Seven major studies launched that will help us understand the economic benefits of biodiversity

Studies will provide evidence for the world’s first biodiversity credit standard, test a new global approach to valuing natural habitats, and evaluate biodiversity in marine and urban areas

Grant and Award Announcement

UK RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

 

IMAGE: BIODIVERSITY view more 

CREDIT: UKRI

Biodiversity supports everything in nature that we need to survive, including our food and clean water. From the plants, animals, insects, fungi to bacteria, biodiversity creates the intricate ecosystems we rely on.

Seven new interdisciplinary studies announced today will improve our understanding the significant economic value of biodiversity and how it underpins our economy. This will enable us to better manage our natural environment by directing investment to restore and conserve this vital natural resource.

Though the UK has more than 70,000 species of animals, plants, fungi and micro-organisms, research has shown that we are also one of the world’s most nature depleted countries. The studies have received a share of £6.4 million from UK Research and Innovation to study seven key areas.

They will:

• inform the development of the world’s first biodiversity credit standards (similar to carbon credits) for valuing biodiversity for market trading and investment.

• test a new international approach to valuing nature using woodland sites in Wales, Helsinki, and Tanzania, as well as exploring how the value of woodland can be integrated into natural capital accounts.

• measure and map the acoustic properties of the UK’s natural soundscapes to better understand the value of nature to human mental health and well-being.

• value biodiversity to urban areas and new developments by understanding its benefits in providing drainage and recreation while reducing pollution, noise and intense heat.

• determine novel and robust economic, ecological and socio-cultural values of marine ecosystems, and embed these values in the co-development of green investment options including nutrient, carbon and biodiversity markets.

• investigate whether ‘virtual labs’ coupled with decision-support frameworks, can help us understand the complex interactions needed to support biodiversity.

• focus on ‘additionality’, a key goal of biodiversity policy stating that any intervention, be it a protected area, a performance-related payment or a biodiversity law, must provide additional biodiversity to what otherwise would have happened.

The studies are all part of UKRI’s Economics of Biodiversity programme and will help to deliver on the recommendations from the Government’s Dasgupta Review. The review found that values of biodiversity must be fully accounted for in economic and financial decision making to support nature recovery and halt biodiversity loss.

The funding has been provided by UKRI’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Professor Sir Duncan Wingham, Executive Chair of NERC, said: “The Economics of Biodiversity programme will address critical gaps in our understanding of the economic and societal value and benefits of biodiversity.

“As governments work to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss at the COP27 climate conference and the forthcoming COP15 biodiversity conference, these UKRI-funded projects will support increased investment and improve management of biodiversity. They will help us protect our natural environment and Earth’s carefully balanced ecosystems.”

Further information:

The projects form a major part of UKRI’s Economics of Biodiversity programme. The programme also supported nine rapid research synthesis projects that produced summary reports of their findings. An open programme information sharing webinar of the new awarded research projects and recently completed synthesis projects will be held on 8 November 2022 and a recording will be available after the event on the programme webpage.

Notes to Editors:

Developing a new co-designed decision support tool for biodiversity credits and investment. Led by Dr Richard Field, University of Nottingham (£799,560)

This project will do research that is needed to underpin the world’s first biodiversity credit standards – standards for assigning investable and tradeable economic value to biodiversity. Biodiversity credits are quite similar to carbon credits. Scientists in the project will field-test methods to quantify biodiversity of pieces of land or sea to enable the creation of biodiversity credits. They will use key indicators, such as the health of the vegetation and the numbers and abundances of species of birds and invertebrates to measure the biodiversity. In addition, market experts will user-test the tools and processes for the credit standard. Biodiversity credits benefit landowners by enabling them to seek investment in rewilding and other biodiversity projects, organisations that are seeking to offset their impact on the environment from their economic activity, and people seeking to invest in nature. Field sites: Knepp Farm in Sussex and Attenborough Nature Reserve in Nottingham.

NAVIGATE (Understanding NAture's multiple Values for InteGrATion into dEcisions). Led by Prof Mike Christie, Aberystwyth University (£799,726)

In July, 139 countries including the UK agreed a common approach to understanding the multiple ways people value nature and methods to embed these values into political and economic decision making. The NAVIGATE project will, for the first time, use this IPBES Value Assessment approach to assess four areas of the UK, Finland and Tanzania, as test cases. The field sites will be: • Welsh Woodland Trust forest in Neath, Wales, where woodland will be valued for its impact to reduce flooding, carbon storage and improving community wellbeing. • UK National Forest, where scientists will value the benefits of woodland ecosystem services • Helsinki, Finland, which is one of the greenest cities in the world. Scientists will evaluation the benefits of trees and green spaces • Tanzania, where scientists will value the sustainably managed savannah woodland

Valuing the mental health and well-being benefits of nature engagement through measures of soundscape complexity. Led by Dr Simon Butler, University of East Anglia (£797,562)

Bird song provides the soundtrack to time spent outdoors and plays a key role in our experience of nature. The team will combine UK Breeding Bird Survey data with recordings of birds from the Xeno-Canto sound database to reconstruct natural soundscapes in different habitats and times across the UK. Spatial variation in the acoustic properties of these soundscapes will be measured and mapped. Environmental psychologists will examine which acoustic properties convey benefits to human health and determine how noise pollution can reduce these benefits. These findings will be combined with indicators of mental health and data on antidepressant prescription rates across the UK to value the contribution of biodiversity to human mental health

Sea the Value: Marine Biodiversity Benefits for a Sustainable Society. Led by Prof Nicola Beaumont, Plymouth Marine Laboratory (£797,953)

Marine biodiversity provides a host of benefits including providing a source of food, capturing carbon, extracting phosphorus and nitrogen waste, providing jobs and being fundamental to our wellbeing. The aim of the project is to determine the pluralistic values of marine ecosystems, this includes economic values but also ecological and socio-cultural values, and explores precisely who benefits from marine biodiversity and who is affected when these values change The determined values be applied in the Natural Capital Accounts and also in setting up green investment schemes such as carbon, nutrient and biodiversity markets and/or Payments for Ecosystem Services schemes. Research is focussed on two field sites: The Solent in Southern England, and the Moray Firth in Scotland. At these sites communities and organisations will be engaged in mapping values and tradeoffs, and in co-developing green investments to maintain and enhance marine biodiversity. The lessons learned from these sites will be shared with coastal partnerships through a series of training exercises, enabling dissemination of best practice across the UK and beyond. The project will also undertake a range of activities to train upcoming professionals in the valuation of biodiversity, transforming the future UK capability in this critical area.

Trustworthy and Accountable Decision-Support Frameworks for Biodiversity - A Virtual Labs based Approach. Led by Prof Gordon Blair, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (£794,402)

The overall aim of the project is to investigate how to support transparent and accountable decision-making around biodiversity, using recent developments in digital research infrastructure. Scientists leading this project plan to investigate whether virtual labs coupled with decision-support frameworks provide the necessary support to understand the ecosystems and support informed policy development and organisational decision-making needed in order to manage biodiversity. Scientists will use this framework to test ideas from environmental accounting, ecosystem services and natural capital, and systems thinking approaches more generally. These overall aims are: - Determine the best approaches to support good decision-making around biodiversity - Test those ideas within a virtual lab forum - Design a decision-making framework to enhance accountability and trustworthiness

Biurbs (Valuing biodiversity in multi-functional urban development and environment). Led by Prof Grada Wossink, University of Manchester (£778,143)

The UK Government's Nature Positive 2030 report recommends businesses, organisations, cities, and local authorities adopt targets to become Nature Positive. Urbanisation and densification have resulted in environmental degradation and severe habitat fragmentation in towns and cities. Biodiversity may benefit other ecosystem services, such as sustainable drainage, outdoor recreation, and noise and heat attenuation, yet the economic value of biodiversity is undercounted in existing planning tools. This project will engage with decision makers and stakeholders, to help inform practical, wellgrounded tools and guidance assess the economic value of urban biodiversity.

BIOADD (The Economics of Biodiversity Additionality) Led by Prof Ben Groom, University of Exeter (£798, 608)

The project’s aim is to understand the economic and ecological determinants of what makes interventions in biodiversity successful. The project aims to use this information to provide guidance, evidence and tools for people deciding on investments and policymaking around biodiversity. These include government policy; central banks; financial institutions. Researchers will evaluate the potential of Nature-Based solutions to climate change, their contribution to biodiversity. They will investigate the potential for biodiversity to be priced using a target compatible, costbased pricing method, illustrating the economy-ecology trade-offs that are required to meet societal targets for biodiversity to be consistently evaluated. Scientists will also assess the Amazon rainforest, in particular Bolivia and Indonesia. The project will create an online platform for evaluating nature-based solutions for climate change, and help the UK prioritise approaches to meeting its commitments to global biodiversity and net-zero.

First-of-its-kind report: US researchers most concerned globally about fighting misinformation and tackling increased online abuse

Elsevier and Economist Impact announce findings from “confidence in research” global collaboration

Reports and Proceedings

WAGGENER EDSTROM COMMUNICATIONS INC

NEW YORK (Nov. 8, 2022) — Elsevier, a global leader in research publishing and information analytics, released the results of a landmark global survey, conducted jointly with Economist Impact , showing that U.S. researchers surveyed believe the public’s understanding of the scientific research process actually deteriorated during the pandemic despite increased public scrutiny on research findings. Surveyed researchers also expressed significant concerns about online abuse that they are experiencing as well as a surge in the release of misinformation.

“Over the past two years, we have all witnessed the very public debates on the latest COVID-19 research and who and what to trust and believe,” said Ann Gabriel, U.S. Confidence in Research Lead and Senior Vice President of Global Strategic Networks at Elsevier. “According to the hundreds of U.S. researchers we connected with, expectations of the researcher’s role in scientific communication have shifted considerably over the last few years. Something very apparent in our study with Economist Impact was that in addition to their regular research activities, researchers now also work increasingly to combat false and misleading information as well as online abuse, and they want support to do so.”

One significant finding from the Confidence in Research: Researchers in the Spotlight report shows almost half of U.S. researchers (44%) say they’ve experienced or known someone who has experienced some form of abuse or acrimonious interaction online – the highest number of any country surveyed. This is all the more challenging, given only 13% of U.S. researchers surveyed said they have high confidence communicating research findings via social media. Top challenges highlighted by U.S. researchers include the politicization of research, oversimplification of complex research, and a lack of public understanding of how research is conducted.

The global report includes a survey of 3,144 researchers across Europe, North America, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, and Asia, as well as interviews and roundtables with scholars across the world, conducted over the past 9 months. Elsevier worked in partnership with leading science and research organizations, including Research!America. The global data was presented today at the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin, Germany.

“The pandemic spotlighted science — a good thing! It also raised questions for scientists and researchers about how they communicate their work. The research community has an opportunity and a responsibility to improve the public understanding of the scientific process and make changes for the better to help take advantage of science’s moment in the spotlight,” said Mary Woolley, President, and CEO of Research!America.

“Bolstering researchers’ communication skills is key,” said Woolley. “Researchers are calling on institutions to better support and reward researchers to develop the skills to facilitate meaningful engagement between researchers and the public. There is much to gain from building these pathways; there is much to lose if we don’t."

Of the U.S. researchers surveyed, 78% believe the pandemic has increased the importance of separating good, quality information from misinformation; 79% feel the pandemic increased the importance of science bodies and researchers explaining and communicating their research better. What’s more, 27% say they now view publicly countering false or misleading information as an important part of their role in society.

For more information on the Confidence in Research report visit: www.elsevier.com/confidence-in-research

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About Economist Impact
Economist Impact combines the rigor of a think-tank with the creativity of a media brand to engage a globally influential audience. We believe that evidence-based insights can open debate, broaden perspectives, and catalyze progress across three core areas of expertise and leadership including sustainability, new globalization, and health. The services offered by Economist Impact previously existed within The Economist Group as separate entities, including EIU Thought Leadership, EIU Public Policy, Economist Events and SignalNoise. Our track record spans 75 years across 205 countries. Along with creative storytelling, events expertise, design-thinking solutions, and market-leading media products, we produce framework design, benchmarking, economic and social impact analysis, forecasting and scenario modelling, making Economist Impact's offering unique in the marketplace. Visit www.economistimpact.com for more information.

About Elsevier
As a global leader in information and analytics, Elsevier helps researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. We do this by facilitating insights and critical decision-making for customers across global research and health ecosystems. In everything we publish, we uphold the highest standards of quality and integrity. We bring that same rigor to our information analytics solutions for researchers, health professionals, institutions, and funders.

Elsevier employs 8,700 people worldwide. We have supported the work of our research and health partners for more than 140 years. Growing from our roots in publishing, we offer knowledge and valuable analytics that help our users make breakthroughs and drive societal progress. Digital solutions such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath support strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and health education. Researchers and healthcare professionals rely on our 2,700+ digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell; our 43,000+ eBook titles; and our iconic reference works, such as Gray's Anatomy. With the Elsevier Foundation and our external Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Board, we work in partnership with diverse stakeholders to advance inclusion and diversity in science, research, and healthcare in developing countries and around the world.

Elsevier is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. www.elsevier.com.

About Research!America
Research!America is a non-profit medical and health research advocacy alliance which advocates for science, discovery, and innovation to achieve better health for all.

Together, with our member organizations that represent a vast array of medical, health and scientific fields, we work to: 1) Achieve funding for medical and health research from the public and private sectors at a level warranted by scientific opportunity and supported by public opinion. 2) Better inform the public of the benefits of medical and health research and the institutions that perform research. 3) Motivate the public to actively support medical and health research and the complementary sciences that make advances possible. 4) Promote and empower a more active public and political life by individual members of the research community on behalf of medical and health research, public health, and science overall.

Since 1992, Research!America has commissioned public opinion surveys in an effort to understand public support for medical, health, and scientific research. For more, read the latest volume of America Speaks!, our annual poll data summary, and visit www.researchamerica.org.

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

Ceramics that breathe oxygen at lower temperatures help us breathe cleaner air

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TOHOKU UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: OXYGEN STORAGE CERAMICS IN AN EXHAUST GAS SYSTEM. view more 

CREDIT: HITOSHI TAKAMURA

Although much of the discourse on reducing vehicle emissions centres on electric vehicles (EV), their sales remain low - with EV vehicles accounting for a mere 1% of car purchases in Japan in 2021. Meanwhile, the European Union is expected to pass stricter emission standards in the near future. This makes improving the performance and functionality of exhaust gas purification catalysts in petrol or diesel-powered vehicles a critical component in the push towards carbon neutrality.

Nearly all petrol or diesel cars are equipped with catalytic converters that remove harmful hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide and convert them into safer gases such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor. The toxic gases flow through a honeycomb structure, coated with exhaust gas purifying catalysts.

Ceramics with an oxygen storage capacity (OSC) play a crucial role in the purification process. They help remove noxious gases and prevent the precious metals in catalytic converters from coarsening, which degrades their purification capabilities.

To improve their potential, however, a lower operating temperature is required. But scientists have struggled to achieve this since reducing the temperature to less than 500 ºC results in slower ion diffusion.

Now, a research group at Tohoku University's Graduate School of Engineering has developed a Cerium-Zirconium-based (Ce-Zr) oxide with excellent OSC at 400 ºC by controlling its crystal structure. The OSC at 400 ºC was higher than conventional materials by a factor of 13.5, even without precious metal catalysts.

"The key to our success was introducing a tiny amount of transition metals, such as iron, to the Ce-Zr-based oxides," said Professor Hitoshi Takamura, leader of the research group.

The 'transition metal doping' had two notable effects in the oxides. It accelerated the oxygen diffusion by easing the formation of oxygen vacancies and promoted cation ordering.

"Cation ordering tidies up the crystal structure and makes oxygen readily released," explained Takamura.

The iron doping reduced the cation-ordering temperature, which in turn enabled a larger surface area for the Ce-Zr-based oxides. This enhanced their durability and ability to purify toxic gases.

In the future, Takamura and his group hope to test the material by loading it with palladium on honeycomb supports.

Details of the group's research were published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A on September 27, 2022. And the article was chosen for the front cover of the journal.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Materials Chemistry A

DOI

10.1039/d2ta05068d 

ARTICLE TITLE

The low-temperature synthesis of cation-ordered Ce-Zr-based oxide via an intermediate phase between Ce and Fe

Piggy in the middle: Pig aggression reduced when a bystander pig steps in

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SPRINGER

A small study suggests that when two pigs are fighting, a bystander pig can intervene to either reduce the number of attacks by the aggressor or to help reduce the anxiety of the victim. The study of 104 domestic pigs, published in the journal Animal Cognition, reveals the complex social groups that pigs form and how they may resolve conflict.

In social animals, conflict resolution involves either the reunion of former opponents — an aggressor and victim — after an aggressive event (known as reconciliation), or the introduction of a third-party bystander to reduce further aggression or anxiety (known as triadic contacts). These conflict-resolution strategies are important to maintain balance in social animal groups and reduce victim anxiety, but it is unclear how this applies to domestic pigs.

Giada Cordoni, Ivan Norscia and colleagues from the University of Torino (Turin, Italy) observed how a group of 104 pigs housed at the ethical farm Parva Domus (Turin, Italy) resolves conflict after fighting. The authors could identify most generations of pigs based on their breed, size and markings but also genetically tested 31 pigs across different generations to determine relatedness across the whole group. They observed and recorded interactions between the pigs from June to November 2018 and noted aggressive behaviours such as head-knocking, pushing, biting and lifting of the victim pig. The authors watched behaviour for three minutes after each aggressive conflict and noted gender, kinship, and age.

The authors observed that both the aggressor and victim showed reconciliation behaviour such as nose-to-nose contact, sitting in physical contact with one another and resting their head on the other. They found that both the aggressor and the victim initiated reconciliation behaviours equally after fighting. However, they found that the proportion of reconciliations was significantly higher in more distantly related pigs compared to closely related pigs.

The authors propose that pigs may value different relationships based on what they can provide, such as social support. The damage to social groups caused by fighting closely-related kin (half or full siblings) may be less because these could be considered as more secure relationships. However, distantly related pigs may be more likely to engage in reconciliation behaviour after fighting to ensure they still have social support and access to food within the group.

When observing conflict resolution involving a third party pig, the authors noted behavioural differences depending on who the bystander pig approached and engaged with after the fight. If the bystander approached and engaged with the victim, the number of aggressive behaviours did not change, but the mean hourly frequency of anxiety-related behaviours observed in the victim was significantly lowered. Anxiety-related behaviours included shaking, scratching, chewing with an empty mouth and yawning. However, if a bystander pig approached the aggressor, the number of aggressive behaviour attacks directed towards the victim was significantly reduced.

A higher proportion of bystander pigs intervened if the conflict involved either an aggressor or victim they were closely related to. The authors suggest this indicates that pigs value certain relationships and may support closely-related kin.

The victim pig attempting to approach and engage with a bystander after conflict had no effect on reducing post-conflict anxiety behaviour or the likelihood of being attacked again. This may be due to 95.2% (42 cases) of the bystander pigs not reciprocating the union when a victim approached them.

The authors caution that this study involves only one group of adult, domestic pigs, and therefore may not represent all pig groups. Future research could investigate if these conflict-resolution strategies are seen in other situations.

Pigs were found to engage in reconciliation and triadic contacts after conflict, which suggests pigs might possess some socio-emotional regulation abilities to change their own or others’ experience in group conflict, according to the authors.

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Media Contact:

Tara Eadie
Press Officer
Springer Nature
T: +44 20 3426 3329 
E: tara.eadie@springernature.com

Notes to editor:

Domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) engage in non‑random post‑conflict affiliation with third parties: cognitive and functional implications

Animal Cognition 2022

DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01688-4

For an embargoed copy of the research article, related images and video please contact Tara Eadie at Springer Nature.

1. After the embargo ends, the full paper will be available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-022-01688-4

2. Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article.

Animal Cognition is an interdisciplinary journal publishing current research from various backgrounds and disciplines (ethology, behavioral ecology, animal behaviour and learning, cognitive sciences, comparative psychology and evolutionary psychology) on all aspects of animal (and human) cognition in an evolutionary framework.

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JOURNAL

Animal Cognition

DOI

10.1007/s10071-022-01688-4 

 

Observation of a self-generated current to self-confine fusion plasmas

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

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CREDIT: SEOUL NATION UNIVERSITY

Nuclear fusion has drawn more attention in the era of carbon neutrality because of no carbon dioxide production during power generation and no generation of high-level radioactive wastes.

 

A tokamak, a torus-shaped nuclear fusion device, needs an electric current in the plasma to produce magnetic field around the torus for confining fusion plasmas. Plasma current is conventionally generated by electromagnetic induction.

 

However, for a steady-state fusion reactor, minimizing the inductive current is essential to extend the tokamak operating duration. Several non-inductive current drive schemes have been developed for steady-state operations such as radio-frequency waves and neutral beams. However, commercial reactors require minimal use of these external sources to maximize the fusion gain, Q, the ratio of the fusion power to the external power. Apart from these external current drives, a self-generated current, so-called bootstrap current, was predicted theoretically and demonstrated experimentally.

 

The research team led by Prof. Yong-Su Na in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Seoul National University and Dr. Jaemin Seo at Princeton University have revealed that another type of self-generated current can exist in a tokamak which can not yet been explained by present theories. They discovered this in the experiments on the KSTAR tokamak in collaboration with Korea Institute of Fusion Energy, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, and General Atomics.

 

While conducting an experiment on plasma turbulence, it was discovered by chance that an un-identified plasma current that could not be explained by existing theories and simulations occurred. As a result of the analysis, it was found that this comprises a significant amount up to 30% of the total plasma current, and appears when the turbulence was relatively low.

 

The discovery of a new plasma current generated by itself without magnetic induction shows a new possibility that the plasma confines by itself and continues the fusion reaction in long-pulse operations for a fusion reactor.

 

The new current source in this experiment was unusually observed only when the fuel was injected into the plasma and the exact cause is still unknown, so follow-up studies are planned to proceed actively in the future.

 

Prof. Yong-Su Na, the co-first author and corresponding author of the study, said, “This result was obtained from a unfamiliar experiment to the extent that the experiment proposal was not selected at KSTAR. If we had tried to look at it from a conventional point of view, we would not have found it. “We were able to discover new things by approaching with an open perspective rather than being confined to what we wanted to see or get.” Another co-first author, Dr. Seo Jae-min, said, “Big science such as the nuclear fusion research is being devoted to small steps that put an apple on the shoulders of giants. I hope that future scientists who can step forward together will be interested in and support the nuclear fusion research.”

Seoul National University

Once the physics mechanism is found, this new discovery is expected to significantly contribute to the long continuous operation of ITER and commercial reactors, which are exploring current drive ways that do not reoly on inductive current.

 

This work was supported by National R&D Program through the National

Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korean government

(Ministry of Science and ICT) (NRF-2021M1A7A4091135 and

2021M3F7A1084419). This work was also supported by the Ministry of

Science and ICT under the KFE R&D Program of “KSTAR Experimental

Collaboration and Fusion Plasma Research (KFE-EN2201-12)”.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-022-34092-0 

ARTICLE TITLE

Observation of a new type of self-generated current in magnetized plasmas

Delgado-Aparicio appointed to national fusion advisory committee

DOE/PRINCETON PLASMA PHYSICS LABORATORY

 

IMAGE: PPPL PHYSICIST LUIS DELGADO-APARICIO view more 

CREDIT: ELLE STARKMAN / PPPL OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Luis Delgado-Aparicio, a principal research physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has been named a member of the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC), which advises the director of the United States Office of Science on complex scientific and technical matters related to America’s fusion energy sciences research program.

Delgado-Aparicio will specifically provide advice about confining plasma, ultra-hot gas sometimes known as the fourth state of matter, within doughnut-shaped fusion facilities known as tokamaks. Scientists around the world use tokamaks and other devices to try to harness the fusion process that powers the sun and stars to create electricity with producing greenhouse gases and long-lived radioactive waste.

Delgado-Aparicio will also provide expert counsel about the movement of heat and particles within plasma, as well as magnetohydrodynamics, a set of physical laws that describe plasma’s behavior and is used to create computer simulations that help improve tokamak performance.

The committee meets approximately three times a year in Washington, D.C. His three-year term began in October 2022 and will extend until June 2025.

“I am extremely honored to join the FESAC committee,” Delgado-Aparicio said. “It’s a huge responsibility and a wonderful opportunity.”

In addition, in October Delgado-Aparicio was named the new head of PPPL’s Department of Advanced Projects, replacing PPPL physicist David Gates. The department oversees the Lab’s efforts to build a new type of twisty stellarator fusion facility that incorporates permanent magnets, similar to those used on refrigerator doors. The department also manages PPPL’s collaboration with stellarators around the world, including Germany’s Wendelstein 7-X and Japan’s Large Helical Device, as well as PPPL’s efforts to provide plasma sensors that rely on powerful light known as X-rays. Other divisions within Advanced Projects include Fusion System Studies and Next-Step Project Development.

PPPL, on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, N.J., is devoted to creating new knowledge about the physics of plasmas — ultra-hot, charged gases — and to developing practical solutions for the creation of fusion energy. The Laboratory is managed by the University for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science

New approach to fabricating ion conducting ceramic membranes for stable hydrogen production

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS

 

IMAGE: FABRICATION OF A MULTILAYERED CERAMIC MEMBRANE WITH AN ION CONDUCTING DENSE THIN LAYER USING AN INTERFACE-REACTION-INDUCED REASSEMBLY APPROACH. view more 

CREDIT: HE GUANGHU

Hydrogen has attracted much attention due to its potential as a clean energy carrier. To date, the majority of hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels, such as natural gas, coal and oil. Such fossil-derived hydrogen must be purified from common contaminants (e.g., CO2, CH4, CO and H2S) for further fuel cell applications.

Fossil-derived hydrogen-assisted water splitting using a dense oxygen-ion-conduction ceramic membrane is a promising H2-purification technique due to the membrane's 100% oxygen selectivity for directly obtaining pure hydrogen. However, existing oxygen-conducting membranes suffer from chemical stability issues under the above harsh operating conditions.

Recently, researchers from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have developed a new "Interface-reaction-induced reassembly" approach to fabricating multilayered ceramic membranes with ceria-based thin-film for stable hydrogen production.

The study was published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition on Nov. 3.

"Multilayered ceramic membranes are typically fabricated using layer-by-layer deposition methods. However, these methods often require a serial procedure, and the thickness of the dense thin layers is commonly between 10 and 1000 μm. In addition, the deposited thin layers often delaminate from the support layers during co-sintering," said corresponding author Prof. JIANG Heqing from QIBEBT.

Inspired by the architectural structure of the rooted grasses in soil, the researchers developed an interface-reaction-induced reassembly approach to fabricating a three-layered ceramic membrane with an oxygen-conducting dense thin layer rooted in its parent layer, directly resulting from a single-step sintering of dual-phase ceramic precursors.

"In this new approach, by deliberately applying a proper etchant Al2O3, the surface Fe-containing grains in the pressed pellet were selectively etched via interface reactions at high temperatures, producing reaction enthalpy," said Associate Professor HE Guanghu from QIBEBT, first author of the study. "The heat is expected to increase the local temperature for driving the reassembly of the surface-isolated fluorite-type grains into a dense thin layer that cut off the interface reactions, avoiding the continuous growth of the thin layer."

With this interface-reaction-induced reassembly approach, the researchers found that the resulting ceria-based layers were very thin (~1 μm), highly dense and adhered strongly to the parent layers, not only significantly reducing ionic transport resistance, but also ensuring the structural integrity of the multilayered membranes for various applications.

Using the developed multilayered membrane, the researchers demonstrated hydrogen production from water splitting assisted by oxidation of simulated coke oven gas containing H2, CH4, CO2, CO and H2S. They found that the membrane with a CGO dense thin layer showed very long durability (>1000 hours), underscoring the promise of high-performance membrane reactors for hydrogen production in practical conditions.

"These results suggest that this technique paves the way for the development of high-performance multilayered ceramics with functional layers for various applications, for example solid oxide fuel cells and solid oxide electrolysis cells. This is also the focus of our future work," said Prof. JIANG Heqing from QIBEBT, who led the study.

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JOURNAL

Angewandte Chemie International Edition

DOI

10.1002/anie.202210485 

ARTICLE TITLE

Multilayered ceramic membrane with ion conducting thin layer induced by interface reaction for stable hydrogen production

Hormone discovery could predict long term health of men

Hormone discovery could predict long term health of men

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM

Researchers have discovered the vital role of a hormone, that develops in men during puberty, in providing an early prediction of whether they could develop certain diseases in later life.

Scientists from the University of Nottingham have discovered that the novel insulin-like peptide hormone, called INSL3, is consistent over long periods of time and is an important early biomarker for prediction of age-linked disease. Their latest findings have been published today in Frontiers in Endocrinology. 

INSL3 is made by the same cells in the testes that make testosterone, but unlike testosterone which fluctuates throughout a man’s life, INSL3 remains consistent, with the level at puberty remaining largely the same throughout a man’s life, decreasing only slightly into old age. This makes it the first clear and reliable predictive biomarker of age-related morbidity as compared to any other measurable parameters.

The results show that the level of INSL3 in blood correlates with a range of age-related illnesses, such as bone weakness, sexual dysfunction, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. 

The discovery of the consistent nature of this hormone is very significant as it means that a man with high INSL3 when young will still have high INSL3 when he is older. But someone with low INSL3 already at a young age, will have low INSL3 when older making him more likely to acquire typical age-related illnesses. This opens up exciting possibilities for predicting age-related illnesses and finding ways to prevent the onset of these diseases with early intervention.

The research was led by Professor Ravinder Anand-Ivell and Professor Richard Ivell and is the latest of three recent studies* into this hormone. Professor Ravinder Anand-Ivell explains: “The holy grail of aging research is to reduce the fitness gap that appears as people age. Understanding why some people are more likely to develop disability and disease as they age is vital so that interventions can be found to ensure people not only live a long life but also a healthy life as they age. Our hormone discovery is an important step in understanding this and will pave the way for not only helping people individually but also helping to ease the care crisis we face as a society.”

The team analysed blood samples from 3,000 men from 8 regional centres in north, south, east, and west of Europe, including the UK, with two samples taken four years apart. The results showed that unlike testosterone, INSL3 remains at consistent levels in individuals 

The study also showed that the normal male population, even when young and relatively healthy, still shows a wide variation between individuals in the concentration of INSL3 in the blood – almost 10-fold. 

Professor Richard Ivell adds: “Now we know the important role this hormone plays in predicting disease and how it varies amongst men we are turning our attention to finding out what factors have the most influence on the level of INSL3 in the blood. Preliminary work suggests early life nutrition may play a role, but many other factors such as genetics or exposure to some environmental endocrine disruptors may play a part.”

 

 

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JOURNAL

Frontiers in Endocrinology

DOI

10.3389/fendo.2022.1016107 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

The Lydia cell biomarker INSL3 as a predictor of age-related morbidity: Findings from the EMAS cohort

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Nov-2022