It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, January 08, 2023
Interest in CPR resources up in wake of Monday Night Football dramatic save
Educational resources help move bystanders to become active responders, with or without formal training
DALLAS, January 6, 2023 — Witnessing Bills player Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest during the Buffalo Bills - Cincinnati Bengals Monday Night Football game on January 2, inspired many around the country and the world to seek out CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) education and related resources.
The American Heart Association is the global source of the official resuscitation science and education guidelines to help ensure the highest quality of care and improve outcomes. Guideline-directed educational content was taught to about 22 million people around the world last year. The Association’s website and educational resources have experienced the following online activity since Monday evening, January 2nd.
620% increase in pageviews to Hands-Only CPR content pages, which includes our hands-only video and resources
Significant increase in web traffic to cpr.heart.org. 66% increase over average Tuesday/Wed/Thursday.
This represents an additional 57,600 additional people visiting cpr.heart.org this week (Tues/Wed/Thurs)
145% increase in pageviews to What is CPR page, which includes definition, stats, and AED information
113% increase in pageviews to our CPR Course Catalog page – where visitors can learn more about what CPR course is right for them!
Volunteer and staff experts are available to discuss the mechanics of CPR, provide demonstrations for both CPR delivery and AED use.
Why CPR?
When a person has a cardiac arrest, survival depends on immediately receiving CPR and defibrillation from someone nearby. According to the American Heart Association, about 90% of people who suffer cardiac arrests outside of a hospital die. CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival. Yet, bystanders only perform CPR 46% of the time.
While medical staff on site rushed to Hamlin on the field, for the general public the two steps of Hands-Only CPR are to call 911 and push hard and fast in the center of the chest until the person begins breathing on their own or emergency medical services arrive. Use a familiar song to help you keep up the pace of 100-120 beats per minute – Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees or Crazy in Love by Beyonce can be found on the Association’s Don’t Drop the Beat playlist. Watch our Hands-Only CPR instructional video in English, Spanish and / or Mandarin.
The American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. We are dedicated to ensuring equitable health in all communities. Through collaboration with numerous organizations, and powered by millions of volunteers, we fund innovative research, advocate for the public’s health and share lifesaving resources. The Dallas-based organization has been a leading source of health information for nearly a century. Connect with us on heart.org, Facebook, Twitter or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1.
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Nanoplastics unexpectedly produce reactive oxidizing species when exposed to light
IMAGE: NANOPLASTICS FACILITATE REDOX CHEMISTRY IN THE ENVIRONMENT UNDER LIGHT ILLUMINATION. POLYSTYRENE LATEX BEADS (PS-BARE) WITHOUT SURFACE MODIFICATION, CARBOXYLATE-MODIFIED POLYSTYRENE LATEX BEADS (PS-COOH), AND AMINE-MODIFIED POLYSTYRENE LATEX BEADS (PS-NH2) SUPEROXIDE RADICALS (O2•−), PEROXYL RADICALS (ROO•).view more
CREDIT: JUN LAB, MCKELVEY SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AT WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS
Plastics are ubiquitous in our society, found in packaging and bottles as well as making up more than 18% of solid waste in landfills. Many of these plastics also make their way into the oceans, where they take up to hundreds of years to break down into pieces that can harm wildlife and the aquatic ecosystem.
A team of researchers, led by Young-Shin Jun, professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, analyzed how light breaks down polystyrene, a nonbiodegradable plastic from which packing peanuts, DVD cases and disposable utensils are made. In addition, they found that nanoplastic particles can play active roles in environmental systems. In particular, when exposed to light, the nanoplastics derived from polystyrene unexpectedly facilitated the oxidation of aqueous manganese ions and formation of manganese oxide solids that can affect the fate and transport of organic contaminants in natural and engineering water systems.
The research, published in ACS Nano Dec. 27, 2022, showed how the photochemical reaction of nanoplastics through light absorption generates peroxyl and superoxide radicals on nanoplastic surfaces, and initiates oxidation of manganese into manganese oxide solids.
“As more plastic debris accumulates in the natural environment, there are increasing concerns about its adverse effects,” said Jun, who leads the Environmental Nanochemistry Laboratory. “However, in most cases, we have been concerned about the roles of the physical presence of nanoplastics rather than their active roles as reactants. We found that such small plastic particles that can more easily interact with neighboring substances, such as heavy metals and organic contaminants, and can be more reactive than we previously thought.”
Jun and her former student, Zhenwei Gao, who earned a doctorate in environmental engineering at WashU in 2022 and is now a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago, experimentally demonstrated that the different surface functional groups on polystyrene nanoplastics affected manganese oxidation rates by influencing the generation of the highly reactive radicals, peroxyl and superoxide radicals. The production of these reactive oxygen species from nanoplastics can endanger marine life and human health and potentially affects the mobility of the nanoplastics in the environment via redox reactions, which in turn might negatively impact their environmental remediation.
The team also looked at the size effects of polystyrene nanoplastics on manganese oxidation, using 30 nanometer, 100 nanometer and 500 nanometer particles. The two larger-sized nanoparticles took longer to oxidize manganese than the smaller particles. Eventually, the nanoplastics will be surrounded by newly formed manganese oxide fibers, which can make them easily aggregated and can change their reactivities and transport.
“The smaller particle size of the polystyrene nanoplastics may more easily decompose and release organic matter because of their larger surface area,” Jun said. “This dissolved organic matter may quickly produce reactive oxygen species in light and facilitate manganese oxidation.”
“This experimental work also provides useful insights into the heterogeneous nucleation and growth of manganese oxide solids on such organic substrates, which benefits our understanding of manganese oxide occurrences in the environment and engineered materials syntheses,” Jun said. “These manganese solids are excellent scavengers of redox-active species and heavy metals, further affecting geochemical element redox cycling, carbon mineralization and biological metabolisms in nature.”
Jun’s team plans to study the breakdown of diverse common plastic sources that can release nanoplastics and reactive oxidizing species and to investigate their active roles in the oxidation of transition and heavy metal ions in the future.
Gao Z, Chou P-I, Liu J, Zhu Y, Jun Y-S. Oxidative Roles of Polystyrene-Based Nanoplastics in Inducing Manganese Oxide Formation under Light Illumination. ACS Nano, Dec. 27, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.2c05803.
Funding for this research was partially provided by the National Science Foundation (CHE-1905077) and the McDonnell International Scholars Academy at Washington University in St. Louis.
The McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis promotes independent inquiry and education with an emphasis on scientific excellence, innovation and collaboration without boundaries. McKelvey Engineering has top-ranked research and graduate programs across departments, particularly in biomedical engineering, environmental engineering and computing, and has one of the most selective undergraduate programs in the country. With 165 full-time faculty, 1,420 undergraduate students, 1,614 graduate students and 21,000 living alumni, we are working to solve some of society’s greatest challenges; to prepare students to become leaders and innovate throughout their careers; and to be a catalyst of economic development for the St. Louis region and beyond.
How to address the impact of genome editing on human rights is a global challenge. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently developed a governance framework for human genome editing to provide global recommendations for establishing appropriate governance mechanisms for human genome editing. This article suggests that a human rights-respecting approach should be explicitly recognized in the framework and other relevant endeavors. Such recognition has significant implications not only on clarifying the duty of States but also on the responsibility of non-State actors, particularly biotech enterprises, to orient this technology towards respect for human rights. To implement this approach, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) provide helpful guidance for States, biotech enterprises, and other stakeholders to raise awareness and enhance responsible practices in the field.
Keywords: Genome editing, Human rights, UNGPs, Biotech enterprises
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Biosafety and Health is sponsored by the Chinese Medical Association, managed by National Institute for Viral
Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC).
For more information, please visit https://www.journals.elsevier.com/biosafety-and-health
IMAGE: LARGE, PROMINENT GREEN SPACES IN URBAN PARK AREAS MAY BE SURROUNDED BY SMALLER GREEN SPACES WHICH FORM A LARGER HABITAT FOR WILDLIFE, A “CONCEALED ISLAND” IN AN URBAN “SEA.”view more
CREDIT: TOKYO METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have found that biodiversity in large parks in urban environments can be affected by surrounding, smaller green areas. They surveyed two insect families in major parks in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, one more mobile than the other. The more mobile family seemed to benefit from surrounding areas, while the less mobile species did not. Their work highlights the importance of managing smaller areas in maintaining biodiversity.
Prominent green spaces in urban centers provide habitats for local wildlife and are vital to maintaining biodiversity. However, that doesn’t mean other areas are devoid of life: for example, such spaces are often surrounded by smaller, fragmented patches of green like gardens and roadsides which form a “hospitable matrix” surrounding the central park or grassland. Though the composition and area of parks themselves are often the focus of studies, surrounding areas are often described as an impenetrable “sea” surrounding a central “island.” Its impact on biodiversity remains to be addressed.
A team led by Associate Professor Takeshi Osawa of Tokyo Metropolitan University surveyed wildlife inhabiting large parks in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. They focused on two insect taxa, Carabidae, or the ground beetle, and Heteroptera. Heteroptera can fly over long distances and are thus more able to travel and spread to the matrix. Uniquely, the team characterized the quality of surrounding urban areas as habitats, using satellite data to gauge how smaller green spaces make the matrix either hospitable or inhospitable. Through detailed surveys looking at each of the taxa found in traps, they were able to quantify both their abundance and the number of discernible species.
For Heteroptera, they found that both the number of species and individuals caught was correlated with the area of the hospitable matrix. This is direct evidence for how biodiversity may be affected by a network of smaller green spaces surrounding the main “island.” On the other hand, they noticed that the diversity of Carabidae was unaffected. In fact, the number of Carabidae caught was actually negatively correlated with surrounding green spaces. They believe this to be due to predators using the hospitable matrix to access the central park area and present a threat to the beetles.
The team’s work highlights the important and often neglected role of small, fragmented green spaces in an urban environment which extends hospitable area for wildlife in parks and other prominent green spaces, effectively forming a larger “concealed island in the urban sea.” They hope that these findings inform effective conservation strategies to maintain and promote biodiversity in an increasingly urbanized environment.
This work was supported by a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid, Grant Number 20K06096.
VIDEO: AN ANIMATION OF THE SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURES AROUND MOOREA COMPARED DURING THE 2016 AND 2019 MARINE HEATWAVESview more
CREDIT: HKUST
In April to May 2019, the coral reefs near the French Polynesian island of Moorea in the central South Pacific Ocean suffered severe and prolonged thermal bleaching. The catastrophe occurred despite the absence of El Niño conditions that year, intriguing ocean scientists around the world.
An international research team led by Prof. Alex WYATT of the Department of Ocean Science at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, has investigated this surprising and paradoxical coral bleaching episode. The unexpected event was related to the passage of anti-cyclonic eddies that elevated sea levels and concentrated hot water over the reef, leading to an underwater marine heatwave that was largely hidden from view at the surface. The findings have recently been published in Nature Communications.
Most studies of coral bleaching patterns rely on sea-surface measures of water temperatures, which cannot capture the full picture of threats from ocean heating to marine ecosystems, including tropical coral reefs. These surface measurements conducted over broad areas with satellites are valuable, yet are unable to detect heating below the surface that influences communities living in waters deeper that the shallowest few metres of the ocean.
Prof. Wyatt and colleagues analyzed data collected at Moorea over 15 years from 2005 to 2019, taking advantage of a rare combination of remotely sensed sea-surface temperatures and high-resolution, long-term in-situ temperatures and sea level anomalies. Results showed that the passage of anti-cyclonic eddies in the open ocean past the island raised sea levels and pushed internal waves down into deeper water. Internal waves travel along the interface between the warm surface layer of the ocean and cooler layers below, and, in a previous study also led by Prof. Wyatt, have been shown to provide frequent cooling of coral reef habitats. The present research shows that, as a result of the anti-cyclones, internal wave cooling was shut down in early 2019, as well as during some earlier heatwaves. This led to unexpected heating over the reef, which in turn caused large-scale coral bleaching and subsequent mortality. Unfortunately for local reef biodiversity, the extensive coral death in 2019 has offset the recovery of coral communities that had been occurring around Moorea for the last decade.
A notable observation, in contrast to the 2019 heatwave, was that the reefs in Moorea did not undergo significant bleaching mortality in 2016, despite the prevailing super El Niño that brought warm conditions and decimated many shallow reefs worldwide. The new research demonstrates the importance of collecting temperature data across the range of depths that coral reefs occupy because the capacity to predict coral bleaching can be lost with a focus only on surface conditions. Sea-surface temperature data would predict moderate bleaching in both 2016 and 2019 at Moorea. However, direct observations showed that there was only ecologically insignificant bleaching in 2016, with heating that was short in duration and restricted to shallow depths. The severe and prolonged marine heatwave in 2019 would have been overlooked if researchers only had access to sea-surface temperature data, and the resulting catastrophic coral bleaching may have been incorrectly ascribed to causes other than heating.
“The present study highlights the need to consider environmental dynamics across depths relevant to threatened ecosystems, including those due to the passage of underwater ocean weather events. This kind of analysis depends on long-term, in situ data measured across ocean depths, but such data is generally lacking,” Prof. Wyatt said.
“Our paper provides a valuable mechanistic example for assessing the future of coastal ecosystems in the context of changing ocean dynamics and climates.”
This HKUST-led research was conducted in collaboration with a team of scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, the University of California Santa Barbara, California State University, Northbridge, and Florida State University. The data underlying this study were made possible by coupled long-term physical and ecological observations conducted at the Moorea Coral Reef Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site. The long-term analyses conducted here, and the concurrent monitoring of physical conditions and biological dynamics across the full range of depths of island and coastal marine communities, is a model for future research that aims to protect vulnerable living resources in the ocean.
Extensive coral bleaching occurred across depths on the north shore of Moorea during the 2019 marine heatwave
CREDIT
Peter J. Edmunds
JOURNAL
Nature Communications
ARTICLE TITLE
Hidden heatwaves and severe coral bleaching linked to mesoscale eddies and thermocline dynamics
IMAGE: THE SCHEMATIC OVERVIEW ILLUSTRATES THE LIPSS FABRICATION METHOD ON NI FOAM USING FEMTOSECOND LASER TREATMENT AND THE ENHANCEMENT OF HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN GENERATION VIA FIELD LOCALIZATION (LEFT SIDE). THE SURFACE MORPHOLOGY OF THE LIPSS PATTERNED NI FOAM ELECTRODES (RIGHT SIDE).view more
CREDIT: OEA
A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances, 10.29026/oea.2022.210105 discusses other pathways towards a more sustainable electrocatalyst for efficient hydrogen technology.
When fossil fuels are burned, massive amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, are released into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, are to blame for global warming. Sea level rise, harsh weather, biodiversity loss, species extinction, food scarcity, worsening health, and increased poverty are all risks associated with global average warming of above 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Slowing global warming before it transforms the Earth into something unrecognizable is one of the most pressing challenges confronting humanity today. A critical part of addressing such climate changes is reducing the use of fossil fuels and shifting toward renewable energy sources with zero or negative carbon emissions. The good news is that numerous nations are already making efforts to address this issue. For example, many countries have established challenging goals for reducing their reliance on fossil fuels and converting to renewable energy. Solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, wind and biomass are examples of renewable energy sources that can produce energy without accelerating global warming.
The world was in search of a suitable substitute for fossil fuels. Meanwhile, the discovery of the element hydrogen served as a key turning point. Things started to change after the invention of the hydrogen element, researchers came to know that this element is an effective energy carrier and can be a good substitute for fossil fuels. But there was an issue: finding hydrogen in a free state is impossible. As it is a highly reactive non-metal, it never exists freely in nature and is only produced from other sources of energy.
Then a method called electrochemical oxidation/reduction of radicals at electrodes which is green, environmentally friendly, and sustainable came as a saviour in the production of hydrogen, ammonia, hydrocarbons, and other fuels. Mostly, the electrochemical fuel generation for hydrogen and oxygen is carried out through the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), respectively.
But this hydrogen technology requires highly active and stable catalysts for the HER, and platinum (Pt), a rare element, is used in water-splitting devices. This catalyst, Pt, is making this technology much more expensive, and also, platinum production involves toxic chemicals that impact our ecosystem.
Also, due to the non-local concentration of radicals around the electrocatalyst (Pt), the speed of the reaction seems to be very slow. While speeding up this reaction is possible by bringing up the radical concentration via large electrode potential with the help of electricity and this solution again costs high.
The authors of this article have developed a physical and versatile design approach to boost the electrocatalytic fuel generation performance to a wide range through their high-performance electrodes (LIPSS). They say that "The hierarchical LIPSSs on electrodes with periodic ridges and grooves of 100-300 nm widths must be covered with spherical nanoparticles (NPs) sized 3-94 nm diameters and then the localized electric field-induced enhancement in the reagent concentration effect at these periodic ridges and NPs could considerably enhance the performance of electrochemical fuel generation of HER and OER."
In experiments to test the performance of this catalyst, the authors found out that by using this optimized morphology of LIPSS pattern, the current electrode achieves the highest hydrogen generation rate of about 3×1016 molecules cm-2s-1 at a current density of 10 mA/cm2. This value is achieved with ~45% less electrode potential than that of the Ni foam electrode without any LIPSS pattern. The precise and controlled fabrication of LIPSS on electrodes could significantly improve their performance as a sustainable electrocatalyst for efficient hydrogen generation. On the LIPSS patterned Ni foam substrate, the HER model electrocatalyst demonstrated 130 mV (40%) of lower 10 overpotentials in the HER and high stability. Furthermore, the OER model electrocatalyst on the LIPSS patterned NF substrate required 100 mV (25%) more 10 overpotentials in the OER with improved stability.
Additionally, when two LIPSS patterned electrodes were assembled simultaneously as anode and cathode in a cell, a low electric potential of 330 mV is enough to drive 10 mA/cm2 in the overall water splitting figure, compared to a similar cell made of pristine Ni foam electrodes. The patterned LIPSS electrocatalysts operate at significantly lower electrical potentials, demonstrating that the femtosecond laser patterning approach has a high likelihood of producing green catalysts.
Based on the above process, it is believed that the new insights presented in this study would pave the way for the demonstration of a single-step, fast, and better physical approach to electrode surface patterning that can be applied to any metal and semiconductor catalysts to reduce the required electrical power in various electrochemical reactions.
According to recent findings from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Li and his research group are getting closer to achieving this objective. Their technique is still in the research stage but appears to be a promising source of power. Creating a so-called hydrogen-extracting catalyst that is reliable and sustainable for the Earth is the ultimate ambition. The authors of this article look forward to seeing their method on the market in the next few years, and to see its impact grow around the world.
Keywords: electric field localization / hotspot formation / laser-induced periodic surface structures / electrochemical fuel generation / overall water splitting
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Dr Sajed Saraj received his PhD from the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the GPL Photonics Laboratory at CIOMP. His current research focuses on Pulsed Laser ablation in liquid using an external field to fabricate thin films/colloidal solutions of various types of nanomaterials for water-splitting applications.
Prof. LI Wei's international research group in the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences has a broad interest in nanophotonics, thermal photonics, light-matter interactions, and their applications in next-generation energy and information technologies. His work has appeared in journals such as Nature Photonics, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Review Materials, Nature Communications, Nature Materials, Science, Joule, Nano Letters, PRL, and Light: Science & Applications. His research has been widely covered in the media, including Phys.org, Science Daily, Science Beta, IEEE Spectrum, Nature Materials, CE& News, Science, Science News, and the BBC. Prof. LI Wei was named to MIT Technology Review Asia's latest list of Innovators Under 35. "Prof. LI achieved many fundamental breakthroughs in multifunctional integrated photodetection devices, photonic and thermodynamic control of thermal radiation, radiative cooling, and energy harvesting," according to the magazine, which was published in mid-November.
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Opto-Electronic Advances (OEA) is a high-impact, open access, peer reviewed monthly SCI journal with an impact factor of 8.933 (Journal Citation Reports for IF2021). Since its launch in March 2018, OEA has been indexed in SCI, EI, DOAJ, Scopus, CA and ICI databases over the time and expanded its Editorial Board to 36 members from 17 countries and regions (average h-index 49).
The journal is published by The Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, aiming at providing a platform for researchers, academicians, professionals, practitioners, and students to impart and share knowledge in the form of high quality empirical and theoretical research papers covering the topics of optics, photonics and optoelectronics.
Article reference:Saraj CS, Singh SC, Verma G, Rajan RA, Li W et al. Laser-induced periodic surface structured electrodes with 45% energy saving in electrochemical fuel generation through field localization. Opto-Electron Adv5, 210105 (2022). doi: 10.29026/oea.2022.210105
IMAGE: ALISPORITES TENUICORPUS THE POLLEN GRAIN USED IN THIS WORK. NOTE A HUMAN HAIR IS APPROXIMATELY 70M SO THE SAMPLES ANALYSED ARE ABOUT HALF THE WIDTH OF A HUMAN HAIR.view more
CREDIT: PROF LIU FENG FROM NANJING INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY AND PALAEONTOLOGY
New research has uncovered that pollen preserved in 250 million year old rocks contain compounds that function like sunscreen, these are produced by plants to protect them from harmful ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation. The findings suggests that a pulse of UV-B played an important part in the end Permian mass extinction event.
Scientists from the University of Nottingham, China, Germany and the UK led by Professor Liu Feng from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology have developed a new method to detect plant’s sunscreen-like compounds in fossil pollen grains. The research has been published today in Science Advances.
The end-Permian mass extinction event (250 million years ago) is the most severe of the big five mass extinction events with the loss of ~80% of marine and terrestrial species. This catastrophic loss of biodiversity was a response to a palaeoclimate emergency triggered by the emplacement of a continental-scale volcanic eruption that covers much of modern-day Siberia. The volcanic activity drove the release of massive amounts of carbon that had been locked up in Earth’s interior into the atmosphere, generating large-scale greenhouse warming. Accompanying this global warming event was a collapse in the Earth’s ozone layer. Support for this theory comes from the abundant occurrence of malformed spores and pollen grains that testify to an influx of mutagenic UV irradiation.
Professor Barry Lomax from the University of Nottingham explains “Plants require sunlight for photosynthesis but need to protect themselves and particularly their pollen against the harmful effects of UV-B radiation. To do so, plants load the outer walls of pollen grains with compounds that function like sunscreen to protect the vulnerable cells to ensure successful reproduction.”
Professor Liu Feng adds: “We have developed a method to detect these phenolic compounds in fossil pollen grains recovered from Tibet, and detected much higher concentrations in those grains that were produced during the mass extinction and peak phase of volcanic activity.”
Elevated UV-B levels can have even further-reaching and longer-lasting impacts on the entire Earth System. Recent modelling studies have demonstrated that elevated UV-B stress reduces plant biomass and terrestrial carbon storage, which would exacerbate global warming. The increased concentration of phenolic compounds also makes plant tissue less easily digestible, making a hostile environment even more challenging for herbivores.
Summarising the groups findings Dr Wes Fraser based at Oxford Brookes University commented: “Volcanism on such a cataclysmic scale impacts on all aspects of the Earth system, from direct chemical changes in the atmosphere, through changes in carbon sequestration rates, to reducing volume of nutritious food sources available for animals.”
Photograph of the field area the fossil samples come from.
CREDIT
Prof Liu Feng from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology
JOURNAL
Science Advances
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Experimental study
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
Not applicable
ARTICLE TITLE
Dying in the Sun: direct evidence for elevated UV-B radiation at 2 the end-Permian mass extinction
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
6-Jan-2023
Fossil pollen 'sunscreen' proves role of ozone depletion in largest mass extinction
IMAGE: THE IMPACTS OF OZONE DEPLETION AND ELEVATED UV-B LEVELS ON THE TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMview more
CREDIT: CONOR HAYNES-MANNERING, UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
Scientists from China, Germany and the UK led by Prof. LIU Feng from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) have revealed that pollen preserved in 250-million-year-old rocks contains abundant compounds that function like sunscreen but are produced by plants to protect themselves from harmful ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation.
The presence of these compounds suggests that a pulse of UV-B played an essential role in the end-Permian mass extinction event.
The end-Permian mass extinction event (250 million years ago) is the most severe of the big five mass extinction events, with the loss of ~80% of marine and terrestrial species. This catastrophic loss of biodiversity resulted from a palaeoclimate emergency triggered by continental-scale volcanism that covers much of modern-day Siberia. The volcanic activity drove the release into the atmosphere of massive amounts of carbon that had been locked up in Earth's interior, thus generating large-scale greenhouse warming.
Accompanying this global warming event was a collapse of the Earth's ozone layer. Support for this theory comes from the abundant occurrence of malformed spores and pollen grains that testify to an influx of mutagenic UV irradiation.
Plants require sunlight for photosynthesis but need to protect themselves and particularly their pollen from the harmful effects of UV-B radiation. "To do so, plants load the outer walls of pollen grains with compounds that function like sunscreen to protect vulnerable cells to ensure successful reproduction. Without the 'sunscreen' compounds, forests could have been sterilized, leading to the collapse of the terrestrial ecosystem," said Prof. Barry Lomax from the University of Nottingham.
"We have developed a method to detect these phenolic compounds in fossil pollen grains (Alisporites-type) recovered from southern Tibet and detected much higher concentrations in those grains that were produced during the end-Permian mass extinction and peak phase of volcanic activity," said Prof. LIU.
The researchers found an increase in UV-B-absorbing compounds (UACs) that coincided with a spike in mercury concentration and a decrease in carbon isotopes in the latest Permian deposits, suggesting a close temporal link between large-scale volcanic eruptions, global carbon- and mercury-cycle perturbations, and ozone-layer disruption.
Elevated UV-B levels exerted far-reaching and long-lasting impacts on the entire Earth system. Recent modelling studies have demonstrated that elevated UV-B stress reduced plant biomass and terrestrial carbon storage, thus exacerbating global warming.
In addition, increased concentration of phenolic compounds also makes plant tissue less easily digestible, making a hostile environment even more challenging for herbivores.
"Volcanism on such a cataclysmic scale influences all aspects of the Earth system, from direct chemical changes in the atmosphere, through changes in carbon sequestration rates, to reducing the volume of nutritious food sources available for animals," said Dr. Wes Fraser from Oxford Brookes University.
Dying in the Sun: direct evidence for elevated UV-B radiation at the end-Permian mass extinction
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
6-Jan-2023
Canada's Trudeau urges Alberta to contribute to carbon-capture incentives
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at the Liberal national caucus holiday party in Ottawa
Fri, January 6, 2023 at 3:28 PM MST·3 min read By Steve Scherer
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday urged the government of the main oil-producing province of Alberta to use its budget surplus to help bolster tax credits meant to help scale up carbon capture and storage and reduce emissions.
After the United States passed the Inflation Reduction Act last year, which included massive tax credits to develop carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) there, the Canadian oil and gas industry has been seeking an increase to what was promised in the April federal budget.
"We've seen for a while Alberta hesitating around investing in anything related to climate change. But CCUS is one of those tangible things," Trudeau told Reuters in an interview.
"I think there's a role for provinces with surpluses, with the capacity to be investing in their future and their workers future," he said in his first media interview of 2023.
The comments follow a Reuters exclusive story from October that cited sources saying the federal government was at odds with Alberta's government over who should pay to bolster tax credits for carbon capture.
Canada is home to the world's third-largest oil reserves and is the fifth-biggest producer of natural gas, and the industry says it needs more government rebates to help scale up the technology.
Carbon capture and storage is emerging as a key plank in the fight against carbon pollution and climate change around the world. The Canadian oil and gas industry wants a level playing field as Ottawa targets net zero emissions by 2050, the same goal set by U.S. President Joe Biden.
Alberta's new premier, Danielle Smith, has passed a law allowing the province to amend federal laws it dislikes, and she has threatened to use it on legislation seen as a potential threat to the province's energy industry.
Canada has said it will introduce legislation this year that will help workers in the oil and gas sector get training and other support in order to move into green energy jobs. Smith on Thursday said she opposes the legislation because it will "shut down our energy industry".
"One of the challenges is there is a political class in Alberta that has decided that anything to do with climate change is going to be bad for them or for Alberta," Trudeau said.
"It's not about fighting a rearguard action to bring us back to the 1980s it's about making sure that the expertise that Albertans and so many Canadians have in resources in the energy sector continue to be relevant and needed."
Alberta has already invested or committed more than C$1.8 billion ($1.34 billion) into CCUS and approved 25 proposals for carbon storage hubs in the last year, Smith's office said in an email.
"We know that there is no path to net zero in Canada, Alberta, or anywhere globally without CCUS, and we are looking to CCUS to assist in the de-carbonizing of all sectors of our economy," the premier's office said.
In the interview, Trudeau also took aim at his main rival, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, for casting Canada as "broken".
Trudeau said Poilievre is "not proposing solutions," but is instead "trying to harvest a level of political anger that leads nowhere, as unfortunately we saw in the United States over the past years."
Poilievre's office had no immediate response to the comments. Polls show that the Conservatives took a slight lead over Trudeau's Liberals in national polling after Poilievre took over last year.
($1 = 1.3442 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Steve SchererEditing by Alistair Bell)
