Tackling plastic pollution with a net of law and chemical coding

Queensland University of Technology

Peer-Reviewed Publication

QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: QUT RESEACHERS: DR HOPE JOHNSON INSET. FROM LEFT: PROFESSOR AFSHIN AKHTAR-KHAVARI, DR JOSHUA HOLLOWAY, DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR CHRISTOPHER BARNER-KOWOLLIK, ANNASTASIA BOUSGAS, LEWIS CHAMBERS AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JAMES BLINCO. view more 

CREDIT: QUT

An innovative proposal to tackle the global plastic pollution crisis with a combination of DNA-like encoding of plastics and international law has been put forward by a transdisciplinary team of QUT researchers.

Plastic pollution has been identified as an environmental problem similar in scope and complexity as global challenges like climate change.

The QUT research team, from chemistry and law, have published their multi-pronged approach in Polymer Chemistry.

The researchers are Dr Hope Johnson, Dr Lewis Chambers, Dr Joshua Holloway, Annastasia Bousgas, Professor Afshin Akhtar-Khavari, Associate Professor James Blinco, and ARC Laureate Fellow Professor Christopher Barner-Kowollik, and they are part of QUT’s Centre for Materials Science and Centre for a Waste Free World.

Professor Barner-Kowollik said one of the biggest challenges in addressing plastic pollution was tracing the polluting plastic back to the source.

“Tracing plastic resolves the anonymity of plastic waste,” Professor Barner-Kowollik said.

“If a technology existed that allowed to give unique ‘DNA’ to each batch of plastic that was produced, plastic waste could be traced back to the producer, given the information stored in the ‘DNA’ could be simply read-out.”

Professor Barner-Kowollik said there were several emerging advances in polymer chemistry that could play a part in identifying plastic.

One solution could be chemically labelling batches of plastic production using sequence-defined polymers, that could be decoded in a way similar to DNA, although at this point reading information from sequence-defined polymers is challenging. However, new and simple technologies for reading information from such sequence-defined polymers embedded into plastics are emerging.

If polymer science can develop the means of uniquely identifying plastics and tracing each piece back to its producer, there still remains the issue of enforcing responsibility – which is where the legal researchers around Dr Hope Johnson come in.

“One of the first challenges with an international problem such as this is the obvious one of jurisdiction, and also where in the regulatory process we can best intervene to create sustainable change” Professor Afshin Akhtar-Khavari said.

“A considerable challenge is the implementation in international frameworks so that malicious actors cannot identify loopholes

“A careful and coordinated international approach is of the essence, yet establishing it will require initial careful research into the underpinning international governance principles and subsequent coordinated approaches for implementation.”

The researchers describe their paper as a “discussion starter”, not only on the plausibility of using sequence-defined polymers for coding and reading ‘DNA’ embedded in plastics and the associated governance challenges, but also for a broader conversation.

“Research is done with focus, but sometimes there needs to be a broader lens,” Professor Barner-Kowollik said.

“There is a critical need for the social and natural sciences to work more closely together in the future, breaking currently still prevailing siloed structures.”

The combined approach, of polymer science and international law, is looking at the single outcome of enforcing responsibility on polluters.

The paper says that identifying the people responsible for the plastic pollution could lead to a phasing out of plastics.

Pinpointing plastic polluters (VIDEO)

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JOURNAL

Polymer Chemistry

DOI

10.1039/D2PY01180H 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Commentary/editorial

ARTICLE TITLE

Using precision polymer chemistry for plastics traceability and governance

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

18-Oct-2022

COI STATEMENT

The authors have submitted a priority patent application in the realm of plastic tracing technology, owned by their employer QUT.

Greenspaces should support mental health among young adults

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

 

IMAGE: DR. SARA BARRON view more 

CREDIT: UBC FACULTY OF FORESTRY

Even though many global cities incorporate greenspaces such as pocket parks and community gardens into their urban planning efforts, new UBC research shows those plans often fail to include the needs of youth and young adults between the ages of 15 and 24. As a result, this age demographic can miss out on the known social, physical and mental health benefits of these nature-based solutions.

UBC faculty of forestry researchers Dr. Sara Barron (she/her) and Dr. Emily J. Rugel (she/her) analyzed data collected during visits to parks in two cities in Australia and reviewed evidence from the past few decades to develop a new tool for evaluating greenspaces for young adults.

Public urban greenspaces keep our cities cool, reduce stress and improve mood, says Dr. Barron. They promote activities such as physical exercise and social interactions. These benefits are important for everyone, but especially so for young adults, because it is at this time of life when many chronic mental disorders emerge.

Greenspace impacts on mental health

“Exposure to the right sort of greenspace can promote strong social ties and a connection to nature during these critical years. Unfortunately, nature and health research, as well as urban planning, has tended to ignore this important demographic.”

Reviewing the urban landscape in the Lower Mainland in British Columbia, Canada, Dr. Barron notes that there are attractive greenspaces, but very few are intentionally designed for young adults.

“For example, we’re really good at providing playgrounds for younger children or including things like benches in parks for older adults. But when it comes to youth and young adults, there’s a noticeable lack of intentionally designed spaces where they can just be themselves.”

A few spaces that do meet these criteria to a degree include Spanish Banks, where the logs on the beach provide a measure of privacy for solo parkgoers as well as groups; and Stanley Park, which offers an incredible amount of biodiversity.

“However, there is a clear need to purposefully design our public greenspaces to make them more appealing to youth and young adults, particularly in light of emerging research suggesting that young people experienced poorer mental health as a result of the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Dr. Barron.

Calling for ‘tolerant greenspaces’

In their paper the authors introduce what they call “tolerant greenspaces” – places that support young adults’ needs for both social interaction and psychological restoration.

“Such places provide order – they are natural, but they’re also well cared for and safe,” says study co-author Dr. Emily Rugel. “They show diversity, both in plant life and in the activities they enable. Lastly, they give youth a place to either seek solace in quiet solitude or spend time with their friends without adult supervision.”

The authors tested this concept on a range of greenspaces in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s two largest cities. Laneways with vegetation placed neatly on both sides do well in terms of creating a sense of order, for example. Formal parks planted with more than three tree species or offering equipment for at least three recreational activities provide diversity. Even pocket parks that use terracing or shrubbery to create distinct areas support seclusion and retreat.

Moving forward, Dr. Barron and Dr. Rugel are proposing a framework that planners or even young citizen scientists can use to evaluate the extent to which greenspaces are tolerant, and to plan for future spaces.

“Some cities may struggle with incorporating greenspace in densifying areas. The good news is that you do not necessarily need abundant space for tolerant designs. Even small plots of land can be transformed into greenspaces that meet the needs of youth and young adults,” observes Dr. Rugel.

Dr. Emily Rugel

CREDIT

UBC

JOURNAL

Environmental Science & Policy

DOI

10.1016/j.envsci.2022.10.005 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Tolerant greenspaces: Designing urban nature-based solutions that foster social ties and support mental health among young adults

SUTD researchers developed phase-change key for new hardware security

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN

 

IMAGE: GRAPHIC OF THE NEW TYPES OF PUF THAT CAN BE DESIGNED USING THE PHASE-CHANGE MATERIAL (PCM), BASED ON THE REVERSIBLE SWITCHING BETWEEN THE AMORPHOUS GLASSY STATE AND ORDERLY CRYSTAL STATE OF A CHALCOGENIDE LAYER, ALONG WITH SENSING DIFFERENT AS-DEPOSITED AMORPHOUS STATES, SHOWING A LARGE CONTRAST IN ELECTRICAL AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES (TOP PANEL). SCHEMATIC OF THE PRODUCT AUTHENTICATION CONCEPT (BOTTOM PANEL). view more 

CREDIT: SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN

As more and more data are being shared and stored digitally, the number of data breaches taking place around the world is on the rise. Scientists are exploring new ways to secure and protect data from increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. A new type of reconfigurable, scalable, low power hardware security device with high resilience to AI attacks has been developed by researchers using phase-change materials. This research is led by Assistant Professor Desmond Loke from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).

 

Dr Loke said, “We developed a novel hardware security device that can eventually be implemented to protect data across sectors and industries, as breaches in private data have been ever-increasing.”

 

The device, known as the physical unclonable function (PUF), is a new type of phase-change PUF that is scalable, more energy-efficient and secure against AI attacks compared to traditional silicon PUFs. This is due to the electrical and physical properties of phase-change materials, along with the fabrication process.

 

The SUTD research team fabricated a group of phase-change devices, which switch reversibly between the glassy amorphous state and crystal orderly state. They then used the variation in the device’s electrical conductance to construct the PUF due to the inherent randomness arising from the manufacturing process, which is not shown by conventional silicon-based devices.

 

The researchers modelled the characteristics of actual phase-change devices to generate a simulation of many more phase-change-based PUFs. Dr Loke and his team used machine learning, a method that allows AI to study a system and find new patterns, to test the PUF’s security. To examine if the AI could use this training to make predictions about the encrypted key and reveal system insecurities, the researchers trained the AI with the phase-change PUF simulation data.

 

Dr Loke added, “Normal humans are not able to develop a model from a vast amount of data, but neural networks could. We also found that it was not possible for the encryption process to be learned and that the AI could not develop a model to decrypt the phase-change PUF.”

 

As potential hackers could not use the ‘stolen’ key to reverse engineer a device for future use, the resistance to machine learning attacks makes the PUF more secure. The phase-change PUF can also create a new key immediately through the reconfiguration mode if the key is hacked.

 

The phase-change PUF could be used in a variety of applications with these features, together with the capacity to operate at high temperatures. Future research can pave a way for its use in household devices, printable and flexible electronics and other devices.

 

The co-authors include Shao-Xiang Go, Qiang Wang, Kian Guan Lim, Natasa Bajalovic from SUTD, and Tae Hoon Lee from University of Cambridge.

 

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JOURNAL

Advanced Science

DOI

10.1002/advs.20220445 

ARTICLE TITLE

Ultrafast near-ideal phase-change memristive physical unclonable functions driven by amorphous state variations

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

13-Nov-2022

OHSU-developed brain surgery simulator proves valuable in nationwide test

Akin to pilots training on pre-flight simulators, new simulator for brain surgeons appears to be feasible on a large scale

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: NATHAN SELDEN, M.D., PH.D., WATCHES AS NEUROSURGERY RESIDENT STEPHEN BOWDEN, M.D., PRACTICES BRAIN SURGERY TECHNIQUES, AUG. 4, 2017, AT OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY IN PORTLAND. A BRAIN SURGERY SIMULATOR DEVELOPED AT OHSU ALLOWS DOCTORS TO GAIN EXPERIENCE WITHOUT RISKING THE LIVES OF PATIENTS. view more 

CREDIT: OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY

Hundreds of residents in neurological surgery across the United States trained on a first-of-its-kind simulator intended to mimic the type of real-life catastrophe they may face in operating rooms.

The nationwide study involved a total of 526 residents who trained on the simulator model while their heart rate was measured. Originally developed at Oregon Health & Science University, the simulator model appeared to be a feasible and cost-effective approach worthy of incorporating as part of standard training for neurosurgeons nationwide, according to a study published this month in the journal Operative Neurosurgery.

The model represents the first successful launch of a complex, multi-modal simulator at a specialty-wide, national scale.

The positive results were similar to a pilot study by OHSU researchers published in 2018.

“This study shows that simulation of real, complex situations in the neurosurgical operating room is feasible and economical across an entire specialty,” said senior author Nathan Selden, M.D., Ph.D., chair of neurological surgery in the OHSU School of Medicine. “These types of simulations for pilots have hugely reduced the rate of airline catastrophes in the past 50 years. We want to do the same for neurosurgical operations.”

The OHSU-developed simulator was tested nationally under the auspices of the Society of Neurological Surgeons, representing residency program directors and department chairs at academic health centers around the country. Selden and dozens of other educators ran the simulations at multiple sites nationwide.

Simulation exercises use a 3D-printed model of a brain, skull and membrane — complete with mock blood and patient monitors. The model was originally devised with Selden’s guidance by Dominic Siler, M.D., Ph.D., and Daniel Cleary, M.D., Ph.D., while they were students in the OHSU School of Medicine. Siler and Cleary are now residents in neurological surgery at OHSU, and were co-authors on the new study.

In fact, Siler envisions the potential for expanding the simulator concept to help in training not just surgeons, but also anesthesiologists and nurses working together in their respective jobs as a team in a high-stress scenario.

The study evaluated the feasibility of a simulator over current surgical training using cadavers.

“Cadavers will always be great for anatomy, but they don’t bleed and can’t die if you make mistakes, so no one is stressed out about that,” Siler said during a previous demonstration of the simulator in 2017.

The study was supported by the Society of Neurological Surgeons. Co-author H.E. Hinson, M.D., M.C.R., associate professor of neurology in the OHSU School of Medicine, reports funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health, award 1K23NS110828.

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JOURNAL

Operative Neurosurgery

DOI

10.1227/ons.0000000000000431 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Physiological responses and training satisfaction during national rollout of a neurosurgical intraoperative catastrophe simulator for resident training

A low-carbon energy transition may result in substantial emissions

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA

A new ICTA-UAB study shows that the process of transitioning to a low-carbon energy system could lead to significant global emissions, consuming much of the remaining carbon budget, and thus leaving less emissions for socio-economic processes and activities than widely thought. The average emissions associated with a low-carbon energy transition amount to 195 gigatonnes of CO2, which equals approximately 0.1 °C of additional global warming.

These are the conclusions of a scientific study by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) and the University of Leeds conducted by researchers Aljoša Slameršak, Giorgos Kallis, and Daniel O’Neill, and published in Nature Communications.

The authors show that while the energy emissions associated with decarbonization are significant, the benefits of decarbonization still far outweigh the costs. The faster economies can decarbonise and reduce energy use, the better.

“Although the existing IPCC literature provides a range of emissions pathways compatible with 1.5 °C of global warming, it has so far remained unclear how much of these emissions will be tied to the transition, and how much of the emissions will remain for societal activities, such as transportation”, says Aljoša Slameršak, ICTA-UAB researcher and lead author of the study, who stresses that “emissions associated with the transition are substantial. However, the overall climate impact of these emissions is still small compared to the emissions avoided by rapid climate action over the long term. The main problem is not the climate impacts of the transition, but the impacts of inaction given how close to overshooting 1.5 °C we currently are.” 

A low-carbon energy transition will require major investments, not only financially, but also in terms of energy and materials. The global economy is still dependent on fossil fuels and the transition itself may become a significant source of emissions. In this study, the researchers calculate that the emissions associated with the transition range from 70 GtCO2 to 395 GtCO2, which roughly corresponds to 2‒11 times of the world’s total emissions in 2021.

Co-author Giorgos Kallis, also from ICTA-UAB, explains that “not all scenarios of a low-carbon energy transition are alike. Scenarios with low energy use and lots of renewable energy have much lower emissions associated with the transition. Other scenarios, however, that continue relying on fossil fuels, in the hope of sucking carbon out of the atmosphere later in this century, have a lot of emissions linked to the transition”. Kallis points out that, if governments are serious about tackling climate change, they should prioritise the reduction of energy use. “Relying on unproven solutions such as so-called ‘negative emissions’ is a risky strategy, not only because of the emissions that they themselves will cause.”

In contrast to what has been argued in previous studies, the authors find that a low-carbon energy transition would not necessarily reduce the efficiency of energy provisioning. Energy system efficiency declines in scenarios that rely on biofuels and fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage but remains stable or even increases in scenarios that push for renewable energy.

Co-author Daniel O’Neill, from the University of Leeds, concluded: “Our study shows that any viable pathway for avoiding dangerous climate change requires a decrease in energy use during the initial push for the transition. Continued growth in energy consumption is simply incompatible with the goal of a safe climate.”

Slameršak, A., Kallis, G. & Neill, D.W.O. Energy requirements and carbon emissions for a low-carbon energy transition. Nat Commun 13, 6932 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33976-5

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-022-33976-5 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Energy requirements and carbon emissions for a low-carbon energy transition

How well do state-of-the-art climate models simulate sea level?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INSTITUTE OF ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

 

IMAGE: GLOBAL SEA LEVEL CHANGES IN RECENT DECADES. COASTAL CITIES WITH RISING SEA LEVELS WILL BE MORE VULNERABLE TO ONGOING GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE. view more 

CREDIT: HONGYIN CHEN

According to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the global mean sea level has risen faster since 1900 than over any preceding century in the last 3000 years. This makes hundreds of coastal cities and millions of people vulnerable to a threat of higher water levels. State-of-the-art climate models provide a crucial means to study how much and how soon sea levels will rise. However, to what extent these models are able to represent sea level variations remains an open issue. Thus, they should be evaluated before they can be adopted to forecast future sea-level changes.

In a paper recently published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters, Dr Zhuoqi He from the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology led a team to assess the performance of climate models in simulating the sea level over the low-to-mid latitudes of the globe. The results indicated that the models simulated the long-term mean sea level relatively well. However, strong biases were apparent when the models tried to reproduce the sea level variance. For example, almost all of them underestimated the interannual signals over the subtropics where strong western boundary currents prevail.

“This bias is at least partially due to the misrepresentation of ocean processes because of the relatively low resolution of their historical simulations. We can see that the nearshore bias is reduced as the model resolution is increased,” explains Dr He.

“Understanding the causes of model misrepresentation is important towards improving the simulation skills of models, and our study helps in this respect by identifying a direction for future model development to reduce model biases.”

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JOURNAL

Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters

DOI

10.1016/j.aosl.2022.100288 

ARTICLE TITLE

Performance of CMIP6 models in simulating the dynamic sea level: Mean and interannual variance

Good intentions and missed opportunities: The educational experiences of young refugees

A new book by Annika Lems from the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology traces the educational paths of refugee youth arriving in Switzerland amid the shifting sociopolitical terrain of the refugee crisis

Book Announcement

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT

 

IMAGE: ANNIKA LEMS, FRONTIERS OF BELONGING: THE EDUCATION OF UNACCOMPANIED REFUGEE YOUTH, INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2022. ISBN: 978-0-253-06178-2 view more 

CREDIT: MPI FOR SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

When thousands of refugees began arriving in Europe in 2015, they were received with an outpouring of solidarity and assistance. Particular concern was directed towards the needs of children and teenagers traveling alone. Programmes were developed for them based on the vision of education as a path to rapid integration into the host society. Anthropologist Annika Lems conducted research among 16 of these young refugees. In her book Frontiers of Belonging: The Education of Unaccompanied Refugee Youth, published in July 2022, she analyses how this vision of belonging failed to materialize in many cases and what bureaucratic hurdles stood in the way of diversity and participation.

Social advancement through education – a false promise
As the situation in 2015 made clear, the social integration of refugees is a political task that European societies will have to grapple with for many years to come. The debates have been highly emotional and contentious. A plethora of studies have emerged as a result, looking at the social, legal and humanitarian aspects of the increasing numbers of refugees worldwide. “In spite of all these projects, however, there has been very little in-depth study of the lives of unaccompanied youth in Europe”, says Annika Lems, Research Group Head at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. In her recently published book Frontiers of Belonging: The Education of Unaccompanied Refugee Youth, she therefore presents the stories of 16 young people from Eritrea, Guinea, and Ethiopia and their experiences with the Swiss education system. “The state has a particular duty of care towards school-aged children, who have a right to the state’s educational offerings”, Lems explains. Based on a three-year anthropological research project carried out while working at the University of Bern, Lems analyses how the enthusiasm for integration in 2015 gradually transformed into ever-more-restrictive practices. Consequently, even those who successfully made their way through the educational system now often find themselves barred from the social opportunities promised to them.

Inclusive exclusion – invisible barriers
“My case study was carried out in Switzerland, but similar tendencies can be observed throughout Europe: the educational system is increasingly becoming an instrument of exclusion that serves to decide at an early age who belongs and who is left in the cold”, Lems says. It is precisely children’s special need for protection and the rights that go with this that have, over time, led to growing mistrust – for any supposed young person could in fact (so goes the populist discourse) be an adult “fake” or “economic” migrant who hopes to cheat their way into receiving European social welfare payments. “Those who nevertheless manage to be accepted into a regular school must then constantly demonstrate that they have actually earned this privilege and will not become a problem case who is a burden on the taxpayers’ pocketbooks”, Lems explains. “This constant scrutiny creates all-but-invisible barriers and results in young people never really properly belonging. Although they are within the system, they remain excluded.” As a result of this practice, many young people give up or rebel, which in turn leads to new forms of exclusion.

Inclusion through education – missed opportunities
Notwithstanding her criticisms of the policies and practices regarding these young people, Lems still finds reasons for hope in her book Frontiers of Belonging. Today, all of the 16 youth whose everyday school experiences she observed over the course of several months have completed vocational training and become integrated as members of Swiss society. “But the path was bumpy and much more difficult than it needed to be”, Lems comments. Opportunities were missed in the efforts to enable integration. Lems explains: “One young man from Eritrea already had an excellent educational foundation when he came to Switzerland. He was very ambitious and dreamed of attending a college-preparatory school and studying medicine. But this desire didn’t fit into the schema of his counsellors and teachers – everyone simply assumed he couldn’t manage to go to university, even though he had an ideal basis for being able to do so.” Instead, he was encouraged to pursue an apprenticeship as a plastics technician. Following completion of the apprenticeship, he now works in a company that manufactures medical products. “In other words, one can’t really say that inclusion through education was a failure, but the current practice means that many opportunities are missed to train these young people to become part of the next generation of highly skilled professionals. And this is something that European societies can’t really afford to do without.”

Researchers discovered Egypt’s oldest tomb oriented to winter solstice

Located in the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa, it is precisely oriented to the sunrise of the winter solstice, in such a way that the sun's rays bathed with its light the place that was intended to house the statue of a governor of the city of Elephantine

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MALAGA

 

IMAGE: LOCATED IN THE NECROPOLIS OF QUBBET EL-HAWA (ASWAN), IT IS PRECISELY ORIENTED TO THE SUNRISE OF THE WINTER SOLSTICE, IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE SUN'S RAYS BATHED WITH ITS LIGHT THE PLACE THAT WAS INTENDED TO HOUSE THE STATUE OF A GOVERNOR OF THE CITY OF ELEPHANTINE, WHO LIVED AT THE END OF THE XII DYNASTY, AROUND 1830 B. C. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF JAEN AND MALAGA

Researchers of the University of Malaga (UMA) and the University of Jaen (UJA) have discovered Egypt’s oldest tomb oriented to the winter solstice. Located in the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa (Aswan), it is precisely oriented to the sunrise of the winter solstice, in such a way that the sun's rays bathed with its light the place that was intended to house the statue of a governor of the city of Elephantine, who lived at the end of the XII Dynasty, around 1830 b. C.

This way, the tomb perfectly registered the whole solar cycle, related to the idea of rebirth. While the winter solstice meant the beginning of the sunlight victory over darkness, the summer solstice generally coincided with the beginning of the annual flooding of the Nile, hence both events had an important symbolism linked to the resurrection of the deceased governor.

Perfection in the orientation

In this paper, recently published in the prestigious scientific journal Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, the researchers explain that, in order to achieve perfection in the orientation, the Egyptian architect simply used a two-cubit pole, around one meter long, a square and some robes, with which he was able to perfectly calculate the orientation of the funerary chapel and the location of the statue of the governor.

Moreover, they explain that the Egyptian architect not only achieved the perfect orientation, but also designed its volume with great precision, as determined in a previous paper published by the UJA in 2020 and signed by, among others, Professor Antonio Mozas –also author of this article–, which revealed that the volume of the tomb was perfectly calculated to avoid being coincident with any previous tomb.

The tomb of this governor, catalogued with No. 33, and possibly built by Governor Heqaib-ankh, was excavated by the UJA between 2008 and 2018. From that time on, it has been architecturally studied by different specialists, among them, the Professor of Architecture at the UMA Lola Joyanes, who has been participating in this project since 2015, working on her own line of research since 2019.

The work this researcher of the UMA has performed in the necropolis involves everything related to architecture and landscape, particularly, their study through drawing and photogrammetry.

Researchers of the University of Malaga (UMA) and the University of Jaen (UJA) have discovered Egypt’s oldest tomb oriented to the winter solstice

CREDIT

University of Malaga

A specific software to reproduce the position of the sun

The Andalusian scientists reached these conclusions thanks to the identification of the period where the tomb was built, which allowed them to use a specific software (Dialux Evo) that reproduces the position of the sun with respect to the horizon in ancient times.

“This study demonstrates that Egyptians were capable of calculating the position of the sun and the orientation of its rays to design their monuments. Although the tomb No. 33 of Qubbet el-Hawa is the oldest example ever found, certainly it is not the only one”, say the scientists.

This research has been financed by the Government of Andalusia within its projects “A way to immortality: beyond the preparation for death during Middle Kingdom at Qubbet el-Hawa (Aswan, Egypt)” of the University of Jaen and “Archaeology, Architecture and Landscape: typological evolution and state of conservation of tombs in the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa (Aswan, Egypt). Intervention criteria”.

Bibliography:

Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 22, No 2, (2022), pp. 209-235.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6815469

Professor of Architecture at the UMA Lola Joyanes, who has been participating in this project since 2015, working on her own line of research since 2019 

UNIVERSITY OF MALAGA\

CAPTION

The work this researcher of the UMA has performed in the necropolis involves everything related to architecture and landscape, particularly, their study through drawing and photogrammetry.

CREDIT

University of Malaga

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

SOLAR GEOMETRY AND THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ANNUAL CYCLE THROUGH ARCHITECTURE AND THE FUNERARY LANDSCAPE IN QUBBET EL HAWA