and flooding; thawing permafrost causing risks to infrastructure from shifting foundations; and severe rains causing local flooding and washouts.

Diesel, the territory’s primary means of power, presents another problem. Martha Lenio, a specialist on renewable energy in the Arctic with World Wildlife Fund Canada and a QEC board member, said the territory’s reliance on diesel comes with serious issues.

All 25 of Nunavut’s communities are powered by stand-alone diesel generators. According to Lenio, the fuel comes into the territories by ship once a year and is stored in large tank farms. During the transfer of the fuel from the boats to the tanks, the potential for spills exists, as well as when it’s stored in the communities.

Iqaluit airport terminal.

 Photo by ceedub13 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

In 2018, for example, a 4,000-litre fuel spill took place at the Grise Fiord power plant, the “result of failed power plant components.”QEC has introduced a number of other renewable energy initiatives, including the installation of 472 LED streetlights in Iqaluit, with an additional 56 scheduled for the end of March.

Lenio also noted the World Health Organization classifies diesel exhaust as a carcinogen and that it exacerbates many respiratory illnesses, including tuberculosis, which many Arctic communities still struggle with, and others resulting from mouldy homes.

She also pointed out it’s expensive to generate electric heat from diesel. “That impacts food security if you have to make a decision whether to pay your energy bill or to eat. It has a really huge impact on families.”

Given such concerns, the QEC has introduced a number of other renewable energy initiatives, including the installation of 472 LED streetlights in Iqaluit, with an additional 56 scheduled for the end of March. QEC hopes to replace all of Nunavut’s streetlights by 2024.

The utility received partial funding from the federal government to replace streetlights in four territorial communities, with the work completed in 2018. Then the Nunavut government allocated $2 million in carbon tax funds to replace all the conventional streetlights throughout the territory.

Hunt said the lights help reduce the territory’s carbon footprint, last longer, and save money for both municipal and territorial governments while making the streets safer through improved illumination.

QEC and the City of Iqaluit also signed an agreement in April 2020 for a new district heating plant connecting the city’s aquatic centre, water treatment plant, water booster station, and water reheat station.

The district heating system is designed to capture thermal energy from industrial generators during electricity production and transfer the heat through connected buildings using a distribution system. The city estimates it will save some 1,500 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually by using the alternative system to heat the four buildings.

But while initiatives such as the LED lights are a success, the net-metering program has been slow to catch on.

However, Crowley said for those Iqaluit residents who can afford such systems, they should consider adding renewable energy. “Anyone who plans on being a homeowner for longer than 10 to 12 years should consider it as a possibility. The panels are likely to last at least 25 years, likely longer than that, so I think the payback — not just for your own bills, but environmentally — are well worth it.”

Asia, Middle East utilities turn to dirtier fuel as LNG prices bite
Reuters Singapore | Updated on September 03, 2021

Global fuel oil inventories across key storage and trading hubs are at multi-month lows as a result

Surging liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices are prompting utilities across Asia and the Middle East to burn more high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) than usual to meet increased power demands during summer, analysts and traders say.

The move towards the cheaper but more polluting HSFO highlights the problems faced by developing countries which have to grapple with the economics of lower costs versus meeting emission-cutting standards.

The strong demand for the residual fuel oil could last beyond the summer as global economic recovery from Covid-19 gathers momentum and global LNG prices hold firm at more than twice where they averaged in 2020, the analysts said.

“With (spot) LNG prices surpassing HSFO, power generation plants are switching from gas to oil where possible,” said Serena Huang, Vortexa’s Asia lead analyst, highlighting strong power demand in the Middle East, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

“Fuel oil imports are likely to rise further as LNG prices continue to head north amid tight supply-demand fundamentals,” said Huang.

Also see: Green push: Coal India to retrofit LNG kits in its dumpers

Asian spot LNG prices are currently at their highest since January, and also at their highest for this time of the year since at least 2010.

They are expected to climb further during the northern hemisphere winter when demand for LNG for heating typically surges.

“LNG (imported) into Pakistan is now about $250 per tonne more expensive than 180-cst (centistoke) HSFO,” a senior Singapore-based fuel oil trader said.

He added that on a forward price basis, spot LNG cargoes are trading above fuel oil prices through the first-quarter of 2022.

“We will see unprecedented switching into first quarter of next year at current prices,” the trader said, noting that fuel switching is already occurring across Asia and the Middle East.

Oil burners back on

Utilities are to idle gas-fired power plants and restart oil-fired units if the price difference is wide enough and local emissions rules allow.

In South Asia, Pakistan’s fuel oil imports this year are already about 65 per cent above 2020’s total, while Bangladesh is considering increasing fuel oil imports by nearly 10 per cent in the financial year starting July 1.

“For Bangladesh’s peak electricity demand, HSFO is an economically better option,” a source within a utility in Bangladesh said.

In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have also stepped up seasonal fuel oil imports amid soaring temperatures and recovering economic activity, trade sources said.

“Scorching temperatures in the Middle East are prolonging cooling demand,” consultancy Energy Aspects said in a report to clients this week, adding that the region’s strong demand has improved the economics of exporting HSFO from Europe to the Middle East lately.

Low stocks

Fuel oil supplies have already been constrained after Middle East producers cut heavy sour crude oil production to meet supply targets set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and as refineries reduced crude throughput.

A fire at a heavy crude Mexican offshore platform in late-August is also expected to curtail fuel oil output, Energy Aspects said.

Global fuel oil inventories across key storage and trading hubs are at, or near, multi-month lows as a result.

Combined with brisk demand, the tight inventories helped propel the 180-cst HSFO cash premium and front-month time spread to near two-year highs in late-August.

Tighter residual fuel oil supplies and strong demand from Chinese refineries for cheaper feedstock following a fuel tax overhaul in June are also boosting prices of 0.5 per cent very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO).

“The time for VLSFO to shine may come later in the winter if cold weather increases demand for liquid fuels in power generation in countries such as Japan and South Korea where LSFO is required,” Energy Aspects said in a note to clients.


Published on September 03, 2021

HOW A WEIRD MEDIEVAL REMEDY MADE OF GARLIC, ONION, WINE AND BILE COULD ACTUALLY TURN INTO EFFECTIVE MODERN MEDICINE


Credit: 20th Century Fox/Disney

The Dark Ages aren’t exactly thought of as a time for medical advancement. While some treatments verging on medieval torture, like that scene in The Princess Bride (above), if you take away the cow dung and toad vomit lozenges, not everything was snake oil.

Medieval treatments that work sound oxymoronic. They come from an age infected with superstition, when people were convinced things like demons and dark magic as causes of illness. However, a team of scientists from the University of Warwick recreated a thousand-year-old salve that shows promise in killing bacteria which could otherwise be lethal. “Bald’s eyesalve” comes from the pages of the medical text Bald’s Leechbook (leeches were a hot commodity in medicine back then). This concoction of garlic, onion, wine and bile might sound random—but it could eventually be used to treat the untreatable.

“Understanding the relationship between combinations of natural products and antimicrobial activity may generate a novel way to create new antibiotics from botanicals,” said Jessica Furner-Pardoe and Blessing Anonye, who recently published a study in Scientific Reports. “Bald’s eyesalve [is] an example of an “ancientbiotic” that requires the combination of all ingredients for potent activity against a panel of clinically important bacterial strains.”

Bacteria keep getting more and more resistant to antibiotics. They can be free-floating, but are much more effective when they grow together in masses known as biofilms. What team especially wanted to see how effective Bald’s eyesalve was against pathogens such as strep and staph. Along with other gnarly bacteria, they can be found in often antibiotic-resistant biofilms in diabetic foot ulcers, which can mean amputation to prevent avoid blood infection. Even if they are obliterated for a while, they usually make a comeback. Biofilms are getting harder to take down. This is why the team felt it was most important to test the medieval medicine against biofilms as opposed to bacteria that were just meandering around.

The salve was tested against both free-floating bacteria and biofilms, and unsurprisingly killed off the floaters much more easily. Biofilms were more of a challenge. For the experiment, both an environment made to mimic the fluid from wounds such as diabetic ulcers, along with a more lifelike wound environment made of cultured tissue, were recreated.

Even though some medieval remedies worked, you probably wouldn't have wanted to be in the hands of this guy. Credit: 20th Century Fox/Disney

What the team found was that no single ingredient in the salve was any more effective than all the ingredients combined. While each of the ingredients is known to have antimicrobial powers, none were more effective alone than all of them were together. Allicin is a sulfuric compound in garlic that is released when plant tissue is destroyed. While garlic was suspected to be one of the stronger ingredients because of this, isolated allicin was nowhere near the bacteria-killing level that it was when combined with everything else. Wine was another ingredient that was immediately thought to be effective because of the alcohol (you know what they say about booze and a sore throat). Even the ethanol in wine was not enough.

This could mean a problem with the way medicines are developed now, even a thousand years after someone came up with ye olde remedy.

“It could be that the conventional process for developing drugs may miss key aspects of those herbal remedies which could be effective against biofilms,” the scientists said. “Conventional drug development calls for the isolation of single active compounds, whereas historical medicine usually calls for combinations of whole plants (and other natural materials). There is some evidence that whole plant extracts can have stronger biological effects than individual isolated compounds.”

So isolating just one compound from a natural source isn’t always the answer. Too much allicin can be toxic. Everyone knows what too much wine is capable of. Synergy of ingredients can mean the difference between life and death, as the results of the experiment showed. It’s kind of like the Avengers in microbial form. Any one of them would have never been able to destroy Thanos alone, but their combined power was enough to blow him away, even if Tony Stark and the Hulk’s hand did take a tremendous hit. It would have been impossible otherwise.

Medieval medicine is only going to be investigated further after this, but is cow dung really what you need for a toothache? Get thee to a dentist instead.

MICROBES CAN MINE ROCK IN SPACE—AND IT COULD SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT ON EARTH AND BEYOND



S. desiccabilis mining for minerals. Credit: ESA

Sep 4, 2021, 4:18 PM EDT

Captain Planet may be forever trapped in the ‘90s, but he has microscopic minions watching out for our planet. They might just be the tiniest environmental superheroes ever.

There is no doubt mining is dirty work. Both the fire and smoke from explosions used to break the ground can be deadly. So can chemicals needed to extract minerals. Tons of debris are left in its wake, and the impact of exposure of humans and other organisms to noxious fumes and gas exhaust from heavy machinery certainly isn’t helping the global warming situation. Unfortunately, someone has to do it. That someone may not be human for much longer.

Everything from our smartphones to refrigerators to immense power plants (which cough out even more pollution) needs minerals found deep in Earth. However, some of these minerals can also be found in space. While biomining—using bacteria to extract metals that would otherwise need destructive methods to reach—is slowly catching on down here, future deep space expeditions mean we’re going to need materials out there. This is why biomining experiments involving different types of bacteria and minerals have been going on aboard the ISS.

“Among the advantages of biomining are its affordability and environmental sustainability. For instance, it can reduce metal contamination and improve the recycling of elements from electrical waste,” said a group of researchers, led by astrobiologist Charles Cockell, in a study recently published in Frontiers in Microbiology.




The Biorock bacteria culture chamber. Credit: ESA

The first mineral biomined in space as part of the ESA Biorock investigation was basalt. Basalt is everywhere on the Moon and Mars, and if we ever want to go to Mars, we need to use its resources. This igneous rock, often used in asphalt and concrete, is left over from ancient volcanic eruptions. It also contains rare Earth elements that are common on other moons and planets. But how do you get to lunar basalt without blowing up the Moon? It is found on the surface, but getting to those rare elements needs some form of intervention. Enter bacteria.

Now these same species of super-microbes have proven they can get to vanadium, which otherwise needs to be mined underground. Separating it from the rocks it is embedded in requires chemicals. Vanadium is most commonly used to strengthen steel that toughens tools, holds up buildings and could potentially be used for off-Earth construction. It also guards against shock and corrosion. Not only were the microbes able to mine, but this time, they have actually shown that it can mine up to 283% more vanadium in microgravity.

Who exactly are these heroes? Sphingomonas desiccabilis and Bacillus subtilis are harmless microorganisms most people don’t even know exist, since they aren’t pathogens. S. desiccabilis quietly goes about its business creeping through the soil crusts of the Colorado plateau. When not mining, B. subtilis is used in probiotics to promote gut health (seriously, Google it and probiotic supplements are the first thing that comes up). What these bacteria have in common is that they eat rocks. Metabolizing any extra surrounding rock leaves you with vanadium.

“Gravity did not have a significant effect on [the bacteria], thus showing the potential for biomining on Solar System objects with diverse gravitational conditions,” the researchers said.

Before the basalt experiment, scientists were apprehensive about how biomining bacteria would perform in zero-G. Microgravity can have negative effects on many organisms down to the cellular level. This is why there are genetic studies now being carried out in space, and the results of one just showed that broken DNA can actually put itself back together. What the Biorock team did not expect was the incredible upshot in production that the bacteria were able to pull off. You just need nutrients to grow the bacteria, then let it do its job on its own.

Someday there will be huge operations using masses of bacteria to safely bring lunar and Martian minerals to the surface. Until then, Biorock would be an awesome name for a metal band.

The special effects that enlivened early martial arts movies in Hong Kong, from flying swords and palm rays to men in monster suits


Fight scenes weren’t authentic, the acting was stiff and the cameras never moved, but monsters and magic effects in 1950s wuxia films thrilled cinema-goers

Magic effects such as palm rays were usually drawn directly onto the celluloid, while the appearance of levitation was shown by means of reversed film


Richard James Havis
SCMP
Published:  5 Sep, 2021


A still from 1963 film The Golden Scissors, Part One features a flying sword (left). 

Martial arts special effects were primitive, but so was the acting and camerawork.

Wuxia films didn’t begin with Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers studio, and there were kung fu films long before Bruce Lee.

In fact, Hong Kong’s first martial arts film, made in 1938, told the story of legendary Cantonese hero Fong Sai-yuk long before Jet Li Lianjie committed Fong’s adventures to film. Even Li’s indelible characterisation of the masterful Wong Fei-hung was predated by the long-running Wong Fei-hung film series starring Kwan Tak-hing.

Special effects, too, didn’t arrive with Tsui Hark’s Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain and Tsui and Ching Siu-tung’s A Chinese Ghost Story – effects utilising props, make-up and costumes had been around since the dawn of the genre.

Even Hong Kong’s wirework techniques, used to give the impression of long leaps or flying and beloved of martial arts choreographers such as Yuen Woo-ping, were invented long ago, in the moviemaking powerhouse of Shanghai in the 1920s.

A still from Ingenious Swords, Part One (1962).

We recall some almost forgotten Hong Kong martial arts films and their use of special effects.

How it all began

The first martial arts films were made in Shanghai in the 1920s, but the genre didn’t start in Hong Kong until 1938, with the four-part film serial The Adventures of Fong Sai Yuk.

According to Yu Mo-wan’s Swords, Chivalry and Palm Power, Hong Kong did not have the talent to sustain a martial arts film industry until 1937, when directors working in the genre relocated from Shanghai to Hong Kong because of the Japanese invasion of China. Martial arts films took off in Hong Kong in the 1940s.

The heroes of Shanghainese films were often rebellious, but the Cantonese versions of these characters were chivalrous and upheld Confucian values. Noting a scene in which a martial artist climbs some stairs on his hands while holding cigarettes with his feet, Yu writes that the value of the films lies in their “documentation of actual acrobatic stunts and martial arts routines”.

‘I’m versatile’: how Michelle Yeoh became a martial arts movie star
29 Aug 2021


The genre flourished in the 1950s with some notable adaptations of martial arts novels, and many inferior films based on pulp fiction and old Shanghainese films

A major star of this period – she made around 150 wuxia films – was actress Yu So-chow, daughter of master Yu Jim-yuen, the founder of the Beijing opera school attended by Jackie Chan.

Cantonese-language martial arts films enjoyed a golden age in the early 1960s, with hits like The Story of Book and Sword and The Yin Yang Blade. Hong Kong acting legend Josephine Siao Fong-fong was a prominent star of wuxia movies in this period.

Yu So-chow in a scene from The Secret Book (1961).

Around 1967, Cantonese martial arts movies were replaced by the modern-looking colour films of Shaw Brothers’ “Colour Wuxia Century”, shot in Mandarin Chinese, although Cantonese productions limped on for a few more years.

Men in monster suits

Magic and monsters were popular elements of the Cantonese fantastique wuxia films. Buddha’s Palm, the first of a four-part Cantonese-language film series directed by Ling Wan in 1964, has to be seen to be believed.

A still from The Furious Buddha’s Palm (1965).

A straightforward plot about a young martial artist seeking the secret of the Eight-Palm Buddha technique is enlivened by a kung fu chicken (although it’s meant to be an eagle), a kung fu bat and a kung fu yeti/unicorn. The beasts are all man-sized, and are mainly played by former circus performer Chan Siu-ping, an acknowledged expert in acting in animal suits.

“At that time, in Buddha’s Palm and in all the other Cantonese pictures that called for it, I was the actor who played those strange beasts, principally for the money,” Chan told the Hong Kong Film Archive.

“A martial arts coach would get only HK$25 a day, but playing these strange beasts, you were paid HK$40 to HK$50 a day. About 99 per cent of these roles in Hong Kong cinema were played by me.”

Josephine Siao and the eagle, played by Chan Siu-ping, in a still from Marching Down South (1963). Photo: YouTube

“I was the eagle in Buddha’s Palm and Marching Down South, and I was the ape in a contemporary Fung Bobo picture. Another time I was the ‘hairy monster.’ I had a sharp eye to observe these animals. The toughest thing to play were the snakes and crocodiles – creatures that crawl across the floor,” said Chan.

A world of special effects

Flying swords, palm rays, magic darts, levitation by means of reversed film, and wirework played a big part in the fantastique films of Shanghai, and Hong Kong directors continued the tradition.

Effects like palm rays were usually drawn directly onto the celluloid, and specialised artists were employed for the task. Sacred Fire Decree of the Kung Fu World, a box-office hit directed by Siu Sang in 1965, used such techniques to become a box-office hit.

A still from The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple, Part Three (1957).

“At that time, the technology we had for making martial arts pictures was not advanced. It was tough to do things like show the ‘whoosh’ of palm power emanating from your hand,” Siu told the Film Archive.

“Once you had your hand ready to project the whoosh, the actor had to stand very still – he couldn’t move. Then you literally had to draw in that whoosh, which gradually became larger as a beam projected through the sky. If it was a colour production, the beam would be coloured, and the red would be shown fighting the green. This usually impressed children.”

What were the films like?

Acting was stagey and the camera rarely moved – according to an interview with a cinematographer, this was not because of technical limitations, but because the directors never thought to move them.

A still from The Legend of the Owl (1981), a Hong Kong martial arts comedy which blends influences from wuxia novels and foreign pop culture such as the Star Wars movies. Photo: Fortune Star Media Limited

“The action sequences were choreographed on the stage model of formulaic and fake fighting, and lacked the kind of stage aesthetics that made it acceptable on stage,” wrote film historian Law Kar of the movies of the 1950s.

By the early 1960s things had improved. “More effort was being put into the action sequences to add to their appeal,” Law wrote. “New weapons were being pulled out of the bag of tricks, and an emphasis was put on choreography and design.”


In this regular feature series on the best of Hong Kong martial arts cinema, we examine the legacy of classic films, re-evaluate the careers of its greatest stars, and revisit some of the lesser-known aspects of the beloved genre.

 Read
our comprehensive explainer here.
Want more articles like this? Follow
SCMP Film on Facebook

From lockup to landslide: meet DC's first leader elected from jail

Issued on: 06/09/2021 - 

Joel Caston, pictured at his swearing in ceremony in the DC Jail in June 2021, rises before dawn every day to study, exercise, and phone his mom -

 DC Department of Corrections/AFP

Washington (AFP)

A few miles from the gleaming sandstone porticos and colonnades of the White House, Washington's most unlikely elected official has an executive office of his own -- a cell in the District of Columbia Jail.

Joel Caston -- convicted for murder as a teenager a quarter-century ago -- is finding redemption through politics after becoming the first prisoner in the US capital ever to be elected to public office.

Every day he rises before dawn to study, exercise, and phone the mom he calls his "queen." Then, like any other local leader, he embarks on a day of solving problems for his constituents in the jail and surrounding area.

As a member of the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC), the 45-year-old is very much on the ground floor of the US capital's Byzantine political pantheon -- but he has real influence in shaping public policy to improve people's lives.

"I represent every incarcerated person on the planet," Caston told AFP in a recent video interview from his makeshift office in the prison.

Joel Caston (C), is pictured with his mother Mattie Caston, after being sworn in by Judge Milton Lee Jr in the DC Jail in June 2021 - DC Department of Corrections/AFP

"If we are given a chance, we can participate in the political process. We could be an asset, not a liability to our community."

Caston, who grew up in Washington, was convicted of murder and jailed for life for shooting dead a fellow 18-year-old 27 years ago in the parking lot of a Chinese takeaway in the city's deprived southeast.

He says he has since worked hard to turn his life around, developing a strict routine of Bible and economics studies, yoga and mentoring.

He speaks five languages, including Arabic and Chinese and has penned series of financial literacy books.

In summer, with Washington having recently expanded voting rights to imprisoned felons, Caston added another string to his bow, beating four fellow inmates with a third of the vote to become an ANC commissioner in Washington's Ward 7.

- 'Baby, you won!' -

"I called my queen. She was like 'Baby, you won!'" Caston said, recalling being roused by guards at 5:00 am one day in June to be told of his election victory.

"They were more ecstatic than I was. I didn't even know I won."

Commissioners in ANCs, locally-elected governing board created in the 1970s, act as go-betweens for residents, local government and federal agencies.

Dressed in a pink button-down shirt with a matching striped tie for his video call with AFP, Caston says he takes inspiration from Nelson Mandela's autobiography documenting 27 years in prison.

"I began to model Mandela's behavior. He never succumbed to his environment," said Caston, who has been behind bars for the same stretch, serving time in 16 different facilities before returning to Washington in 2016.

Joel Caston says he has immersed himself in the world of business and finance

 Keely SULLIVAN AFP

Caston says he has immersed himself in the world of business and finance, a longtime passion that started as a kid selling candy for pocket money.

In 2018, he founded the Young Men Emerging program, a mentorship initiative pairing newly incarcerated youths with older inmates to offer counseling and foster community.

"I haven't spent 27, counting, years waiting to go home," said Caston, who is nicknamed "Obama" for the leadership qualities he has displayed in mentoring sessions.

"I spent it to prepare myself to never come back to prison."

- Working from prison -

Caston's journey to elected office began in July last year as local lawmakers voted to grant felons the right to vote from prison.

He teamed up with members of the DC Council to produce a podcast encouraging his peers to engage in the democratic process and to raise awareness of the fight for prisoners' voting rights.

This brought to his attention the ANC and its upcoming election.

"When I discovered that, a lightbulb went off in my brain," he recalled.

Caston campaigned via YouTube and an online manifesto promoted to constituents outside the jail, including the residents of a women's homeless shelter and an apartment building.

The largest technical challenge he faces in serving his community is the most obvious: he can't just stroll around the neighborhood, going door-to-door to meet residents.

Joel Caston, Washington's first incarcerated elected official, campaigned via YouTube and an online manifesto promoted to constituents outside the jail -

 DC Department of Corrections/AFP

But he has enlisted the help of advocacy groups and supporters on the ground to be his eyes, ears and mouthpiece.

Meanwhile the younger prisoners he mentors have been getting him up to speed on technology so he can meet constituents by video call on a laptop.

And while they say time is your one luxury while you serve your sentence, Caston often finds there aren't enough hours in the day.

"Once I got my... official email address, I logged on to 600 plus emails in my inbox. I was in a deficit from the beginning," he said.

Caston's two-year stint may finish early as he has been pursuing early release under a law allowing inmates convicted as teenagers to petition for reduced sentences after 15 years.

He tries not to think too much about the future, preferring to live in the moment, but he says he will remember representing his ward as the opportunity of a lifetime.

"If my seat... served only for the purpose to inspire other people to engage in civic engagement matters," he says, "then I've served my purpose."

© 2021 AFP

Armed with voting rights, native groups join conservation fray

Issued on: 06/09/2021 - 

The full integration of indigenous peoples into the IUCN process has been a lengthy and tortured process 

EVARISTO SA AFP/File

Marseille (AFP)

Newly armed with voting rights, indigenous peoples have come to the world's leading conservation congress meeting in the French city of Marseille both hopeful and wary.

They have demands, and will not go quietly into the night, their representatives say.

"It makes no sense for consultants and companies to come to teach us how to protect what we have always successfully protected," said Jose Gregorio Diaz Mirabal of COICA, which represents more than two million indigenous people across nine Amazon nations


Their boldest proposal is for a measure to ensure that 80 percent of the Amazon is declared a protected area by 2025.

The reasoning is simple.

"Half of [tropical] forests, and 80 percent of biodiversity" in the world are found in indigenous territories, said Peter Seligmann, a veteran conservationist who set up an NGO -- Nia Tero (Our Land) -- run in part by indigenous leaders.

Walter Quertehuari is a leader of the Wachiperi people in southeastern Peru. His commune in the Amarakaeri reserve is recognized on the IUCN Green List for its work in protecting biodiversity.

Unable to attend the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) meet in person due to Covid restrictions, Quertehuari reminded participants by videolink that his people have safeguarded more than 400,000 hectares of forest for more than 15 years.

By staving off the deforestation taking place all around them, he explained, his people have not only protected a crucial biodiversity hotspot but prevented planet-warming CO2 from leaching into the atmosphere.

Now it's time for a payday.

"We are talking about how carbon credits from the reserve can be sold," he told the IUCN's first Indigenous Summit.

Paying to restore or maintain healthy forests in order to fight climate change is not a new idea, and has been embedded in the UN climate convention for many years.

But such initiatives have been plagued with accounting and oversight problems, and some environmentalists say the concept is fundamentally flawed.

"There are indigenous communities that say: 'As soon as you put a monetary value on a tree, someone is going to want to cut it down, because that's the story of our relationship with Westerners'," said Seligmann.

But "indigenous communities have the right to self-determination," he added.

- 'We are nations' -

The full integration of indigenous peoples into the IUCN has been a lengthy and tortured process, sources within and outside the organization acknowledge.

"We have long been invited to attend, but indigenous peoples do not see themselves as conservation organizations," Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, a former UN special rapporteur from the Philippines, told AFP.

"We are nations, we are peoples," she added.

"And besides, membership is so expensive. Where do they think indigenous peoples can find the money?"

IUCN members -- some 1,400 government ministries, research institutes and non-governmental organizations large and small -- pay anywhere from 300 to 20,000 Swiss francs (about $300 to $21,000), depending on their size and resources.

Members of different indigenous tribes hold a candlelit vigil outside the Supreme Court Building in Brasilia

 CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File

"Since the 1980s there have been indigenous group members," said Enrique Lahmann, director of the World Conservation Congress. "Inuits were among the first."

But none of these groups had the right to vote on important measures and propositions that have often served as the backbone for UN treaties or conventions.

After years of discussion and debate, it was agreed that indigenous peoples would have a classification of their own.

"This is the first time that the IUCN has made changes within its categories" Lahmann said.

Due do Covid, there are far fewer indigenous activists than in the past at the congress, which usually attracts upward of 10,000 participants.

But indigenous representatives can now participate fully in all deliberations, and when it comes time to vote they will have the same status as NGOs.

- 'Deceived for too long' -

In 2012, Relmu Namku, from the Mapuche people in Argentina, was charged with attempted murder after blocking the entrance to an oil field. At the end of a harrowing trial, she was acquitted in 2015.

She came to Marseille with a clear objective.

"We are very critical of the way conservation has been managed all these years," she explained to AFP.

"Historically, protected areas have been created through the usurpation of the territories of indigenous communities," she said.

Being part of the IUCN, with voice and vote, "can serve to put pressure on our governments," she added.

Not all indigenous peoples are on the same page. Navajos in the United States, for example, bought coal mines exploited for decades on their land and now operate them for profit.

Aerial picture showing a deforested land in the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho in northern Brazil 

CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File

And there are other hurdles ahead.

Even with good intentions, there remains mutual misunderstanding or mistrust across the divide between science-based and traditional conservation.

"Some [traditional] communities are reluctant to share their knowledge," acknowledged Aissatou Dicko, an indigenous representative from Burkina Faso.

"And there's a hesitancy on the part of scientists because they don't know how to measure the reliability" of what indigenous peoples tell them, he said.

© 2021 AFP

IRELAND

'Myth' of recycling 'really far down the waste hierarchy', environmental group says

Jack Quann
 5 SEP 2021

An environmental group says Irish people were sold a 'myth' that recycling would solve our waste problems.

The Sick of Plastic campaign was formed in 2018, in response to the public's frustration with single-use plastics.

But it says we are taking home more plastic packaging from supermarkets than ever, despite moves such as the plastic bag levy back in 2002.

Lyndsey O'Connell from the group told Alive and Kicking people were sold a 'complete misnomer'.

"It's a myth - recycling is part of the solution, but it's really, really far down on the waste hierarchy.

"What we would say at the very top is 'refuse, reuse and refill' and then recycling would be way down there.

"We only, in Ireland, recycle 31% of our plastics and at that you can only recycle a piece of plastic five or six times before it becomes completely broken down and it has to be incinerated anyway.

"So it's not like aluminium and glass, that can be recycling and reused constantly".
Increase in plastic waste

She says the increase in plastic on products is not a mistake.

"Plastic is a big issue at the moment, it wouldn't come as a surprise to yourself I'm sure and most of your listeners, that is a bit of a pollution issue.

"But we are taking home a lot more plastic in our bags than ever as well."

Lyndsey says over time, the use of single-use plastics - on supermarket fruit and vegetables for example - has increased.


"The more time has gone on the more plastic we're using, and that's not happening by accident.

"It's a concerted effort by the plastics industry, because that's where their profit is unfortunately.

"They're producing more plastic and then we're seeing it on our shelves and then we're taking it home and putting it into our bins".

Lyndsey says as more people move away from oil and gas, the industry needs to get profit in other ways.

"I didn't realise this when I started working on this project... that 99% of the ingredients in plastic is actually oil and gas.

"So the fossil fuel industry, because we're all heating our homes now more efficiently or we're powering our cars with electricity the fossil fuel industry are moving towards the creation of plastic as a way of bolstering their kind of ebbing profits.

"So because we're seeing more plastic in the shops, this is actually a business drive for more profits.

"The more plastic they're producing, the better they're doing as a business".

Refill targets

But Lyndsey says every little helps, and people should not feel overwhelmed.

"I'm not the only one who stands over my bin in a state of paralysis with a piece of packaging in my hand going 'where does this go, I want it to go to the right place'.

"We work with bottom-up solutions, where we give people who feel like us and who are sick of plastic - if they want to push back against industry - we will provide them with ways to get in contact with their local supermarket, maybe do a local audit of their shops to see how much plastic they're using.

"But we're also looking for top-down solutions as well.

"We don't think we're going to make big changes unless industry and government are onboard.

"We're calling on the Government to introduce refill targets - so that 20% of our supermarkets floors, of the larger supermarkets, have to be refill.

"Where we can bring in our own packaging and fill up those products".

She was speaking after supermarket chain Lidl announced a Deposit Return Scheme for plastic bottles, which will see customers get vouchers in return.

The company says its reverse vending machine is now being used at its Glenageary store in Dublin, with plans for a nationwide rollout by 2023.

For every unit deposited, a customer will receive a 10c voucher in return - with a maximum voucher limit of €2.