Study finds climate impact labels on sample fast food menu had strong effect on food selection

‘High climate impact’ label on burgers increased non-beef choices by 23 percent; findings highlight potential of promoting sustainable food choices

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

A new study has found that including climate impact labels on a sample fast food menu influenced participants’ food choices in favor of more climate-friendly items. The study was led by a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

For the study, more than 5,000 online participants were shown a sample menu resembling a fast food menu and asked to choose a single item for dinner. One group of participants received a menu with non-red meat menu items such as chicken sandwiches labeled “low climate impact.” Another group received a menu with red meat items—burgers—labeled “high climate impact.” A third control group received menus with QR codes on all items and no climate labels.

Both the high and low climate impact labels markedly reduced red meat selections compared to the control group, with the high impact labels having a strong effect. Menus with a “high climate impact” label on burgers increased non-beef choices by 23 percent compared to the control group. Menus that included “low climate impact” labels increased non-beef choices, such as a chicken sandwich or a salad, by about 10 percent more participants than those in the control group.

The study was published online December 27 in JAMA Network Open.

“These results suggest that menu labeling, particularly labels warning that an item has high climate impact, can be an effective strategy for encouraging more sustainable food choices in a fast food setting,” says study lead author Julia Wolfson, PhD, associate professor in the Department of International Health at the Bloomberg School.

Using labels on menus has long been seen as a potential approach for promoting healthful and sustainable food options. 

For their study, Wolfson and her co-authors wanted to test how signaling climate change impacts of fast food menu items might prompt people to opt for less red meat. Red meat consumption has been linked to health problems such as colorectal cancer, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and other illnesses. Less consumption of red meat also would also help to lower greenhouse gas emissions which would help reduce climate change because beef production is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the food and agriculture sector.

The study was fielded from March 30 to April 13, 2022, and included 5,049 nationwide participants. The “low climate impact” labels for vegetarian, chicken, or fish menu items were green. The “high climate impact” labels for all beef burger choices were red. The authors based the high/low impact climate categories on evidence that beef has high climate impact compared to other proteins. 

In addition to being asked to choose an item for dinner, participants were asked to rate how healthy they thought the item they ordered was. No matter which type of label was on the menu viewed, participants who selected a more sustainable (i.e., non-beef) item perceived their choice to be healthier compared to those who selected a beef item.

To assess the healthfulness of the sample menu items, the researchers applied a widely used measure called the Nutritional Profiling Index. The Index measures the healthfulness of foods on a 100-point scale, with 64 and lower considered healthful. The researchers found that the choices of the “high climate impact” label group scored slightly better than those of the control group and the “low climate impact” group. However, none of the items on the menu scored high enough to be considered optimally healthful.

While encouraging on the whole, the results suggest that positively framed “low climate impact” labels are less effective in encouraging sustainable food choices compared to “high climate impact” labels. At the same time, climate labels may have the unwanted side effect of making a choice seem healthier than it actually is.

“An undeserved health halo conferred to unhealthy menu items could encourage their overconsumption,” Wolfson says. “So we have to look for labeling strategies that create ‘win-wins’ for promoting both more sustainable and healthy choices.”

Wolfson and her colleagues aim to do similar studies in more real-world food-choice settings.

“Effect of climate change impact menu labels on fast food ordering choices among US adults: a randomized clinical trial” was co-authored by Julia Wolfson, Aviva Musicus, Cindy Leung, Ashley Gearhardt, and Jennifer Falbe.

Support for the research was provided by the National Institutes of Health (K01DK119166, 2T32CA057711, K01DK113068) and the National Science Foundation (0818839).

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DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.48320 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Effect of Climate Change Impact Menu Labels on Fast Food Ordering Choices Among US Adults

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Dec-2022

Consumer preferences for sustainably

produced meat and meat substitutes in

Japan

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TOKYO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: - view more 

CREDIT: TOKYO TECH

Meat has multiple nutritional benefits and is consumed as the primary source of protein by an increasing segment of the world’s population. However, there have been significant environmental costs associated with the growing demand for meat. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported in 2013 that livestock production accounts for 14.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity.

To reduce the environmental impact of meat production and meet the increasing demand for protein sustainably, there have been efforts to switch to alternative livestock farming practices and protein sources such as plant-based protein and lab-grown meat, also known as cultured meat.

To understand consumer preferences and attitudes towards these alternative protein sources, researchers from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) and Shinshu University in Japan conducted a survey involving 4,421 beef consumers and shoppers in Japan.

“To the best of our knowledge, this report is the first to explore and give insights on beef and meat substitutes in Japan, where there have been fewer reports than in other markets,” says Associate Professor Takumi Ohashi from Tokyo Tech. The results of this survey are discussed in their study, which was published in Meat Science and was made available online on 24 November 2022. 

Most of the respondents preferred domestic beef, but their choices of production methods and preference for meat substitutes were influenced by a wide range of factors such as cost, familiarity, and various sociodemographic characteristics. 

“Five segments could be identified according to the respondents’ choice preferences in each segment: novelty accepters, generous customers, attribute–economy balancers, price–conscious, and conservatives,” says Prof. Ohashi.

The largest group, comprising 32% of respondents, were generous customers who were willing to pay a premium for organic beef mince. The second largest group, comprising over 19% of the respondents were conservative consumers who preferred beef mince produced by conventional methods. 18.3% of respondents were attribute-economy balancers and 18.1% were price-conscious customers, who shared similar preferences with the generous customers but were more influenced by the price of meat when making their decisions.

In these four segments, plant-based substitutes and cultured meat were the least preferred. However, novelty accepters, who made up the smallest group of respondents at 13%, stood out in the survey due to their high preference towards sustainably grown meat and meat substitutes. This group was characterized by their willingness to try new and innovative products.

Overall, the survey found that 80% of respondents preferred Japanese-origin organic beef and were willing to pay a premium for the same.. However, most of the respondents were unlikely to switch to plant-based meat or cultured meat.

The results of the survey suggest that there is a diverse range of preferences and behaviors among consumers in Japan when it comes to the types of beef production and meat substitutes. Taking into consideration the values and preferences of each consumer segment can help incentivize the use of alternative and sustainable protein sources.

 

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JOURNAL

Meat Science

DOI

10.1016/j.meatsci.2022.109047 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Meat the challenge: Segmentation and profiling of Japanese beef mince and its substitutes consumers

A downward spiral: When subsistence communities struggle, forests do too

Deforestation is being driven by changing socioeconomic circumstances

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE ALLIANCE OF BIOVERSITY INTERNATIONAL AND THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR TROPICAL AGRICULTURE

 

IMAGE: HOUSEHOLDS LIKE THIS ONE IN THE AMAZON OFTEN RELY ON FORESTS FOR BASIC NEEDS AND LIVELIHOODS. view more 

CREDIT: N.PALMER

Subsistence communities often rely on natural resources to meet their basic needs. 90 percent of people globally living in extreme poverty depend on forests for at least part of their livelihoods, according to the FAO. These groups are generally not viewed as drivers of forest loss and degradation; in fact, they are traditionally linked with low environmental and carbon footprints.

However, new assessments suggest that this is changing due to socioeconomic factors that spur demands for natural resources. 

What turns ‘sustainable livelihoods’ into a deforestation driver?

In the review “Carbon footprints of forest degradation and deforestation by 'basic-needs populations'”, published in October 2022 in the journal Carbon Footprints, researchers assessed 161 basic needs communities across 101 scientific studies and found that livelihood activities by basic needs populations can become unsustainable via changes in context and socioeconomic factors, leading to “environmental downward spirals”, which in turn increase carbon footprints through deforestation and forest degradation.

Wendy Francesconi, the paper’s first author, is a Senior Environmental Scientist (leading research on Ecosystem Services and Environmental Impact) at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, an international research center.

She explains that this study aimed to identify what livelihood practices are more often associated with forest loss and degradation: “This review covered some of the most commonly known livelihood and economic activities carried out by rural and traditional communities; from animal husbandry, crop production, and fishing; to illegal practices, non-timber forest products, and wood harvesting.”

These practices should be recognized for both their global and community level effects, Francesconi says:

“We do not know the true extent of poverty-driven deforestation and forest degradation. While it is well understood that the industrial and commercial sectors are the main contributors to the climate and biodiversity crisis, subsistence communities will be directly impacted by immediate changes in the provision of ecosystem services, as they heavily depend on these.”

Filling in the gaps with context-based solutions

Poverty-driven deforestation and degradation is a complex, hard to measure issue.  But by better understanding unsustainable triggers and practices, researchers can also identify market-driven, inclusive, and targeted solutions to help slow or reverse this potentially significant source of land cover change and increasing carbon emissions.

Building on the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT’s longstanding research with subsistence communities to understand the relationship between agriculture, land cover changes, and resource extraction, Francesconi says that solutions will be as varied as the number of subsistence communities: they should be adapted to a community’s culture and customs, geographic context, food and production systems, and include market-based transformations that promote sustainable livelihood activities.

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JOURNAL

Carbon Footprints

DOI

10.20517/cf.2022.10 

ARTICLE TITLE

Carbon footprints of forest degradation and deforestation by “basic-needs populations”: a review

Serpent in the sky captured with ESO telescope

Reports and Proceedings

ESO

 

IMAGE: THIS IMAGE OF THE SPECTACULAR SH2-54 NEBULA WAS TAKEN IN INFRARED LIGHT USING ESO’S VISTA TELESCOPE AT PARANAL OBSERVATORY IN CHILE. THE CLOUDS OF DUST AND GAS THAT ARE NORMALLY OBVIOUS IN VISIBLE LIGHT ARE LESS EVIDENT HERE, AND IN THIS LIGHT WE CAN SEE THE LIGHT OF THE STARS BEHIND THE NEBULAE NOW PIERCING THROUGH. view more 

CREDIT: ESO/VVVX

A myriad of stars is revealed behind the faint orange glow of the Sh2-54 nebula in this new infrared image. Located in the constellation Serpens, this stunning stellar nursery has been captured in all its intricate detail using the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) based at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile.

When the ancients looked up at the night sky they saw random patterns in the stars. The Greeks, for instance, named one of these “constellations” Serpens (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpens), because of its resemblance to a snake. What they wouldn’t have been able to see is that at the tail end of this constellation there is a wealth of stunning astronomical objects (https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1719a/). These include the Eagle (https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0926a/), the Omega (https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1119a/) and the Sh2-54 nebulae; the last of these is revealed, in a new light, in this spectacular infrared image.

Nebulae are vast clouds of gas and dust from which stars are born. Telescopes have allowed astronomers to identify and analyse these rather faint objects in exquisite detail. The nebula shown here, located about 6000 light-years away, is officially called Sh2-54; the “Sh” refers to the US astronomer Steward Sharpless (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpless_catalog), who catalogued more than 300 nebulae in the 1950s.

As the technology used to explore the Universe progresses, so too does our understanding of these stellar nurseries. One of these advances is the ability to look beyond the light that can be detected by our eyes, such as infrared light. Just as the snake, the namesake of this nebula, evolved the ability to sense infrared light to better understand its environment, so too have we developed infrared instruments to learn more about the Universe.

Whilst visible light is easily absorbed by clouds of dust in nebulae, infrared light can pass through the thick layers of dust almost unimpeded. The image here therefore reveals a wealth of stars hidden behind the veils of dust. This is particularly useful as it allows scientists to study what happens in stellar nurseries in much greater detail, and thus learn more about how stars form.

This image was captured in infrared light using the sensitive 67-million-pixel camera (https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/surveytelescopes/vista/camera/) on ESO’s VISTA (https://www.eso.org/public/usa/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/surveytelescopes/vista/) telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile. It was taken as part of the VVVX (https://vvvsurvey.org/) survey — the VISTA Variables (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_star) in the Via Láctea (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way) eXtended survey. This is a multi-year project that has repeatedly observed a large portion of the Milky Way at infrared wavelengths, providing key data to understand stellar evolution.

More information

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) enables scientists worldwide to discover the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of all. We design, build and operate world-class observatories on the ground — which astronomers use to tackle exciting questions and spread the fascination of astronomy — and promote international collaboration in astronomy. Established as an intergovernmental organisation in 1962, today ESO is supported by 16 Member States (Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. ESO’s headquarters and its visitor centre and planetarium, the ESO Supernova, are located close to Munich in Germany, while the Chilean Atacama Desert, a marvellous place with unique conditions to observe the sky, hosts our telescopes. ESO operates three observing sites: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its Very Large Telescope Interferometer, as well as survey telescopes such as VISTA. Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South, the world’s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. Together with international partners, ESO operates ALMA on Chajnantor, a facility that observes the skies in the millimetre and submillimetre range. At Cerro Armazones, near Paranal, we are building “the world’s biggest eye on the sky” — ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope. From our offices in Santiago, Chile we support our operations in the country and engage with Chilean partners and society.

Links

* Photos of the VLT - http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/paranal/
* Photos of VISTA - http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/surveytelescopes/
* For journalists: subscribe to receive our releases under embargo in your language - https://www.eso.org/public/outreach/pressmedia/#epodpress_form
* For scientists: got a story? Pitch your research - http://www.eso.org/sci/publications/announcements/sciann17463.html

Contacts

Juan Carlos Muñoz Mateos
ESO Media Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6176
Email: press@eso.org

Amazon to shed over 18,000 jobs as it cuts costs, CEO says

PublishedShar

By Annabelle Liang

Business reporter

Amazon aims to shed more than 18,000 roles as it cuts costs, the technology giant's boss says.

Affected workers will be informed from 18 January, chief executive Andy Jassy said in a note to staff.

The cuts amount to around 6% of the firm's roughly 300,000-strong corporate workforce.

In November Amazon said it was starting a round of layoffs but did not give a figure of how many jobs it would cut.

"We are working to support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support," Mr Jassy said.

He added: "Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so."

Mr Jassy did not specify where affected employees were located, but he said the firm would communicate with organisations that represent employees "where applicable in Europe".

He also said the "majority of role eliminations" would be in the Amazon Stores operations and its People, Experience, and Technology team.

Two months ago the firm said it would focus on reducing expenses in its annual review of business operations.

Amazon had already introduced a hiring freeze and halted some of its warehouse expansions, warning it had over-hired during the pandemic.

It has also taken steps to shut some parts of its business, cancelling projects such as a personal delivery robot.

Amazon to cut thousands of more jobs than previously planned as warning signs of a tech slump flash red

BYSIGNE SPENCER, MATT DAY AND BLOOMBERG
January 4, 2023 

Andy Jassy, chief executive officer of Amazon.
DAVID RYDER/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

Amazon.com Inc. is laying off more than 17,000 employees — a significantly bigger number than previously planned — in the latest sign that a technology slump is deepening, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The cuts, which began last year, were previously expected to affect about 10,000 people. The reduction is concentrated in the firm’s corporate ranks, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter.

Though the prospect of layoffs has loomed over Amazon for months — the company has acknowledged that it hired too many people during the pandemic — the increasing total suggests the company’s outlook has darkened. It joins other tech giants in making major cuts. Earlier Wednesday, Salesforce Inc. announced plans to eliminate about 10% of its workforce and reduce its real estate holdings.

Amazon investors gave a positive reaction to the latest belt-tightening efforts, betting it may bolster profits at the e-commerce company. The shares climbed nearly 2% in late trading after the report.

Eliminating 17,000 workers would be the biggest cut yet for tech companies during the current slowdown, but Amazon also has a far bigger workforce than Silicon Valley peers. It had more than 1.5 million employees as of the end of September, meaning the latest cuts would represent about 1% of the workforce.

At the time the company was planning its cuts in November, a spokesperson said Amazon had roughly 350,000 corporate employees worldwide.

The world’s largest online retailer spent the end of last year adjusting to a sharp slowdown in e-commerce growth as shoppers returned to pre-pandemic habits. Amazon delayed warehouse openings and halted hiring in its retail group. It broadened the freeze to the company’s corporate staff and then began making cuts.

Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy has eliminated or curtailed experimental and unprofitable businesses, including teams working on a telehealth service, a delivery robot and a kids’ video-calling device, among other projects.

The Seattle-based company also is trying to align excess capacity with cooling demand. One effort includes trying to sell excess space on its cargo planes, according to people familiar with the matter.

The first wave of cuts landed heaviest on Amazon’s Devices and Services group, which builds the Alexa digital assistant and Echo smart speaker, among other products. The group’s chief told Bloomberg last month that layoffs in the unit totaled less than 2,000 people, and that Amazon remained committed to the voice assistant.

Some recruiters and employees in the company’s human resources group were offered buyouts. Jassy told employees in November that more cuts would come in 2023 at its retail and HR teams.

Joy Behar compared House Republicans to cannibalistic turtles – and conservatives are furious

Sky Palma
January 04, 2023

Joy Behar (ABC)

On The View this Wednesday, host Joy Behar slammed Congressional Republicans over their inability to unify the vote for House Speaker, calling them "turtles in an aquarium" who eat their own.

"I had a little what they called schadenfreude watching this," Behar said. "I sort of enjoyed that they're in such disarray because they deserve it. It was nice that they took a break from destroying the country and started to turn on each other. I was reading one time about turtles one time, and apparently if you have turtles in an aquarium and then you don't feed them well enough, they will start to eat other, and that's what's going on in Congress right now."

"I'm not just talking about Mitch McConnell when I'm talking about turtles here," she added. "I'm talking about all of them."

Her remarks were highlighted by the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog group, and The Daily Caller, a right-leaning news organization.

Unsurprisingly, conservatives on Twitter took umbrage at Behar's comments, with one person even calling her comments "hate speech."

"If leftists really believed hate speech was harmful, The View would be off the air. The View is all about hate," tweeted conservative writer Mike LaChance.

"That would be fun to watch with this show and its studio audience," added conservative Jim Treacher.

The outrage didn't stop there. "Leave it to Joy Behar to consistently be the stupidest person on TV. It’s a tough race but she always finds a way to pull out the win," one Twitter user said.

"Democracy scares communists. Prime example right here," added another.

'Romeo and Juliet' child actors sue over 1968 nude scene

Agence France-Presse
January 04, 2023

Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, seen here in 2018, claim in their suit that the nude scene in 'Romeo and Juliet' was exploitative(AFP)

The actors who played star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film are suing Paramount Pictures for child abuse over their brief nude scene, their lawyer said Tuesday.

Olivia Hussey was 15 and Leonard Whiting 16 when they starred in the Oscar-winning version of William Shakespeare's tragedy.

The actors, now both in their 70s, claim in a suit filed in Santa Monica last week that a bedroom scene in which buttocks and bare breasts are visible amounts to sexual exploitation by movie studio Paramount, and that the company was guilty of distributing nude pictures of adolescents.

The suit says Zeffirelli -- who died in 2019 -- cajoled them into performing the scene, telling them without it "the picture would fail", having originally insisted there would be no actual nudity, with both actors covered by flesh-colored underwear.

"Defendants were dishonest and secretly filmed the nude or partially nude minor children without their knowledge, in violation of the state and federal laws regulating indecency and exploitation of minors for profit," the suit says.

The complaint, which claims damages of hundreds of millions of dollars, says the two performers have suffered mental anguish and emotional distress in the five-and-a-half decades since the film came out, and that both had only limited professional success in its wake.

Both won Golden Globes for their performances.

Solomon Gresen, representing the actors, told AFP the years that have elapsed since the film was made did not lessen the damage done, especially as it has been re-released since.

"(Paramount) have images that they know are images of underage nudity that should be removed from the film. That would be the beginning for sure," he said.

"Sexually explicit images of children are bad and they shouldn't be tolerated.

"If they were under 16, then they're under 16. It's a sexually explicit image of an underage person, it should be forbidden."

December 31 was the final date for historical child sex abuse lawsuits to be filed in California under a temporary waiver of the statutes of limitation.

A raft of claims were lodged during the waiver, including one last week by a woman who says she was the teenage lover of Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler in the 1970s.


There was no immediate response from Paramount to AFP's request for comment.

Variety reported that during its 2018 interview with Hussey, she had defended the nude scene, which she insisted Zeffirelli had done tastefully.

"It was needed for the film," she told the outlet at the time.


© 2023 AFP

Coral bleaching causing 'unnecessary' fish fights

Agence France-Presse
January 04, 2023

Butterflyfish off the coast of Australia's Christmas Island are getting into more unnecessary fights due to a lack of food 

© Sally A. KEITH / LANCASTER UNIVERSITY/AFP


Fish that have lost food due to mass coral bleaching are getting into more unnecessary fights, causing them to expend precious energy and potentially threatening their survival, new research said Wednesday.

With the future of the world's coral reefs threatened by climate change, a team of researchers studied how a mass bleaching event affected 38 species of butterflyfish.

The colorfully patterned reef fish are the first to feel the effect of bleaching because they eat coral, so their "food source is hugely diminished really quickly", said Sally Keith, a marine ecologist at Britain's Lancaster University.

Keith and her colleagues had no idea a mass bleaching event was coming when they first studied the fish at 17 reefs off Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Christmas Island.

But when one of history's worst global bleaching events struck in 2016, it offered "the perfect opportunity" to study how it affected the fish's behavior, Keith told AFP.

The researchers returned within a year and were "shocked" to see the devastation of the once beautiful reefs, she said.

Donning their snorkels or scuba gear, the team watched the fish "swimming around looking for food that just isn't there anymore," she added.

"There was a bit of crying in our masks."

Losing battle

The bleaching particularly affected Acropora coral, the main food source for the butterflyfish.

That "changed the playing field of who's eating what," Keith said, putting different species of butterflyfish in increased competition for other types of coral.

When a butterflyfish wants to signal to a competitor that a particular bit of coral is theirs, they point their noses down and raise their spiny dorsal fins.

"It's almost like raising your hackles," Keith said.

If that fails, one fish will chase the other, usually until the other gives up.

"I followed one for about 50 meters (165 feet) once, that was quite tiring, they're very fast," Keith said.

The team observed 3,700 encounters between butterflyfish.

Before the coral bleaching event, different species of butterflyfish were able to resolve disputes using signaling around 28 percent of the time.

But that number fell to just 10 percent after the bleaching, indicating many "unnecessary attacks," according to the new study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

"Making poor decisions about who to fight, and where to invest their really valuable energy, could be that little bit that tips them over the edge towards actual starvation," said Keith, the study's lead author.

It is not clear if the fish will be able to adapt to the changes brought about by coral bleaching quickly enough, the researchers warned.

It could also have knock-on effects between species and up the food chain, she added.

Human-driven climate change has spurred mass coral bleaching as the world's oceans get warmer.

Modeling research last year found that even if the Paris climate goal of holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is reached, 99 percent of the world's coral reefs will not be able to recover. At two degrees of warming, the number rose to 100 percent.

© 2023 AFP

Reef fish must relearn the “rules of engagement” after coral bleaching

Mass coral bleaching events are making it harder for some species of reef fish to identify competitors, new research reveals

Peer-Reviewed Publication

LANCASTER UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: CHAETODON ADIERGASTOS view more 

CREDIT: DR SALLY KEITH

Mass coral bleaching events are making it harder for some species of reef fish to identify competitors, new research reveals.

 

Scientists studying reefs across five Indo-Pacific regions found that the ability of butterflyfish individuals to identify competitor species and respond appropriately was compromised after widespread loss of coral caused by bleaching. This change means they make poorer decisions that leave them less able to avoid unnecessary fights, using up precious limited energy.

 

The scientists behind the study believe these changes could have implications for species survival as further global warming increases the likelihood of coral loss.

 

Dr Sally Keith, Senior Lecturer in Marine Biology at Lancaster University and lead author of the study, said: “By recognising a competitor, individual fish can make decisions about whether to escalate, or retreat from, a contest – conserving valuable energy and avoiding injuries.

 

“These rules of engagement evolved for a particular playing field, but that field is changing. Repeated disturbances, such as bleaching events, alter the abundance and identity of corals - the food source of butterflyfish. It’s not yet clear whether these fish have the capacity to update their rule book fast enough to recalibrate their decisions.”

 

The researchers took more than 3,700 observations of 38 species of butterflyfish on reefs before and after coral bleaching event, and compared their behaviours.

 

After coral mortality caused by the bleaching event, signalling between fish of different species was less common, with encounters escalating to chases in more than 90% of cases – up from 72% before the event. Researchers also found the distance of these chases increased following bleaching, with fish expending more energy chasing away potential competitors than they would have done previously.

 

The researchers believe the environmental disturbances are affecting fish recognition and responses because the bleaching events, in which many coral die, are forcing fish species to change and diversify their diets and territories. Therefore, these large-scale environmental changes are disrupting long-established and co-evolved relationships that allow multiple fish species to coexist.

 

Dr Keith said: “By looking at how behaviour responds to real-life changes in the environment, and by seeing that those changes are the same regardless of location, we can start to predict how ecological communities might change into the future. These relatively small miscalculations in where to best invest energy could ultimately push them over the edge.”

Chaetodon_trifascialis on Acropora table

DEAD ACROPORA TABLES

Chaetodon_guttatissimus

CREDIT

Dr Sally Keith

The findings are outlined in the paper ‘Rapid resource depletion on coral reefs disrupts competitor recognition processes among butterfly species’, which has been published by the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The paper’s authors are Dr Sally Keith, Dr Lisa Boström-Einarsson, Dr Ian Hartley of Lancaster University, Dr Jean-Paul Hobbs or the University of Queensland, and Prof Nathan Sanders of the University of Michigan.

The study was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Australian Research Council, and the Villum Foundation.

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI

10.1098/rspb.2022.2158 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Rapid resource depletion on coral reefs disrupts competitor recognition processes among butterfly species

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

4-Jan-2023

Bionic penis: Synthetic tissue restores erections in pigs

Agence France-Presse
January 04, 2023

Pigs in sty leaning on wall (Shutterstock)

Researchers in China have used artificial tissue to restore erectile function in pigs, a promising development for repairing penile damage in humans.

"This is an area that has received little attention, yet the related need is huge," said Xuetao Shi, an author of the study published on Wednesday in the science journal Matter.

An estimated 50 percent of men between the ages of 40 and 70 experience some form of erectile dysfunction, the researchers said, and about five percent suffer from Peyronie's disease.

Peyronie's disease, commonly caused by injury during sex, involves damage to the fibrous sheath of penile tissue known as the tunica albuginea that allows for the maintaining of an erection.

Scar tissue called plaque can cause curved or painful erections or penis shortening and may require surgical treatment.

The Chinese researchers said other tissues from the body have been used to make patches to replace a damaged tunica albuginea but those are sometimes rejected by the immune system.

Instead, the research group created an artificial tunica albuginea (ATA) that mimics the elasticity of the natural tissue with a substance called hydrogel.

Hydrogels can be natural or synthetic and are being used for a growing number of biomedical applications, including contact lenses and tissue engineering.

For the study, the researchers tested the artificial tissue on Bama miniature pigs with injuries to the tunica albuginea.

The ATA patches and a saline injection restored erectile function "similar to that of normal penile tissue," they said.

"The erection of the penis returned to normal after suturing the ATA at the injured part, and the long-term prognosis was satisfactory," they said.

Shi, a researcher at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, said "the results one month after the procedure showed that the ATA group achieved good, though not perfect, repair results."

The researchers said the findings "show promise for repairing penile injuries in humans" and can potentially be "extended to many other load-bearing tissues."


"Our work at this stage focuses on the repair of a single tissue in the penis," Shi said.

"The next stage will be to consider the repair of the overall penile defect or the construction of an artificial penis from a holistic perspective."

The researchers will also explore techniques to repair other tissues, including the heart and bladder, Shi said.


© 2023 AFP

An artificial tissue restores erectile function in pigs

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CELL PRESS

 

IMAGE: BIONIC ARTIFICIAL PENILE TUNICA ALBUGINEA view more 

CREDIT: MATTER/CHAI ET AL.

Scientists have developed a synthetic tissue that repairs injuries and restores normal erectile function in a pig model, in a study publishing January 4 in the journal Matter. The findings suggest that the artificial tunica albuginea (ATA), which mimics a fibrous sheath of tissue necessary to maintain erections, shows promise for repairing penile injuries in humans.

“We largely foresaw the problems and results of the ATA construction process, but we were still surprised by the results in the animal experiments, where the penis regained normal erection immediately after the use of ATA,” said Xuetao Shi, a researcher at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, China, and an author of the study.

“The greatest advantage of the ATA we report is that it achieves tissue-like functions by mimicking the microstructure of natural tissues,” he added. “This design approach is not limited to the biomimetic design of tunica albuginea tissues but can be extended to many other load-bearing tissues.”

Shi said that his team’s research focus has recently turned to producing biomaterials to address issues in male reproductive health, including erectile dysfunction, infertility, and Peyronie’s disease, a connective tissue disorder thought to occur as a result of injury from sex. About half of men between the ages of 40 and 70 reportedly experience some form of erectile dysfunction, while an estimated 5% suffer from Peyronie’s disease, in which scar tissue forms in the tunica albuginea, causing pain and a range of other effects.

“We noticed that this is an area that has received little attention, yet the related need is huge,” said Shi.

While many previous studies have focused on repairing the urethra, Shi said that less research has focused on restoring erectile function. And although clinicians can treat patients with damaged tunica albuginea tissue by making patches from other tissues in the patient’s body combined with extracellular matrix, these patches come with disadvantages. Sometimes the immune system rejects them or complications occur at the donor site, and since their microstructures are different from that of natural tunica albuginea, it is difficult for these patches to replace the natural tissue perfectly.

To address this issue, Shi and colleagues developed ATA based on polyvinyl alcohol, which has a curled fiber structure similar to that of the natural tissue. As a result, the synthetic material has biomechanical properties that mimic those of tunica albuginea. The researchers performed laboratory experiments to investigate the artificial tissue’s toxicity and blood compatibility, since it is designed to remain in the body for a long time, and determined that it should not be harmful to other tissues.

Next, they tested the ATA in Bama miniature pigs with injuries to the tunica albuginea. The researchers found that patches made from the artificial tissue restored erectile function such that it was similar to that of normal penile tissue, suggesting the patch successfully replaced the natural tissues’ function. The researchers analyzed the effect of the ATA patches after one month, finding that while the artificial tissue did not restore the microstructure of surrounding natural tissue, it developed fibrosis comparable to that in normal tissue and achieved a normal erection after the penis was injected with saline.

“The results one month after the procedure showed that the ATA group achieved good, though not perfect, repair results,” said Shi.

Shi noted that in penile injuries the tunica albuginea is usually not the only tissue damaged. Surrounding nerves and the corpus cavernosum, the spongy tissue that runs through the penis’ shaft, are often damaged as well, making repairs even more difficult.

“Our work at this stage focuses on the repair of a single tissue in the penis, and the next stage will be to consider the repair of the overall penile defect or the construction of an artificial penis from a holistic perspective,” said Shi.

He added that the researchers also plan to investigate techniques to repair other tissues, including the heart and bladder.

Artificial tissue demonstrated in pig corpus spongiosum (VIDEO)

Pig corpus spongiosum is injected with normal saline to erect the penis, and the shape of the penis after erection is observed.

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Key Research and Development Program of Guangzhou, Open Funding of Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering, NERC, Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation Outstanding Youth Project, Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou, Hong Kong ITC, and Hong Kong Research Grant Council.

Matter, Chai et al.: “Bionic artificial penile Tunica albuginea” https://cell.com/matter/fulltext/S2590-2385(22)00663-4

Matter (@Matter_CP), published by Cell Press, is a new journal for multi-disciplinary, transformative materials sciences research. Papers explore scientific advancements across the spectrum of materials development—from fundamentals to application, from nano to macro. Visit https://www.cell.com/matter. To receive Cell Press media alerts, please contact press@cell.com.

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JOURNAL

Matter

DOI

10.1016/j.matt.2022.11.032 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Bionic Artificial Penile Tunica Albuginea

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

4-Jan-2023