It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, November 13, 2022
KEYSTONE AND KXL
TC Energy unveils $5B asset sale plan for 2023, boosts profit outlook
Jeff Lagerquist Wed, November 9, 2022 TC Energy says it plans to raise $5 billion by selling assets next year. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
TC Energy (TRP.TO)(TRP) plans to generate more than $5 billion by selling "non-core" assets through 2023, the company said on Wednesday, as it reported third-quarter financial results.
The Calgary-based energy and infrastructure firm says its divestiture program will focus on "discrete assets" or "minority interests" in order to bankroll growth and pay down debt. Speaking on a conference call with analysts, CEO François Poirier confirmed the company plans to announce and close a series of deals next year.
"There is a need to balance our sources and uses of capital without the reliance on further external equity," Poirier said on the call.
He was tight-lipped about which assets could be put up for sale. However, he did note, "we are going to consider the impacts of our GHG emissions going forward."
Analysts had anticipated Wednesday's announcement. Last month, Robert Kwan of RBC Capital Markets said TC Energy could look to monetize its liquids pipelines, as well as smaller gas pipelines with targeted proceeds of as much as $4 billion.
"We believe the market will positively receive the company's asset sale strategy," he wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.
Scotiabank analyst Robert Hope also notes the $5 billion sales target is "slightly larger than we were expecting", in a research note. TC Energy says it's "opportunity rich," with a $34 billion portfolio of secured capital projects. Poirier said the company plans to approve about $5 billion worth of projects per year throughout the decade.
While the company is primarily focused on natural gas pipelines and power generation, it has made recent investments in solar, and expressed optimism that small modular nuclear reactors could provide power to Alberta oilsands operations.
TC Energy reported $841 million in net income for the three months ended Sept. 30, up nearly eight per cent from $779 million year-over-year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.90 per common share for the quarter ending Dec. 31.
“Demand for our services remains high,” Poirier added on the call. “We continue to deliver strong utilization, availability and overall operational performance across our system.”
TC Energy raised its 2023 profitability outlook on Wednesday, calling for comparable earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to increase about four per cent year-over-year.
Jeff Lagerquist is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jefflagerquist.
Liberals working on policies to ensure carbon tax remains in place for years to come
Gabriel Friedman Tue, November 8, 2022 Canada's Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson attends a climate change conference in Ottawa
The idea that releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere should cost money — known as carbon pricing — sits at the center of the federal Liberals’ plan to limit climate change, and now they’re working on policies to ensure that it remains in place in Canada for years to come.
Last month, Jonathan Wilkinson, minister of natural resources, told a crowd in downtown Toronto, that the federal Liberals plan to introduce a policy to ensure carbon pricing not only remains in place through at least 2030, but also ramps up during that time, from $50 per tonne to $170 per tonne.
Wilkinson made his comments during a question-and-answer session after a speech to the Canadian Club, saying that industry won’t invest billions of dollars to reduce their carbon emissions until they have “certainty” that carbon pricing won’t be abolished under a future leader.
He said that his government is actively studying “carbon contracts for differences” — a policy under which businesses that invest money to reduce carbon emissions will be eligible to receive compensation if carbon pricing is either eliminated or reduced. While Wilkinson declined to offer a timeline, he mentioned a policy paper that cited the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference (COP 27) in Egypt, which begins on Nov. 6, as an “ideal” moment to introduce such legislation.
“I would say that we do feel urgency to give certainty to industry,” Wilkinson said after the event in an interview. “In my view, we can’t leave it there long.”
Any urgency may arise in part because Pierre Poilevre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and official opposition, has held rallies to ‘Axe the Carbon Tax,’ and tweeted that he would stop raising the carbon tax in response to inflation.
A spokesperson for Poilievre did not offer comment for this article.
Wilkinson did not mention Poilievre by name, but described the political conversation around carbon pricing as “frustrating.”
“There was an enormous step forward when Erin O’Toole adopted a price on pollution as part of his platform,” Wilkinson said. “That has obviously changed under the new leader and I think that’s very, very unfortunate.”
As a result, his government is moving forward with carbon contracts for differences, often called by the acronym CCfD. Under this policy, a firm that invests in a project to reduce carbon emissions could sign a contract with the government that would make it eligible to receive compensation if future projected carbon prices change, including if the price regime is scrapped altogether.
The policy paper mentioned by Wilkinson as a good source of information on the topic was issued in October by the Ottawa-based think-tanks Clean Prosperity and the Canadian Climate Institute.
Titled Closing the Carbon-Pricing Certainty Gap, the paper states that Canada’s target to cut emissions by 40 to 45 per cent by 2030 are an “enormous” challenge, largely because the three sources that account for nearly half of all emissions — heavy industry, oil and gas and electricity generation — lack the “certainty” needed to invest billions of dollars to cut their emissions.
“Carbon pricing isn’t yet working as well as it should,” the paper states.
The idea behind CCfDs is that taxpayers would be on the hook to compensate private firms for any difference between the scheduled carbon price and the actual price in any year of the contract.
For example, in Canada, the carbon price currently is scheduled to hit $95 per tonne in 2025 and then rise to $110 per tonne in 2026. If a future government froze the carbon price at $95 per tonne, a firm that signed a contract would be eligible to receive payments of the difference — $15 — for each tonne of carbon emissions that their project sequestered.
“CCfDs are an exciting innovation: they would accelerate industrial decarbonization, and require no new spending, regulations, or taxation,” the paper states.
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre speaks in response to the fall economic statement in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
While carbon contracts for differences could be applied in numerous ways, a similar policy was used in Alberta to encourage renewable power development: The government guaranteed developers a fixed price for energy, but also received money when energy prices surged above that rate, returning an estimated $160 million to the province.
Such a mechanism could also be used with carbon contracts for differences to create an upside for the government, experts say.
“There are a couple different approaches to how this could work,” said Ollie Sheldrick, a program manager in Toronto for the think-tank, Clean Energy Canada.
The situation shows how years after the carbon tax was first passed into law, and more than a year after the Canadian Supreme Court upheld the tax, in March 2021, even by a Liberal minister’s own account, its actual impact on reining in carbon emissions remains dampened by uncertainty.
Canada’s overall carbon emissions have risen more than any other G7 nation since 2015, according to the Ottawa-based Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Mark Cameron, vice president for external relations for the Pathways Alliance, an oil sector industry group representing 95 per cent of production in the oilsands, said uncertainty is deterring investment.
“It’s not just uncertainty about a future government getting rid of carbon pricing,” said Cameron. “It’s uncertainty around the rules around carbon credits and credit markets.”
For example, Cameron said his members could finance the investment needed to build carbon capture equipment by obtaining carbon credits, which they would then sell to liquid-fuel distributors.
But when the government released its clean-fuel standards earlier this year, which require liquid-fuel distributors to reduce the carbon footprint of their fuel, it only applied to fuel consumed in Canada.
Oilsands producers export an estimated 80 per cent of their fuel, and so he said selling carbon credits to liquid-fuel distributors was no longer a viable way to finance carbon capture.
He said his organization already had discussions with the federal government about its plans to develop carbon contracts for differences and such a policy “could spur investment depending on the design.”
Meanwhile, environmentalists agreed that there are many potential ways to dampen the effect of the carbon pricing.
Scott MacDougall, a senior advisor at the Pembina Institute said carbon contracts for differences are important as an insurance policy, but at the moment, a bigger issue slowing investment in carbon capture is that the price of carbon is not high enough.
“The carbon price is not high enough to drive investment in a lot of the carbon reduction projects that we need,” said MacDougall. “I think the certainty piece is just another part of that.
Bryan T. Grenfell’s lecture available online: the 2022 Kyoto Prize laureate in Basic Sciences
IMAGE: BRYAN T. GRENFELL’S LECTURE "EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS OF PATHOGENS IN TIME AND SPACE" IS NOW AVAILABLE ON THE 2022 KYOTO PRIZE SPECIAL WEBSITE.view more
CREDIT: INAMORI FOUNDATION
Why do many pathogens persist? What mechanism underlies the long-lasting wax and wane of pathogen-host interactions?
Bryan T. Grenfell, a population biologist, aka father of “phylodynamics,” received the 2022 Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences for his development of an innovative approach for integrative analysis of pathogen evolution and epidemics.
In his lecture, Grenfell presents a big picture of infectious disease epidemics using mathematical models that addresses how pathogens and hosts interact through viral evolution and host immunity in time and space.
“Biology is often extremely complex, but sometimes, simple models can explain some of the complexity.”, says Grenfell, summarizing his achievements. He is still eagerly investigating COVID-19 using his methodology, and steadily providing guidance on infectious disease control.
To learn more about his science, passion, and wisdom, click here.
Bryan T. Grenfell Population biologist, Kathryn Briger and Sarah Fenton Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs, Princeton University
Grenfell and the other two 2022 Kyoto Prize laureates are featured on the 2022 Kyoto Prize Special Website with information about their work, personal profiles, and five-minute introductory videos.
Carver Mead’s lecture available online: the 2022 Kyoto Prize laureate in Advanced Technology
IMAGE: CARVER MEAD’S LECTURE "A PERSONAL JOURNEY THROUGH THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION" IS NOW AVAILABLE ON THE 2022 KYOTO PRIZE SPECIAL WEBSITE.view more
CREDIT: COURTESY OF INAMORI FOUNDATION
Carver Mead, an electronics engineer and applied physicist, has been awarded the 2022 Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology for leading contributions to the establishment of guiding principles for very large-scale integration (VLSI) systems design. Mead’s Commemorative Lecture, “A Personal Journey Through the Information Revolution” is now available on the 2022 Kyoto Prize Special Website.
In his lecture, Mead reveals a number of innovations that were foundational to permitting practical design of complex integrated circuits containing millions of transistors and creation of mask patterns for their production.
How did he arrive at the guiding principles for VLSI system design using billions of transistors? How did he create a unified view of the physical integrated circuit and incorporate it in an academic course? Click here to learn more.
Carver Mead Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, Emeritus, California Institute of Technology
Mead and the other two 2022 Kyoto Prize laureates are featured on the 2022 Kyoto Prize Special Website with information about their work, personal profiles, and five-minute introductory videos.
The Kyoto Prize is an international award of Japanese origin presented to individuals who have made significant contributions to the progress of science, the advancement of civilization, and the enrichment and elevation of the human spirit. The Prize is granted in the three categories of advanced technology, basic sciences, and arts and philosophy. Each category comprises four fields, representing a total of 12 fields. Every year, one Prize for each of the three categories is awarded with prize money of 100 million yen per category.
One of the distinctive features of the Kyoto Prize is that it recognizes both “science” and “arts and philosophy” fields. This is because its founder, Kazuo Inamori, held the conviction that the future of humanity can be assured only when there is a balance between scientific development and enrichment of the human spirit.
WW3.0
Chinese incursions into India are increasing, strategically planned
New study finds incursions into Aksai Chin region are not random, independent events
IMAGE: ALTHOUGH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PINPOINT THE PRECISE LOCATIONS OF THE INCURSIONS, IT IS CLEAR THAT THE INCURSIONS ARE CLUSTERED AROUND HOT SPOTS. THESE ARE THE SO-CALLED RED-ZONES: PARTS OF THE LINE OF ACTUAL CONTROL BETWEEN CHINA AND INDIA, WHERE THE BORDER IS NOT CLEARLY DEFINED.view more
CREDIT: PLOS ONE
Researchers built a new dataset, compiling information about incursions from 2006-2020
Using geospatial analysis, they identified 13 hotspots where incursions occur most frequently
By addressing tension in these hotspots, researchers believe it could defuse conflict along the China-India border
EVANSTON, Ill. — Chinese incursions across India’s west and central borders are not independent, random incidents that happen by mistake. Instead, these incursions are part of a strategically planned, coordinated effort in order to gain permanent control of disputed border areas, a new study has found.
Led by Northwestern University, Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands and the Netherlands Defence Academy, the authors assembled a new dataset, compiling information about Chinese incursions into India from 2006 to 2020. Then they used game theory and statistical methods to analyze the data.
The researchers found that conflicts can be separated into two distinct sectors: west/middle (the Aksai Chin region) and east (the Arunachal Pradesh region). While the researchers learned that the number of incursions are generally increasing over time, they concluded that conflicts in the east and middle sectors are part of a coordinated expansionist strategy.
By pinpointing the exact locations lying at the root of the conflict, the researchers believe deterrents could be established in these specific areas to defuse tensions along the entire border.
The study, “Rising tension in the Himalayas: A geospatial analysis of Chinese border incursions into India,” will be published on Nov. 10 in the journal PLOS ONE.
“By studying the number of incursions that occurred in the west and middle sectors over time, it became obvious, statistically, that these incursions are not random,” said Northwestern’s V.S. Subrahmanian, the study’s senior author. “The probability of randomness is very low, which suggests to us that it’s a coordinated effort. When we looked at the eastern sector, however, there is much weaker evidence for coordination. Settling border disputes in specific areas could be an important first step in a step-by-step resolution of the entire conflict.”
The longest disputed border in the world, the India-China boundary has experienced recurring conflicts since 1962. Incursions tend to occur in two distinct regions: Aksai Chin, a region north of Nepal that is controlled by China but claimed by India, and Arunachal Pradesh, a region east of Bhutan that is controlled by India but claimed by China.
To construct their new dataset, the authors compiled publicly available information about border incursions that were well-documented by international media. For the study, the team defined an ‘incursion’ as any movement of Chinese troops across the border — by foot or in vehicles — into areas that are internationally accepted as India’s territory. Then, they plotted each location on a map, identifying 13 hotspots where incursions happen most frequently.
In the 15-year dataset, the researchers noted an average of 7.8 incursions per year. The Indian government’s estimates, however, are much higher at 300 per year.
“Although the Indian government publicizes these numbers, we don’t have the details behind them,” Subrahmanian said. “They might be counting a series of temporally proximate events as several different incursions, whereas we count them all as part of the same one incursion. But when we plotted our data and their data on a graph, the curves still have the same shape. Both curves show that incursions are increasing — but not steadily. They rise and fall, while still trending upward.”
CAPTION
In a 2005 agreement, India and China combined sectors 1 and 2 into the western sector (from Karakoram pass to Mount Gya). The agreement separated sector 3 into a Sikkim sector and an eastern sector (along the state of Arunachal Pradesh on the India side). The middle sector from Mount Gya to the border with Nepal is the least controversial part of the boundary.
CREDIT
PLOS ONE
‘Keep the pot boiling’
Although hotspots occur throughout Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh, the researchers’ game-theory analysis indicates that only the incursions in Aksai Chin are part of a coordinated effort. Building on insights from game theory, the researchers predict that China is trying to establish permanent control over Aksai Chin by allocating more troops for a longer period of time than India.
“China grabs a little bit of territory and then a little bit more until India accepts that it’s Chinese territory,” Subrahmanian said. “There is a saying: ‘Keep the pot boiling but don’t let it boil over.’ China takes small pieces of land, but keeps it under the threshold of where India would counter-attack. But, over time, it becomes a bigger piece of land.”
The finding that China is most interested in acquiring Aksai Chin, Subrahmanian says, supports common knowledge.
“Knowing there are more incursions in the western sector is not a surprise,” he said. “Aksai Chin is a strategic area that China wants to develop, so it’s very critical to them. It’s a vital passageway between China and the Chinese autonomous regions of Tibet and Xinjiang.”
Finding solutions
In a previous paper (published by Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications in 2021), Subrahmanian and his collaborators studied when incursions are most likely to occur. They found that China attacks when it feels most vulnerable.
“We found an uptick in incursions when China is experiencing economic stress, such as low consumer confidence,” Subrahmanian said. “We also see upticks when India gets closer to the United States.”
Now that Subrahmanian and his team understand when and where these incursions occur, they next plan to explore how to address them. The study authors believe military interventions should be a last resort. Instead, they suggest bilateral negotiations, developing early warning systems to predict when incursions might occur or bolstering India’s economy in order to challenge China’s economic dominance.
“China’s robust economy results in increased aggression around the world,” Subrahmanian said. “No one wants a war — not just in terms of lives — but in terms of economic ripple effects. It would be an economic tsunami.”
Rising tension in the Himalayas: A geospatial analysis of Chinese border incursions into India
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
10-Nov-2022
UN announces satellite-based global methane detection system
Methane Alert and Response System (MARS): A new initiative to scale-up global efforts to detect and act on major emissions sources in a transparent manner, accelerate implementation of Global Methane Pledge
IMAGE: THE METHANE ALERT AND RESPONSE SYSTEM (MARS) IS PART OF THE UNEP INTERNATIONAL METHANE EMISSIONS OBSERVATORY (IMEO) STRATEGY TO GET POLICY-RELEVANT DATA INTO THE RIGHT HANDS FOR EMISSIONS MITIGATION.view more
CREDIT: UNEP
As part of global efforts to slow climate change by tackling methane, the UN today announced a new satellite-based system to detect emissions of the climate warming gas and allow governments and businesses to respond.
The Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), launched at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference, is a data-to-action platform set up as part of the UNEP International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) strategy to get policy-relevant data into the right hands for emissions mitigation.
“As UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report showed before this climate summit, the world is far off track on efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.
“Reducing methane emissions can make a big and rapid difference, as this gas leaves the atmosphere far quicker than carbon dioxide. The Methane Alert and Response System is a big step in helping governments and companies deliver on this important short-term climate goal.”
In addition to supporting MARS, the Global Methane Hub and the Bezos Earth Fund are providing funding for other UNEP IMEO activities. These include baseline studies and initial work on agricultural methane emissions, where integrating multi-scale ground measurements with emerging satellite capacity is expected to provide improved quantification.
First public global system connecting methane detection to notification processes
MARS will be the first publicly available global system capable of transparently connecting methane detection to notification processes. It will use state-of-the-art satellite data to identify major emission events, notify relevant stakeholders, and support and track mitigation progress.
Beginning with very large point sources from the energy sector, MARS will integrate data from the rapidly expanding system of methane-detecting satellites to include lower-emitting area sources and more frequent detection. Data on coal, waste, livestock and rice will be added gradually to MARS to support Global Methane Pledge implementation.
“Cutting methane is the fastest opportunity to reduce warming and keep 1.5°C within reach, and this new alert and response system is going to be a critical tool for helping all of us deliver on the Global Methane Pledge,” said John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.
Components of the Methane Alert and Response System
MARS will use data from global mapping satellites to identify very large methane plumes and methane hot spots and attribute the emissions to a specific source. UNEP will then notify governments and companies about the emissions, either directly or through partners, so that the responsible entity can take appropriate action.
If requested, MARS partners will provide technical or advisory services such as help in assessing mitigation opportunities. UNEP will continue to monitor the event location and make the data and analysis available to the public between 45 and 75 days after detection.
Additional comments
“We are seeing methane emissions increase at an accelerated rate. With this initiative, armed with greater data and transparency, companies and governments can make greater strides to reduce methane emissions and civil society can keep them accountable to their promises,” said Dr. Kelly Levin, Chief of Science, Data and Systems Change at the Bezos Earth Fund.
“The science is clear. We need to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 per cent by 2030, to keep 1.5°C alive. Fortunately, action on methane emissions is one of the most cost effective and impactful actions a country can take,” said Marcelo Mena, CEO Global Methane Hub.
“Therefore Global Methane Hub is pleased to partner with UNEP and the Bezos Earth Fund, on providing critical resources – to the MARS initiative - that can enable the identification and rapid response to major methane emissions from the energy sector, as well as take the first steps in enabling satellite observations to address methane emissions from the agricultural sector.”
"To keep the global temperature rise limited to 1.5 degrees, it is crucial that we tackle methane emissions," said Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President of the European Commission. "These emissions often peak in specific areas for limited amounts of time, for example in the energy sector due to leaks, venting, and flaring. Early detection of these peaks makes it possible to respond faster. The Methane Alert and Response System does just that. Thanks to funding and free satellite data from Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth Observation programme, the system will enable every country to take rapid action to reduce methane emissions."
Said Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency: "The Methane Alert and Response System is an important new tool to help pinpoint major methane leaks. As IEA analysis has highlighted, transparency is a vital part of the solution to tackle the methane problem, and this new system will help producers detect leaks and stop them without delay if and when they occur.”
Notes to Editors
About the UN Environment Programme
The UN Environment Programme is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
UNEP is at the forefront of methane emissions reduction in line with the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global temperature rise well below 2°C. UNEP’s work revolves around two pillars: data and policy. UNEP supports companies and governments across the globe to use its unique global database of empirically verified methane emissions to target strategic mitigation actions and support science-based policy options through the International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO).
UNEP also fosters high-level commitments through advocacy work and supports countries to implement measures that reduce methane emissions through the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC). Both initiatives are core implementers of the Global Methane Pledge.
A new study at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience has examined how the dopamine system processes aversive unpleasant events.
It is well known that the dopamine system plays a crucial role in motivation, learning and movement. One of the main functions of dopamine is to predict the occurrence of rewarding experiences and the availability of rewards in our environment. In this context, the dopamine system informs our brains about so-called ‘reward prediction errors’ - the difference between received and predicted rewards. Dopamine neurons become more active when a reward occurs unexpectedly or if it is bigger than expected, and they show depressed activity when we receive less reward than predicted. These error signals help us to learn from our mistakes and teach us how to achieve rewarding experiences.
Rewarding versus aversive stimuli
While a large number of studies has focused on the relationship between dopamine release and rewarding stimuli, few have looked at the effect of unpleasant and aversive stimuli on dopamine. Although the results of these few experiments have been inconsistent, it has become clear that aversive stimuli have an impact on the dopamine system. But there is an active debate among neuroscientists on what precise role dopamine neurons play in processing aversive stimuli: Does their activity change in response to aversive events? Do they predict aversive events? Do they encode an aversive prediction error?
New findings on the role of dopamine in aversive events
A new study at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience has examined how the dopamine system processes aversive events. The team around PhD student Jessica Goedhoop and group leader Ingo Willuhn exposed rats to white noise in combination with stimuli that predicted the white noise, while they measured the release of dopamine in the brain. White noise is a well-known example of an unpleasant auditory stimulus for rats.
The researchers found that the release of dopamine gradually decreased during the exposure to white noise. Furthermore, after consistent presentation, stimuli that occurred a few seconds before white-noise exposure began to have the same depressing effect on dopamine neurons. However, in contrast to how it processes rewards, dopamine did not encode a prediction error for this aversive stimulus. Overall, this new study demonstrates that the dopamine system helps the brain to anticipate the occurrence and duration of unpleasant events, but without taking prediction errors into account.
Group leader Ingo Willuhn: ‘This is a very thorough and systematic study that takes a lot of variables into account. The results give us a better understanding of the role of dopamine release in processing aversive events. There is a growing interest into the role of dopamine in aversion. We used a novel aversive stimulus that enabled to conduct a more thorough analysis of dopamine than previously possible.’
Addictive drugs hijack and amplify dopamine signals and induce exaggerated, uncontrolled dopamine effects on neuronal plasticity. This study brings us closer to understanding the underlying mechanism behind this pathological phenomenon.
IMAGE: THE EXCAVATION TEAM IN THE FIELD IN SUMMER 2022.view more
CREDIT: MARIACHIARA FRANCESCHINI/UNIVERSITY OF FREIBURG
An interdisciplinary team headed by archeologists Dr. Mariachiara Franceschini of the University of Freiburg and Paul P. Pasieka of the University of Mainz has discovered a previously unknown Etruscan temple in the ancient city of Vulci, which lies in the Italian region of Latium. The building, which is 45 meters by 35 meters, is situated west of the Tempio Grande, a sacred building which was excavated back in the 1950s. Initial examination of the strata of the foundation of the northeast corner of the temple and the objects they found there, led the researchers to date the construction of the temple towards the end of the sixth or beginning of the fifth century BCE. “The new temple is roughly the same size and on a similar alignment as the neighboring Tempio Grande, and was built at roughly the same Archaic time,” explains Franceschini. “This duplication of monumental buildings in an Etruscan city is rare, and indicates an exceptional finding,” adds Pasieka. The team discovered the temple when working on the Vulci Cityscape project, which was launched in 2020 and aimed to research the settlement strategies and urbanistic structures of the city of Vulci. Vulci was one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan federation and in pre-Roman times was one of the most important urban centers in what is now Italy.
New discoveries about city design and development
“We studied the entire northern area of Vulci, that’s 22.5 hectares, using geophysical prospecting and Ground Penetrating Radar,” explains Pasieka. “We discovered remains from the city’s origins that had previously been overlooked in Vulci and are now better able to understand the dynamics of settlement and the road system, besides identifying different functional areas in the city.” The researchers were able in 2021 to uncover the first sections of wall, made of solid tuff. “Our knowledge about the appearance and organization of Etruscan cities has been limited until now,” says Franceschini. “The intact strata of the temple are offering us insights into more than a thousand years of development of one of the most important Etruscan cities.”
Over the coming years the scientists want to study the different phases of use and the precise architectural appearance of the temple in more depth, in order to learn more about the religion of the Etruscans, the social structures in Vulci and what the lives of the city’s inhabitants were really like.
Fritz Thyssen Foundation and Gerda Henkel Foundation funding the excavation
The project is being funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation (2020-2022) and the Gerda Henkel Foundation (2022-2023) along with the University of Mainz’s research area “40,000 Years of Human Challenges: Perception, Conceptualization and Coping in Premodern Societies”. The departments of classical archeology at the University of Freiburg and at the University of Mainz are working together with the Vulci Foundation, which administers the archeological park “Parco Naturalistico Archeologico di Vulci”, and the Italian national monument authority, Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la provincia di Viterbo e per l’Etruria meridionale.
Dr. Mariachiara Franceschini is an academic councillor at the Department of Classical Archaeology at the University of Freiburg. Since June 2021 she has been a member of the central committee of the Deutscher Archäologen-Verband, the German archaeological association. Her research focuses on the iconography and hermeneutics of figurative vases, landscape archaeology and urbanistics, and Etruscology.
Paul P. Pasieka is a research assistant in the Department of Classical Archaeology at the University of Mainz. In 2019 he was awarded the Margarete Bieber prize by the Berlin archaeology society, the Archäologische Gesellschaft zu Berlin. His research embraces the archeology of the economy of the Roman empire, the history of science and Etruscology.
21ST CENTURY ALCHEMY
Researchers learn to engineer growth of crystalline materials consisting of nanometer-size gold clusters
IMAGE: ELECTRON MICROSCOPY IMAGE (BACKGROUND) OF AN ORDERED CRYSTAL CONSISTING OF 25-ATOM GOLD CLUSTERS. THE DATA COULD BE INTERPRETED BY A MODEL OF TIGHTLY PACKED POLYMERIC CHAINS OF THE CLUSTERS (LIGHT SPHERES). A CLOSE-UP VISUALIZATION OF TWO SUCH CLUSTERS, CONNECTED BY A GOLD-LIGAND CHAIN IS SHOWN IN FRONT. GRAPHICS: SAMI MALOLA, UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄview more
CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF JYVASKYLA/SAMI MALOLA
First insights into engineering crystal growth by atomically precise metal nanoclusters have been achieved in a study performed by researchers in Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Finland. The work was published in Nature Chemistry on November 10, 2022.
Ordinary solid matter consists of atoms organized in a crystal lattice. The chemical character of the atoms and lattice symmetry define the properties of the matter, for instance, whether it is a metal, a semiconductor or and electric insulator. The lattice symmetry may be changed by ambient conditions such as temperature or high pressure, which can induce structural transitions and transform even an electric insulator to an electric conductor, that is, a metal.
Larger identical entities such as nanoparticles or atomically precise metal nanoclusters can also organize into a crystal lattice, to form so called meta-materials. However, information on how to engineer the growth of such materials from their building blocks has been scarce since the crystal growth is a typical self-assembling process.
Now, first insights into engineering crystal growth by atomically precise metal nanoclusters have been achieved in a study performed by researchers in Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Finland. They synthesized metal clusters consisting of only 25 gold atoms, one nanometer in diameter. These clusters are soluble in water due to the ligand molecules that protect the gold. This cluster material is known to self-assemble into well-defined close packed single crystals when the water solvent is evaporated. However, the researcher found a novel concept to regulate the crystal growth by adding tetra-alkyl-ammonium molecular ions in the solvent. These ions affect the surface chemistry of the gold clusters, and their size and concentration were observed to have an impact on the size, shape, and morphology of the formed crystals. Remarkably, high-resolution electron microscopy images of some of the crystals revealed that they consist of polymeric chains of clusters with four-gold-atom interparticle links (see the Figure). The demonstrated surface chemistry opens now new ways to engineer metal cluster -based meta-materials for investigations of their electronic and optical properties.
The cluster materials were synthesized in the National University of Singapore, the electron microscopy imaging was done at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saud Arabia, and the theoretical modelling was done at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland. The work was published in Nature Chemistry on November 10, 2022: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-022-01079-9
