Killer whale moms forgo future offspring for benefit of full-grown sons

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CELL PRESS

 

IMAGE: KILLER WHALES view more 

CREDIT: CENTER FOR WHALE RESEARCH (PHOTO TAKEN BY KENNETH BALCOMB) ANY USE OF THIS PHOTO MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY THE RESEARCH PERMIT NUMBER, NMFS 21238, EITHER WATERMARKED ON THE MEDIA ITSELF, IN THE CAPTION, OR ELSEWHERE IN THE PIECE.

It’s not unusual for parents and especially mothers to sacrifice their own future success for the sake of their offspring. Now a new study in Current Biology on February 8 shows that killer whale mothers take this to a surprising extreme. They sacrifice their own reproductive success to care for their sons, even after those sons are full-fledged adults.

“We’ve known for over a decade that adult male killer whales relied on their mothers to keep them alive, but it had never been clear whether mothers pay a cost to do so,” said Michael N. Weiss (@CetaceanMike) of the University of Exeter, UK, and the Center for Whale Research in the US.

Now it is. Weiss and his colleagues studied a group of killer whales known as the “southern resident” population in the coastal waters of Washington state and British Columbia, which has been monitored since 1976 by the Center for Whale Research. They wanted to learn whether the care adult whales, and especially males, receive from their mothers came at a measurable cost. The availability of detailed demographic data allowed them to look directly at how caring for sons and daughters impacted females’ chances of further reproduction.

“The southern resident killer whale community presents an incredible opportunity to investigate these kinds of questions,” Weiss said. “Along with their bizarre social system, where both males and females stay with their mom for life, they are also one of the best studied wild populations of mammal anywhere in the world.”

Their analysis of the existing data found a strong negative correlation between females’ number of surviving weaned sons and their annual probability of producing a viable calf. Those costs didn’t get any smaller as their sons grew older, either.

The costs couldn’t be explained by lactation or group composition effects, which they say supports the hypothesis that caring for sons into adulthood is reproductively costly. They say that the findings offer the first direct evidence for lifetime maternal investment in any animal, revealing a previously unrecognized life history strategy.

“The magnitude of the cost that females take on to care for their weaned sons was really surprising,” Weiss said. “While there’s some uncertainty, our best estimate is that each additional surviving son cuts a female’s chances of having a new calf in a given year by more than 50 percent. This is a huge cost to taking care of [adult] sons!”

The findings suggest that there are significant benefits to keeping adult sons alive and well, he added.

“Females gain evolutionary benefits when their sons are able to successfully reproduce, and our results indicate that these benefits are enough to outweigh a large direct cost,” Weiss explained.

The findings also may have important conservation implications, the researchers say. The southern residents are critically endangered, with one major concern being their low reproductive rates. The new findings reveal a major and previously unrecognized determining factor in a female’s reproductive success, which may help to inform future population viability analyses.

“One big take-away is further evidence for how special (and maybe unique) the mother-son bond in killer whales is,” Weiss said. “Maybe more importantly, our study adds to the growing body of work showing the importance of animals’ social systems in determining demographic patterns. This is of central importance both for an understanding of our world, and to effectively conserve endangered species.”

In future work, they hope to learn more about the nature of the costs to mother whales. They suspect mothers may not eat enough themselves as they continue sharing food with their full-grown sons. He noted that the southern resident killer whales are “very food-stressed.” As such, a primary conservation goal for the whales is to recover the population of Chinook salmon they rely on.

Killer Whales

CREDIT

Center for Whale Research (Photo taken by David K. Ellifrit) Any use of this photo must be accompanied by the research permit number, NMFS 21238, either watermarked on the media itself, in the caption, or elsewhere in the piece.

Current Biology, Weiss et al.: “Costly lifetime maternal investment in killer whales” https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(22)01994-7

Current Biology (@CurrentBiology), published by Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that features papers across all areas of biology. Current Biology strives to foster communication across fields of biology, both by publishing important findings of general interest and through highly accessible front matter for non-specialists. Visit http://www.cell.com/current-biology. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.

---

JOURNAL

Current Biology

DOI

10.1016/j.cub.2022.12.057 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Costly lifetime maternal investment in killer whales

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Feb-2023

An evaluation of the "Aunt Jemima" product rebrand suggests that consumers may be less likely to like, trust and buy a product after such a change - even when informed of the intention to address racism

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

 

IMAGE: THE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT CONSUMERS MAY BE LESS LIKELY TO LIKE, TRUST AND BUY A PRODUCT AFTER SUCH A CHANGE. view more 

CREDIT: THECULINARYGEEK, FLIKR, CC-BY 2.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/2.0/)

An evaluation of the "Aunt Jemima" product rebrand suggests that consumers may be less likely to like, trust and buy a product after such a change - even when informed of the intention to address racism

###

Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0280873

Article Title: Consumer responses to rebranding to address racism

Author Countries: USA

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

---

JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0280873 

ARTICLE TITLE

Consumer responses to rebranding to address racism

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Feb-2023

COI STATEMENT

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

New approach puts brain scans on the witness stand in trademark disputes

Research shows how neuroscience could reduce bias, revolutionize intellectual property law

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - BERKELEY HAAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Imagine you’re browsing the toothpaste aisle and see next to Colgate a new brand called Colddate, packaged in a box with similar colors and designs. “You might think this is clearly a copycat brand,” said Ming Hsu, William Halford Jr. Family Chair in Marketing at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.

Yet in a real-life trademark infringement case involving these two brands, Colgate-Palmolive lost the suit, with the judge saying they were “similar” but not “substantially indistinguishable.”

There are often different opinions between judges and juries in trademark cases about how similar the brands in question actually are, leading to large inconsistencies in the application of the law. In a paper published February 8 in the journal Science Advances, Hsu and colleagues propose a more scientific measure through the use of brain scans—employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) along with a specialized technique called repetition suppression (RS).

“Asking the brain, not a person, could reduce—if not eliminate—these inconsistencies,” said lead author Zhihao Zhang, a former Berkeley Haas postdoctoral researcher now on the faculty of the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia. The study’s other authors include Dr. Andrew Kayser of UC San Francisco, Femke van Horen of Vrije University Amsterdam, and Mark Bartholomew of University at Buffalo Law School.

What is “similarity”?

 The standard according to the law is whether a “reasonable person” would find two trademarks similar, but it doesn’t define what similar means.

“Similarity is an incredibly hard thing to measure in an objective way,” said Zhang. “Making things worse, in the adversarial legal system, two opposing parties each hire their own attorneys and expert witnesses who present their own evidence.” 

Often that evidence takes the form of consumer surveys, which have been shown to be susceptible to manipulation—for example, through the use of leading questions. Not surprisingly, plaintiffs are known to present surveys finding that the two trademarks are similar, while defendants present competing surveys showing they are different.

“There is no gold standard in the law about what background information survey respondents receive, how the questions are phrased, and what criteria of ‘similarity’ should be followed— all factors that can change the results substantially,” Zhang said. “Judges have a lot of experience with these situations, and have developed some degree of cynicism.”

Oftentimes, Hsu added, judges just say, ‘I don’t believe any of you, I’m going to go with my own gut.’ It’s easy to sympathize with these judges, who just throw up their hands.”

Putting brains on the witness stand

In their paper, the researchers demonstrated how looking directly into the brain may help solve this conundrum. They put participants in fMRI scanners, and rapidly showed them pairs of images consisting of the main brand and a supposed copycat. Previous research has consistently shown that when presented with two similar images, the brain suppresses activity for the second image, perhaps out of efficiency, thinking it’s already seen the image. By measuring the amount of repetition suppression (RS) in brain activity for the second image, the researchers determined how similar a person found the two images.

The resulting approach provides an important benefit: Participants are blind to the goal of the study, which further reduces bias. “This is because we don’t have to ask them any questions at all or tell them what it means to be similar or not,” said Hsu.

“In fact, even the experimenter administering the study doesn’t need to know its purpose, which makes it a ‘double-blind’ study like the rigorous clinical studies in drug development,” added Kayser.

Indeed, when the research team checked the results of the neuroimaging against survey results that are intended to be pro-plaintiff, pro-defendant, or neutral, they found the brain-based measure can reliably pick out the more neutral survey results, supporting the idea that the brain scans can improve the quality of legal evidence in these cases.

This kind of evidence could be provided as a supplemental “spot check” to survey evidence, giving a judge or jury confidence the surveys are accurate, Hsu said. The cost of using neuroimaging is comparable to presenting survey data, the researchers said.

Scientists provide the ruler, courts draw the line

Importantly, the brain-based measures don’t take away the need for judgment by the court. “Our method still doesn’t say how similar is too similar,” said Kayser. “Our job as scientists is to provide a better ruler. It’s still up to the judge to decide where to draw the line.”

More broadly, introducing new techniques like this will require more discussion between disciplines and a better understanding by legal practitioners of what value these techniques deliver, said Bartholomew, who served as the legal expert on the research team. “Courts have an important role in deciding when new kinds of scientific insights should be allowed in to potentially influence the outcome of a case,” he said. “This gatekeeping role means that both judges and the lawyers appearing before them increasingly need to have a working knowledge of neuroscientific techniques.”

While this study only looked at visual trademark cases, the researchers say this kind of neural measure holds promise for a wide range of legal applications revolving around people’s mental reactions—for example, determining copyright infringement in music cases, or determining how a “reasonable person” would judge obscenity, negligence, or other legal issues.

“It’s striking how often people’s opinions matter in the courts, and how often this standard of a ‘reasonable person’ is applied in the law,” Hsu said. “While we are not there yet, one can imagine a future where we ask the brain to help us answer these difficult questions.”

---

JOURNAL

Science Advances

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

From Scanner to Court: A Neuroscientifically Informed “Reasonable Person” 5 Test of Trademark Infringement

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Feb-2023

National study of US hospitals finds low adherence to the federal price transparency mandate

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL

In January 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) passed a federal law that requires hospitals to make the costs of standard healthcare services transparent. Investigators at the Brigham systematically analyzed a nationally representative sample of all Medicare-registered acute-care hospitals across the U.S. for compliance with this law. Two independent reviewers evaluated whether each hospital adhered to the 21-point CMS hospital price transparency checklist and compared non-teaching vs teaching hospitals, non-profit vs for-profit hospitals, and hospitals in regions with different levels of regional market competition.

Researchers found that only 1 in 5, or 19 percent, of hospitals were fully adherent to the entire checklist. Teaching and non-profit hospitals were slightly more compliant than non-teaching or for-profit hospitals. Further, only 8 percent of hospitals in competitive markets, where patients may benefit the most from being able to compare prices, were compliant, compared to 33 percent in non-competitive markets. Findings suggest nationwide, patients are often unable to access information about hospital charges for basic services.

“The transparency mandate ensures patients can estimate how much their medical care might cost and shop around amongst competing hospitals to find the best price,” said senior author Haider J. Warraich, MD, of BWH’s Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. “However, our analysis found low compliance with the mandate. More efforts are needed to improve the state of healthcare financial toxicity in the country.”

Read more in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

---

JOURNAL

Journal of General Internal Medicine

DOI

10.1007/s11606-023-08039-0 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Hospital Adherence to the Federal Price Transparency Mandate: Results from a Nationally Representative Sample

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Jan-2023

COI STATEMENT

Emefah Loccoh has no disclosures. Rohan Khera received support from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (under award K23HL153775) and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (under award, 2022060). He also receives research support, through Yale, from Bristol-Myers Squibb. He is a coinventor of U.S. Provisional Patent Applications 63/177,117 and 63/346,610, unrelated to current work. He is also a founder of Evidence2Health, a precision health platform to improve evidence-based cardiovascular care. Jeroen van Meijgaard and Tori Marsh are employees of GoodRx. Haider Warraich is a member of the GoodRx medical advisory board.

We still don’t know which factors most affect cognitive decline as we age

Study of 7,068 elderly Americans suggests more research is needed to inform healthy ageing strategies

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

 

IMAGE: THE AUTHORS ANALYZED DATA FROM 7,068 AMERICANS WHO WERE PART OF A LARGER STUDY THAT REGULARLY MEASURED THEIR COGNITIVE FUNCTION FROM 1996 TO 2016. view more 

CREDIT: MOHAMED_HASSAN, PIXABAY, CC0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/PUBLICDOMAIN/ZERO/1.0/)

A new analysis explores relative statistical associations between various life factors and cognitive decline in elderly Americans, highlighting gaps in knowledge needed to reduce cognitive decline. Hui Zheng of the Ohio State University, U.S., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on February 8, 2023.

Millions of elderly Americans experience cognitive decline. However, only about 41 percent of this decline can be statistically accounted for by dementia—abnormal decline caused by such conditions as Alzheimer’s disease, cerebrovascular disease, and Lewy body disease. Prior research has identified many other factors that may also contribute to cognitive decline, from genetics to early life nutrition, but their relative impacts remain unclear.

To shed new light, Zheng and colleagues analyzed data from 7,068 American adults born between 1931 and 1941 who were part of a larger study—the Health and Retirement Study—that regularly measured their cognitive function from 1996 to 2016. The study also collected extensive information on personal factors that could contribute to cognitive decline, such as socioeconomic factors, physical health measures, and behaviors including exercise and smoking.

Together, the many factors considered in the study statistically accounted for 38 percent of the variation between participants in their level of cognitive function at age 54. Among those factors, personal education, race, household wealth and income, occupation, level of depression, and parental education were the biggest statistical contributors to that population-level variation, with early life conditions and adult behaviors and diseases contributing less.

However, all of the considered factors accounted for only 5.6 percent of the variation in how participants’ cognitive function changed with age.

Unlike many prior studies, this study also distinguished between age-related cognitive decline and cognitive decline that is unrelated to getting older. Age accounted for 23 percent of the variation in how cognitive function changed from age 54 to 85, but the remaining 77 percent could not be statistically accounted for by the many factors considered.

These findings suggest that more research is needed to identify the major factors contributing to rate of cognitive decline, which could help inform medical treatments, policies, and equity-based strategies to slow decline.

Hui Zheng adds: “Adulthood socioeconomic conditions have a predominant role in shaping the level of cognitive functioning. Future research is urgently needed to discover the main determinants of the slope of decline to slow down the progression of cognitive impairment and dementia.”

Kathleen Cagney adds: “Understanding cognitive health, and cognitive decline, is paramount.  We must take the long view, with attention to the timing and nature of life experiences, if we are to gain fundamental insights that can inform care and treatment.”

#####

In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0281139

Citation: Zheng H, Cagney K, Choi Y (2023) Predictors of cognitive functioning trajectories among older Americans: A new investigation covering 20 years of age- and non-age-related cognitive change. PLoS ONE 18(2): e0281139. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281139

Author Countries: USA

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

---

JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0281139 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Predictors of cognitive functioning trajectories among older Americans: A new investigation covering 20 years of age- and non-age-related cognitive change

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Feb-2023

Current microbiome analyses may falsely detect species that are not actually present

Study of simulated microbial communities shows analyses are flawed by incomplete DNA databases

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

 

IMAGE: SHORTCOMINGS OF CURRENT METAGENOMIC ANALYSES. view more 

CREDIT: SERRANO-ANTÓN ET AL., CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

Common approaches to analyze DNA from a community of microbes, called a microbiome, can yield erroneous results, in large part due to the incomplete databases used to identify microbial DNA sequences. A team led by Aiese Cigliano of Sequentia Biotech SL, and Clemente Fernandez Arias and Federica Bertocchini of the Centro de Investigaciones Biologicas Margarita Salas, report these findings in a paper published February 8 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

Microbiomes have been the focus of intense research efforts in recent decades. These studies range from attempts to understand conditions such as obesity and autism by examining the human gut, to finding microbes that degrade toxic compounds or produce biofuels by studying environmental communities. The most commonly used methods for studying microbial communities rely on comparing the DNA obtained from a biological sample to sequences in genome databanks. Therefore, researchers can only identify DNA sequences that are already in the databases – a fact that may severely compromise the reliability of microbiome data in unexpected ways.

To test the consistency of current methods of microbiome analysis, researchers used computer simulations to create virtual microbiome communities that imitate real-world bacterial populations. They used standard techniques to analyze the virtual communities and compared the results with the original composition. The experiment showed that results from DNA analyses can bear little resemblance to the actual composition of the community, and that a large number of the species “detected” by the analysis are not actually present in the community.

For the first time, the study demonstrates significant flaws in the techniques currently used to identify microbial communities. The researchers conclude that there is a need for increased efforts to collect genome information from microbes and to make that information available in public databases to improve the accuracy of microbiome analysis. In the meantime, the results of microbiome studies should be interpreted with caution, especially in cases where the available genomic information from those environments is still scarce.

The authors add: “This study reveals intrinsic constraints in metagenomic analysis stemming from current database limitations and how genomic information is used. To enhance the reliability of metagenomic data, a research effort is necessary to improve both database contents and analysis methods. Meanwhile, metagenomic data should be approached with great care.”

#####

In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0280391

Citation: Serrano-Antón B, Rodríguez-Ventura F, Colomer-Vidal P, Cigliano RA, Arias CF, Bertocchini F (2023) The virtual microbiome: A computational framework to evaluate microbiome analyses. PLoS ONE 18(2): e0280391. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280391

Author Countries: Spain

Funding: FB and CFA gratefully acknowledge support by the Roechling foundation. BS was partially supported by MINECO grant MTM2017-85020-P. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

---

JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0280391 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

The virtual microbiome: A computational framework to evaluate microbiome analyses

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Feb-2023

Licorice leaf extract is a promising plant protectant for conventional and organic agriculture

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN PHYTOPATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

 

IMAGE: TOMATO PLANTS TREATED WITH WATER, GLYCYRRHIZA GLABRA LEAF EXTRACT, AND A CU-BASED PRODUCT AS A CONTROL AND INFECTED WITH SPORANGIA OF PHYTOPHTHORA INFESTANS—ASSESSED 7 DAYS AFTER CHALLENGE view more 

CREDIT: SOPHIE HERMANN, MARC ORLIK, PETRA BOEVINK, ELKE STEIN, ANDREA SCHERF, INA KLEEBERG, ANNEGRET SCHMITT, AND ADAM SCHIKORA

Pesticides have proven effective in protecting crop yield against plant pathogens, but the environmental detriment to nontarget organisms has prompted a tug-of-war between organic and conventional agriculture practices. This poses the question: How can growers and farmers sustain their business in the safest, most responsible way? While copper, a naturally occurring pesticide, has been widely implemented in response to this question, finding additional biocontrol methods will reduce copper use and further contribute to sustainable solutions.

A study by Sophie Hermann and colleagues, recently published in Plant Disease, reveals another promising biocontrol alternative. Since the licorice plant has broadly benefitted other industries, the researchers tested its impact as a pesticide—discovering that the licorice leaf extract is a potent bactericide and fungicide. Corresponding author Adam Schikora explains, “In the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industries, the interest focuses primarily on roots of the licorice plant. The leaves and upper parts of the plant are byproducts and often neglected. However, we show their potential as a base for plant protection products, which may be utilized in both conventional and organic agriculture systems.”

Using plant efficacy trials, the researchers tested the impact of licorice leaf extract on the virulence of common, highly pathogenic bacteria in the model plant Arabidopsis and in tomato. Their results demonstrate that licorice leaf extract modulates plant immune responses to pathogens, involving both salicylic acid and ethylene-based responses. The extract also acts against a particular late blight-causing oomycete that is resistant to metalaxyl, the active ingredient in several synthetic fungicides.

Altogether, these exciting results offer a potential way to naturally control plant diseases caused by a vast range of pathogens, including bacteria and oomycetes. Schikora comments, “The possibility to develop biological alternatives for plant protection that are sustainable and employ otherwise unused materials will not only help in our agricultural approaches, but also support local, circular economies.”

Further studies can help extract every bit of potential that licorice leaf extract holds as an alternative plant protection measure in the production of economically important crops.

 

For additional details, read Biocontrol of Plant Diseases Using Glycyrrhiza glabra Leaf Extract published in Vol. 106, No. 12 December 2022 of Plant Disease.
 

Follow Julius Kühn Institute, one of the affiliated institutions, on Twitter @JKI_Bund

Follow us on Twitter @PlantDiseaseJ and visit https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/journal/pdis to learn more.

---

JOURNAL

Plant Disease

DOI

10.1094/PDIS-12-21-2813-RE 

ARTICLE TITLE

Biocontrol of Plant Diseases Using Glycyrrhiza glabra Leaf Extract

What makes people care about the environment?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

A new study analyzes the factors that drive environmental concern among Europeans in an effort to understand how we can bolster popular support for combatting climate change.

While we can already feel the effects of climate change on our skins, the majority of the European population still does not consider climate change, the environment, and energy to be among the most pressing issues for national policymaking. Support from the public, however, is crucial to enable stringent and sustainable environmental policy in democracies.

To raise the motivation of the general population towards climate action, we need to know which factors drive concern in people for the climate and the environment. In a new study published in Global Environmental Change, Jonas Peisker, a researcher in the IIASA Population and Just Societies Program, addressed how environmental preferences in 206 European regions are shaped by socioeconomic, geographical, and meteorological circumstances.

“I wanted to offer a data-driven perspective on the determinants of environmental concern that highlights the relevance of individuals’ embeddedness in socioeconomic and environmental contexts,” explains Peisker. “While previous research has only considered a few contextual influences at a time, this study allows for a comparison of their relative importance, including also factors that differ mostly between regions, such as inequality, income level, or geographical features.”

To find determinants of environmental concern, Peisker used the method of Bayesian Model Averaging based on 25 Eurobarometer surveys conducted between 2009 and 2019 combined with measures of the regional economy, population, geography, environmental quality, and meteorological events.

The study found that favorable economic contexts, such as a relatively high income level and low inflation, foster environmental concern. This is likely related to the idea of a “finite pool of worry” in which more immediate issues like economic security crowd out less immediate issues like climate policy. Interestingly, rising energy prices only lowered environmental concerns up to a certain point at which environmental concerns started to rise as well. At this point, energy supply could become an issue which raises environmental concerns in itself.

The results showed that a more equal distribution of income and wealth had a positive impact on the prioritization of environmental issues, suggesting that social cohesion is beneficial for green concerns. Moreover, Peisker found that regions with greenhouse gas-intensive industries had lower environmental concern among locals. This could be related to worries about the potential effects of environmental policies on economic competitiveness in the transition from fossil to clean technology. While environmental factors, such as having a low-elevation coastline, also influence environmental concern, overall, the socioeconomic context proved more important.

“The results of the study emphasize that social cohesion and a just transition to carbon neutrality are key for the bottom-up support for environmental policy,” says Peisker. “Climate policy and environmental protection are likely to be unpopular if they are increasing income and wealth inequality, inflation, and unemployment. Therefore, a way to support climate action could be to emphasize the co-benefits of environmental policy, for instance, positive employment effects of the transition to renewable energy sources.”

Reference

Peisker, J. (2023) Context matters: The drivers of environmental concern in European regions. Global Environmental Change. DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102636

 

About IIASA:
The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policymakers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by prestigious research funding agencies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe.

---

JOURNAL

Global Environmental Change

DOI

10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102636 

ARTICLE TITLE

Context matters: The drivers of environmental concern in European regions

Severe weather straining electrical grids: new research mitigates demand surges, increasing grid reliability and reducing costs

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INSTITUTE FOR OPERATIONS RESEARCH AND THE MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

INFORMS Journal Management Science New Study Key Takeaways:

• Researchers develop an optimal way to utilize “direct load control contracts,” to help utilities mitigate electricity demand surges, increase grid reliability and reduce electricity cost.

• For utilities that use “direct load control contracts,” figuring out how to allocate these temporary power cuts can be a complex, challenging task.

• With the tool, utilities can quickly determine which customers to reduce power to, and for how long, while limiting the amount of time in a year that any one customer is affected.

 

BALTIMORE, MD, February 8, 2023 – Concerns are mounting among policymakers and utility companies amid the impact of severe weather on the nation’s electrical grids. In recent months, electrical grids in Texas have been tested to the point of near failure. So it seems like perfect timing that new research in the INFORMS journal Management Science identifies a new method that provides the best way to utilize “direct load control contracts” to mitigate electricity demand surges, increase grid reliability and reduce electricity cost. All of this right down to the individual household.

“With this tool, utilities can quickly determine which customers to reduce power to, and for how long, while limiting the amount of time in a year that any one customer is affected,” says Ali Fattahi of Johns Hopkins University. “Direct load control contracts affect only households that volunteer (in exchange for a break on their electricity bills).”

The study, “Peak Load Energy Management by Direct Load Control Contracts,” finds that by allowing utilities to mitigate demand surges by controlling air conditioners and other devices in residential and commercial units, more reliance can be placed on electrical grids, calming fears nationwide.

This research provides a more efficient way to design direct load control contracts to reduce total cost of generating electricity during peak times.

“Let’s say you’re going to be away from your house for an extended period, one or two months. With this program, you can coordinate with the power company to reduce the load your house is placing on the grid during that time, freeing up energy that can be directed to people on your grid who are home,” says Fattahi.

Fattahi, alongside study co-authors, Sriram Dasu and Reza Ahmadi of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, say that while utilities could rely on rolling blackouts or widespread brownouts to reduce peak demand, demand-response mechanisms such as direct load control contracts mean that power cuts will affect only households that volunteer.

To test the model, the authors used electricity consumption figures for three California utilities between 2009 and 2014.

“Our results suggest the model could reduce the utilities’ peak-demand energy costs by about 5%. And it showed a reduction in summer peak demand from 36,000 to 32,000 megawatt hours,” says Dasu, professor in the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

 

Link to full study.

 

About INFORMS and Management Science

Management Science is a premier peer-reviewed scholarly journal focused on research using quantitative approaches to study all aspects of management in companies and organizations. It is published by INFORMS, the leading international association for operations research and analytics professionals. More information is available at www.informs.org or @informs.

 

###

 

 

Contact:

Ashley Smith

443-757-3578

asmith@informs.org

 

 

Subscribe and stay up to date on the latest from INFORMS. 

Sign Up For Email Updates

---

JOURNAL

Management Science

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Case study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

“Peak Load Energy Management by Direct Load Control Contracts”