World’s vast networks of underground fungi to be mapped for first time

Vast networks of underground fungi – the “circulatory system of the planet” – are to be mapped for the first time, in an attempt to protect them from damage and improve their ability to absorb and store carbon dioxide.

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© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Biosphoto/Alamy
 Hotspots of mycorrhizal fungi are thought to be under threat, from agriculture, urbanisation, pollution, water scarcity and changes to the climate.

Fiona Harvey BBC Environment correspondent 

Fungi use carbon to build networks in the soil, which connect to plant roots and act as nutrient “highways”, exchanging carbon from plant roots for nutrients. For instance, some fungi are known to supply 80% of phosphorus to their host plants.

Underground fungal networks can extend for many miles but are rarely noticed, though trillions of miles of them are thought to exist around the world. These fungi are vital to the biodiversity of soils and soil fertility, but little is known about them.

Many hotspots of mycorrhizal fungi are thought to be under threat, from the expansion of agriculture, urbanisation, pollution, water scarcity and changes to the climate.

The new project, from the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), will involve the collection of 10,000 samples around the world, from hotspots that are being identified through artificial intelligence technology.

Jane Goodall, the conservationist, who is advising the project, said: “An understanding of underground fungal networks is essential to our efforts to protect the soil, on which life depends, before it is too late.”

The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks comprises scientists from the Netherlands, Canada, the US, France, Germany and the University of Manchester in the UK.

The first collections will take place next year in Patagonia, and continue for about 18 months, to create maps of potential underground mycorrhizal fungi that can be used for further research. Using the maps, the scientists hope to pinpoint the ecosystems facing the most urgent threats, and partner with local conservation organisations to try to create “conservation corridors” for the underground ecosystems.

This is believed to be the first major effort to map an underground ecosystem in this way. Climate science has focused on above-ground ecosystems, and although we know that fungi are essential for soil structure and fertility, and the global carbon cycle – as ecosystems with thriving mycorrhizal fungi networks have been shown to store eight times as much carbon as ecosystems without such networks – much of the role of fungi in the soil nutrient cycle remains mysterious.

Mark Tercek, former CEO of the Nature Conservancy, and a member of the governing body for SPUN, said: “Fungal networks underpin life on Earth. If trees are the ‘lungs’ of the planet, fungal networks are the ‘circulatory systems’. These networks are largely unexplored.”

Mycorrhizal fungi create tough organic compounds that provide structure to the soil, and store carbon in their necromass, the networks that are no longer active, but remain woven into the soil.

Modern industrial agriculture adds vast quantities of chemical fertiliser which interrupts the dynamics of exchange between plants and fungi, scientists warn. Without thriving fungal networks, crops require more chemical inputs and are more vulnerable to drought, soil erosion, pests and pathogens. Mechanical ploughing in modern agriculture also damages the physical integrity of fungal networks.

There is also increasing evidence that some combinations of fungi can enhance productivity more than others, so guarding these is critical, according to soil scientists.

Ten hotspots have been identified by the scientists involved, including: Canadian tundra; the Mexican plateau; high altitudes in South America; Morocco; the western Sahara; Israel’s Negev desert; the steppes of Kazakhstan; the grasslands and high plains of Tibet; and the Russian taiga.

Jeremy Grantham, a billionaire financier and funder of climate research who is funding the project with $3.5m (£2.6m), said: “Just below our feet lies an invaluable ally in mitigating climate change: vast hidden fungal networks. Billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide flow annually from plants to fungal networks. Yet these carbon sinks are poorly understood. In working to map and harness this threatened but vital resource for life on earth, SPUN is pioneering a new chapter in global conservation.”

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Australia bank pays out over charging dead people

Australian banking giant Westpac has admitted to breaking the law after it was hit with six lawsuits by regulators over its poor treatment of customers, including charging fees to dead people.

© Getty Images

It will pay $81m (A$113m; £61m) in penalties, subject to court approval.

The bank will also hand $57m of compensation to its customers.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said Westpac needs to urgently improve its "poor compliance culture".

"The conduct and breaches alleged in these proceedings caused widespread consumer harm and ranged across Westpac's everyday banking, financial advice, superannuation and insurance businesses," ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said.

ASIC, Australia's corporate watchdog, said one of the six investigations found the bank had charged more than $7m in fees over a 10-year period to more than 11,000 "deceased customers for financial advice services that were not provided due to their death."

The regulator also said Westpac distributed duplicate insurance policies to more than 7,000 customers, causing customers to unnecessarily pay for two, or more, policies.

It also estimated that at least 25,000 customers were charged more than $5m in fees that had not been disclosed adequately.

ASIC said Westpac had admitted the allegations filed in the federal court.

"In each of these matters, Westpac has fallen short of our standards and the standards our customers expect of us.

"The issues raised in these matters should not have occurred, and our processes, systems and monitoring should have been better. We are putting things right and unreservedly apologise to our customers," Westpac chief executive Peter King said in a statement.

It is the latest major regulatory blow for Westpac. In September last year, it agreed to pay a record $930m fine for the country's biggest ever breach of money laundering laws.

The previous year, Westpac's then-chief executive Brian Hartzer stepped down after the bank became embroiled in the money-laundering scandal.

Also in 2019, a national inquiry into Australia's scandal-plagued financial sector proposed sweeping changes to the industry in an attempt to end rampant misconduct.

The Royal Commission - Australia's highest form of public inquiry - spent 12 months investigating wrongdoing by some of the country's biggest institutions.

It came after a decade of scandals that shook confidence in Australia's largest industry.
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Stolen gods: Nepal seeks to bring home lost treasures
AFP 


When Virginia Tech professor Sweta Gyanu Baniya saw an ornate 17th-century Nepali necklace in the Art Institute of Chicago, she burst into tears, bowed down and began to pray.

Now a video she posted on social media has made the artefact one of the latest targets for heritage activists sleuthing online to try to bring home some of the thousands of items whisked out over decades from the Himalayan country.

© PRAKASH MATHEMA Heritage expert Rabindra Puri campaigns to repatriate stolen Nepali heritageThe return journey has been made by only a handful of relics, but they have come from some of the world's top cultural institutions and pressure for more is mounting.

Nepal's then king offered the gilt copper necklace, adorned with semi-precious stones, to Taleju Bhawani, his Malla dynasty's patron goddess, in around 1650.

Her Kathmandu temple is only open to the public one day a year, but officials removed the work for safekeeping in the 1970s -- after which it disappeared.

Baniya told AFP her reaction when she visited the Chicago museum in June was "just overpowering".

"I started to weep in front of it," she said. "I started to just pray normally like I would do in temple.

"I had so many questions. Like why it is here, how did it come here?"

© PRAKASH MATHEMA Nepal is deeply religious and its Hindu and Buddhist temples and heritage sites remain an integral part of people's everyday livesTraces of vermilion pigment used in Hindu worship rituals are still visible on its surface, and Baniya's Twitter video prompted Nepali authorities to contact the museum to seek its return.

The Art Institute of Chicago did not respond to multiple requests for comment by AFP but its website states the necklace was donated by the private Alsdorf Foundation, which bought it from a California dealer in 1976.

Priest Udhav Kamacharya has served at the temple for 26 years but Baniya's footage was the first time he had seen the relic.

As he watched, he said: "I felt that the goddess still resides here.

"We sometimes say the gods are not here anymore, but they are. That is why it was found despite being in a foreign land."

- Opening up -

Nepal is deeply religious and its Hindu and Buddhist temples and heritage sites remain an integral part of people's everyday lives.

Many, though, are bereft of their centuries-old sculptures, paintings, ornamental windows and even doors, stolen -- sometimes with the assistance of corrupt officials -- after the country opened up to the outside world in the 1950s to feed art markets in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.

"Our art for us is not just art, they are gods to us," said heritage expert Rabindra Puri, who campaigns to repatriate stolen Nepali heritage and has assembled a collection of replicas for a planned museum on the issue.

In June, the Paris branch of auction house Bonhams was forced to cancel the sale of five gilded copper-bronze idols, wrenched out from the gateway of a temple in the 1970s, after pressure from Nepali officials and activists.

The auction was first spotted by Lost Art of Nepal, an anonymously-run Facebook page that has posted about hundreds of historical and religious objects, flagging their new locations from auction houses to European or American museums.

"We have seen empty temples, empty shrines, empty pedestals and torn toranas everywhere" in the Kathmandu valley, the page's administrator said in an email.

"In search for answers, I have collected old photographs from... (all) possible sources," they added. "The extent of loss of our heritage is much more than what is known or published."

- Androgynous idols -

Campaigners want to make stolen art -- thefts continue to this day, primarily from remote monasteries -- as sensitive an issue among buyers and collectors as conflict diamonds or elephant ivory.

With heritage repatriation a growing issue for museums around the world -- the ancient Greek Elgin Marbles and the Benin Bronzes from Nigeria are probably the best-known controversies -- the occasional Nepali recovery is building into a trickle.

Six pieces have been returned this year and authorities are seeking more from France, the United States and Britain.

In March, the Dallas Art Museum and the FBI returned to Nepal a stolen 12th- to 15th-century androgynous stone sculpture of Hindu deities Laxmi-Narayan.

This month it will be reinstalled in its original temple location, from where it disappeared in 1984.

The museum had held the statue for 30 years but a tweet by arts crime professor Erin L. Thompson questioning its provenance prompted an investigation.

"These are objects people were worshipping until it was ripped away from them," she said.

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art handed over a 10th-century stone sculpture of the Hindu god Shiva in September, the third item it has repatriated to Nepal since 2018.

In Bhaktapur, devotees worship another androgynous Laxmi-Narayan idol, protected behind a locked iron gate.

Expecting mothers continue the ancient tradition of offering it oil to predict the gender of their baby.

But it is a replica. The 15th-century original went missing in the early 1980s.

Badri Tuwal, 70, remembers how residents cried in mourning the day the idol disappeared.

"We don't know where it is," he said, "but I hope someday we can celebrate its return."

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Climate change 2021: There's no turning back now


Fossil fuels are the main driver of global warming (AFP/Ben STANSALL)

in the 11th hour, China and the US sealed the deal at COP26 (AFP/Ben STANSALL)

2021 saw a cascade of climate-enhanced fires, floods and heatwaves across four continents (AFP/ANGELOS TZORTZINIS)


Climate change 2021: There's no turning back now
China's per capita greenhouse gas emissions now exceed Europe's (AFP/Sabrina BLANCHARD)


Climate change 2021: There's no turning back now
Human rights activists hold placards in Lahore on November 8 during a protest in connection with the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference (AFP/Arif ALI)


A flash flood caused by Tropical Storm Henri makes landfall, in Helmetta, New Jersey in August 2021 (AFP/Tom Brenner)

Annual carbon emissions worldwide by type of fossil energy since 1959 (AFP/Cléa PÉCULIER)

Marlowe HOOD
Mon, November 29, 2021

Across a quarter century of UN climate conferences tasked with saving humanity from itself, one was deemed a chaotic failure (Copenhagen/2009), another a stunning success (Paris/2015), and the rest landed somewhere in between.

This year's COP26 inspired all these reactions at once.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, leading a 100,000-strong march through the streets of Glasgow, dismissed the two-week meet as a "greenwashing festival".

But dedicated experts in the negotiating arena hailed solid -- even historic -- advances in beating back the existential threat of global warming.

More often than not, observers vacillated between approval and criticism, hope and despair.

"The Glasgow Climate Pact is more than we expected, but less than we hoped for," Dann Mitchell, head of climate hazards at Britain's Met Office, said with Haiku-like economy.

Gauging the efficacy of measures announced at the COP26 summit largely depends on the yardstick used to measure them.

Compared to what came before, the first-ever call by 196 countries to draw down coal-fired power, or a promise to double financial aid each year -- to roughly $40 billion -- so poor nations can brace for climate impacts, are giant steps forward.

Likewise a provision obliging countries to consider setting more ambitious targets for reducing carbon pollution every year rather than once every five years.

But all these hard-won gains at COP26 shrivel in signficance when stacked up against hard science.

- Glasgow exit lane -

An unbroken cascade in 2021 of deadly floods, heatwaves and wildfires across four continents, combined with ever more detailed projections, left no doubt that going beyond the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.6 degrees Farenheit) heating limit envisioned in the Paris Agreement would push Earth into the red zone.

"As a lifelong optimist, I see the Glasgow outcome as half-full rather than half-empty," said Alden Meyer, a senior analyst at climate and energy think tank E3G.

"But the atmosphere responds to emissions -- not COP decisions -- and much work remains ahead to translate the strong rhetoric here into reality."

2021 also saw Part 1 of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) first comprehensive synthesis of climate science in seven years.

It found that global heating is virtually certain to pass 1.5C, probably within a decade. Meanwhile, ocean levels are rising faster than anticipated, and will do so for centuries.

And forests, soil and oceans -- which absorb more than half of humanity's carbon pollution -- show signs of saturation.

Then there is the threat of "tipping points" that could see permafrost release massive amounts of CO2 and methane, the Amazon basin transformed into savannah, and ice sheets shedding enough mass to submerge cities and deltas home to hundreds of millions.

"Make no mistake, we are still on the road to hell," said Dave Reay, head of the University of Edinburgh's Climate Change Institute.

"But Glasgow has at least created an exit lane."

- Permanent breaking story -

Part 2 of the IPCC report on climate impacts, seen exclusively by AFP ahead of its February 2022 publication, reveals another yawning gap between the baby steps of COP26 and what is needed in the long term.

Helping vulnerable nations cope, to the multiplier effect of global heating on extreme weather could soon require trillions of dollars per year, not the tens of billions put on the table at COP26, a draft version of the report makes clear.

"Adaptation costs are significantly higher than previously estimated, resulting in a growing 'adaptation finance gap'," said an executive summary of the 4,000-page report.

The failure of rich nations to deliver $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries makes it hard to imagine where these trillions will come from.

Glasgow marked the transition from fleshing out the rules for the 2015 Paris treaty to implementing its provisions.

But unlike the aftermath of other major COPs, the climate crisis will remain front-and-centre, and this permanent breaking story is not going to recede into the background anytime soon.

How that saga unfolds will depend a lot on the world's four major emitters, collectively responsible for 60 percent of global carbon pollution.

The United States and the European Union have pledged carbon neutrality by 2050 and recently set more ambitious emissions reduction targets for 2030, but refused to set up a fund demanded by more than 130 developing countries to help pay for climate damage already incurred.

- All sectors, all countries -

China and India -- accounting for 38 percent of global emissions in 2021, and rising -- have resisted pressure to foreswear fossil fuels.

Beijing has steadfastly refused to do what scientists say is doable and necessary to stay under 2C: peak their emissions far earlier than 2030.

If climate politics remain stymied, however, global capital is already flowing into what some have called the most massive economic transformation in human history.

In Glasgow, former Bank of England governor Mark Carney boasted that nearly 500 banks, insurers and asset managers worth $130 trillion were ready to finance climate action.

"If we only had to transform one sector, or move one country off fossil fuels, we would have done so long ago," commented Christiana Figueres, who headed the UN climate convention when the Paris deal was struck.

"But all sectors of the global economy have to be decarbonised, and all countries must switch to clean technologies."

Where some of that money might flow -- and who might get left out -- has also come into focus, with major investment deals announced for South Africa, and others in the pipeline for emerging economies such as Indonesia and Vietnam.

But there is little incentive for private capital to help the poorest and most climate vulnerable countries to cope with climate ravages and shore up their defences.

"We cannot just wait for open market incentives to have their way, we need to set prices on carbon globally, we need to set science-based targets that become climate laws," said Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

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'One in three' Australian parliament staff sexually harassed


Former government staffer Brittany Higgins speaks before protesters during a rally against sexual violence in Canberra on March 15, 2021. (AFP/Saeed KHAN)

Mon, November 29, 2021, 10:15 PM·1 min read

Sexual harassment and bullying are widespread in Australia's parliament, affecting both lawmakers and staff, a high-profile inquiry into the institution's "sexist culture" has found.

After a seven-month investigation, a government-backed report on Tuesday said one in three people currently working at parliament "have experienced some form of sexual harassment while working there".

That included 63 percent of the country's female parliamentarians.

"Aspiring male politicians who thought nothing of, in one case, picking you up, kissing you on the lips, lifting you up, touching you, pats on the bottom, comments about appearance, you know, the usual... the culture allowed it," said one of the report's 1,700 interviewees.

The report made 28 recommendations, including a formal statement of acknowledgement by political leaders, targets to increase gender diversity and "a proactive focus on safety and wellbeing".

It was launched amid widespread outrage at the alleged rape of parliamentary staffer Brittany Higgins inside a minister's office, after a night out with conservative Liberal Party colleagues.

Her allegations -- which are still before the court -- fuelled nationwide demonstrations and demands for reform.

Higgins on Tuesday welcomed the report and thanked "the many brave people who shared their stories which contributed to this review".

"I hope all sides of politics not only commit to but implement these recommendations in full," she said in a statement sent via the Australian National University, where she is now a visiting fellow.

Greens' Senator Sarah Hanson-Young described the report as a "damning expose of the sexist culture and harassment in politics".

"The statistics and comments are shocking, but for many women here they are not surprising and ring true to our own experiences," she said.

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French minister in talks with unions on troubled Caribbean islands


French Overseas Minister Sebastien Lecornu is visiting the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique over ways to end more than a week of violent protests (AFP/Christophe ARCHAMBAULT)

Nicolas KIENAST, Amandine ASCENSIO
Mon, November 29, 2021, 10:42 PM·3 min read

France's minister for overseas territories left the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe Monday night at an impasse over ways to end more than a week of violent protests sparked by Covid-19 restrictions.

Before departing for more talks in neighbouring Martinique, Sebastien Lecornu told reporters that the Guadeloupe negotiations had been deadlocked over the "obvious and indispensable" demand that the various unions condemn the violence.

Discussions were not possible so long as the unions "do not want to condemn assassination attempts" against security forces, he said.

Unrest in the former colonial outpost began with a protest over compulsory Covid-19 vaccinations for health workers, but quickly ballooned into a broader revolt over living conditions, and spread to next door Martinique.

Both islands are now under curfew.

In the French overseas territories, each of which has close to 400,000 inhabitants, residents complain of greater poverty, higher costs for basic goods and poorer public services than on the mainland.

Lecornu said his talks with four union representatives in Guadeloupe were limited to the receipt of a list of demands.

Maite Hubert-M'Toumo, secretary general of Guadeloupe's main trade union UGTG, said the requests include a suspension of the vaccine mandate for health professionals, no convictions for protesters over the violence and improvement of living conditions for Guadeloupean families.

Lecornu, who laid responsibility for some of the issues at the feet of local elected officials, said he expects to make better headway in Martinique where the "republican prerequisite" for negotiations has already been met.

- More autonomy? -

The explosion of unrest on the islands has put the fate of overseas territories on the agenda of the campaign heading into 2022 elections, with President Emmanuel Macron's opponents accusing him of neglecting the former colonial outposts.

Ahead of his visit, Lecornu had floated the possibility of giving Guadeloupe, the more troubled of the two territories, more autonomy.

His proposal drew fire from the opposition, with centre-right presidential hopeful Xavier Bertrand accusing the government of being ready to let France "be broken up" and far-right leader Marine Le Pen accusing Lecornu of trying to "buy off" hardline pro-independence groups.

Lecornu's remarks also received a lukewarm response from lawmakers in Guadeloupe, who said the immediate priority was tackling high levels of youth unemployment and other social problems.

On his arrival in Guadeloupe on Sunday, Lecornu vowed to stand firm on the obligation for health workers and first responders to be vaccinated against Covid by December 31 or face suspension without pay. But he insisted he was open to dialogue on other issues.

The vaccine mandate for health workers, which was enforced in September on the mainland, has met with greater resistance in Guadeloupe and Martinique, where vaccine hesitancy is high.

Protesters barricaded roads with burning tyres or taxis and hurled petrol bombs at the security forces in some of the worst unrest in the islands in years.

In Martinique, several businesses were looted and five police officers were injured by gunfire.

Calm had been largely restored by the weekend, however, with only minor skirmishes reported.

France lost most of its overseas possessions around 60 years ago, when its African colonies declared independence, a few years after French territories in Southeast Asia.

But Paris still retains control over 12 territories in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as well as in the Caribbean, that are home to a total of 2.6 million people.

While some, like Guadeloupe and Martinique, have the same status as regions on the mainland, others, such as French Polynesia, have already been granted autonomy.

The Pacific islands of New Caledonia are to vote next month in the third of three independence referendums.

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Chile lawmakers set to approve same-sex marriage bill


The Iguales Fundation LGBT rights group demonstrated outside the Constituent Assembly in Santiago, Chile, on November 29, 2021, ahead of a Senate vote to approve a bill legalizing same-sex marriage (AFP/MARTIN BERNETTI)

Alberto PEÑA
Mon, November 29, 2021

Chile's parliament is set to approve a long-awaited bill to legalize same-sex marriage Tuesday, joining just a handful of countries in majority Catholic Latin America with similar laws.

The bill will also enable married same-sex couples to adopt children.

Chile, which legalized same-sex civil unions in 2015, has been awaiting this bill since 2017, when it was sent to congress by socialist then-president Michelle Bachelet.


In a surprise move, her conservative successor, Sebastian Pinera, announced in June he would seek the bill's urgent passage through parliament.

It was given the go-ahead by the lower house, or Chamber of Deputies, earlier this month, and must now be approved by the upper house, or Senate, before finally being signed into law by Pinera.

"We want to insist that this bill should become law right now. There can no longer be excuses for continuing to drag out the discussion in congress while hundreds of families wait anxiously," said Isabel Amor of the Fundacion Iguales LGBT rights group.

"Love does not discriminate, but the law does," added Lorena Grez, who with other activists delivered 20,000 signatures in support of the new law.

"In Chile we are not recognized as a family," but rather are treated as "second-class" citizens, she said.

Same-sex marriage is legal in six Latin American and Caribbean countries -- Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, as well as in 14 of Mexico's 32 states.

The Senate hearing on the bill will be preceded by a decision of a constitutional commission, a step which could see the vote delayed by hours, or perhaps to another day.

The project has been consistently opposed by the most conservative bloc of Chile's ruling right wing, but has nevertheless obtained a majority "yes" vote at every step of the process to date in an opposition-dominated congress.

On Monday, the Movilh LGBT rights group released the results of a survey in which 82.8 percent of same-sex couples, among 1,878 people interviewed, said they planned to marry once it is legal.

The issue deeply divides the two candidates headed for a presidential run-off on December 19.

Gabriel Boric, 35, who represents a leftist alliance that includes the Communist Party, supported the bill and voted "yes" in his capacity as lawmaker.

But 55-year-old, far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast, who won 28 percent of first-round votes compared to Boric's 26 percent, campaigned against it.

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Space dust study could explain how water originated on Earth

By Adam Schrader


1/8

An artist’s impression of C-type asteroids and space dust raining down on the Earth early in its formation, carrying with them some of the water that formed the Earth’s oceans. Photo courtesy of University of Glasgow

Nov. 29 (UPI) -- A new analysis of space dust shows that the water covering the majority of Earth's surface could have formed in space with help from solar wind.

An international team of researchers studied samples taken from the asteroid Itokawa by the Japanese space probe Hayabusa in 2010, according to a paper published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.

The scientists used a process called atom probe tomography to measure the atomic structure of individual grains of dust on the asteroid and detect water molecules.

The water molecules found on Itokawa were formed when hydrogen ions flowing from the sun collided with dust particles on the space rock -- changing their chemical composition, according to Luke Daly of the University of Glasgow's School of Geographical and Earth Sciences.

"Over time, the 'space weathering' effect of the hydrogen ions can eject enough oxygen atoms from materials in the rock to create H2O -- water -- trapped within minerals on the asteroid," Daly, the study's lead author, said in a press release.

The study could be key to explaining a decades-old theory among scientists that asteroids brought water to Earth when the planet was formed around 4.6 billion years ago.


Interview with Luke Daly, University of Glasgow 04:14

Previous studies have found that the chemical composition of water on water-rich meteorites from C-Type asteroids did not match that of Earth's water.

Daly noted that the water molecules found on Itokawa more similarly match the isotopic makeup of the water on Earth. Itokawa is an S-Type asteroid, which orbits closer to the sun than C-Type asteroids.

"That strongly suggests that fine-grained dust, buffeted by the solar wind and drawn into the forming Earth billions of years ago, could be the source of the missing reservoir of the planet's water," Daly said.

Co-author Phil Bland, a distinguished professor at Curtin University, explained that the atom probe tomography method allowed the scientists to discover enough water on Itokawa that "it would amount to 20 liters of water for every cubic meter of rock." This would demonstrate that a significant amount of water could have been carried to Earth as the planet formed.

The study concludes that "the contribution of solar-wind-derived water may not be limited to delivery from fine-grained dust." Before a proto-planet becomes a planet, it exists in a debris disk stage as a collection of dust and space rock in orbit around a star. The researchers noted that all materials "will experience a radiation-rich environment" during the debris disk stage.

"Thus, all dust produced during this period will incorporate solar-wind-derived water," the study reads.

Daly explained that scientists were able to determine that the water molecules were formed in space by comparing them to samples irradiated with helium and deuterium instead of hydrogen that were provided by NASA and other collegiate institutions.

"NASA's Artemis project is setting out to establish a permanent base on the moon. If the lunar surface has a similar water reservoir sourced by the solar wind this research uncovered on Itokawa, it would represent an enormous and valuable resource to aid in achieving that goal," Daly said.

Hope Ishii, a professor at the University of Hawaii at Mānoawho who co-authored the paper, said in the release that it is "reasonable to assume" that water has formed on other asteroids in space through the process of space weathering -which could prove crucial to future space exploration.

"Space explorers may well be able to process fresh supplies of water straight from the dust on the planet's surface," she said. "It's exciting to think that the processes which formed the planets could help to support human life as we reach out beyond Earth."

The Sun Could Be The Mystery Source of Earth's Unexplained Water, Scientists Say

X-rays streaming off the Sun. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC)
SPACE


CARLY CASSELLA
30 NOVEMBER 2021

Earth is our Solar System's bluest planet, and yet no one really knows where all our water came from.

The dust of a nearby asteroid has now revealed a potentially overlooked source: the Sun.

Some water on our planet, it seems, might have been created by a river of charged particles, blown from the upper atmosphere of the Sun billions of years ago.

When solar wind interacts with the tiny dust particles found on certain asteroids, it can create a small amount of water, and this could explain some of the liquid we find here on our planet.

Most modern models suggest the majority of H20 on Earth originally came from an extraterrestrial source, possibly from C-type asteroids in the Jupiter-Saturn region and beyond.

These far-away asteroids are thought to be the parent bodies of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites that regularly crash into Earth, and this particular type of meteorite is known to contain a significant amount of water-containing minerals.

But carbonaceous chondrites probably aren't the only way water was initially delivered to Earth. Other types of water-rich meteorites could have also done the same, especially since carbonaceous chondrites can't account for Earth's entire water budget.

There are other types of chondrite asteroids that could have also held particles of water, albeit to a lesser extent. The near-Earth asteroid, Itokawa, for instance, is an ordinary chondrite asteroid, and an analysis of samples taken from this silicate-rich rock in 2010 found signs of water, and the source could very well be the Sun.


Solar wind irradiation has been proposed in the past as a possible way to form water on silicate-rich materials floating in space.

In the lab, volatile hydrogen ions have been shown to react with silicate minerals, resulting in water as a byproduct, and electron microscopy and electron spectroscopy studies have found direct evidence of H20 within extraterrestrial dust particles in the past.

Theoretically, if water becomes trapped in these dust particles, the element will be protected from space weathering and can then be delivered via meteorites to other bodies in space.

"This phenomenon could explain why the regoliths of airless worlds such as the Moon, which were once thought to be anhydrous, contain several percent H20," the authors of the new study explain.

To explore this hypothesis further and in a slightly different way, researchers turned to the S-type asteroid, Itokawa, to see if this object contains a 'volatile reservoir' of isotypes similar to that of solar wind.

While most water isotypes on Earth match carbonaceous chondrites, a small percentage don't, and the Sun or the solar nebula have been proposed as possible sources.


Drawing on a meticulous atom-by-atom analysis, known as atom probe tomography, scientists have now measured the abundance of water found within dust from the Itokawa asteroid, which was returned to Earth by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2011.

Measuring all around these particles, including the parts hidden from the Sun, the team found hydroxide and water enriched in the rims on all sides. This suggests the Sun's hydrogen ions were 'implanted' into the rock, storing water where it can't be touched.

The depth at which these life-giving elements were found was exactly what scientists would expect from hydrogen ions penetrating silicate materials.

"Our research suggests the solar wind created water on the surface of tiny dust grains and this isotopically lighter water likely provided the remainder of the Earth's water," says planetary scientist Phil Bland from Curtin University in Australia.

Judging from how much water they found in these tiny dust particles, the team estimates S-type asteroids can hold 20 liters of H20 for every cubic meter of rock.

The findings suggest isolated grains of dust in space could represent an important source of water in our Solar System – one which we could potentially harvest in the future if we collect enough of them.


"How astronauts would get sufficient water, without carrying supplies, is one of the barriers of future space exploration," says geoscientist Luke Daly, who worked on the analysis while at Curtin University.

"Our research shows that the same space weathering process which created water on Itokawa likely occurred on other airless planets, meaning astronauts may be able to process fresh supplies of water straight from the dust on a planet's surface, such as the Moon."

The Sun could be giving us life in more ways than one.

The study was published in Nature Astronomy.

Pentagon orders probe of Syria airstrike that killed dozens


Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered an inquiry into U.S. airstrikes in Syria that killed dozens of civilians. File Photo by Michael Reynolds/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered an inquiry into U.S. airstrikes into Syria in 2019 that resulted in scores of civilian deaths.

The department's press secretary, John Kirby, announced the launch of the probe during a media briefing on Monday, stating Army Gen. Michael Garrett, commander of U.S. Army Forces Command, has been tapped to lead the review.

Garrett will have 90 days to review reports of an investigation already conducted into the incident as well as conduct further inquiries into the facts and circumstances related to it, Kirby said.

The inquiry, he said, will include, among other concerns, whether mitigation measures identified in previous investigations into the incident were implemented effectively and whether accountability measures would be appropriate

The announcement of the investigation follows a report from The New York Times earlier this month detailing how U.S. airstrikes on a Syrian town called Baghuz in its fight against Islamic State on March 18, 2019, killed more than 60 civilians.

Kirby said Austin decided to conduct the investigation after a briefing on the matter a couple weeks ago with Central Command Commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr

The press secretary told reporters that Austin's decision to name a specific four-star general to lead the investigation "is a reflection how seriously he's taking the issue, that he wants to make sure that we do a proper review and inquiry of the original incident and the investigations that followed it."

The 90-day deadline for the report, which is longer than previous timelines given for similar incidents, is due to that fact that the incident being probed happened "a long time ago," Kirby said.

"And I think the secretary wanted to allow more time to deal with the fact that the information is much older," he said. "So just in time and space we're more distant from it."

Plant-based diet can reduce personal carbon footprint, study says

By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay News

Changes to diet could help reduce personal carbon footprints, thereby reducing individual people's contributions to climate change, researchers say.

 Photo by Free-Photos/Pixabay

Worried about climate change? You can do something about it every time you lift your fork, a new study suggests.

Folks can reduce their personal carbon footprint by eating less red meat, nibbling fewer sweets and cutting back on tea, coffee and booze, according to the findings.

"We all want to do our bit to help save the planet," said senior researcher Darren Greenwood, a senior lecturer in biostatistics at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. "Modifying our diet is one way we can do that."

And the nice part - the foods that are best for the Earth are also really good for your health, in general.

"Most food that's healthy for us is likely to be better for the planet, too," Greenwood said.

It's a timely message as we enter the holiday season of big meals with family and friends.

For the study, Greenwood and his colleagues performed a detailed analysis of more than 3,000 different foods, assessing the greenhouse gas emissions generated during the production of each source of sustenance.

Meat was linked to 32% of diet-related greenhouse gas emissions, which didn't surprise environmental experts.

Fossil fuels are utilized in the pesticides and fertilizer used to grow animal feed, and waste gases and manure from livestock also add to meat's carbon footprint, said Sujatha Bergen, health campaigns director for the Natural Resources Defense Council's health and food division.

"Animals like cows and sheep produce a lot of methane, which is a very powerful greenhouse gas," Bergen said. "Beef is actually the biggest source of emissions in the U.S. diet. If every American cut on average one burger a day from their diet, it would be like taking 10 million cars off the road a year. It's a huge climate impact."

But the researchers also found that other foods had a large impact on the climate: Drinks like tea, coffee and alcohol contribute 15% of diet-related greenhouse gases.

Dairy products account for 14% of food's carbon footprint.Cakes, cookies and sweets contribute almost 9%. Overall, nonvegetarian diets had greenhouse gas emissions 59% higher than vegetarian diets, the researchers found.

Men's diets produce 41% higher greenhouse gas emissions than women's diets, primarily due to greater meat intake, the study authors said.

Lastly, people who limited their intake of saturated fats, carbohydrates and sodium to recommended daily amounts contributed less greenhouse gas emissions than people with less healthy diets.

The study was published this month in the journal PLOS ONE.

"Reducing our meat intake, particularly red meat, can make a big difference," Greenwood said. "But our work also shows that big gains can be made from small changes, like cutting out sweets, or potentially just by switching brands."

Tea, coffee and chocolate are linked to deforestation, which reduces the planet's ability to process excess atmospheric carbon, said Bergen and Geoff Horsfield, government affairs manager for the Environmental Working Group.

The foods identified by the researchers also tend to require lots of water, degrade the soil, need refrigeration and transportation to market, and are sold in packaging that adds to their carbon footprint, Greenwood said.

Agriculture is actually undermining the success we're having in reducing carbon emissions from other industries, Horsfield explained.

"U.S. methane emissions have decreased 18% since 1990, but methane emissions from agriculture have increased by over 16% over that same time period," Horsfield said. "While we address methane from things like natural gas and oil, methane from agriculture is only increasing."

More information

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has more about greenhouse gas sources.

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