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Monday, May 23, 2022

Climate change threatens people's health dramatically but solutions are within reach, say the world’s academies in a new report

New global report of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP)

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE INTERACADEMY PARTNERSHIP (IAP)

Climate change is having a range of impacts on health today that will become more severe unless urgent action is taken. Vulnerable populations will see their health increasingly undermined by both direct impacts, such as from extreme heat, and indirect ones, e.g. from reduced food and nutrition security. To produce science-based analysis and recommendations on a global scale, outstanding scientists from around the world – brought together by the world’s science academies under the umbrella of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) – have teamed up to collect and evaluate relevant evidence. The three-year project involving well over 80 experts from all world regions also examined a number of climate mitigation and adaptation actions that could bring significant improvements to health and health equity.

Trieste, 24 May 2022. Climate change threatens the health of billions of people, especially those who contribute least to climate change, but many strategies to cut greenhouse gas emissions can improve health in the near-term. The new report 'Health in the climate emergency – a global perspective', launched today by the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), examines how the climate crisis is affecting health worldwide and calls for urgent action: "Billions of people are at risk, therefore we call for action against climate change to benefit health and also advance health equity", says Robin Fears, IAP project coordinator and co-author of the IAP report.

In a three-year global project, IAP has worked together with its regional networks in Africa (NASAC), Asia (AASSA), the Americas (IANAS) and Europe (EASAC) to capture diversity in evaluating evidence from their own regions to inform policy for collective and customised action at national, regional and global levels. A team of more than 80 scientists from all regions of the world has contributed to the project.

Analysing extensive scientific evidence, the recent report offers a global review of the current knowledge and examines how climate change and its drivers are acting through a range of direct and indirect pathways to impact, for example:

heat-related mortality and morbidity
extreme events such as floods and droughts
decreases in crop yield in some regions
changes in the distribution of vector-borne diseases
wildfires causing widespread exposure to air pollution

Generally, a wide range of health outcomes are affected including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, water and food-borne diseases, undernutrition and mental health. There is also growing risk of forced migration with its attendant adverse health consequences.

An article published in Nature Climate Change, summarised in the IAP report, shows for example that one third of heat related deaths over recent decades can be attributed to climate change according to analysis of data from over 700 sites in 43 countries (Vicedo-Cabrera et al, 2021). Moreover, other studies have found that extreme heat exposure reduces the ability to undertake physical labour, with a Lancet Planetary Health paper stating that approximately one billion people globally projected to be unable to work safely for part of the year (even in the shade) after an increase in the global temperature of about 2.5o C above pre-industrial (Andrews et al, 2018).

“Many policies and actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions also benefit health in the near term as well as reducing the risks of dangerous climate change", says Andrew Haines, Professor of Environmental Change and Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and co-chair of the IAP project. Haines is the winner of the 2022 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement – often regarded as the ‘Nobel Prize for the Environment’.

For instance, fine particulate air pollution arises from many of the same sources as emissions of greenhouse gases. Fossil fuel- and biomass-related emissions account for a substantial proportion of the total health burden from ambient pollution. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), phasing out these anthropogenic sources of air pollution is projected to avert millions of premature deaths worldwide each year (Lelieveld et al, 2019).

Climate change is already reducing food and nutrition security and, unless tackled, will have ever greater impacts on undernutrition and deaths. IAP underlines that promoting dietary change – increasing consumption of fruit, vegetables and legumes and reducing red meat intake, where that is excessive – could have major health and environmental benefits. Such diets would enable significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from food systems as well as reducing water and land use demands. Furthermore, through the reduced risk of heart disease, stroke and other conditions, there would be major reductions in non-communicable disease burden.

Climate action could also avert a significant increase in the spread of infectious diseases. For example, a study published in the Lancet Planetary Health estimates that the population at risk of both dengue and malaria might increase by up to 4.7 billion additional people by 2070 relative to 1970-99, particularly in lowlands and urban areas (Colon-Gonzalez et al, 2021). Thus IAP calls for strengthening communicable disease surveillance and response systems that should be a priority for improving adaptation to climate change worldwide.

The IAP report stresses that climate change affects the health of all people, but the burden is not distributed evenly or fairly.

"Instead, it falls most heavily on those in low socio-economic conditions and marginalized people, and is influenced by intersecting factors such as health status, social, economic, and environmental conditions, and governance structures. Climate change impacts exacerbate inequities and injustices already experienced by vulnerable populations, many of which are founded in colonialism, racism, discrimination, oppression, and development challenges", says Sherilee Harper, Associate Professor at the University of Alberta, Canada and Co-author of the report.

"We emphasise that health-related adaptation efforts must prioritize Indigenous Peoples, ageing populations, children, women and girls, those living in challenging socioeconomic settings, and geographically vulnerable populations."

Globally, groups that are socially, politically and geographically excluded are at the highest risk of health impacts from climate change, yet they are not adequately represented in the evidence base.

"Therefore, equity at the local, regional and international scale must be at the forefront of research and policy responses", says Volker ter Meulen co-chair of the IAP project. "Equity is at the core of effective responses."

IAP calls all stakeholders to take action in building climate–health resilience that will limit future risks. The very wide geographical coverage of IAP is invaluable in helping to communicate the voices of those – from low- and middle-income countries and vulnerable populations – who are not always heard during the processes whereby evidence informs international policy.

"Investing in climate-resilient infrastructure, healthcare systems, and policies will support adaptation and decrease future health risks from climate change", adds ter Meulen. "A 'health in all policies' response will support climate change adaptation and mitigation actions to help meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, will have co-benefits for health, and will support the achievement of key international initiatives such as the Sustainable Development Goals."

The report is available for download here: https://www.interacademies.org/publication/health-climate-emergency-global-perspective and will be discussed in an open public webinar on 25 May, 2-4 PM CEST. Registration here: https://tinyurl.com/CCHLAUNCH

IAP representatives and experts from more than 50 countries are available for country-specific interviews.

About the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP)

Under the umbrella of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), more than 140 national, regional and global member academies work together to support the vital role of science in seeking evidence-based solutions to the world’s most challenging problems. In particular, IAP harnesses the expertise of the world's scientific, medical and engineering leaders to advance sound policies, improve public health, promote excellence in science education, and achieve other critical development goals.

IAP’s four regional networks – AASSA, EASAC, IANAS and NASAC – are responsible for managing and implementing many IAP-funded projects and help make IAP’s work relevant around the world. More information about IAP can be found at https://www.interacademies.org, on Twitter at @IAPartnership, on LinkedIn and YouTube.

Notes for editors

There are about 600 research references discussed in the IAP global report. Studies referred to in this press release should not be taken to mean IAP endorsement but rather as exemplifying key points. The following studies were referred to:

Andrews et al (2018). Implications for workability and survivability in populations exposed to extreme heat under climate change: a modelling study. Lancet Planetary Health 2, e540-547.
Colón-González et al (2021). Projecting the risk of mosquito-borne diseases in a warmer and more populated world: a multi-model, multi-scenario intercomparison modelling study. Lancet Planetary Health 5, e404-414.
Lelieveld et al (2019). Effects of fossil fuel and total anthropogenic emission removal on public health and climate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 116, 7192-7197.
Vicedo-Cabrera et al (2021). The burden of heat-related mortality attributable to recent human-induced climate change. Nature Climate Change 11, 492-500.

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

Disclaimer:

Air pollution associated with more severe COVID-19

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL

Some common air pollutants, such as ground-level ozone, are associated with more severe outcomes after SARS-CoV-2 infection, including admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), according to new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.220068.

To determine whether there was an association between long-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 severity, researchers analyzed data on all 151 105 people aged 20 years and older with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in 2020 in Ontario, Canada, not living in a long-term care facility. They modelled historical exposure to three common air pollutants before the pandemic — fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ground-level ozone (O3). The authors adjusted for date of diagnosis, sex and age, being part of an outbreak, essential worker status, neighbourhood socioeconomic status, health care access including previous influenza vaccination history, previous outpatient visits and other factors.

"We observed that people with SARS-CoV-2 infection who lived in areas of Ontario with higher levels of common air pollutants (PM2.5, NO2 and O3) were at elevated risk of being admitted to the ICU after we adjusted for individual and contextual confounding factors, even when the air pollution level was relatively low," writes Dr. Hong Chen, Health Canada and ICES, with coauthors.

They also found an elevated risk of hospitalization with chronic exposure to PM2.5 and O3, and an increased risk of death from COVID-19 with chronic exposure to O3.

These results add to the growing reports linking air pollution to COVID-19 severity from other countries, including Spain and Mexico.

"Given the ongoing pandemic, our findings that underscore the link between chronic exposure to air pollution and more severe COVID-19 could have important implications for public health and health systems," write the authors.

As to the mechanisms of how long-term exposure to air pollution may be influencing severity of COVID-19, the researchers call for more research.

JOURNAL

Canadian Medical Association Journal

DOI

10.1503/cmaj.220068

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Association between long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and COVID-19 severity: a prospective cohort study

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

24-May-2022

Price and convenience can drive consumers to purchase cannabis from illegal, rather than legal, sources: Study

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JOURNAL OF STUDIES ON ALCOHOL AND DRUGS

PISCATAWAY, NJ—Despite the legalization of cannabis sales in Canada and many U.S. states, an illegal market still exists. A new study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs suggests that higher prices and inconvenience associated with legal sources may be barriers that encourage consumers to seek out illegal providers instead.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario looked at data from the 2019 and 2020 International Cannabis Policy Study, which collected data from 16- to 65-year-olds. Participants were asked how much of the marijuana they used in the past 12 months was purchased from legal or authorized sources. If someone entered a value of less than 100%, they were prompted to choose from a list of reasons for purchasing illegal cannabis.

“Legal sources had higher prices” was the number-one answer for respondents in Canada in both years (35.9% in 2019 and 34.6% in 2020), as well as in the U.S. (27.3% in 2019 and 26.7% in 2020). Convenience—covered by “Legal sources were less convenient” and “Legal stores were too far away/there are none where I live”—was high on the list as well, with the percentage of respondents who named these as reasons ranging from 10.6% to 19.8%.

Other possible reasons—such as low quality, the desire to stay anonymous, delivery speed, and loyalty to a dealer—were selected less frequently by respondents as being factors in choosing a purchase option.

“We also observed differences across jurisdictions and changes over time—many reasons decreased in later years, which reflects changes in the number of stores and the price of cannabis in Canada and U.S. states that have legalized adult cannabis use,” says study co-author David Hammond, Ph.D., professor and university research chair at the University of Waterloo’s School of Public Health Sciences.

Interestingly, COVID-19 restrictions may be behind some of the changes between the 2019 and 2020 survey responses. More than 10% of respondents in both the U.S. and Canada said the pandemic restricted their ability to buy legally in 2020. However, delivery service of legal cannabis became an option in several U.S. states and Canadian provinces during the pandemic, which may explain some of the decrease in respondents reporting slow delivery times and inconvenience.

A goal of nonmedical cannabis legalization has been to displace the illegal market, so the reasons why this goal hasn’t been completely met are important, and few studies have examined the potential disconnect.

“Cannabis legalization is one of the most notable substance use policies in several decades,” Hammond says. “Transitioning consumers from illegal to legal retail sources is a primary goal of legalization. Indeed, many of the potential benefits of legalization—including product standards, revenue for legitimate businesses, reducing burden on the criminal justice system—depend upon shifting consumers to legal cannabis sources. Given the importance of this issue, there is surprisingly little empirical evidence on the factors that determine where consumers source their products in a legal market.”

Hammond and his colleagues write that future research should focus on how perceived barriers to legal markets change as those markets evolve.

“As markets mature, the number of stores per capita tends to increase, and inconvenience is expected to become less of a hurdle,” the researchers conclude. “Regulators will need to balance public health and criminal justice priorities in order to establish a competitive market for legal cannabis that encourages legal purchasing.”

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Goodman, S., Wadsworth, E., & Hammond, D. (2022). Reasons for purchasing cannabis from illegal sources in legal markets: Findings among cannabis consumers in Canada and U.S. states, 2019–2020. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 83, 392–401. doi:10.15288/jsad.2022.83.392
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To arrange an interview with David Hammond, Ph.D., please contact him at dhammond@uwaterloo.ca.
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The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs is published by the Center of Alcohol & Substance Use Studies at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. It is the oldest substance-related journal published in the United States.
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The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs considers this press release to be in the public domain. Editors may publish this press release in print or electronic form without legal restriction. Please include proper attribution and byline.

JOURNAL

Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

DOI

10.15288/jsad.2022.83.392

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Reasons for purchasing cannabis from illegal sources in legal markets: Findings among cannabis consumers in Canada and U.S. states, 2019–2020

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

24-May-2022

COI STATEMENT

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Foreign fishing fleets and trade are taking fish nutrients away from malnourished people

by Lancaster University

Foreign fishing fleets, as well as international seafood trade, are diverting vital micronutrients away from malnourished populations, a new study reveals.

Fish are an important source of micronutrients and essential fatty acids which have the potential to substantially reduce rates of malnutrition and its associated health conditions, which includes maternal mortality, stunted growth and pre-eclampsia.

However, this new study, the first of its kind and six years in the making, shows that foreign fishing (fleets fishing in foreign waters) and international seafood trade exacerbate nutrition insecurity, taking fish away from the waters of nations experiencing high prevalence of malnutrition and diverting the catches predominantly to wealthier countries.

There has been vigorous debate focused on international fish trade and foreign fishing as driving unequal distribution of fish and their economic return. However, their impact on the supply of nutrients to local populations was unknown, until now.

The international team of researchers analyzed global fish catches, trade and nutrient composition (calcium, iron, selenium, zinc, omega-3, vitamin A and protein) for global marine fisheries. The research team used a model previously developed by this study's Principal Investigator, Professor Christina Hicks of Lancaster University. This enables detailed calculations of nutrients based on fish species within fisheries' catches, rather than simply the amount of fish caught.

They found that more than 60% of countries receive net gains in fish-derived nutrients through international trade—Nigeria, France, Japan and Italy gaining the most.

Around a third of nations have net trade losses of nutrients. While this includes a few prominent exporters such as China and Russia—more than half of nations losing fish-derived micronutrients are vulnerable small island states and African nations, such as Namibia and the Maldives.

While trade drives significant nutrient flows among nations, the study's findings suggests that foreign fishing fleets taking catches from the waters of other nations may be a more important cause of fish-derived nutrients not reaching vulnerable people. Their findings suggest foreign fishing relocates one and a half times more nutrients than international trade in fish.

The research found that more than 30% of nations experience net nutrient losses from foreign fishing. These countries experiencing nutrient losses from foreign fishing include developed resilient nations like Norway, and the United Kingdom. However, around half of the nations that experience net losses from both foreign fishing and trade are small island states and African nations, many of which have populations where malnutrition is more prevalent.

And the study reveals that fishing in foreign waters predominantly, though not exclusively, benefits nutrient-secure nations—with several countries benefiting disproportionately—including Japan, China and South Korea.

These findings add to concerns about agreements allowing foreign fishing fleets to fish in low and middle-income nations—highlighting that such agreements reduce nations' ability to direct their own food production toward citizens experiencing nutritional insecurity.

Dr. Kirsty Nash, lead author of the study, said: "The findings suggest that when nutritional differences among fish species and nations' nutritional needs are considered, distributions of fish supplies through foreign fishing, and amplified by international trade, may be undermining nutritional food security and international equity."

"Marine fisheries hold unrealized potential to help address global nutrient deficiencies but we need to harmonize fisheries, health and trade policies to ensure nutrients reach people vulnerable to undernutrition. And decision-makers must consider nutrients derived from fisheries as a key resource that needs protection."

Professor Christina Hicks of Lancaster University said: "Nutrient insecurity is a pressing global concern and fisheries have the potential to reduce the health burden of malnourishment. However, our analysis shows that foreign fishing fleets and international trade contribute substantially to broad-scale redistribution of fish from the waters of the countries where they are caught and, in many cases, away from where the people who most need these vital micronutrients.

"This research highlights that there is a need for greater transparency around distribution of fish, and around the practice of foreign fishing fleets. And if fisheries are to achieve their potential to reduce global malnutrition, and the terrible health consequences associated with it, then nutrition security needs to be considered more centrally when countries develop international trade agreements."

In addition, the researchers developed a novel "nutritional vulnerability framework" that shows that the few small island developing states and African nations that are benefitting from trade and foreign fishing currently are also among the most vulnerable to future changes in nutrient supplies, through changes in trade and foreign fishing practices.

The researchers also modeled the effects of climate change, which is predicted to lead to overall declines in fisheries production. This evaluation exacerbates the nutrient vulnerability of many nations, with the greatest impacts on tropical countries and small island states such as Papua New Guinea and Guyana.

The study's findings are outlined in the paper "Trade and foreign fishing mediate global marine nutrient supply," which has been published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)Fish nutrition database to help combat malnutrition across the globe

More information: 'Trade and foreign fishing mediate global marine nutrient supply', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.212081711

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Provided by Lancaster University

Low-cost gel film can pluck drinking water from desert air

by University of Texas at Austin

More than a third of the world's population lives in drylands, areas that experience significant water shortages. Scientists and engineers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a solution that could help people in these areas access clean drinking water.

The team developed a low-cost gel film made of abundant materials that can pull water from the air in even the driest climates. The materials that facilitate this reaction cost a mere $2 per kilogram, and a single kilogram can produce more than 6 liters of water per day in areas with less than 15% relative humidity and 13 liters in areas with up to 30% relative humidity.

The research builds on previous breakthroughs from the team, including the ability to pull water out of the atmosphere and the application of that technology to create self-watering soil. However, these technologies were designed for relatively high-humidity environments.

"This new work is about practical solutions that people can use to get water in the hottest, driest places on Earth," said Guihua Yu, professor of materials science and mechanical engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering's Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering. "This could allow millions of people without consistent access to drinking water to have simple, water generating devices at home that they can easily operate."

The new paper appears in Nature Communications.

The researchers used renewable cellulose and a common kitchen ingredient, konjac gum, as a main hydrophilic (attracted to water) skeleton. The open-pore structure of gum speeds the moisture-capturing process. Another designed component, thermo-responsive cellulose with hydrophobic (resistant to water) interaction when heated, helps release the collected water immediately so that overall energy input to produce water is minimized.

Other attempts at pulling water from desert air are typically energy-intensive and do not produce much. And although 6 liters does not sound like much, the researchers say that creating thicker films or absorbent beds or arrays with optimization could drastically increase the amount of water they yield.

The reaction itself is a simple one, the researchers said, which reduces the challenges of scaling it up and achieving mass usage.

"This is not something you need an advanced degree to use," said Youhong "Nancy" Guo, the lead author on the paper and a former doctoral student in Yu's lab, now a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It's straightforward enough that anyone can make it at home if they have the materials."

The film is flexible and can be molded into a variety of shapes and sizes, depending on the need of the user. Making the film requires only the gel precursor, which includes all the relevant ingredients poured into a mold.

"The gel takes 2 minutes to set simply. Then, it just needs to be freeze-dried, and it can be peeled off the mold and used immediately after that," said Weixin Guan, a doctoral student on Yu's team and a lead researcher of the work. The researchers envision this as something that people could someday buy at a hardware store and use in their homes because of the simplicity.Solar-powered moisture harvester collects and cleans water from air

More information: Youhong Guo et al, Scalable super hygroscopic polymer films for sustainable moisture harvesting in arid environments, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30505-2

Journal information: Nature Communications

Provided by University of Texas at Austin

Major Step Forward in Monitoring Ocean Health Through “DNA Soup”

By MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM RESEARCH INSTITUTE MAY 23, 2022

When outfitted with a groundbreaking “laboratory in a can” to sample environmental DNA (eDNA), nimble robots like MBARI’s long-range autonomous underwater vehicle (LRAUV) can expand the monitoring of ocean health. Credit: © 2021 MBARI/Monterey Bay Aquarium

Autonomous technology uses eDNA to survey biodiversity.

In a major step forward for monitoring the biodiversity of marine systems, a new research study published on May 17, 2022, in the journal Environmental DNA details how Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) researchers are using autonomous underwater robots to sample environmental DNA (eDNA). eDNA allows scientists to detect the presence of aquatic species from the tiny bits of genetic material they leave behind. This “DNA soup” offers clues about biodiversity changes in sensitive areas, the presence of rare or endangered species, and the spread of invasive species—all critical to understanding, promoting, and preserving a healthy ocean.

Researchers combined two novel autonomous platforms developed by MBARI for this study: the long-range autonomous underwater vehicle (LRAUV) and the Environmental Sample Processor (ESP). The LRAUV is a nimble underwater robot that can travel to remote areas of the ocean for extended periods of time. The ESP is a robotic “laboratory-in-a-can” that filters seawater and preserves eDNA for future study. By equipping an LRAUV with ESP technology, researchers can expand the scale of ocean monitoring over time and space. By comparison, traditional sampling of eDNA in the ocean requires weeks on an expensive research vessel limited to a localized area. Technology innovations like this are revolutionizing ocean conservation efforts.

MBARI researchers launch a long-range autonomous underwater vehicle (LRAUV) from the R/V Paragon in Monterey Bay. These nimble robots can travel to remote areas of the ocean that are difficult for a crewed vessel to access. Credit: Kim Fulton-Bennett © 2014 MBARI

“We know that eDNA is an incredibly powerful tool for studying ocean communities, but we’ve been limited by what we can accomplish using crewed research vessels. Now, autonomous technology is helping us make better use of our time and resources to study new parts of the ocean,” said Kobun Truelove, a biological oceanographer at MBARI and the lead author on the paper.

Marine biodiversity is a measure of the abundance of individuals and species in the ocean. This interconnected mosaic of organisms—from the smallest plankton to the largest whales—supports food webs, produces the air we breathe, and regulates our climate. Autonomous tools like the LRAUV and ESP enable MBARI researchers to maintain a persistent presence in the ocean and monitor changes in sensitive ecosystems in ways that were not possible previously.

“Organisms move as conditions change in our oceans and Great Lakes, affecting the people and economies that rely on those species. We need cheaper and more nimble approaches to monitor biodiversity on a large scale. This study provides the synergistic development of eDNA and uncrewed technologies we need, in direct response to priorities laid out in the NOAA ‘Omics Strategic Plan,” said Kelly Goodwin, a co-author on the study and collaborator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Background

For this research, MBARI collaborated with researchers at the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory and the University of Washington to complete three expeditions in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The team coordinated sample collection between MBARI’s three research vessels, the NOAA Fisheries ship Reuben Lasker, and a fleet of MBARI’s LRAUVs.

A ship-based team lowered bottles to a specific depth to collect and preserve water samples. Meanwhile, an LRAUV equipped with an ESP autonomously sampled and preserved eDNA at similar locations and depths. The eDNA samples were returned to the lab for in-depth sequencing

Related organisms share common sections of DNA, known as gene markers. For this study, researchers analyzed eDNA samples with a technique known as metabarcoding. This method looks for short DNA excerpts and provides a breakdown of the groups present in the sample. This technique is especially helpful for translating eDNA data into a measure of biodiversity. The researchers analyzed four different types of gene markers, each representing a slightly different level of the food web. Together, the results yielded a more holistic picture of community composition. The samples collected from research ships and autonomous vehicles revealed similar patterns of biodiversity.

Truelove noted that the findings from the study mark an exciting step forward for monitoring marine ecosystems. “This work is all about increasing the scale of eDNA research. Instead of looking at an individual species, we can start to more broadly characterize biological community structure in the ocean,” he said.

“Good data are the bedrock of sustainable ocean management,” said Francisco Chavez, MBARI Senior Scientist and a co-author of the study. “Regular environmental DNA monitoring tells us who is there and what is changing over time. When it comes to understanding the impacts of climate change—one of the biggest threats to ocean health—this information is essential.”

LRAUVs are able to travel for weeks at a time and for hundreds of kilometers. They can enable more frequent sampling in areas of interest than traditional research vessels, which typically only visit remote sites infrequently. Autonomous robots will allow researchers to study previously unsurveyed regions of the ocean. Filling in these data gaps is critical to strengthening global ocean health. Ship-based research will continue to play an important role in oceanographic studies, but adding new autonomous technology to the toolkit will expand capacity for research, monitoring, and resource management. Ultimately, MBARI researchers envision deploying a fleet of LRAUVs equipped with ESP technology.

Reference: “Expanding the temporal and spatial scales of environmental DNA research with autonomous sampling” by Nathan K. Truelove, Nastassia V. Patin, Markus Min, Kathleen J. Pitz, Chris M. Preston, Kevan M. Yamahara, Yanwu Zhang, Ben Y. Raanan, Brian Kieft, Brett Hobson, Luke R. Thompson, Kelly D. Goodwin and Francisco P. Chavez, 17 May 2022, Environmental DNA.
DOI: 10.1002/edn3.299

Support for this research was provided by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, NOAA/OAR/’Omics, NOAA/OAR/NOPP, and NASA Projects #80NSSC20M0001 and 80NSSX21M003.

About MBARI

MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) is a private non-profit oceanographic research center founded by David Packard in 1987. The mission of MBARI is to advance marine science and technology to understand a changing ocean.

Driving down the costs of hydrogen fuel: Prototype achieves 99% yield 8 times faster than conventional batch reactors

by Matt Shipman, North Carolina State University

New tech aims to drive down costs of hydrogen fuel — Credit: North Carolina State University

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique for extracting hydrogen gas from liquid carriers that is faster, less expensive and more energy efficient than previous approaches.

"Hydrogen is widely viewed as a sustainable energy source for transportation, but there are some technical obstacles that need to be overcome before it can be viewed as a practical alternative to existing technologies," says Milad Abolhasani, corresponding author of a paper on the new technique and an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State. "One of the big obstacles to the adoption of a hydrogen economy is the cost of storage and transportation."

Hydrogen fuel does not result in CO2 emissions. And hydrogen refueling stations could be located at existing gas stations, taking advantage of existing infrastructure. But transporting hydrogen gas is dangerous, so hydrogen needs to be transported via a liquid carrier. A key obstacle for this strategy is that extracting hydrogen from the liquid carrier at destination sites, such as fueling stations, is energy intensive and expensive.

"Previous research has shown that it is possible to use photocatalysts to release hydrogen gas from a liquid carrier using only sunlight," Abolhasani says. "However, existing techniques for doing this were laborious, time consuming and required a significant amount of rhodium—a metal that is very expensive."

"We've developed a technique that applies a reusable photocatalyst and sunlight to extract hydrogen gas from its liquid carrier more quickly and using less rhodium—making the entire process significantly less expensive," says Malek Ibrahim, first author of the paper and a former postdoctoral researcher at NC State. "What's more, the only byproducts are hydrogen gas and the liquid carrier itself, which can be reused repeatedly. It's very sustainable."

One key to the success of the new technique is that it is a continuous-flow reactor. The reactor resembles a thin, clear tube packed with sand. The "sand" consists of micron-scale grains of titanium oxide, many of which are coated with rhodium. The hydrogen-carrying liquid is pumped into one end of the tube. The rhodium-coated particles line the outer part of the tube, where sunlight can reach them. These particles are photoreactive catalysts that, in the presence of sunlight, react with the liquid carrier to release hydrogen molecules as a gas.

The researchers precisely engineered the system so that only the outer grains of titanium oxide are coated with rhodium, ensuring the system uses no more rhodium than is necessary.

"In a conventional batch reactor, 99% of the photocatalyst is titanium oxide and 1% is rhodium," Abolhasani says. "In our continuous flow reactor, we only need to use 0.025% rhodium, which makes a big difference in the final cost. A single gram of rhodium costs more than $500."

In their prototype reactor, the researchers were able to achieve a 99% yield—meaning that 99% of the hydrogen molecules were released from the liquid carrier—in three hours.

"That's eight times faster than conventional batch reactors, which take 24 hours to reach 99% yield," Ibrahim says. "And the system should be easy to scale up or scale out to allow for catalyst reuse on commercial scale—you can simply make the tube longer or merge multiple tubes running in parallel."

The flow system can run continuously for up to 72 hours before its efficiency decreases. At this point, the catalyst can be "regenerated" without removing it from the reactor—it's a simple cleaning process that takes about six hours. The system can then be restarted and run at full efficiency for another 72 hours.

NC State has filed a provisional patent for the technology.

The research was published in the journal ChemSusChem.

Researchers devise cheaper, faster way to continuously produce amines

More information: Malek Y. S. Ibrahim et al, Continuous Room‐Temperature Hydrogen Release from Liquid Organic Carriers in a Photocatalytic Packed‐Bed Flow Reactor, ChemSusChem (2022). DOI: 10.1002/cssc.202200733

Provided by North Carolina State University

Hydrogen production method opens up clean energy possibilities

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

Compressed Hydrogen — IMAGE: POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER JAMIE KEE AND PROFESSOR SU HA AND THE NOVEL REACTOR THEY DEVELOPED TO PRODUCE PURE COMPRESSED HYDROGEN. view more
CREDIT: WSU PHOTO SERVICES

PULLMAN, Wash. – A new energy-efficient way to produce hydrogen gas from ethanol and water has the potential to make clean hydrogen fuel a more viable alternative for gasoline to power cars.

Washington State University researchers used the ethanol and water mixture and a small amount of electricity in a novel conversion system to produce pure compressed hydrogen. The innovation means that hydrogen could be made on-site at fueling stations, so only the ethanol solution would have to be transported. It is a major step in eliminating the need to transport high-pressure hydrogen gas, which has been a major stumbling block for its use as a clean energy fuel.

“This is a new way of thinking about how to produce hydrogen gas,” said Su Ha, professor in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering and corresponding author on the paper published in the journal, Applied Catalysis A. “If there are enough resources, I think it has a really good chance of making a big impact on the hydrogen economy in the near future.”

Using hydrogen as a fuel for cars is a promising but unrealized clean energy. Like an electric-powered car, a hydrogen fuel-cell powered car doesn’t emit any harmful carbon dioxide. Unlike an electric car, it can be filled up with hydrogen gas in minutes at hydrogen fueling stations.

Despite the promise of hydrogen technology, however, storing and transporting high-pressure hydrogen gas in fuel tanks creates significant economic and safety challenges. Because of the challenges, there is little hydrogen gas infrastructure in the U.S., and the technology’s market penetration is very low.

In their work, the WSU researchers created a conversion system with an anode and a cathode. When they put a small amount of electricity into the ethanol and water mixture with a catalyst, they were able to electrochemically produce pure compressed hydrogen. Carbon dioxide from the reaction is captured in a liquid form.

Instead of having to transport hazardous hydrogen gas, the conversion method would mean that the existing infrastructure for transporting ethanol could be used and that the compressed hydrogen gas could be easily and safely created on-demand at gas stations.

“We’re already using ethanol-containing gasoline at every gas station,” said Ha. “You can imagine that an ethanol water mixture can be easily delivered to a local gas station using our existing infrastructure, and then using our technology, you can produce hydrogen that is ready to pump into a hydrogen fuel cell car. We don’t need to worry about hydrogen storage or transportation at all.”

The electrochemical system the team developed uses less than half the electricity of pure water splitting, another method that researchers have studied for de-carbonized hydrogen production. Instead of working hard to compress the hydrogen gas later in the process, the researchers used less energy by instead compressing the liquid ethanol mixture, thereby directly producing an already compressed hydrogen gas.

“The presence of the ethanol in water changes the chemistry,” said graduate student Wei-Jyun Wang, a co-lead author on the paper. “We can actually do our reaction at a much lower electrical voltage than is typically needed for pure water electrolysis.”

Their system also doesn’t require an expensive membrane that other water splitting methods do. The resulting hydrogen from the electrochemical reaction is then ready for use.

“A process that offers a low-electrical energy cost alternative to water electrolysis and can effectively capture carbon dioxide while producing compressed hydrogen could have a significant impact on the hydrogen economy,” said Jamie Kee, a Voiland School postdoctoral researcher and one of lead authors on the paper. “It’s really exciting because there are a whole lot of aspects that play into improving the production methods of hydrogen.”

The researchers are working to scale up the technology and operate it in a continuous manner. They also are working to make use of the carbon dioxide captured in the liquid.

The work was funded by the Gas Technology Institute and the US Department of Energy’s RAPID Manufacturing Institute.

JOURNAL

Applied Catalysis

DOI

10.1016/j.apcata.2022.118647

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Caustic Aqueous Phase Electrochemical Reforming (CAPER) of Ethanol for Process Intensified Compressed Hydrogen Production

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-May-2022