Standing desks alongside other measures cut office workers' sitting time by an hour a day

Small improvements also seen in workers' stress, well-being, and energy levels at work

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BMJ

Using a standing desk alongside a package of other measures to encourage office workers to sit less and move more, reduced sitting time by about an hour a day over one year, finds a trial published in The BMJ today.

These measures were also linked to small improvements in stress, wellbeing, and energy levels at work, although the researchers stress that these improvements were not clinically meaningful. 

A growing body of evidence indicates that sedentary lifestyles are associated with higher levels of chronic disease, including heart diseases, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers, and higher rates of depression and anxiety. 

Office-based workers are one of the most sedentary populations, spending 73% of their workday and 66% of their waking day sitting, but studies looking at ways to reduce sitting in the workplace have been deemed low quality. 

To address these research gaps, a team of researchers based in the UK, with collaborators in Australia set out to evaluate the impact of SMART Work & Life (SWAL), an intervention designed to reduce sitting time and increase moving time at work, with and without a standing desk, delivered by workplace champions.

The trial involved 756 office workers from two councils in Leicester, three in Greater Manchester, and one in Liverpool. Participants were randomly assigned to the SWAL intervention, the SWAL intervention with a standing desk, or a control group (working as usual) over a 12 month period.

The average age of participants was 45, of which 72% were women, 75% were white British, and 85% worked full time. Average body mass index (BMI) at the start of the study was 26.5. 

The SWAL intervention group were given a range of resources to help them reduce their sitting time, and highlight the health risks of too much sitting.

Workplaces were also encouraged to make small changes around the office to enable more movement, such as relocating printers and waste paper bins and creating standing areas for meetings.

The SWAL plus desk group also received a height adjustable desk to encourage less sitting time. The control group carried on working as usual.

Workers’ sitting time was measured using a device (accelerometer) worn on the thigh at the start of the study and again at 12 months.

Daily physical activity levels, and self-reported feedback about work, physical and mental health were also recorded.

The SWAL intervention plus standing desk was three times more effective at reducing sitting time than the SWAL intervention alone.

For example, at 12 months, daily sitting time for the SWAL group, and the SWAL plus standing desk were, respectively, 22 minutes and 64 per day minutes lower on average than the control group.  

Small, but non-clinically meaningful improvements in stress, wellbeing, and a sense of work-related vigour were found for both intervention groups compared with the control group at three and 12 months, as well as lower limb pain (hips, knees and ankles) in the SWAL plus desk group.

Although time spent sitting was lower in both intervention groups compared with the control group, the researchers note that most participants simply replaced sitting with standing, and they say further work is needed to encourage more physical activity, particularly outside of working hours.

A randomised controlled trial is considered the most reliable way to determine whether an intervention actually has the desired effect, but the researchers do point to some limitations.

For example, participants were aware of the purpose of the device measuring their movement, which could have impacted their behaviour. And participants may have been selective in their responses to questionnaires - a phenomenon known as ‘reporting bias.’

However  this was a large, well-designed trial that mimicked a real world intervention, and results were similar after further sensitivity analyses, suggesting that they are robust.

They also point out that participants were selected from three different areas in England, which bolsters the case for wider roll-out of the findings. 

As such, the researchers say both SWAL and SWAL plus desk were associated with a reduction in sitting time, although the addition of a height adjustable desk was found to be threefold more effective.

And they point to areas for future research, such as exploring how people can best be supported to make changes outside of work and increase time spent moving, across different employment sectors and for a longer time period. 

In a linked editorial, Professor Cindy Gray from the University of Glasgow says: “The findings are noteworthy because they come from a fully powered cluster randomised trial with objective measurement of sedentary behaviour at three and 12 months.”

However, she points out that the move to more home based and blended patterns of working after the covid-19 pandemic is likely to increase workforce sedentariness. Therefore, she says “understanding how to optimise occupational interventions to support people to sit less and move more around their home during both work and non-working hours is essential.”

[Ends]

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JOURNAL

The BMJ

DOI

10.1136/bmj‑2021‑069288 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Effectiveness of an intervention for reducing sitting time and improving health in office workers: three arm cluster randomised controlled trial

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Aug-2022

All rise!

Height-adjustable desks can reduce workplace sitting by over an hour a day

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS OF LEICESTER NHS TRUST

Researchers at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) – a partnership between Leicester’s Hospitals, the University of Leicester and Loughborough University - have developed a programme that, when paired with a height-adjustable desk, can reduce the time people spend sitting by over an hour. To date, it is the largest study worldwide looking into programmes to overcoming sedentary behaviour in the workplace.

The team tested their ‘SMART Work and Life’ programme – training for workplace champions, educational resources, ongoing behaviour change support and a set of apps and software to monitor sitting time, - which has been developed for people who spend a lot of their day sitting down, in six local authorities across Leicester, Greater Manchester and Liverpool.

756 desk-based workers were put in one of three groups. The first group were given the SMART Work and Life programme alone; the second group received the SMART Work and Life programme and a height-adjustable desk, so they could sit or stand while working at their computer. A third group acted as a control with neither the SMART Work and Life programme nor the height-adjustable desk.

The research team monitored the sitting behaviour of participants via a small device worn on the thigh. 

Researchers found that compared to the control group, people using the SMART Work and Life programme sat for 22 minutes less per day. For participants using both the SMART Work and Life programme and a height adjustable desk, this tripled to over an hour more time spent on their feet across the working day.

Interestingly, while participants using the programme and the height-adjustable desk reduced their sitting time in the workplace, this had little impact on behaviour at home, indicating that it is challenging to break sitting habits in leisure time.

In the UK, sedentary behaviours are known to contribute to over £700 million in NHS costs and were responsible for 69,276 deaths in 2016. The COVId-19 pandemic has further exacerbated these behaviours, and their consequences for public health, prompting policy interest in public health strategies that promote safe physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviours.

Desk-based workers spend around 70 per cent of their workday sitting down and many continue to spend time sitting once at home, with data showing they accumulate 9 to10 hours per day of sitting. Sedentary behaviour in the workplace also affects job performance and is associated with higher levels of presenteeism.

Dr Charlotte Edwardson, Associate Professor of Physical Activity Sedentary Behaviour and Health at the University of Leicester, and lead author of the paper, said: “Our results suggest a combination of education, motivational resources, peer support and standing desks has the greatest effect on reducing sitting in the workplace.

“These results are a major step in providing evidence-based tools to reduce sedentary behaviour and improve health in the workplace.”

Dr Alex Clarke-Cornwell, Reader in Public Health Epidemiology from the University of Salford, who is a co-author of the study, said: “Alongside the reduction in sitting time, participants perceived small improvements in stress, wellbeing, and work vigour. They also reported feeling more energised, focused and productive, with the group who also received the desk reporting fewer musculoskeletal issues.”

SMART Work and Life is a multi-component programme including a package of training for health and wellbeing champions with workplaces. It also includes educational resources, apps and software to track sitting time and get reminders to stand up more regularly, motivational posters, sitting less challenges, suggestions on how to make small environmental changes and many more helpful resources available to all who take part. It is facilitated by workplace champions who encourage participants and develop tailored strategies for individual teams.

Dr Edwardson and her team have turned the SMART Work and Life programme into an online resource kit which is easily accessible to organisations. SMART Work and Life is a great resource to use alongside height-adjustable desks, as part of an office environment change or as a stand-alone toolkit to encourage less sitting.  The programme can be accessed here: www.smartworkandlife.co.uk

The article: “Effectiveness of the SMART Work & Life intervention for reducing sitting time and improving health in office workers: A three-arm cluster randomised controlled trial” can be found in the British Medical Journal today.

It was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which funds, enables and delivers world-leading health and social care research that improves people's health and wellbeing and promotes economic growth.

Ends

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JOURNAL

BMJ

DOI

10.1136/bmj‑2021‑069288 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Effectiveness of an intervention for reducing sitting time and improving health in office workers: three arm cluster randomised controlled trial

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Aug-2022

COI STATEMENT

All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf and declare: support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) public health research programme, the Leicester Clinical Trials Unit, and the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre. MHG is a co-inventor of the activPAL3 physical activity monitor and a director of PAL Technologies. DWD reports grants from National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia), Diabetes Australia, and the National Heart Foundation of Australia, during the conduct of the study. GNH reports grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) during the conduct of the study. MJD reports personal fees from Novo Nordisk, Sanofi-Aventis, Lilly, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Servier, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals International, and grants from Novo Nordisk, Sanofi-Aventis, Lilly, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Janssen outside the submitted work.

Anger as US court says teen not 'mature' enough for abortion

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

An appeals court in Florida has upheld a ruling that a 16-year-old girl is not "sufficiently mature" enough to get an abortion—a decision that sparked the ire of some US lawmakers.

Two months after the Supreme Court overturned nationwide access to the termination of a pregnancy, the teenager's case is fuelling new anger over women's rights in the United States.

The girl, who is not identified, told a lower court she was "not ready to have a baby," that she was still in school and had no job, and that the father of the child could not help her.

Minors seeking an abortion in Florida need the consent of at least one of their parents. But the girl is "parentless," lives with a relative and has a state-appointed guardian, court documents showed.

She was seeking a waiver of that rule—but the lower court said she had "not established by clear and convincing evidence that she was sufficiently mature to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy."

On Monday, a state appeals court upheld that decision, igniting anger among US lawmakers.

"If you're infuriated because a court is forcing a teenager to carry a pregnancy to term after ruling she was not 'mature' enough to have an abortion, you're not alone. It is abhorrent," tweeted Democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who has spoken openly about her own abortion.

Lois Frankel, a Democratic lawmaker from Florida, called the decision "unacceptable," adding: "This is a dangerous & horrific example of Florida's war on women."

"In what world is a 16 year old too immature to receive an abortion but mature enough to commit to carrying and raising a child?" asked Ohio Democrat Joyce Beatty, also on Twitter.

"Not mature enough for an abortion, but mature enough to have a baby. This is sick," agreed Pennsylvania lawmaker Malcolm Kenyatta.

The teenager had told the court that her guardian had given their consent for the abortion, but that consent did not appear to have been made in writing, court documents showed.

The girl was 10 weeks pregnant, according to the documents.

After the Supreme Court reversed the nationwide right to abortion in June, handing the decision back to the states, Florida changed its laws to ban the procedure after 15 weeks, when the previous cut-off was 24 weeks.

Other Republican-led states in the American South—including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia—have almost completely banned the practice or reduced the window to six weeks.

In one month, 43 US clinics have stopped offering abortions: study

© 2022 AFP

 Study confirms that speculation taxes are not an effective tool in curbing house prices

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

As the Ontario housing market enters a potentially volatile phase, new research from the University of Waterloo shows how tax policy has proven ineffective in controlling prices.  

The report specifically looked at market behaviour of the nine largest Ontario population centres between 2011 and 2021 — a time of significant price increases across the province. 

“Every city in Ontario hopes to regulate its own housing market as part of its duty to its citizens,” said Olaf Weber, a researcher in Waterloo’s School of Environment, Enterprise, and Development. “We found that quite often such policies are ineffective partially due to factors out of their control.” 

The study points to how both geography and our three-tiered governance system both play a role in diminishing municipal efforts to regulate housing prices with taxation. For instance, speculation taxes, such as Ontario Non-Resident Speculation Tax, rarely dissuades large-scale investors from purchasing property and leaving it vacant.

“This phenomenon is most present in the largest cities, and taxes like these really only represent a marginal change in profits for most large investors,” Weber said. “They’ll either pay the tax, or they’ll move to the next closest city and buy there.”

The researchers call this the “spillover effect.” “Cities like Toronto are so desirable there is very little they can do to regulate their market, and are so big, neighbouring cities are at the mercy of what happens there,” Weber said.

According to the study, changes to other tax-related measures such as land-transfer taxes, and property taxes, have also proven to be largely ineffective in curbing prices as any stability from the well-intentioned measures can be wiped out by an interest rate change at the federal level, or a policy change provincially.

“Municipalities are frustrated,” Weber said. “I am not sure what they can do when so many factors are playing against each other. Empirically, the only thing that has worked to create affordable housing is when cities buy, build, or manage properties themselves and set the price.”

The study, authored by Weber and PhD student Muhammad Adil Rauf also of Waterloo’s Faculty of Environment, was recently published in the journal Sustainability. 

---

JOURNAL

Sustainability

One more clue to the Moon's origin

Date: August 10, 2022

Source: ETH Zurich

Summary:

Researchers discover the first definitive proof that the Moon inherited indigenous noble gases from the Earth's mantle. The discovery represents a significant piece of the puzzle towards understanding how the Moon and, potentially, the Earth and other celestial bodies were formed.




Moon (stock image).
Credit: © Bikej Barakus / stock.adobe.com

Humankind has maintained an enduring fascination with the Moon. It was not until Galileo's time, however, that scientists really began study it. Over the course of nearly five centuries, researchers put forward numerous, much debated theories as to how the Moon was formed. Now, geochemists, cosmochemists, and petrologists at ETH Zurich shed new light on the Moon's origin story. In a study just published in the journal, Science Advances, the research team reports findings that show that the Moon inherited the indigenous noble gases of helium and neon from Earth's mantle. The discovery adds to the already strong constraints on the currently favoured "Giant Impact" theory that hypothesizes the Moon was formed by a massive collision between Earth and another celestial body.

Meteorites from the Moon to Antarctica

During her doctoral research at ETH Zurich, Patrizia Will analysed six samples of lunar meteorites from an Antarctic collection, obtained from NASA. The meteorites consist of basalt rock that formed when magma welled up from the interior of the Moon and cooled quickly. They remained covered by additional basalt layers after their formation, which protected the rock from cosmic rays and, particularly, the solar wind. The cooling process resulted in the formation of lunar glass particles amongst the other minerals found in magma. Will and the team discovered that the glass particles retain the chemical fingerprints (isotopic signatures) of the solar gases: helium and neon from the Moon's interior. Their findings strongly support that the Moon inherited noble gases indigenous to the Earth. "Finding solar gases, for the first time, in basaltic materials from the Moon that are unrelated to any exposure on the lunar surface was such an exciting result," says Will.

Without the protection of an atmosphere, asteroids continually pelt the Moon's surface. It likely took a high-energy impact to eject the meteorites from the middle layers of the lava flow similar to the vast plains known as the Lunar Mare. Eventually the rock fragments made their way to Earth in the form of meteorites. Many of these meteorite samples are picked up in the deserts of North Africa or in, in this case, the "cold desert" of Antarctica where they are easier to spot in the landscape.

Grateful Dead lyrics inspire lab instrument

In the Noble Gas Laboratory at ETH Zurich resides a state-of-the-art noble gas mass spectrometer named, "Tom Dooley" -- sung about in the Grateful Dead tune by the same name. The instrument got its name, when earlier researchers, at one point, suspended the highly sensitive equipment from the ceiling of the lab to avoid interference from the vibrations of everyday life. Using the Tom Dooley instrument, the research team was able to measure sub-millimetre glass particles from the meteorites and rule out solar wind as the source of the detected gases. The helium and neon that they detected were in a much higher abundance than expected.

The Tom Dooley is so sensitive that it is, in fact, the only instrument in the world capable of detecting such minimal concentrations of helium and neon. It was used to detect these noble gases in the 7 billion years old grains in the Murchison meteorite -- the oldest known solid matter to-date.

Searching for the origins of life

Knowing where to look inside NASA's vast collection of some 70,000 approved meteorites represents a major step forward. "I am strongly convinced that there will be a race to study heavy noble gases and isotopes in meteoritic materials," says ETH Zurich Professor Henner Busemann, one of the world's leading scientists in the field of extra-terrestrial noble gas geochemistry. He anticipates that soon researchers will be looking for noble gases such as xenon and krypton which are more challenging to identify. They will also be searching for other volatile elements such as hydrogen or halogens in the lunar meteorites.

Busemann comments, "While such gases are not necessary for life, it would be interesting to know how some of these noble gases survived the brutal and violent formation of the moon. Such knowledge might help scientists in geochemistry and geophysics to create new models that show more generally how such most volatile elements can survive planet formation, in our solar system and beyond."

Story Source:

Materials provided by ETH Zurich. Original written by Marianne Lucien. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Related Multimedia: Images of lunar mare basalt

Journal Reference:Patrizia Will, Henner Busemann, My E. I. Riebe, Colin Maden. Indigenous noble gases in the Moon’s interior. Science Advances, 2022; 8 (32) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl4920

Evidence that giant meteorite impacts created the continents

Date:  August 10, 2022

Source: Curtin  University  

Summary:

New research has provided the strongest evidence yet that Earth's continents were formed by giant meteorite impacts that were particularly prevalent during the first billion years or so of our planet's four-and-a-half-billion year history.

New Curtin research has provided the strongest evidence yet that Earth's continents were formed by giant meteorite impacts that were particularly prevalent during the first billion years or so of our planet's four-and-a-half-billion year history.

Dr Tim Johnson, from Curtin's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the idea that the continents originally formed at sites of giant meteorite impacts had been around for decades, but until now there was little solid evidence to support the theory.

"By examining tiny crystals of the mineral zircon in rocks from the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia, which represents Earth's best-preserved remnant of ancient crust, we found evidence of these giant meteorite impacts," Dr Johnson said.

"Studying the composition of oxygen isotopes in these zircon crystals revealed a 'top-down' process starting with the melting of rocks near the surface and progressing deeper, consistent with the geological effect of giant meteorite impacts.

"Our research provides the first solid evidence that the processes that ultimately formed the continents began with giant meteorite impacts, similar to those responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs, but which occurred billions of years earlier."

Dr Johnson said understanding the formation and ongoing evolution of the Earth's continents was crucial given that these landmasses host the majority of Earth's biomass, all humans and almost all of the planet's important mineral deposits.

"Not least, the continents host critical metals such as lithium, tin and nickel, commodities that are essential to the emerging green technologies needed to fulfil our obligation to mitigate climate change," Dr Johnson said.

"These mineral deposits are the end result of a process known as crustal differentiation, which began with the formation of the earliest landmasses, of which the Pilbara Craton is just one of many.

"Data related to other areas of ancient continental crust on Earth appears to show patterns similar to those recognised in Western Australia. We would like to test our findings on these ancient rocks to see if, as we suspect, our model is more widely applicable."

Dr Johnson is affiliated with The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR), Curtin's flagship earth sciences research institute.

The paper, 'Giant impacts and the origin and evolution of continents', was published in Nature.

Journal Reference:Tim E. Johnson, Christopher L. Kirkland, Yongjun Lu, R. Hugh Smithies, Michael Brown, Michael I. H. Hartnady. Giant impacts and the origin and evolution of continents. Nature, 2022; 608 (7922): 330 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04956-y

 

New 3D model shows: Megalodon could eat prey the size of entire killer whales

by University of Zurich

The reconstructed megadolon (Otodus megalodon) was 16 meters long and weighed over

 61 tons. It was estimated that it could swim at around 1.4 meters per second. 

Credit: J.J.Giraldo

The reconstructed megalodon (Otodus megalodon) was 16 meters long and weighed more than 61 tons. It was estimated that it swam at around 1.4 meters per second, required over 98,000 kilo calories every day and had a stomach volume of almost 10,000 liters. These results suggest that the megalodon could travel long distances and was capable of eating whole prey up to 8 meters long. Notably, this is the size of modern killer whales, today's top ocean predator. An ability to eat large apex predators of comparable size millions of years ago places megalodon at a higher trophic level than modern top predators.

Well-preserved spine enables reconstruction

These are the findings of an international study published in Science Advances and carried out in collaboration with the University of Zurich. The research was only possible thanks to the 3D modeling of one individual megalodon that was discovered in the 1860s. Against all odds, a sizeable portion of its vertebral column was left behind in the fossil record after the creature died in the Miocene oceans of Belgium at the age of 46 about 18 million years ago.

"Shark teeth are common fossils because of their hard composition which allows them to remain well preserved," says first author Jack Cooper, Ph.D. student at Swansea University. "However, their skeletons are made of cartilage, so they rarely fossilize. The megalodon vertebral column from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences is therefore a one-of-a-kind fossil."

From single vertebra to whole body mass

The research team, which includes researchers from Switzerland, U.K., U.S., Australia and South Africa, first measured and scanned every single vertebra, before reconstructing the entire column. They then attached the column to a 3D scan of a megalodon's dentition from the United States. They completed the model by adding "flesh" around the skeleton using a 3D-scan of the body of a great white shark from South Africa.

"Weight is one of the most important traits of any animal. For extinct animals we can estimate the body mass with modern 3D digital modeling methods and then establish the relationship between mass and other biological properties such as speed and energy usage," says co-author John Hutchinson, professor at the Royal Veterinary College in the U.K.

A trans-oceanic super-apex predator

The high energetic demand would have been met by feeding on calorie-rich blubber of whales, in which megalodon bite marks have previously been found in the fossil record. An optimal foraging model of potential megalodon prey encounters found that eating a single 8-meter-long whale may have allowed the shark to swim thousands of miles across oceans without eating again for two months.

"These results suggest that this giant shark was a trans-oceanic super-apex predator," says Catalina Pimiento, Professor at the University of Zurich and senior author of the study. "The extinction of this iconic giant shark likely impacted global nutrient transport and released large cetaceans from a strong predatory pressure."

The complete model can now be used as a basis for future reconstructions and further research. The novel biological inferences drawn from this study represent a leap in our knowledge of this singular super predator and helps to better understand the ecological function that megafaunal species play in marine ecosystems, and the large-scale consequences of their extinction.New analyses of giant fossilized megalodon teeth are helping scientists unravel the mystery of their extinction

More information: Jack A. Cooper et al, The extinct shark Otodus megalodon was a transoceanic superpredator: Inferences from 3D modeling, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm9424. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abm9424

Journal information: Science Advances 

Provided by University of Zurich 

 

Burying short sections of power lines would drastically reduce hurricanes' future impact on coastal residents

by Patricia Waldron, Princeton University

Climate change could make heat waves a dangerous hazard of future hurricanes.

 Credit: U.S. Navy / Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class R. Jason Brunson / Released

As Earth warms due to climate change, people living near the coasts not only face a higher risk of major hurricanes, but are also more likely to experience a subsequent heat wave while grappling with widespread power outages.

Princeton researchers have investigated the risk of this compound hazard occurring in the future under a "business-as-usual" climate scenario, using Harris County, Texas, as an example. They estimated that the risk of undergoing at least one hurricane-blackout-heat wave lasting more than five days in a 20-year span would increase 23 times by the end of the century. But there is some good news: Strategically burying just 5% of power lines—specifically those near main distribution points—would almost halve the number of affected residents.

Heat waves are the deadliest type of weather event and can become even more dangerous when regions that rely on air conditioning lose power. Historically, a heat wave following a hurricane has been rare, because the risk of extreme heat usually passes before the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season in late summer. As global temperatures rise, however, heat waves are expected to occur more often and hurricanes are likely to become more common and more severe, increasing the odds of hurricane-blackout-heat wave events.

"Hurricane Laura in 2020 and Hurricane Ida in 2021 both had heat waves following them after they destroyed the power distribution network," said Ning Lin, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, who led the study. "For this compound hazard, the risk has been increasing, and it is now happening."

In a new study, published July 30 in Nature Communications, Lin and her coauthors looked at the risks associated with the compound hazard and how infrastructure changes could mitigate the potentially deadly effects. They combined projections of how often and when hurricanes and heat waves would strike in the future with estimates of how quickly power could be restored in areas with outages after a major storm.

The team chose Harris—the home of Houston—as their model county because it has the highest population density of any city on the Gulf Coast. Hurricanes Harvey and Ike both walloped Houston, causing an estimated 10% of residents to lose power.

The researchers found that the percentage of Harris residents expected to experience at least one hurricane-blackout-heat wave longer than five days within two decades would grow from a present risk of 0.8% to a future risk of 18.2% by the end of the century. Different parts of the county will likely suffer more than others, however, with rural residents facing a higher risk of extended outages.

The team also considered power grid improvements that would reduce the impact of a hurricane-blackout-heat wave for residents. Burying 5% of wires near the roots of the distribution network would reduce the expected percentage of residents without power from 18.2% to 11.3%.

"Mostly, our current practice is randomly burying lines," Lin said. "By burying lines more strategically, we can be more efficient and more effective at reducing the risk."

This type of analysis can help city planners understand where residents will be most at risk of a hurricane-blackout-heat wave and to identify targeted improvements to their power distribution system that can best diminish the impact.

"This is a very important work," said Lei Zhao, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who was not involved with the research. "This paper not only provides the projections; it connects the extremes with real-world impacts."

He said that one take-home message from the work is that climate modelers, engineers and city planners need to work together to mitigate the risks faced by the almost 30% of the U.S. population that lives in coastal counties. "Nowadays, we encounter some extremes almost every year," he said. "People are realizing it's not just infrastructure design, it needs to be climate-informed infrastructure design."

The current study examines the problem of compound hazards at the county level, but Lin's group is working to scale up the analysis to entire states. They are looking for ways to reduce the computational demands of the analysis, because as they expand the geographic area, physics-based power system modeling becomes computationally taxing.

More generally, the new work highlights the need to think about the intersections of different hazards and how they may worsen under climate change.

"Climate can drive multiple hazards with compound effects that we don't understand, and that may be new to us in the future," Lin said. "Considering this kind of compounding of multiple climate hazards and infrastructure vulnerability is an important direction both for the research community and for decision-making."Extreme heat is getting worse. Is North Carolina's power grid ready?

More information: Kairui Feng et al, Tropical cyclone-blackout-heatwave compound hazard resilience in a changing climate, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32018-4

Journal information: Nature Communicatio

Provided by Princeton University 

A molecule of light and matter

Using light, atoms can be made to attract each other. A team from Vienna and Innsbruck was able to measure this binding state of light and matter for the first time

Peer-Reviewed Publication

VIENNA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: THE ATOMS ARE POLARIZED BY THE BEAM OF LIGHT AND START TO ATTRACT EACH OTHER. view more 

CREDIT: HARALD RITSCH / TU WIEN

Theoretically, this effect has been predicted for a long time, but now scientists at the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ) at TU Wien, in cooperation with the University of Innsbruck, have succeeded in measuring this exotic atomic bond for the first time. This interaction is useful for manipulating extremely cold atoms, and the effect could also play a role in the formation of molecules in space. The results have now been published in the scientific journal Physical Review X.

Positive and negative charge

In an electrically neutral atom, a positively charged atomic nucleus is surrounded by negatively charged electrons, which surround the atomic nucleus much like a cloud. "If you now switch on an external electric field, this charge distribution shifts a little," explains Prof. Philipp Haslinger, whose research at the Atominstitut at TU Wien is supported by the FWF START programme. "The positive charge is shifted slightly in one direction, the negative charge slightly in the other direction, the atom suddenly has a positive and a negative side, it is polarised."

Light is just an electromagnetic field that changes very rapidly, so it is also possible to create this polarisation effect with laser light. When several atoms are next to each other, the laser light polarises them all in exactly the same way – positive on the left and negative on the right, or vice versa. In both cases, two neighbouring atoms turn different charges towards each other, leading to an attractive force.

Experiments with the atom trap

"This is a very weak attractive force, so you have to conduct the experiment very carefully to be able to measure it," says Mira Maiwöger from TU Wien, the first author of the publication. "If atoms have a lot of energy and are moving quickly, the attractive force is gone immediately. This is why a cloud of ultracold atoms was used."

The atoms are first captured and cooled in a magnetic trap on an atom chip, a technique, which was developed at the Atominstitut in the group of Prof. Jörg Schmiedmayer. Then the trap is switched off and releases the atoms in free fall. The atom cloud is 'ultracold' at less than a millionth of a Kelvin, but it has enough energy to expand during the fall. However, if the atoms are polarized with a laser beam during this phase and thus an attractive force is created between them, this expansion of the atomic cloud is slowed down - and this is how the attractive force measured.

Quantum laboratory and space

"Polarising individual atoms with laser beams is basically nothing new," says Matthias Sonnleitner, who laid the theoretical foundation for the experiment. "The crucial thing about our experiment, however, is that we have succeeded for the first time in polarising several atoms together in a controlled way, creating a measurable attractive force between them."

This attractive force is a complementary tool for controlling cold atoms. But it could also be important in astrophysics: "In the vastness of space, small forces can play a significant role," says Philipp Haslinger. "Here, we were able to show for the first time that electromagnetic radiation can generate a force between atoms, which may help to shed new light on astrophysical scenarios that have not yet been explained."

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JOURNAL

Physical Review X

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevX.12.031018 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Observation of Light-Induced Dipole-Dipole Forces in Ultracold Atomic Gases

Pain, pain go away, help our children run and play

Pain management techniques for young children

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Like it or not, bumps and bruises are an unavoidable part of childhood. But while no parent wants their child to feel pain, teaching children about pain when they’re young can help them better understand and respond to pain when they’re older.

In a new study from the University of South Australia researchers identified five key approaches that parents and caregivers can use when talking with young children about ‘everyday’ pain, and that can help their recovery and resilience after injury.

In Australia, as many as one in four children, and one in five adults experience chronic pain, making it a vital topic for public health.

In this study, researchers investigated ‘everyday’ pains in young children (aged 2-7 years-old), asking experts from child health, psychology, development, resilience, as well as parents and educators, what they thought would promote children’s recovery and resilience after minor pains or injury.

With 80 per cent consensus across all experts, the most important messages were to:

• Teach children about the meaning of pain – pain is our body’s alarm system.
• Validate children’s pain – ensure they feel safe, heard, and protected, but don’t make a fuss.
• Reassure children after an injury - let them know that their body will heal, and the pain will pass.
• Support children’s emotions – let them express themselves but encourage them to regulate.
• Involve children in their recovery – encourage them to manage their pain (eg. get a bandaid).

Lead researcher, UniSA’s Dr Sarah Wallwork, says parents and caregivers likely play a critical role in helping children learn about pain.

“Whether it’s falling from a bike or dealing with the often-dreaded vaccinations, everyday pain experiences are opportunities for parents to promote positive pain-related beliefs and behaviours,” Dr Wallwork says.

“While it’s important to teach children that pain is our body’s alarm system and that it’s there to protect us, it’s equally important to understand that pain and injury do not always align.

“As adults, one of the greatest pain management challenges is that we hold fundamental, life-long beliefs about how pain and recovery works. Often, when we get an injury, we believe that pain must follow; and conversely, if we feel pain, then we must have an injury - but as research shows, this isn’t always the case.

“In children, pain can be influenced by their emotions – for example, fear, hunger, or tiredness can exacerbate symptoms, even though this is not pain itself.

“Teaching children that they can have some control over their pain - and that how they feel on the inside can influence this - empowers them to actively engage with their own pain management. 

“This can be age-appropriate too. So, for a very young child, empowerment might be getting a bandaid or a wet cloth, rubbing the area and distracting them, then telling them their injury is protected by the bandaid and that it is now safe to move on and play. For an older child, the process can be more involved.

“The key is to demonstrate that the child is the healer and they that are actively involved in the healing process.

“By helping children learn about pain when they are young, we’re hoping to promote lifelong ‘helpful’ pain behaviours that will actively encourage recovery and prevent future pain problems.”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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JOURNAL

European Journal of Pain

DOI

10.1002/ejp.2008 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Case study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Communicating with children about ‘everyday’ pain and injury: A Delphi study

COI STATEMENT

GLM has received support from: Reality Health, ConnectHealth UK, Kaiser Permanente, AIA Australia, Workers' Compensation Boards and professional sport-ing organizations in Australia, Europe and South and North America. Professional and scientific bodies have reimbursed him for travel costs related to presentation of research on pain at scientific conferences/symposia. He has received speaker fees for lectures on pain and rehabilitation. He receives royalties for books on pain and pain education. SBW and MN have no conflicts of interest.

Robotic sensors could help transform prosthetics

Business Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND

 

IMAGE: SENSORS COULD TRANSFORM ROBOTICS view more 

CREDIT: N/A

A pioneering project to develop advanced sensors for use in robotic systems, could transform prosthetics and robotic limbs.

The research project – led by University of the West of Scotland (UWS), Integrated Graphene Ltd, and supported by the Scottish Research Partnership in Engineering (SRPe) and the National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland (NMIS) Industry Doctorate Programme in Advanced Manufacturing – aims to develop sensors which provide enhanced capabilities to robots, helping improve their dexterity and motor skills, through the use of accurate pressure sensors which provide haptic feedback and distributed touch.

Professor Des Gibson, Director of the Institute of Thin Films, Sensors and Imaging at UWS and project principal investigator, said: “Over recent years the advancements in the robotics industry have been remarkable, however, due to a lack of sensory capabilities, robotic systems often fail to execute certain tasks easily. For robots to reach their full potential, accurate pressure sensors, capable of providing greater tactile ability, are required.

“Our collaboration with Integrated Graphene Ltd, has led to the development of advanced pressure sensor technology, which could help transform robotic systems.”

Made from 3D graphene foam, which offers unique capabilities when put under mechanical stress, the sensors use a piezoresistive approach, meaning when the material is put under pressure it dynamically changes its electric resistance, easily detecting and adapting to the range of pressure required, from light to heavy.

Marco Caffio, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Integrated Graphene said: “Gii, our novel 3D graphene foam, has the capability to mimic the sensitivity and feedback of human touch, which could have a transformative impact on how robotics can be used for a whole range of real-world applications from surgery to precision manufacturing.

“We know the unique property of Gii makes it suitable for use in other applications like disease diagnostics and energy storage, so we’re always very excited to be able to demonstrate its flexibility in projects like this one.”

Dr Carlos Garcia Nunez, School of Computing Engineering and Physical Sciences at UWS added: “Within robotics and wearable electronics the use of pressure sensors is a vital element, to provide either an information input system, or to give robotic systems human-like motor skills. An advanced material like 3D graphene foam offers excellent potential for use in such applications, due to its outstanding electrical, mechanical and chemical properties.

“Our work shines a light on the significant potential for this technology to revolutionise the robotics industry with dynamic pressure sensors.”

Claire Ordoyno, Interim Director of SRPe, added: “The SRPe - NMIS Industrial Doctorate Programme brings together ground breaking academic research with industry partners to drive forward innovation in engineering. These collaborative PhD projects not only enhance the Scottish engineering research landscape, but produce innovation focussed, industry ready PhD graduates to feed the talent pipeline.”

The next stage of the project – funded by UWS, Integrated Graphene Ltd, SRPe and NMIS – will look to further increase sensitivity of the sensors, before developing for wider use in robotic systems.

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DOI

10.4028/p-oy94hj