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)
Thursday, January 05, 2023
Argonne researchers win defense programs award for nuclear safety work
Award recognizes work carried out in collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers to secure America’s stockpile.
A multi-laboratory team including researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has received the 2021 Defense Programs Award of Excellence from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
Given for work directed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and performed in collaboration at Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS), a DOE Office of Science user facility, the award recognizes classified experiments done to ensure the security and proper stewardship of America’s nuclear stockpile.
“The strong collaboration between the national labs and the use of national user facilities like the APS resulted in an enhancement of our stockpile stewardship and national security,” said Argonne interim classification officer Greg Robinson. “It shows the capabilities and what can be accomplished by collaborative work of the labs.”
Physicist Dayne Fratanduono of LLNL agrees. “Argonne and Livermore have partnered for many years to help realize a new capability to support the critical national security mission of the NNSA at the APS,” he said. “It’s been exciting and rewarding to help in this endeavor over the years. This research would not have been possible without Argonne’s continued support. I hope the recent collaboration between Livermore and Argonne marks a step in a long lasting collaboration to address future national security needs using the APS.”
Along with Robinson, other Argonne recipients of the award are Tracy Bennish, Keith Bradley (now at Los Alamos National Laboratory), Jonathan Lang, John Quintana, Eric Rod, Maddury Somayazulu, Sandy Schroeder, Jesse Smith and George Vukovich. The LLNL recipients are Nolan Bernal, Hyunchae Cynn, William Evans, Fratanduono, Sony Jacob, Zsolt Jenei, Earl O’Bannon, Daniel Sneed, Rick Sood and Nenad Velisavljevic.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.
When American democracy is weakened, faith in the U.S. as an ally falters
Study shows how election interference affects public opinion from abroad
A new study finds that foreign interference in an American election can reduce faith abroad in the United States as an effective and trustworthy ally, suggesting that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election had some international ramifications.
“Much of the literature on the weakening of American democracy has focused on internal origins, such as the polarization of political parties,” says co-author Yusaku Horiuchi, a professor of government and the Mitsui Professor of Japanese Studies at Dartmouth. “Yet, our study is the first to report on how foreign interference in U.S. elections affects the public opinion in an important U.S. ally, Japan, while also providing new insight into how democratic backsliding by external influences can impact international relations.”
The 2019 report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded that “the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion,” both through social media campaigns and by hacking materials in an effort to discredit presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
To examine how Russian election interference in U.S. elections affects foreign citizens’ trust in the United States and whether the U.S. is then perceived as an effective ally, Horiuchi and co-author Benjamin Goldsmith, a professor in the School of Politics and International Relations at the Australian National University, surveyed approximately 2,600 citizens of Japan in December 2019.
Respondents were randomly assigned to one of three groups. One group was given information stating that election interference had reduced American democracy; the second group was given information that it had not reduced American democracy; and the third cohort was given no information and was asked to proceed directly to the survey questions.
The survey focused on the Japan-U.S. alliance and gauged respondents’ views of the U.S. as an ally in terms of trust and effectiveness: Did they believe that the U.S. would keep its promise to defend Japan, or not? Did they believe that the U.S. can defend Japan, or not?
Respondents could choose from four answers: Not at all (1), not very much (2), a fair amount (3), and a great deal (4). The researchers used a statistical analysis to review the data.
The results showed that Japanese citizens’ faith in the U.S. as an ally was higher when they were informed that U.S. democracy is functioning versus not functioning. In addition, their beliefs that the U.S. could effectively defend Japan were reduced when they received information stating that electoral interference was successful in damaging American democracy.
As the co-authors explain, the image of the U.S. as a democracy is part of the foundation for public support for an alliance and is fundamental to America’s “soft power,” the term coined by Harvard political scientist Joseph Nye describing a country’s ability to achieve outcomes without the use of force or coercion.
“If the U.S. appears as if it cannot defend itself against foreign election interference, it may look weak and allies may begin to question whether the U.S. can be an effective ally,” says Horiuchi. “Our findings provide evidence that successful electoral interference by another country also has international security implications.”
The research team plans to build on this work. They are currently in the process of designing a large cross-national survey to understand how much U.S. democratic backsliding caused by domestic actors also affects foreign public opinion of the U.S.
IMAGE: SCHEMATIC SHOWING THE MAIN SOURCES OF CORROSION IN LITHIUM BATTERIES: 1) THE CURRENT COLLECTOR MADE OUT OF ALUMINUM, 2) THE LITHIUM ITSELF, AND 3) THE BATTERY’S STAINLESS-STEEL CASING.view more
CREDIT: NANO RESEARCH ENERGY, TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Energy storage is an essential element of the clean energy transition, from the electrification of cars to helping smooth out the intermittency of variable renewables such as wind and solar. Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are already one of the most prominent energy storage options due to their high energy density and relatively low and declining cost. There also seems to be no end to the growth in types of electronic devices, from mobile phones to laptops, making similar demands on these battery types.
However, despite electrochemistry specialists and battery manufacturers delivering steady improvements over the years, even state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries continue to struggle to support many heavy-duty energy storage applications. This is in part due to their short calendar life.
A battery whose capacity (the total amount of electricity it is able to produce) has decreased to 80 percent of its initial capacity is said to have reached the end of its calendar life. For heavy-duty applications such as grid-scale energy storage, in order to avoid the high costs of replacement, the calendar life of Li-ion batteries needs to be around 15-20 years following installation.
But the technology is still far from delivering on that promise.Researchers say that for heavy-duty energy storage to be more of a commercial success, investigation into the causes of lithium battery corrosion and how to inhibit this need much closer attention.
Like all batteries, the calendar life of lithium batteries, including Li-ion batteries, is dictated by how stable (resistant to degradation) they are during storage and cycles of charging.
And cycling stability in turn depends on the stability of the anode (the negative electrode), cathode (the positive electrode), and electrolyte (the medium that provides the transport mechanism for ions between the electrodes)—both at the interfaces between these battery components and in their bulk material (main part of their mass).
An enormous amount of effort by electrochemists has gone into optimizing bulk material structure, modifying interfaces, and designing better electrolytes in order to improve cycling stability.
“But comparatively less effort has gone into improving the second element that determines calendar life: storage stability,” said Xue-Qiang Zhang the paper author from Beijing Institute of Technology, “and how this is undermined by corrosion.”
Lithium batteries can spend a long-time storing energy and not cycling through. During storage, there are various unwanted chemical reactions that result in the deterioration of components for many reasons, not least the high reactivity of electrode materials, and the incompatibility between the element that collects the electric current and electrolytes. This deterioration—also known as corrosion—degrades the structural stability of the batteries, ultimately shortening calendar life.
As a result, any effort at improving storage stability must focus on a better understanding of the mechanisms of corrosion and developing strategies to inhibit it.
“We wanted to give an overview of the current state of understanding of corrosion and storage stability so as to better understand and tackle research gaps,” added Jia-Qi Huang also a paper author from Beijing Institute of Technology, “Corrosion remains a largely unsolved issue in lithium batteries of all types.”
Having surveyed the scientific literature on the topic, the authors concluded that corrosion reactions in Li batteries primarily involve three aspects: the electrochemical corrosion of aluminum current collector, electrochemical corrosion of the stainless-steel case that encloses the battery, and the galvanic corrosion (when one metal corrodes more than another metal with which it is in electrical contact, and both are immersed in the electrolyte solution) of the anode. Ultimately, the corrosion originates with the chemical and electrochemical reactions between electrode materials and the electrolytes.
Researchers have so far focussed on three main strategies for inhibiting corrosion: attempting to better regulate electrolyte decomposition reactions; isolating the electrode materials from the electrolytes by some forms of artificial coating; and trying to lower the reactivity of electrode materials via modifying their surfaces.
The authors offered five main recommendations to give a boost to research into lithium battery storage corrosion issues.
First, much more work needs to be performed investigating galvanic corrosion, which is common in lithium batteries. There are few effective strategies to mitigate this at present. Surface modification of the copper current collector is one possible strategy worth investigating. This might be achieved by the use of electrolyte additives. Development of a protective surface coating for the copper foil might be another approach.
Second, any future improvement strategies need to be evaluated under realistic conditions of temperature, humidity, and so on, not just in the lab. The authors found that most novel corrosion inhibition strategies have generally been evaluated under very mild environmental conditions in the laboratory, not in the real world.
Relatedly, a third strategy would focus on accelerating these evaluation methods. Corrosion is normally a slow process, so evaluation is necessarily time-consuming and thus costly. Figuring out a way to speed this up is essential.
Alongside real-world observation, researchers should embrace real-time monitoring methods to capture an understanding of corrosion in working batteries. This should enable a greater ability to recognize the healthy state of the battery, and thus more ably predict battery life and avoid sudden battery failure.
Finally, and exacerbating all these problems, new battery designs are continuously emerging. New electrode materials and electrolytes are constantly being developed. Cycling performance of these novel designs is regularly tested, but not their impact on corrosion. Yet such new materials potentially alter the corresponding corrosion mechanisms and thus require alterations to corrosion inhibition strategies.
The authors of the review hope that once battery researchers embrace their recommendations, some real breakthroughs countering lithium battery corrosion and thus extending calendar life can be made.
Nano Research Energy is launched by Tsinghua University Press, aiming at being an international, open-access and interdisciplinary journal. We will publish research on cutting-edge advanced nanomaterials and nanotechnology for energy. It is dedicated to exploring various aspects of energy-related research that utilizes nanomaterials and nanotechnology, including but not limited to energy generation, conversion, storage, conservation, clean energy, etc. Nano Research Energy will publish four types of manuscripts, that is, Communications, Research Articles, Reviews, and Perspectives in an open-access form.
SciOpen is a professional open access resource for discovery of scientific and technical content published by the Tsinghua University Press and its publishing partners, providing the scholarly publishing community with innovative technology and market-leading capabilities. SciOpen provides end-to-end services across manuscript submission, peer review, content hosting, analytics, and identity management and expert advice to ensure each journal’s development by offering a range of options across all functions as Journal Layout, Production Services, Editorial Services, Marketing and Promotions, Online Functionality, etc. By digitalizing the publishing process, SciOpen widens the reach, deepens the impact, and accelerates the exchange of ideas.
Mechanism, quantitative characterization, and inhibition of corrosion in lithium batteries
Cheap, sustainable hydrogen through solar power
Withstanding high temperatures and the light of 160 suns, a new catalyst is 10 times more efficient than previous sun-powered water-splitting devices of its kind
A new kind of solar panel, developed at the University of Michigan, has achieved 9% efficiency in converting water into hydrogen and oxygen—mimicking a crucial step in natural photosynthesis. Outdoors, it represents a major leap in the technology, nearly 10 times more efficient than solar water-splitting experiments of its kind.
But the biggest benefit is driving down the cost of sustainable hydrogen. This is enabled by shrinking the semiconductor, typically the most expensive part of the device. The team's self-healing semiconductor withstands concentrated light equivalent to 160 suns.
Currently, humans produce hydrogen from the fossil fuel methane, using a great deal of fossil energy in the process. However, plants harvest hydrogen atoms from water using sunlight. As humanity tries to reduce its carbon emissions, hydrogen is attractive as both a standalone fuel and as a component in sustainable fuels made with recycled carbon dioxide. Likewise, it is needed for many chemical processes, producing fertilizers for instance.
"In the end, we believe that artificial photosynthesis devices will be much more efficient than natural photosynthesis, which will provide a path toward carbon neutrality," said Zetian Mi, U-M professor of electrical and computer engineering who led the study reported in Nature.
The outstanding result comes from two advances. The first is the ability to concentrate the sunlight without destroying the semiconductor that harnesses the light.
"We reduced the size of the semiconductor by more than 100 times compared to some semiconductors only working at low light intensity," said Peng Zhou, U-M research fellow in electrical and computer engineering and first author of the study. "Hydrogen produced by our technology could be very cheap."
And the second is using both the higher energy part of the solar spectrum to split water and the lower part of the spectrum to provide heat that encourages the reaction. The magic is enabled by a semiconductor catalyst that improves itself with use, resisting the degradation that such catalysts usually experience when they harness sunlight to drive chemical reactions.
In addition to handling high light intensities, it can thrive in high temperatures that are punishing to computer semiconductors. Higher temperatures speed up the water splitting process, and the extra heat also encourages the hydrogen and oxygen to remain separate rather than renewing their bonds and forming water once more. Both of these helped the team to harvest more hydrogen.
For the outdoor experiment, Zhou set up a lens about the size of a house window to focus sunlight onto an experimental panel just a few inches across. Within that panel, the semiconductor catalyst was covered in a layer of water, bubbling with the hydrogen and oxygen gasses it separated.
The catalyst is made of indium gallium nitride nanostructures, grown onto a silicon surface. That semiconductor wafer captures the light, converting it into free electrons and holes—positively charged gaps left behind when electrons are liberated by the light. The nanostructures are peppered with nanoscale balls of metal, 1/2000th of a millimeter across, that use those electrons and holes to help direct the reaction.
A simple insulating layer atop the panel keeps the temperature at a toasty 75 degrees Celsius, or 167 degrees Fahrenheit, warm enough to help encourage the reaction while also being cool enough for the semiconductor catalyst to perform well. The outdoor version of the experiment, with less reliable sunlight and temperature, achieved 6.1% efficiency at turning the energy from the sun into hydrogen fuel. However, indoors, the system achieved 9% efficiency.
The next challenges the team intends to tackle are to further improve the efficiency and to achieve ultrahigh purity hydrogen that can be directly fed into fuel cells.
Some of the intellectual property related to this work has been licensed to NS Nanotech Inc. and NX Fuels Inc., which were co-founded by Mi. The University of Michigan and Mi have a financial interest in both companies.
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization Innovation Hub, the Blue Sky Program in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan, and by the Army Research Office.
A device that can harvest water from the air and provide hydrogen fuel—entirely powered by solar energy—has been a dream for researchers for decades. Now, EPFL chemical engineer Kevin Sivula and his team have made a significant step towards bringing this vision closer to reality. They have developed an ingenious yet simple system that combines semiconductor-based technology with novel electrodes that have two key characteristics: they are porous, to maximize contact with water in the air; and transparent, to maximize sunlight exposure of the semiconductor coating. When the device is simply exposed to sunlight, it takes water from the air and produces hydrogen gas. The results are published on 4 January 2023 in Advanced Materials.
What’s new? It’s their novel gas diffusion electrodes, which are transparent, porous and conductive, enabling this solar-powered technology for turning water – in its gas state from the air – into hydrogen fuel.
“To realize a sustainable society, we need ways to store renewable energy as chemicals that can be used as fuels and feedstocks in industry. Solar energy is the most abundant form of renewable energy, and we are striving to develop economically-competitive ways to produce solar fuels,” says Sivula of EPFL’s Laboratory for Molecular Engineering of Optoelectronic Nanomaterials and principal investigator of the study.
Inspiration from a plant’s leaf
In their research for renewable fossil-free fuels, the EPFL engineers in collaboration with Toyota Motor Europe, took inspiration from the way plants are able to convert sunlight into chemical energy using carbon dioxide from the air. A plant essentially harvests carbon dioxide and water from its environment, and with the extra boost of energy from sunlight, can transform these molecules into sugars and starches, a process known as photosynthesis. The sunlight’s energy is stored in the form of chemical bonds inside of the sugars and starches.
The transparent gas diffusion electrodes developed by Sivula and his team, when coated with a light harvesting semiconductor material, indeed act like an artificial leaf, harvesting water from the air and sunlight to produce hydrogen gas. The sunlight’s energy is stored in the form of hydrogen bonds.
Instead of building electrodes with traditional layers that are opaque to sunlight, their substrate is actually a 3-dimensional mesh of felted glass fibers.
Marina Caretti, lead author of the work, says, "Developing our prototype device was challenging since transparent gas-diffusion electrodes have not been previously demonstrated, and we had to develop new procedures for each step. However, since each step is relatively simple and scalable, I think that our approach will open new horizons for a wide range of applications starting from gas diffusion substrates for solar-driven hydrogen production.”
From liquid water to humidity in the air
Sivula and other research groups have previously shown that it is possible to perform artificial photosynthesis by generating hydrogen fuel from liquid water and sunlight using a device called a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell. A PEC cell is generally known as a device that uses incident light to stimulate a photosensitive material, like a semiconductor, immersed in liquidsolution to cause a chemical reaction. But for practical purposes, this process has its disadvantages e.g. it is complicated to make large-area PEC devices that use liquid.
Sivula wanted to show that the PEC technology can be adapted for harvesting humidity from the air instead, leading to the development of their new gas diffusion electrode. Electrochemical cells (e.g. fuel cells) have already been shown to work with gases instead of liquids, but the gas diffusion electrodes used previously are opaque and incompatible with the solar-powered PEC technology.
Now, the researchers are focusing their efforts into optimizing the system. What is the ideal fiber size? The ideal pore size? The ideal semiconductors and membrane materials? These are questions that are being pursued in the EU Project “Sun-to-X”, which is dedicated to advance this technology, and develop new ways to convert hydrogen into liquid fuels.
Making transparent, gas-diffusion electrodes
In order to make transparent gas diffusion electrodes, the researchers start with a type of glass wool, which is essentially quartz (also known as silicon oxide) fibers and process it into felt wafers by fusing the fibers together at high temperature. Next, the wafer is coated with a transparent thin film of fluorine-doped tin oxide, known for its excellent conductivity, robustness and ease to scale-up. These first steps result in a transparent, porous, and conducting wafer, essential for maximizing contact with the water molecules in the air and letting photons through. The wafer is then coated again, this time with a thin-film of sunlight-absorbing semiconductor materials. This second thin coating still lets light through, but appears opaque due to the large surface area of the porous substrate. As is, this coated wafer can already produce hydrogen fuel once exposed to sunlight.
The scientists went on to build a small chamber containing the coated wafer, as well as a membrane for separating the produced hydrogen gas for measurement. When their chamber is exposed to sunlight under humid conditions, hydrogen gas is produced, achieving what the scientists set out to do, showing that the concept of a transparent gas- diffusion electrode for solar-powered hydrogen gas production can be achieved.
While the scientists did not formally study the solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency in their demonstration, they acknowledge that it is modest for this prototype, and currently less than can be achieved in liquid-based PEC cells. Based on the materials used, the maximum theoretical solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of the coated wafer is 12%, whereas liquid cells have been demonstrated up to 19% efficient.
IMAGE: STERNARCHORHYNCHUS HAGEDORNAE -- ONE OF 330 SPECIES IDENTIFIED IN A NEW SURVEY OF FRESHWATER FISH DIVERSITY OF MADIDI NATIONAL PARK IN BOLIVIAview more
CREDIT: ROB WALLACE/WCS
The number of fish species recorded in Madidi National Park and Natural Integrated Management Area (PNANMI), Bolivia has doubled to a staggering 333 species – with as many as 35 species new to science – according of a study conducted as part of the Identidad Madidi expedition led by the Wildlife Conservation Society. The results are described in the latest issue of Neotropical Hydrobiology and Aquatic Conservation.
The study lists the fish species whose presence in Madidi has been confirmed, including those recorded during the Identidad Madidi expeditions, and a compilation of species occurrences listed in previous studies, providing an estimate of the total ichthyological richness for this protected area. The species list for the Madidi protected area includes 35 possible new species for science.
Species range in size from the invasive arapaima (Arapaima gigas), a mouth breathing giant weighing in at more than 200 kg and more than 3 m long, to the seasonally abundant killifish (Anablepsoides beniensis) from the Rivulidae family found in pools in natural savannas that are just 1.5 cm long. The list also includes the most attractive gamefish from the Amazon, the golden dorado (Salminus brasiliensis), as well as migratory catfish from the Amazonian goliath catfish (Brachyplatystoma filamentosum) to the tiny chipi chipi pencil catfish whose massive collective migration is a local phenomenon (Trichomycterus barbouri). Another killifish (Orestias sp.) is found in some of the highest Andean lakes at 4,300 m in Madidi, whilst in the stagnant ponds of the wonderful Amazon electric knife fish (Gymnotus carapo) and the swamp eel (Synbranchus madeirae), and in the fast-flowing streams of the Amazon headwaters, several species of naked catfish (Astroblepus spp.), including probable several new species for science.
The 35 possible new species for science includes candidates of the genus Knodus, Microgenys, Moenkhausia, Characidium, Apareiodon, Brachyhypopomus, Ernstichthys (genus reported for the first time in Bolivia), Astroblepus,Trichomycterus (including one species recently described and named in honor of a pioneer French ichthyologist in Bolivia), and a three-barbled catfish (Cetopsorhamdia), a striking pike cichlid (Crenicichla) and a charming bumblebee catfish (Microglanis), among others.
For four years, the specialists conducted extensive ichthyological sampling at 13 sites in Madidi National Park, using different sampling techniques: electrofishing, gill nets, trawls, hook and line, and ichthyoplankton nets. Ichthyoplankton species were identified by genetic characterization (metabarcoding). A total of 333 species distributed in 43 families and 13 orders were recorded. This number doubles the previously known ichthyofauna (161) in Madidi.
The largest number of species are found in the order Characiformes (139 species; 41.7 percent), followed by Siluriformes (137 species; 41.1 percent), and Cichliformes (19 species; 5.7 percent), which together represent 88.6 percent of species richness. The remaining 11.4 percent is distributed in 10 other orders. The families with the highest number of species are the characids (73 species; 21.9 percent), loricariids (36; 10.8 percent), heptapterids (21; 6.3 percent), pimelodids (21; 6.3 percent) and cichlids (19; 5.7 percent).
Lead author of the study, Guido Miranda, of the Wildlife Conservation Society said “With an extension of 18,957.5 square kilometers (7,319 square miles), Madidi covers 1.3 percent of the Madeira River basin, but conserves 25 percent of the known species in the basin. Madidi also represents only 1.8 percent of the Bolivian territory, but it conserves almost 40 percent of the ichthyofauna recorded in Bolivia. This study has more than doubled our knowledge about fish diversity in this incredible protected area, but with several sub-basins yet to sample in the park, this is only the beginning”.
Dr. Rob Wallace, Senior Conservation Scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, leader of the Identidad Madidi expeditions, and coauthor, said “Due to its great diversity of habitats, mostly as a result of the altitudinal gradient from 184 meters (Heath River) to 6,044 meters (Chaupi Orko Peak), Madidi is considered the most biodiverse protected area on the planet. The Identidad Madidi initiative aimed to firmly establish this record-breaking status for the park, whilst communicating the importance of Madidi to the Bolivian people. This is the first of several biodiversity summary articles that the Bolivian scientists on the expedition are systematizing to share the results of our efforts with Bolivia and the world”.
4Institut de Recherche pour le Development, Montpellier, France.
JOURNAL
Neotropical Hydrobiology and Aquatic Conservation
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Meta-analysis
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
Animals
ARTICLE TITLE
Ichthyofauna of the megadiverse Madidi National Park in the Bolivian Andean Amazon
Multidisciplinary, cross-border collaboration and stable levels of funding extend knowledge of the oceans
The authors analyzed 300 projects completed since 1972, of which 46 were supported under the auspices of the FAPESP Research Program for Biodiversity Characterization, Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use (BIOTA-FAPESP).
FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO
IMAGE: LOW TIDE AT PRAIA DA FORTALEZA, UBATUBA, SÃO PAULO STATE: MOST OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH FOCUSES ON COASTAL AREASview more
CREDIT: MARIANA CABRAL DE OLIVEIRA/USP
The oceans are still less known than the Moon, but scientists have been exploring them more intensely in recent decades. Much of the research has been conducted with FAPESP’s support, as shown by a review of the literature produced by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP), the Federal University of the ABC (FABC) and São Paulo State University (UNESP), and published in the journal Biota Neotropica. The article is part of a special issue dedicated to FAPESP’s sixtieth anniversary, which was commemorated in 2022.
The authors analyzed 300 projects completed since 1972, of which 46 were supported under the auspices of the FAPESP Research Program for Biodiversity Characterization, Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use (BIOTA-FAPESP). Launched in 1999, BIOTA has significantly increased the number of ocean exploration research projects. The increase has been particularly strong since 2010, thanks to a 2009 call for proposals in this area.
Another important contribution has come from 13 projects funded by the FAPESP Research Program on Global Climate Change (RPGCC), launched in 2008.
“We can’t claim to have reviewed the state of the art in Brazilian ocean research. We focused on a specific angle. We didn’t analyze all the oceanographic studies conducted in Brazil, or even in São Paulo state, because we didn’t include projects funded by CNPq [the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, an agency of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, MCTI] or by other funding agencies. On the other hand, to some extent the review does reflect all the work done in São Paulo and the rest of Brazil,” said Mariana Cabral de Oliveira, last author of the article. Oliveira is a professor at USP’s Institute of Biosciences and a former member of BIOTA’s steering committee (2009-18).
As the oldest university in the state, USP already existed when FAPESP was set up, in 1962. It still accounts for a majority of the oceanographic projects funded by FAPESP: 66%, followed by UNESP and the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), with 9% each; and the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), with 6%.
Until the 1980s, however, the differences were greater, with USP accounting for 82% of the total. The increase in the share of other institutions was partly due to the creation of new centers, such as UNESP’s São Paulo State Coast Campus (CLP) at São Vicente, established in 2002; UFABC, established in 2005; and UNIFESP’s Institute of Marine Sciences (IMAR), established in 2007. Historically, 47 public and private institutions have had marine research projects funded by FAPESP.
Future challenges
For the authors, FAPESP’s importance to oceanographic research reflects its strength in all research areas in São Paulo state and its influence on science nationally and globally, thanks to its commitment to multidisciplinary and cross-border collaboration, provision of research infrastructure, and relatively stable levels of funding.
“The launch of a funding line for Thematic Projects in 1990 was important because it provided support for long-term projects involving larger networks of researchers who seek answers to questions that can’t be addressed by regular projects, which last two years,” Oliveira said.
This vision, which was also reflected by the Genome Project (1997-2008), BIOTA, and RPGCC, together with bilateral cooperation agreements with foreign institutions, helped change the incremental approach prevalent hitherto by fostering an approach that was more ambitious both theoretically and in terms of being oriented to problem-solving. The most noteworthy feature of BIOTA, for example, is its integrated view of biodiversity as connecting biological and cultural elements.
For the future, the authors identify deep-sea research as a gap to be filled. Brazil has one of the world’s largest marine economic exclusive zones, mostly in waters deeper than 1,000 meters, and urgently needs a comprehensive program to support research projects targeting this enormous and complex ecosystem in all its dimensions. Most ongoing research projects focus on coastal waters.
Although FAPESP has funded two oceanographic research vessels (the Alpha Crucis and Alpha Delphini), they are used less than they should be owing to high running costs. The problem could be solved by more collaboration among researchers from different institutions to share the expenses and train more people to do oceanographic research.
The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe
