It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Nanoparticles can cross the placenta during pregnancy, potentially exposing fetus
Inhaled submicroscopic particles escape from the lungs into the placenta of rats, Rutgers scientists find
Inhaled nanoparticles – human-made specks so minuscule they can’t be seen in conventional microscopes, found in thousands of common products – can cross a natural, protective barrier that normally protects fetuses, according to Rutgers University scientists studying factors that produce low-birth-weight babies.
The scientists reported in the medical journal Placentathey were able to track the movement of nanoparticles made of metal titanium dioxide through the bodies of pregnant rats. After the nanoparticles were inhaled into the lungs of the rodents, some of them escaped this initial barrier. From there, the particles flowed through the placentas, which generally filter out foreign substances to protect the fetus.
“The particles are small and really hard to find,” said Phoebe Stapleton, an author and an assistant professor at Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and a faculty member at Rutgers Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute. “But, using some specialized techniques, we found evidence that the particles can migrate from the lung to the placenta and possibly the fetal tissues after maternal exposure throughout pregnancy. The placenta does not act as a barrier to these particles. Nor do the lungs.”
Most nanoparticles are engineered, with few produced naturally. These particles are used in thousands of products, from sunscreens to pharmaceuticals to sports equipment. They are highly valued because they can enhance the effectiveness of drugs and produce sturdy-though-lightweight products
Nanoparticles are so named because they are less than 100 nanometers wide, meaning they are tens of thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a single human hair. Despite their usefulness, nanoscale materials are poorly understood, with “very little known about the potential effects on human health and the environment,” according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
During the experiment, scientists were surprised to also detect titanium dioxide in the “control” group of rats that hadn’t been given nanoparticles to inhale. It turns out the food given to the animals contained titanium dioxide. As a result, the researchers were able to observe the path the metal took through a rat’s body.
The research emerged from investigations into the causes of low birth weight in human infants. Newborns weighing less than 5.5 pounds can suffer adverse health effects as infants and throughout their lives.
According to Stapleton, one theory is mothers who give birth to babies with low birth weights may have inhaled harmful particulates. The resulting inflammation may affect bodily systems, such as blood flow in the uterus, that could inhibit growth of the fetus.
“Now that we know that the nanoparticles migrate – from the mother’s lungs to the placenta and fetal tissues – we can work on answering other questions,” Stapleton said. “This detail of transfer will help inform future studies of exposure during pregnancy, fetal health, and the developmental onset of disease.”
Other Rutgers authors on the paper included Brian Buckley and Cathleen Doherty at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, and Jeanine D’Errico and Jarett Reyes George at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.
A recent randomized controlled trial published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Societyfound that an online decision aid may help older adults decide whether and when to stop driving.
Compared with older adults who viewed an educational web site, those who viewed the decision aid—called Healthwise® DDA—had lower decisional conflict and higher knowledge about whether to stop or continue driving. The aid has six sections: “Get the Facts,” “Compare Options,” “Your Feelings,” “Your Decision,” “Quiz Yourself,” and “Your Summary.”
In the National Institute on Aging–funded trial of 301 participants aged 70 years and older, the tool had high acceptability, with nearly all of those who used it saying that they would recommend it to others.
“The decision about when to stop driving is a difficult and emotional one—and also one most older adults eventually face,” said lead author Marian Betz, MD, MPH, of the University of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center. “Tools like this one may help older adults make the decision and, hopefully, reduce negative feelings about the process.”
NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact:
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS)is the go-to journal for clinical aging research. We provide a diverse, interprofessional community of healthcare professionals with the latest insights on geriatrics education, clinical practice, and public policy—all supporting the high-quality, person-centered care essential to our well-being as we age.
About Wiley
Wiley is a global leader in research and education, unlocking human potential by enabling discovery, powering education, and shaping workforces. For over 200 years, Wiley has fueled the world’s knowledge ecosystem. Today, our high-impact content, platforms, and services help researchers, learners, institutions, and corporations achieve their goals in an ever-changing world. Visit us at Wiley.com, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
A recent study published in Global Change Biology has examined where climate-sensitive bird species dependent on high-elevation habitats might survive across the European Alps in the face of climate change.
Investigators focused their analysis on four species: rock ptarmigan, water pipit, alpine accentor, and white-winged snowfinch. Accurate distribution models, projected over current and future conditions, predicted that all species (with the partial exception of the water pipit) will undergo a range contraction towards higher elevations, losing 17% to 59% of their current range. Investigators found that ~15,000 km2 include areas that are suitable for at least three species in current conditions and are expected to remain suitable for them also in the future, of which 44% is currently designated as protected areas.
“Knowing how distribution of high-elevation birds will change, and which areas will offer suitable conditions also in a warmer future, is key to the conservation of such sensitive species and the unique environments they inhabit,” said lead author Mattia Brambilla, PhD, of Università degli Studi di Milano, in Italy. “These areas represent 'climate refugia' for alpine biodiversity and should be preserved from anthropic alteration and habitat degradation.”
NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact:
Global Change Biology exists to promote new understanding of the interface between biological systems and all aspects of environmental change that affects a substantial part of the globe. The journal publishes primary research articles, technical advances, research reviews, commentaries and letters. Global Change Biology defines global change as any consistent trend in the environment - past, present or projected - that affects a substantial part of the globe.
About Wiley
Wiley is a global leader in research and education, unlocking human potential by enabling discovery, powering education, and shaping workforces. For over 200 years, Wiley has fueled the world’s knowledge ecosystem. Today, our high-impact content, platforms, and services help researchers, learners, institutions, and corporations achieve their goals in an ever-changing world. Visit us at Wiley.com, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Despite increasing female employment and diminishing differences between men and women in career expectations, the gender pay gap is persistent. An analysis in the Journal of Economic Surveys that included 39 relevant studies has examined how personality traits and social norms may affect this problem.
The analysis found that personality traits (such as conscientiousness, agreeableness, or loss of control) and social norms (such as gender role attitudes, work-family policies, and childcare) are individually and jointly important for analyzing the pay gap. They explain from a few to a considerable amount of percent of the gender wage gap. Different aspects of the studies that were analyzed (such as the use of different definitions and methods) make it difficult to determine their precise contributions, however.
“Gender inequality is a public concern, also reflected in the gender pay gap. Our paper focuses on two determinants of the gap that are less understood but can have important implications,” said corresponding author Claudia Röthlisberger, a PhD Fellow at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. “We wanted to shed more light on the extent to which personality and expectations on the roles of women and men in society can explain the gap or are a source of discrimination.”
IMAGE: A NEW STUDY EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF GEOENGINEERING USES CLIMATE MODELS TO IDENTIFY WHICH TEMPERATURES ARE MOST CONDUCIVE FOR MALARIA TRANSMISSION BY THE ANOPHELES MOSQUITO AND IDENTIFY HOW MANY PEOPLE LIVE IN AREAS WHERE TRANSMISSION IS POSSIBLE.view more
CREDIT: CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
WASHINGTON —Geoengineering the climate would have massive repercussions for the health of billions of people at risk of malaria who live in tropical countries, according to a new finding by scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center and colleagues. The study appeared April 20, 2022, in Nature Communications.
This is the first assessment of how geoengineering the climate could impact the burden of infectious diseases. The study focuses on solar radiation management (SRM), an intervention that hypothesizes emergency actions aimed at reducing dangerous impacts of climate change. One action that has been proposed is injecting aerosols into the stratosphere that reflect incoming sunlight, thereby temporarily “pausing” global warming. Though SRM is often discussed as a way to reduce climate injustice, its potential impacts on health have seldom been studied.
“The implications of the study for decision-making are significant,” says Colin Carlson, PhD, an assistant research professor at the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University Medical Center and lead author of the study. “Geoengineering might save lives, but the assumption that it will do so equally for everyone might leave some countries at a disadvantage when it comes time to make decisions. If geoengineering is about protecting populations on the frontlines of climate change, we should be able to add up the risks and benefits — especially in terms of neglected health burdens, such as mosquito-borne disease.”
A team of eight researchers from the United States, Bangladesh, South Africa, and Germany used climate models to simulate what malaria transmission could look like in two future scenarios, with medium or high levels of global warming, with and without geoengineering. The models identify which temperatures are most conducive for transmission by the Anopheles mosquito and identify how many people live in areas where transmission is possible.
In both medium- and high-warming scenarios, malaria risk was predicted to shift significantly between regions; but in the high warming scenario, simulations found that a billion extra people were at risk of malaria in the geoengineered world.
“On a planet that’s too hot for humans, it also gets too hot for the malaria parasite,” says Carlson. “Cooling the planet might be an emergency option to save lives, but it would also reverse course on those declines.”
The study follows a 2018 commentary in Nature Climate Change by Carlson and the study’s senior author, Christopher Trisos, PhD, a senior researcher at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. In the commentary, the researchers proposed a hypothesis now confirmed in the new study: because malaria transmission peaks at 25°C, cooling the tropics using geoengineering might ultimately increase malaria risk in some places relative to an alternative future, but might also increase risk in the present day.
“The potential for geoengineering to reduce risks from climate change remains poorly understood, and it could introduce a range of new risks to people and ecosystems,” says Trisos.
Carlson says that one of the most surprising findings was the scale of potential trade-offs between regions. For example, in both scenarios, the authors found that geoengineering might substantially reduce malaria risk in the Indian subcontinent even compared to the present day. However, that protective effect would be offset with an increase in risk in southeast Asia. For decision-makers, this might complicate the geopolitical reality of climate intervention.
“We’re so early in this process that the conversation is still about increasing Global South leadership in geoengineering research. Our study highlights that the frontlines of climate injustice aren’t one monolithic bloc, especially when it comes to health,” says Carlson.
###
Additional study authors also included collaborators from the University of Maryland, College Park; the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh; the University of Florida, Gainesville; the Cologne University of Applied Sciences, Germany; and Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
The authors report having no personal financial interests related to the study. Funding for the study was provided by the Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative (SRMGI) Developing Country Impacts Modeling Analysis for Solar Radiation Management (DECIMALS) grant program.
As a top academic health and science center, Georgetown University Medical Center provides, in a synergistic fashion, excellence in education — training physicians, nurses, health administrators and other health professionals, as well as biomedical scientists — and cutting-edge interdisciplinary research collaboration, enhancing our basic science and translational biomedical research capacity in order to improve human health. Patient care, clinical research and education is conducted with our academic health system partner, MedStar Health. GUMC’s mission is carried out with a strong emphasis on social justice and a dedication to the Catholic, Jesuit principle of cura personalis -- or “care of the whole person.” GUMC comprises the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing & Health Studies, Biomedical Graduate Education, and Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Designated by the Carnegie Foundation as a doctoral university with "very high research activity,” Georgetown is home to a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health, and a Comprehensive Cancer Center designation from the National Cancer Institute. Connect with GUMC on Facebook (Facebook.com/GUMCUpdate) and on Twitter (@gumedcenter).
JOURNAL
Nature Communications
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Computational simulation/modeling
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
ARTICLE TITLE
Solar Geongineering could redistribute malaria risk in developing countries
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
20-Apr-2022
COI STATEMENT
The authors report having no personal financial interests related to the study
Impact of family background on children’s education unchanged in a century, research reveals
The family background of UK children still influences their educational achievements at primary school as much as it did nearly one hundred years ago, a major new study has revealed.
The family background of UK children still influences their educational achievements at primary school as much as it did nearly one hundred years ago, a major new study has revealed.
The study, by the University of York, looked at data from 92,000 individuals born between 1921 and 2011 and revealed that the achievement gap between children from impoverished family backgrounds and their more privileged peers has remained stagnant.
This gap accounted for half a grade difference at primary school level, but the impact of family background persists and increases throughout the school years. Previous research suggests that by GCSE year, the effect of family background on school performance is more than three times worse, accounting for a 1.75 grade difference.
The enduring impact of family background on success in education perpetuates social and economic inequalities across generations, the researchers say. They are calling for educational policies which prioritise equality in learning outcomes for children over equality in opportunities.
Lead author of the study, Professor Sophie von Stumm from the Department of Education at the University of York, said: “Our study shows for the first time that despite the efforts of policy makers and educators, children from impoverished backgrounds, whether born in 1921 or the modern day, face the same prospect of earning lower grades and obtaining fewer educational opportunities than children from wealthier backgrounds.
“We are calling for educational interventions that ensure the weakest students get the most support, as policies promoting equal learning opportunities only work if all children are equally well prepared to take advantage of them.
“For example, we know that children from low socioeconomic family backgrounds tend to start school with poorer language skills than their better-off peers. This early disadvantage makes it more difficult for them to utilise the learning opportunities that that school offers. In turn, children from impoverished families earn lower grades in primary and secondary school, and ultimately, they earn fewer educational qualifications than children from wealthier backgrounds.”
The study looked at data provided by large cohort studies up until 2016. The researchers caution that the pandemic is likely to have intensified the link between family socioeconomic status and children’s school performance because it increased inequality in families’ access to resources.
Co-author of the study, Professor Paul Wakeling from the Department of Education at the University of York said: “There was rightly much public scrutiny of inequalities in GCSE grades during the pandemic. However, our findings highlight how important it is to consider inequalities in earlier years of schooling. The impacts could be felt for years to come ”
Professor von Stumm added: “Children growing up in low socioeconomic family homes during the pandemic were disproportionately affected by school closures, with a lack of access to online learning and suitable learning environments.
“Educational interventions that boost early-years and primary school learning for these children have never been more important. Even if such interventions have initially small effects, their long-term benefits are sizable. Tackling the persistent achievement gap highlighted by our study will be instrumental in reducing overall inequality and therefore hugely beneficial to society as a whole.”
One of the ways we can fully realize the potential of quantum computers is by basing them on both light and matter – this way, information can be stored and processed, but also travel at the speed of light.
Scientists have just taken a step closer to this goal, by successfully producing the largest hybrid particles of light and matter ever created.
These quasiparticles, known as Rydberg polaritons, were made with the help of a piece of stone containing cuprous oxide (Cu2O) crystals from an ancient deposit in Namibia, one of the few places in the world where cuprous oxide has been found in gemstone quality.
The crystal retrieved from the stone was polished and thinned to less than the width of a human hair and sandwiched between two mirrors to trap light, resulting in Rydberg polaritons 100 times larger than any previously seen.
This achievement brings us closer to producing a quantum simulator that can run off these Rydberg polaritons, using quantum bits or qubits to store information in 0s, 1s, and multiple values in between – rather than just the 1s and 0s of classical computing bits.
(University of St Andrews)
"Making a quantum simulator with light is the holy grail of science," says physicist Hamid Ohadi, from the University of St Andrews in the UK.
"We have taken a huge leap towards this by creating Rydberg polaritons, the key ingredient of it."
What makes Rydberg polaritons so special is that they switch continually from light to matter and back again. The researchers compare the light and matter to two sides of the same coin, and it's the matter side where polaritons can interact with each other.
This is important, because light particles move quickly, but don't interact with each other. Matter is slower, but it is able to interact. Putting these two abilities together could help to unlock the potential of quantum computers.
This flexibility is crucial in managing quantum states that remain undefined until they're observed. A fully functioning quantum computer built on this technology remains some way off, but we're now closer than ever before to being able to put one together.
Rydberg polaritons are formed through the coupling of excitons and photons. This is where the ancient gemstone from Namibia came in: Cuprous oxide is a superconductor, a material that allows electrons to flow without resistance – and previous research had shown that it contained giant Rydberg excitons.
Excitons are electrically neutral quasiparticles that can be forced, under the right conditions, to couple with light particles. These large excitons found in cuprous oxide are able to be coupled with photons within a special set-up known as a Fabry–Pérot microcavity – essentially a mirror sandwich.
This was a key element in being able to create the larger Rydberg polaritons.
"Purchasing the stone on eBay was easy," says physicist Sai Kiran Rajendran, from the University of St Andrews. "The challenge was to make Rydberg polaritons that exist in an extremely narrow color range."
Once fully capable quantum computers can be put together – perhaps using these Rydberg polaritons – the exponential improvements in computing power will enable them to tackle hugely complex calculations beyond the scope of the computers we have today.
Examples put forward by the researchers include the development of high-temperature superconducting materials, and understanding more about how proteins fold (potentially increasing our ability to produce drug treatments).
The methods outlined in the new research will need to be refined further in order for these particles to be used in quantum circuits, but the basics are now there – and the team thinks their results can be improved upon in the future too.
"These results pave the way towards realizing strongly interacting exciton–polaritons and exploring strongly correlated phases of matter using light on a chip," write the researchers in their paper.
Clouds that form in the frosty air above Antarctica are different in the way that water and ice interact inside them, a new study reveals – and that in turn changes how much sunlight they reflect back into space, which is important for climate change models
Through a combination of modeling, satellite imagery and data collected from flying through the clouds themselves, researchers have identified a process of 'secondary' ice production. This means icy particles collide with supercooled water droplets, freezing and then shattering them, creating many more shards of ice.
The technical term for this sequence of events is Hallett-Mossop rime splintering. It dims the clouds, reducing the amount of sunlight that's reflected back into space, and allowing more of it through into the ocean below.
(Atlas et al., AGU Advances, 2022)
"The Southern Ocean is a massive global heat sink, but its ability to take heat from the atmosphere depends on the temperature structure of the upper ocean, which relates to the cloud cover," says atmospheric scientist Rachel Atlas, from the University of Washington.
Based on the researchers' calculations, in clouds at temperatures between -3°C and -8°C (26.6°F and 17.6°F), around 10 Watts per square meter of extra energy could reach the ocean from the Sun, enough to significantly change temperatures.
Ice formation inside these clouds is very efficient, and the resulting ice can fall down into the ocean very quickly, too. That rapidly reduces the amount of water in the clouds, and shifts several of their key characteristics from a reflectance point of view.
What's happening inside the clouds also affects their shape, creating further consequences for how well they protect the water underneath.
All these factors need to be weighed up in order to produce climate models that are as accurate as possible.
"The ice crystals deplete much of the thinner cloud entirely, therefore reducing the horizontal coverage," says Atlas.
"Ice crystals also deplete some of the liquid in the thick cores of the cloud. So the ice particles both reduce the cloud cover and dim the remaining cloud."
February is the peak of summer in Antarctica, and at that time of year, around 90 percent of the skies are covered in cloud. A quarter of those clouds are of the type covered by this study – mixed-phase clouds – so the potential effects shouldn't be underestimated.
At the moment only a few global climate models take into account Hallett-Mossop rime splintering, something the researchers behind this new study would like to see changed, so that we can gain a more detailed understanding of how Earth's climate is shifting across its various ecosystems.
It's an issue that's been raised several times before: climate models don't adequately account for all the different types of clouds swirling around the globe, all the different processes happening inside them, and how temperatures might be affected.
"Southern Ocean low clouds shouldn't be treated as liquid clouds," says Atlas.
"Ice formation in Southern Ocean low clouds has a substantial effect on the cloud properties and needs to be accounted for in global models."
When Will Humanity Become a Type I Civilization? A New Paper Explores Our Limits Artist's impression of a Dyson Sphere, which could signal a Type II civilization. (cokada/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
BRIAN KOBERLEIN,
UNIVERSE TODAY 20 APRIL 2022
There are several ways we can measure the progress of human civilization. Population growth, the rise and fall of empires, our technological ability to reach for the stars.
But one simple measure is to calculate the amount of energy humans use at any given time. As humanity has spread and advanced, our ability to harness energy is one of our most useful skills.
If one assumes civilizations on other planets might possess similar skills, the energy consumption of a species is a good rough measure of its technological prowess. This is the idea behind the Kardashev Scale.
Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev proposed the scale in 1964. He categorized civilizations into three types: planetary, stellar, and galactic.
A Type I species is able to harness energy on a scale equal to the amount stellar energy that reaches its home planet. Type II species can harness energy on the scale of its home star, and Type III can harness the energy of its home galaxy.
The idea was further popularized by Carl Sagan, who suggested a continuous scale of measurement rather than simply three types.
So what type of civilization are we? Although humans use a tremendous amount of energy, it turns out we don't even qualify as Type I.
About 1016 Watts of solar energy reaches Earth on average, and humanity currently uses about 1013 Watts. On Sagan sliding scale, that puts us currently at about 0.73.
Not bad for a bunch of evolved primates, but it raises an interesting question. Could we even reach Type I? After all, we can't capture all the sunlight that reaches Earth and still have a habitable planet.
Three types of Kardeshev civilizations. (Wikipedia, cc-by-sa 3.0)
This question is studied in a paper recently posted to the arXiv. The paper looks at the three primary sources of energy: fossil fuels, nuclear, and renewable, and calculates their potential growth over time.
On the one hand, reaching Type I would seem pretty easy. Make the production of energy your top priority, and you'll get there in the end. But each type of energy source has its limitations.
In an extreme case, such as burning every ounce of fossil fuel we can, it could lead to a level of climate change that could end us all in a so-called Great Filter. You can't become a Type I civilization if you're extinct.
So the team takes a more nuanced approach, analyzing the physical limitations of each type of energy source, and balancing them against the need to limit climate change and pollution levels as outlined by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency.
They found that even with realistic limitations, it is possible for humanity to reach a Type I level. The downside is that we won't reach that level until at least 2371.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Kardashev Scale is a very blunt tool for measuring the scale of human technology.
While advanced civilizations require significant energy, we have seen how advances in low-power computing and increased efficiency allow us to decrease or flatten our energy consumption while continuing to advance technologically.
While this study shows how we could become a Type I civilization, it's possible that we'll be truly advanced when we realize we don't need to.
The deep-sea crown jelly Atolla is one of the most common residents of the ocean's midnight zone. Its bell has a signature scarlet color and bears one tentacle much longer than the rest. So 15 years ago, when MBARI researchers spotted a jelly that looked like Atolla, but lacked the telltale trailing tentacle, their curiosity was piqued.
MBARI researchers have now published the scientific description of a large new species of Atolla in the scientific journal Animals. They have named their discovery Atolla reynoldsi in honor of the first volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, MBARI's education and conservation partner.
"We named this stunning new species in honor of Jeff Reynolds in recognition of the 4.3 million hours of service that he and other volunteers have contributed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium over the past 38 years. They have graciously given their time to educate the public about the wonders of the ocean. Aquarium volunteers have been instrumental in raising awareness about the fragility of the ocean and inspiring the public to care about the health of the ocean," said MBARI Senior Education and Research Specialist George Matsumoto, who was the lead author on the description of this new species.
Matsumoto and his co-authors believe two more previously unknown species of Atolla also live in the depths of Monterey Bay, California. They hope to eventually describe these new additions to Atolla's family tree.
The deep-sea crown jelly Atolla is found worldwide and can be abundant in deep water. MBARI's archive of more than 27,600 hours of video contains thousands of observations of Atolla. To date, scientists recognize 10 species in the genus. Atolla chuni, A. gigantea, and A. vanhoeffeni are the most recognizable—they have unique features that make them relatively easy to identify. But others, even the common and widespread A. wyvillei, can be rather difficult to identify. Some characteristics thought to be species-specific have turned out to be less than helpful in separating out the species.
One feature researchers often use to identify Atolla is the single elongate—or hypertrophied—tentacle. One tentacle can stretch up to six times the diameter of the bell. Researchers believe this long tentacle aids in capturing prey. Observations from researchers in Japan suggest the single trailing tentacle helps a hungry Atolla snag siphonophores (rope-like gelatinous animals made of specialized segments).
Over the past 15 years, MBARI researchers have observed and collected numerous specimens of three types of Atolla-like jellies that lack the typical trailing tentacle. Now, researchers have collected sufficient details about morphological and molecular features to describe one of these three unique jellies: Atolla reynoldsi.
A. reynoldsi is relatively large compared to other species of Atolla. The largest specimen MBARI researchers collected was 13 centimeters (5.1 inches) in diameter, making this newly discovered species one of the largest in the genus.
Like other deep-sea crown jellies, A. reynoldsi has a furrowed bell. A deep groove runs around the bell, separating the domed bell from the wide margin with thick segments, known as pedalia, containing finger-like lappets. The edge of the bell resembles a crown, earning this group of jellies its regal name. The "crown" in A. reynoldsi has warty papillae and spiked ridges. Only one other species of Atolla—A. chuni, known from the South Atlantic and Southern oceans—has a similarly bumpy bell. A. reynoldsi also has a distinct gut that is shaped like a Greek cross.
In addition to the lack of the hypertrophied tentacle, A. reynoldsi is often observed with its tentacles coiled. MBARI researchers have learned that the number of tentacles may not be a reliable diagnostic tool for identifying individual species of Atolla. Tentacle number varies considerably from one individual to the next, and the new A. reynoldsi can have anywhere from 26 to 39 tentacles.
A. reynoldsi is not common—MBARI researchers have only observed 10 specimens between April 2006 and June 2021. So far, this species is only known from Monterey Bay and lives at depths of 1,013 to 3,189 meters (3,323 to 10,463 feet).
A. reynoldsi is molecularly distinct from the other Atolla species that the MBARI research team was able to collect and is morphologically distinct from all 10 described Atolla species, although it shares the presence of papillae with A. chuni.
The new species of Atolla is named after Jeff Reynolds, the first volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and honors the contributions of Aquarium volunteers to inspiring conservation of the ocean.
In 1980, four years before the Aquarium's grand opening, Reynolds guarded a beached whale on Del Monte Beach overnight so that the Aquarium could retrieve it and prepare it for eventual overhead display. Reynolds assisted veterinarian Tom Williams with marine mammal research during the Aquarium's early years. He even helped Williams launch the Aquarium's groundbreaking effort to rescue and rehabilitate stranded sea otter pups.
"This is such an honor to have this new species named after me. It also honors all the fantastic Aquarium volunteers over the decades, I was just the lucky one to be there so early on," said Jeff Reynolds. "Volunteering and working for the Aquarium for 42 years was just such an awesome and rewarding experience. It was especially wonderful being taken in as a 16-year-old kid by mentors like [Aquarium co-founder] Steve Webster and Tom Williams to just do whatever needed being done at the moment, from vacuuming the floor to caring for stranded sea otter pups to assisting with whale necropsies to building exhibit models."
Since its inception in 1984, Aquarium staff have worked alongside a community of committed, enthusiastic, and highly effective volunteers. Aquarium volunteers experience a unique sense of community, a passionate connection to the Aquarium's mission, and an unusually high quantity of service hours. Since the opening of the Aquarium, volunteers have contributed more than 4.3 million hours of service.
The mission of the Monterey Bay Aquarium is to inspire conservation of the ocean. Aquarium volunteers support this mission both directly and indirectly, in front of and behind the scenes. Volunteers assume a diverse assortment of roles across the institution. Interpretive guides interact with visitors and share the wonders of Aquarium exhibits with the public. Others work behind the scenes to prepare food for Aquarium animals, track otters in Elkhorn Slough, or even dive in Aquarium exhibits to polish the acrylic and maintain the beauty of the exhibits for visitors.
It is impossible to overstate the magnitude of the impact of Aquarium volunteers. Their contributions extend far beyond their activities at the Aquarium—they also become ambassadors in their communities not only for the Aquarium but also for ocean conservation.
"As an Aquarium volunteer myself, it's so rewarding to see visitors fall in love with the ocean. We're privileged to have the Monterey Bay Aquarium as MBARI's education and conservation partner. Together, we brought the deep sea to land in the new Into the Deep exhibition. It's my hope that the volunteers in this exhibition can help inspire future generations to care about an environment that's the largest living space on Earth, but one we still know so little about," said Matsumoto.
Indeed, there is still much to learn about the diversity of life in the deep sea, even in a location as well studied as Monterey Bay.
In addition to the description of the new Atolla reynoldsi, the MBARI research team also collected natural history information for two more unique Atolla that will likely prove to be new species, but the research team did not have enough samples at this time to confirm those suspicions.
One species—for now given the placeholder name of Atolla species A—has only been observed three times, once in 2002 and twice in 2021. Like A. reynoldsi, it can be quite large compared to its relatives, with one specimen too large to collect in ROV samplers and another 8.5 centimeters (3.3 inches) across. It too does not have a trailing tentacle and the shape of the gut resembles a Greek cross. However, unlike A. reynoldsi, "species A" displays straight—not curled—tentacles and does not have papillae or spiky ridges on its bell. Its bell is tall with a distinctive large, rounded dome shape.
The second species—known as Atolla species B until it is formally described by researchers—has been seen by MBARI researchers five times in the past 15 years. It occurs in very deep water, with three out of five observations recorded deeper than 3,000 meters (9,800 feet). The largest specimen was 7.4 centimeters (2.9 inches) across. All five specimens displayed coiled tentacles, lacked the trailing tentacle, and had a Greek cross-shaped gut like A. reynoldsi, but the bell was white, very flat, and lacked any warts of spikes around the margin.
The three new Atolla-like jellies do not fall within the current taxonomic descriptions of the family Atollidae or the genus Atolla. All three of these unique Atolla may eventually need to be placed into a new genus due to their distinct stomach morphology and the lack of a trailing tentacle. Until further work to determine the morphological features and genetic sequences that define the genus Atolla and the individual species therein is completed, the research team recommends that they remain within the genus Atolla.
A. reynoldsi is just one of millions of species that live in the deep sea, many of which are still unknown to humans. Over the past 34 years, MBARI researchers have documented more than 225 new species from explorations in Monterey Bay and beyond, but have barely scratched the surface in revealing the diversity of life in the deep sea.
These discoveries remind us that we still know so little about the ocean, the largest living space on Earth. The ocean is changing rapidly and the same threats that face coastal waters—overfishing, plastic pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction—also extend to the depths below. We must document the diversity of life deep beneath the surface before it becomes lost forever.
"These remarkable new jellies underscore how much we still have to learn about the deep sea. On just about every dive into the depths of Monterey Bay, we learn something new," explained Matsumoto. "MBARI's work to understand the ocean is more urgent than ever as the deep sea and the animals that live there face a growing number of threats. We cannot protect life in the deep sea unless we understand it first."Mysterious little red jellies: A case of mistaken identity
More information:George I. Matsumoto et al, Atolla reynoldsi sp. nov. (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa, Coronatae, Atollidae): A New Species of Coronate Scyphozoan Found in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean,Animals(2022).DOI: 10.3390/ani12060742
