Elusive pygmy right whale is a homebody hiding in our waters

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

The pygmy right whale is an enigma in the whale world. Not only is it the smallest of the characteristically large filter-feeding baleen whales, but it’s also rarely sighted and seldom studied – partly because of its inconspicuous nature and resemblance to minke whales.

But new research led by UNSW Sydney analysing chemical clues hidden in the jawlines of pygmy right whales confirms what scientists have long suspected – these majestic aquatic mammals behave quite differently to their much larger whale relatives. The research, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, suggests the pygmy right whale is one of the few whale species to forgo long-distance migrations to Antarctic waters and instead reside in the temperate waters near Australia throughout the year. 

“If you google pygmy right whale, one of the first queries that comes up is whether they are extinct, which illustrates just how little we know about them, and how little known they are,” says Adelaide Dedden, lead author of the study and a marine ecologist at UNSW Science. “What’s especially surprising is that it turns out these whales are somewhat a resident species, given they appear to be hanging around Australia year-round.”

“They’re our little homebodies, just happy to hide away and never leave the comforts of our continental waters,” says Professor Tracey Rogers, a marine ecologist at UNSW Science and senior author of the study. “It’s also fascinating as they are similar in size to the ancestral baleen whales that didn’t journey between feeding and breeding grounds, and now we know these small whales behave similarly.”

Uncovering the chemical clues in their bristles

Studying an animal the size of a whale in a lab – even a relatively small species like the pygmy right whale – is challenging. Instead, scientists can analyse the composition of smaller tissues that keep detailed records of an animal’s activity.

For filter-feeding whales like the pygmy right whale, long, slender keratin bristles called baleen plates that hang from their upper jaw allow them to take in many small prey like krill – but they also lay down chemical signals called stable isotopes that give researchers hints about their behaviour.

“As the baleen grows, biochemical signals from their food called stable isotopes get trapped,” Prof. Rogers says. “These signals don’t decay over time, so it’s like reading a history book about their behaviour, including what they ate and the general area they were in at the time.”

For the study, the researchers analysed the stable isotopes in the baleen plates of 14 Australian pygmy right whales. Each baleen plate, loaned from the South Australian Museum, contained up to three to four years’ worth of data to assemble a picture of the pygmy right whale’s diet and movements across nearly 40 years – the most extensive study of the pygmy right whale diet and movement to date.

“Their isotopic record shows they remain in mid-latitude waters year-round off southern Australia, feeding on krill and copepods (small crustaceans),” Ms Dedden says. “There was no evidence of feeding in Antarctic waters at all, suggesting the waters off Southern Australia appear to be able to support their needs year-round.”

This makes sense when you look at the slender structures of their baleen plates relative to their body size,” Prof. Rogers says. “They need to draw in as much as possible from these less productive waters around Australia to stay in the region year-round.” 

The researchers also found some evidence the whales’ feeding patterns were linked to oceanic changes that drive food web dynamics in the region, specifically upwelling events – natural cycles bringing nutrient-rich water to the surface, resulting in increased krill availability in Australian waters.

“The signals in the baleen that reflected Australian krill coincided with times of upwelling in summer, which made sense because that’s when the krill is most available,” Ms Dedden says. “That signal wasn’t as strong during winter, which reflects the lower availability of krill during downwelling, so it further supports our overall findings.”

A potential indicator of ecosystem health

The researchers say their findings help lay the foundation for more research that can help us better understand the pygmy right whale. 

“Now we have increased evidence they live in this mid-latitude distribution, it would be ideal if we could do some satellite tagging to more closely monitor their movements and see exactly where they’re travelling around in the region,” Ms Dedden says. 

“They were never targeted for whaling, so their numbers are likely stable now,” Prof. Rogers says. “But they’re data deficient, and we don’t know enough about them to know for sure they are in a good place.”

While its current status is classified as least concern, the pygmy right whale’s population trend is still relatively unknown, and the researchers say it may be vulnerable to emerging risks such as warming oceans.

But the pygmy right whale may also be valuable as an indicator species scientists can study to monitor the marine environment. 

“They may face future challenges if there are significant changes in the marine ecosystem, given they feed at the base of the food chain and appear to rely on particular regions,” Ms Dedden says. 

“But with more research, they also have the potential to help us better forecast these risks to protect both them and the ecosystem they call home.”

The study also involved co-authors Gary Truong and Dr Matthew McCurry from UNSW, Dr Catherine Kemper from the South Australia Museum and Dr Paul van Ruth from the University of Tasmania.

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JOURNAL

Frontiers in Marine Science

DOI

10.3389/fmars.2023.1190623 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animal tissue samples

ARTICLE TITLE

Stable isotopes infer the diet and habitat of the enigmatic pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata) off southern Australia

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

31-Jul-2023

Scientists solve ‘enigma’ of pygmy right whales’ feeding habits

Understudied species of baleen whales are ‘homebodies’ who stay and feed in waters off southern Australia year-round

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FRONTIERS

 

VIDEO: A PYGMY RIGHT WHALE (CAPEREA MARGINATA) IN THE WILD. VIDEO CREDIT: HENRY CORDELL view more 

CREDIT: HENRY CORDELL

Pygmy right whales (Caperea marginata) are the smallest, ‘most enigmatic’, and probably least studied of all baleen whales. Baleen act like sieves in the mouth of baleen whales, which allow seawater to pass but trap small prey items like zooplankton and small fish.

Pygmy right whales are rarely seen in the wild. Reason for this may be their relatively small size – 6.5 meters long and weighing up to 3.5 tons –, sparse distribution, and inconspicuous behavior, especially compared to the boisterous humpback whales. Historically, whalers rarely bothered hunting them. The little we know about them is mainly based on beached animals.

“Here we show that pygmy right whales don’t behave like most other baleen whales: they don’t make long cross-ocean migrations,” said Dr Tracey Rogers, a professor of ecology and evolution at the University of New South Wales in Australia. “Instead, they are homebodies, who remain near the coast of southern Australia year-round, where they breed and feed on krill and copepods.”

Rogers is the senior author on a new study in Frontiers in Marine Science, which demonstrated that pygmy right whales are restricted to mid-latitude waters and likely inhabit regions like the eastern Great Australian Bight (between Cape Catastrophe and Cape Pasley) and the region dominated by the Bonney Upwelling, between Portland and Robe. Here, south-eastern winds drive cold, nutrient-rich water from the depths to the surface between November and May, providing a food bonanza for seabirds and marine life.

Beached whales

The researchers measured the ratio between stable nitrogen isotopes 15N and 14N (the δ15N value) and between stable carbon isotopes 13C and 12C (the δ13C) value) in the baleen plates of 14 adult pygmy right whales, to infer their diet and habitat use. These included both females and males that had stranded between 1968 and 2019 on the Tasmanian or southern Australian coast. The baleen plates were on loan from the South Australian Museum in Adelaide.

“Baleen is made of keratin, like our fingernails, and grows throughout the life of the whale,” explained lead author Adelaide Dedden, a doctoral student in Rogers’ research group. “As a stable tissue, baleen provides an ideal long-term signal to look at their diet and habitat use.”

Isotope ratio ‘fingerprints’

Because animals derive their nitrogen and carbon exclusively from food, the isotope ratios in their tissues reflect those of their prey. Isotope ratios increase in a regular pattern across trophic levels within the food web, with phytoplankton having the lowest values, and apex predators the highest. By comparing the δ15N and δ13C values measured in baleen to those published for a range of possible prey, Dedden et al. could deduce which species are on the menu of pygmy right whales.

Not like other baleen whales

The results showed that the isotope ratios in the baleen of pygmy right whales closely match those of copepods and krill species from regions rich in zooplankton off  Australia.

In contrast, there was no correspondence with isotope ratios of Antarctic krill, which means that pygmy right whales don’t make seasonal migrations to the Antarctic, like many other species of baleen whales do.

Likewise, because the isotope ratios didn’t match those of pelagic fish, the authors deduced that unlike larger species of baleen whales, pygmy right whales don’t feed on fish.

The restricted, mid-latitude range of pygmy right whales and their reliance on specific prey puts them at risk, warned the authors.

“As large-bodied mammals who feed on tiny prey, pygmy right whales need to consume vast quantities of food. This makes them vulnerable to changes in their local environment. Their home, the temperate oceans of the southern hemisphere, is warming at an alarming rate. We plan to study next how they will respond to this change,” said Rogers.

Pygmy right whale [VIDEO] | 1

Pygmy right whale [VIDEO] | 2

Baleen of pygmy right whales, on loan from the South Australian Museum in Adelaide

The first author, doctoral student Adelaide Dedden, with baleen from pygmy right whales in the foreground

CREDIT

Adelaide Dedden

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JOURNAL

Frontiers in Marine Science

DOI

10.3389/fmars.2023.1190623 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Stable isotopes infer the diet and habitat of the enigmatic pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata) off southern Australia

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

31-Jul-2023

 

Luzio, who lived in São Paulo 10,000 years ago, was Amerindian like Indigenous people now, DNA reveals

An investigation covering four different parts of Brazil carried out analysis of genomic data from 34 fossils, including larger skeletons and the famous mounds of shells and fishbones built on the coast, and revealed differences between communities

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

 

IMAGE: THE INVESTIGATION THAT COVERED FOUR DIFFERENT PARTS OF BRAZIL CARRIED OUT ANALYSIS OF GENOMIC DATA FROM 34 FOSSILS, INCLUDING LARGER SKELETONS AND THE FAMOUS MOUNDS OF SHELLS AND FISHBONES BUILT ON THE COAST view more 

CREDIT: ANDRÉ STRAUSS

An article to be published on July 31 in Nature Ecology & Evolution reveals that Luzio, the oldest human skeleton found in São Paulo state (Brazil), was a descendant of the ancestral population that settled the Americas at least 16,000 years ago and gave rise to all present-day Indigenous peoples, such as the Tupi.

Based on the largest set of Brazilian archeological genomic data, the study reported in the article also offers an explanation for the disappearance of the oldest coastal communities, who built the icons of Brazilian archeology known as sambaquis, huge mounds of shells and fishbones used as dwellings, cemeteries and territorial boundaries. Archeologists often refer to these monuments as shell mounds or kitchen middens.

“After the Andean civilizations, the Atlantic coast sambaqui builders were the human phenomenon with the highest demographic density in pre-colonial South America. They were the ‘kings of the coast’ for thousands and thousands of years. They vanished suddenly about 2,000 years ago,” said André Menezes Strauss, an archeologist at the University of São Paulo’s Museum of Archeology and Ethnology (MAE-USP) and principal investigator for the study.

The first author of the article is Tiago Ferraz.The study was supported by FAPESP (projects 17/16451-2 and 20/06527-4) and conducted in partnership with researchers at the University of Tübingen’s Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (Germany).

The authors analyzed the genomes of 34 samples from four different areas of Brazil’s coast. The fossils were at least 10,000 years old. They came from sambaquis and other parts of eight sites (Cabeçuda, Capelinha, Cubatão, Limão, Jabuticabeira II, Palmeiras Xingu, Pedra do Alexandre and Vau Una).

This material included Luzio, São Paulo’s oldest skeleton, found in the Capelinha river midden in the Ribeira de Iguape valley by a group led by Levy Figuti, a professor at MAE-USP. The morphology of its skull is similar to that of Luzia, the oldest human fossil found to date in South America, dating from about 13,000 years ago. The researchers thought it might have belonged to a biologically different population from present-day Amerindians, who settled in what is now Brazil some 14,000 years ago, but it turns out they were mistaken.

“Genetic analysis showed Luzio to be an Amerindian, like the Tupi, Quechua or Cherokee. That doesn’t mean they’re all the same, but from a global perspective, they all derive from a single migratory wave that arrived in the Americas not more than 16,000 years ago. If there was another population here 30,000 years ago, it didn’t leave descendants among these groups,” Strauss said.

Luzio’s DNA also answered another question. River middens are different from coastal ones, so the find cannot be considered a direct ancestor of the huge classical sambaquis that appeared later. This discovery suggests there were two distinct migrations – into the hinterland and along the coast.

What happened to the sambaqui builders?

Analysis of the genetic material revealed heterogeneous communities with cultural similarities but significant biological differences, especially between coastal communities in the southeast and south.

“Studies of cranial morphology conducted in the 2000s had already pointed to a subtle difference between these communities, and our genetic analysis confirmed it,” Strauss said. “We discovered that one of the reasons was that these coastal populations weren’t isolated but ‘swapped genes’ with inland communities. Over thousands of years, this process must have contributed to the regional differences between sambaquis.”

Regarding the mysterious disappearance of this coastal civilization, comprising the first hunter-gatherers of the Holocene, analysis of the DNA samples clearly showed that, in contrast with the European Neolithic substitution of entire populations, what happened in this part of the world was a change of practices, with a decline in construction of shell middens and the introduction of pottery by sambaqui builders. For example, the genetic material found at Galheta IV (Santa Catarina state), the most emblematic site for the period, has remains not of shells but of ceramics and is similar to the classic sambaquis in this respect.

“This information is compatible with a 2014 study that analyzed pottery shards from sambaquis and found that the pots in question were used to cook not domesticated vegetables but fish. They appropriated technology from the hinterland to process food that was already traditional there,” Strauss said.

 

About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

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.

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JOURNAL

Nature Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1038/s41559-023-02114-9 

ARTICLE TITLE

Genomic history of coastal societies from Eastern South America

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

31-Jul-2023

GPT-3 can reason about as well as an AMERIKAN college student, UCLA psychologists report

But does the technology mimic human reasoning or is it using a fundamentally new cognitive process?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - LOS ANGELES

People solve new problems readily without any special training or practice by comparing them to familiar problems and extending the solution to the new problem. That process, known as analogical reasoning, has long been thought to be a uniquely human ability.

But now people might have to make room for a new kid on the block.

Research by UCLA psychologists shows that, astonishingly, the artificial intelligence language model GPT-3 performs about as well as college undergraduates when asked to solve the sort of reasoning problems that typically appear on intelligence tests and standardized tests such as the SAT. The study is published in Nature Human Behaviour.

But the paper’s authors write that the study raises the question: Is GPT-3 mimicking human reasoning as a byproduct of its massive language training dataset or it is using a fundamentally new kind of cognitive process?

Without access to GPT-3’s inner workings — which are guarded by OpenAI, the company that created it — the UCLA scientists can’t say for sure how its reasoning abilities work. They also write that although GPT-3 performs far better than they expected at some reasoning tasks, the popular AI tool still fails spectacularly at others.

“No matter how impressive our results, it’s important to emphasize that this system has major limitations,” said Taylor Webb, a UCLA postdoctoral researcher in psychology and the study’s first author. “It can do analogical reasoning, but it can’t do things that are very easy for people, such as using tools to solve a physical task. When we gave it those sorts of problems — some of which children can solve quickly — the things it suggested were nonsensical.”

Webb and his colleagues tested GPT-3’s ability to solve a set of problems inspired by a test known as Raven’s Progressive Matrices, which ask the subject to predict the next image in a complicated arrangement of shapes. To enable GPT-3 to “see,” the shapes, Webb converted the images to a text format that GPT-3 could process; that approach also guaranteed that the AI would never have encountered the questions before.

The researchers asked 40 UCLA undergraduate students to solve the same problems.

“Surprisingly, not only did GPT-3 do about as well as humans but it made similar mistakes as well,” said UCLA psychology professor Hongjing Lu, the study’s senior author.

GPT-3 solved 80% of the problems correctly — well above the human subjects’ average score of just below 60%, but well within the range of the highest human scores.

The researchers also prompted GPT-3 to solve a set of SAT analogy questions that they believe had never been published on the internet — meaning that the questions would have been unlikely to have been a part of GPT-3’s training data. The questions ask users to select pairs of words that share the same type of relationships. (For example, in the problem “‘Love’ is to ‘hate’ as ‘rich’ is to which word?,” the solution would be “poor.”)

They compared GPT-3’s scores to published results of college applicants’ SAT scores and found that the AI performed better than the average score for the humans.

The researchers then asked GPT-3 and student volunteers to solve analogies based on short stories — prompting them to read one passage and then identify a different story that conveyed the same meaning. The technology did less well than students on those problems, although GPT-4, the latest iteration of OpenAI’s technology, performed better than GPT-3.

The UCLA researchers have developed their own computer model, which is inspired by human cognition, and have been comparing its abilities to those of commercial AI.

“AI was getting better, but our psychological AI model was still the best at doing analogy problems until last December when Taylor got the latest upgrade of GPT-3, and it was as good or better,” said UCLA psychology professor Keith Holyoak, a co-author of the study.

The researchers said GPT-3 has been unable so far to solve problems that require understanding physical space. For example, if provided with descriptions of a set of tools — say, a cardboard tube, scissors and tape — that it could use to transfer gumballs from one bowl to another, GPT-3 proposed bizarre solutions.

“Language learning models are just trying to do word prediction so we’re surprised they can do reasoning,” Lu said. “Over the past two years, the technology has taken a big jump from its previous incarnations.”

The UCLA scientists hope to explore whether language learning models are actually beginning to “think” like humans or are doing something entirely different that merely mimics human thought.

“GPT-3 might be kind of thinking like a human,” Holyoak said. “But on the other hand, people did not learn by ingesting the entire internet, so the training method is completely different. We’d like to know if it’s really doing it the way people do, or if it’s something brand new — a real artificial intelligence — which would be amazing in its own right.”

To find out, they would need to determine the underlying cognitive processes AI models are using, which would require access to the software and to the data used to train the software — and then administering tests that they are sure the software hasn’t already been given. That, they said, would be the next step in deciding what AI ought to become.

“It would be very useful for AI and cognitive researchers to have the backend to GPT models,” Webb said. “We’re just doing inputs and getting outputs and it’s not as decisive as we’d like it to be.”

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JOURNAL

Nature Human Behaviour

DOI

10.1038/s41562-023-01659-w 

AMERIKA

New On Our Sleeves® survey highlights top stressors as students prepare to head back to school

7 in 10 parents say their children experienced challenges last school year, with academic, social and safety concerns continuing to top the list

Reports and Proceedings

NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

COLUMBUS, Ohio (July 27, 2023) — Preparing to head back to school can be a time of many emotions, from excitement to nerves. But for children who found the previous school year to be challenging, it can be an especially stressful experience. 

In a new national survey conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of The On Our Sleeves Movement for Children’s Mental Health, 71% of American parents say their children experienced challenges last school year. 

The top factors identified by parents included safety concerns (37%), academic challenges (26%), bullying (24%), ongoing social challenges related to the pandemic (24%), and mental health challenges (22%). The results closely match what parents anticipated when asked the same question prior to the start of last school year.

“Between academic struggles, behavioral challenges, increased depression and anxiety, and challenges making social connections, we’ve been hearing firsthand from families about how tough last school year was for many kids,” said Whitney Raglin Bignall, PhD, associate clinical director of On Our Sleeves and a pediatric psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “As we head into the new school year, it’s crucial to understand how kids are thinking and feeling about returning to the classroom. Checking in and having conversations with them is a simple, yet critical way to help minimize any lingering issues before they turn into even bigger challenges this upcoming school year.”

On Our Sleeves is equipping parents and caregivers with tools to help all children adapt to the upcoming school year. The new resources have been developed by mental health experts with On Our Sleeves to help parents and caregivers start the conversation about going back to school, establish habits and routines to set kids up for success this academic year and increase their sense of school belonging. The resources also offer a starting point for caregivers to work with their schools to address challenges they may experience when children are returning to the classroom. 

“Talking about mental health can be difficult but it’s recommended that parents and caregivers initiate daily conversations. This helps children feel comfortable and supported enough to share their thoughts and feelings,” Raglin Bignall said. “Having families work together to understand the child’s challenges and develop goals for the new year can help set kids up for a more successful academic year.” 

For more information and resources on children’s mental health and well-being ahead of the upcoming school year, visit OnOurSleeves.org.

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Survey Method:

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of On Our Sleeves from July 11 - 13, 2023 among 585 U.S. parents of 3-17 . The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval.  For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 4.7 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact Molly Devaney at molly@mediasourcetv.com.

 

About On Our Sleeves®

About The On Our Sleeves Movement For Children’s Mental Health 

Children don’t wear their thoughts on their sleeves. With 1 in 5 children living with a significant mental health concern and half of all lifetime mental health concerns starting by age 14, we need to give them a voice. The On Our Sleeves Movement For Children’s Mental Health, created by Nationwide Children’s Hospital, one of the United States’ largest network of pediatric behavioral health treatment providers and researchers, is on a mission to give expert-created resources to all U.S. communities so everyone can understand and promote mental health for children. Our vision is to build a world where mental health is a part of the upbringing of every single child. Nearly 1,000 mental health professionals and researchers at Nationwide Children’s, in partnership with other trusted experts, provide their real-world knowledge and expertise to power On Our Sleeves.  
 

Since the inception of On Our Sleeves in 2018, more than 6 million people in every state across the United States has interacted with the movement’s free pediatric mental health education resources at OnOurSleeves.org. 

 

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

New research method determines health impacts of heat and air quality

Even moderate temperature increases can cause more emergency hospital visits and deaths

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

The planet experienced the hottest day on record earlier this month and climate projections estimate the intensity of heat waves and poor air quality will increase and continue to cause severe impacts. Researchers from the University of Waterloo and Toronto Metropolitan University have refined and expanded a method of data collection to assess their health impacts.  

They discovered that even moderate temperature increases, for example night-time temperatures starting at 18.4 degrees Celsius, can lead to increased hospital visits and death for older adults and those with cardiorespiratory conditions. 

The new method will help municipalities make a strong case for choosing which mitigation and adaptation measures to pursue to effectively respond to climate changes. The options could include planting more trees for shade, investing in our emergency warning programs, or planning to have more staff available to run ambulances, support hospitals and long-term care homes.  

“Heat waves cause more deaths in Canada than any other climate hazard,” said Dr. Mohamed Dardir, postdoctoral researcher in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at Waterloo. “We are getting better at being proactive and planning for climate emergencies, but we still aren’t responding to temperatures in the same way we respond to big weather events, such as floods and fires.” 

The study analyzed the spring and summer in Mississauga and Brampton, Ontario. By integrating data on air quality and heat, the researchers achieved the most detailed picture of the short-term health risks impacting the vulnerable population on a municipal level. The findings confirm there was an increase in the total deaths and hospital visits in these areas with the highest impact happening on the day of the heat and poor air quality and extending two days after these events.  

In the future, the team plans to expand their analysis to include more environmental hazards, such as storms and floods, and factors including ambulatory calls across municipalities in Ontario and other provinces. The researchers say that this work will help civil society and policy makers grasp the magnitude of these climate events and equip decision makers to justify investments in climate resiliency.  

“Much of the financial burden to mitigate the impacts of hot temperatures is left to municipalities, but the health system savings are largely experienced by provinces,” said Dr. Jeffrey Wilson, professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development in Waterloo’s Faculty of Environment. “Being able to detail the cost savings and benefits for society to implement these measures will help the two levels of government understand why working together to address heat events is important.” 

The research study, Heat and air quality related cause-based elderly mortalities and emergency visits, appears in the journal Environmental Research.  

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JOURNAL

Environmental Research

Thinking style differences associated with anti-immigrant conspiracy beliefs

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE POLISH ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

 

IMAGE: ANTI TRUMP IMMIGRATION PROTEST IN BALTIMORE (USA). view more 

CREDIT: SOCIAL JUSTICE - BRUCE EMMERLING // WIKIMEDIA COMMONS HTTPS://WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/35702931@N04/32557779976/

In recent years, anti-immigration sentiment and conspiracy theories have become widespread across the U.S. and Europe. 

In this context, a right-wing conspiracy theory has emerged that has become known as the “great replacement”. This conspiracy theory alleges that the recent flows of migration to Europe and the U.S. have been planned by global elites, which, with the support of international organizations and national politicians, seek to replace the autochthonous White and Christian population with Non-white and Muslim immigrants. This conspiracy theory appears particularly toxic, since far-right terrorists have already referred to it in their violent acts.

In their article, published in the peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal Social Psychological Bulletin, Alexander Jedinger, Lena Masch, and Axel Burger explore the extent to which individual differences in thinking are associated with belief in the “great replacement” narrative. Specifically, the scientists wanted to test whether people who naturally tend to be analytical rather than intuitive in their thinking style would be less susceptible to the “great replacement” conspiracy theory. 

To do this, they applied a widely used cognitive reflection test (CRT) in a survey among 906 German adults. The sample of participants was representative of the German population in terms of age, gender, region, and education.

The CRT consists of short quiz-style questions, which make an intuitive but wrong answer come to mind quickly. To find the correct solution, respondents have to overcome their first intuitive response by investing the effort of a second thought. Accuracy on the CRT reliably correlates with a range of social attitudes and beliefs, such as higher ‘faith’ in science, disbelief in paranormal phenomena, or lower religiosity.

For the purpose of the study, the team developed a novel scale designed to measure conspiratorial beliefs. It included statements, such as: “I think that, in 2015, the government planned to bring refugees to Germany to replace the native population with non-European immigrants”, and: “Powerful organizations are behind the migration crisis, which aims to bring large quantities of foreigners to Europe to create a multicultural society, in which natives are the minority”.

The results of the study support the authors’ hypothesis that people who think more analytically, rather than intuitively, are less likely to believe in the “great replacement” conspiracy. This association remained when individual differences in political ideology and education were statistically controlled in the analyses. 

On the other hand, left-wing political views and higher education proved to be associated with less endorsement of the conspiracy theory. 

In the meantime, gender and age were found to have no relation to either belief or disbelief in this specific anti-migration conspiracy theory.

The results of the study suggest that the appeal of the great replacement conspiracy theory to some individuals is rooted in intuitive processes rather than reflective thinking, which has implications for strategies to counter anti-immigration conspiracy sentiments.

As the authors write, “given that studies indicate that reflective thinking can be improved and facilitated by systematic training and interventions, this might be one component of the strategic responses of liberal democracies against the proliferation of the ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory”.

 

Research article:

Jedinger, A., Masch, L., & Burger, A. M. (2023). Cognitive Reflection and Endorsement of the “Great Replacement” Conspiracy Theory. Social Psychological Bulletin, 18, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.32872/spb.10825

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DOI

10.32872/spb.10825 

ARTICLE TITLE

Cognitive Reflection and Endorsement of the “Great Replacement” Conspiracy Theory

 

Study finds strong support for easing Medicaid enrollment procedures

Survey results show support of efforts to shift administrative burdens away from individuals and improve communication on Medicaid enrollment procedures

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments changed rules and procedures related to Medicaid enrollment. These changes decreased many of the burdens eligible people face when signing up for programs and contributed to a 30 percent increase in Medicaid enrollment. However, the end of public health emergency declarations brings an end to these pandemic policies, which many fear could lead to eligible people losing public health insurance simply because they are unable to fulfill administrative requirements such as accurately filling out and submitting forms, renewing their enrollment and communicating with Medicaid agencies.

A new study investigates public perceptions of administrative barriers affecting health insurance access. Publishing soon in the journal Health Affairs Scholar, it was conducted by Simon Haeder, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Health Policy & Management at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, with his co-author Don Moynihan, PhD, from the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. The study uses a nationally representative survey of American adults to measure attitudes about policies meant to reduce administrative burdens and explore how these attitudes vary among different populations.

The survey, conducted in late 2022 and early 2023, asked respondents about nine policies aimed at reducing administrative burdens for individuals currently enrolled in the Medicaid program related to the nation’s transition out of the public health emergency. These include automatic renewals, the use of prefilled forms, plain language and alternate communications like text messaging, ensuring states have enough resources to handle enrollment, and increased outreach and enrollment efforts. Haeder measured levels of general support for such administrative changes and how experience with Medicaid, political ideology and ability to handle administrative tasks affect support of these policies.

Administrative burdens are something people face when dealing with public services. These can include learning about procedures, keeping track of enrollment and renewal dates and filling out and submitting forms. Administrative procedures are a necessary part of providing services and some play a key role in reducing waste and fraud. However, in some cases these procedures can be difficult to understand, especially for people without experience managing administrative tasks. In some cases, procedures can even be used to limit access to programs in a way that is less visible to the public. Additionally, such burdens can have a disproportionate impact on groups that are already facing inequalities.

Haeder’s analysis found notable support for policies that reduce administrative burdens across the whole survey sample. However, some groups showed greater support than others. For example, politically liberal respondents, people with experience with Medicaid and those who have difficulty with administrative tasks were more supportive of reducing burdens. In contrast, politically conservative people and those without experience with Medicaid were still supportive but to a lesser degree.

Haeder noted a few limitations with the study, such as the use of an internet-based survey and the fact that the one-time sample cannot measure changes in public perception. Additionally, the survey’s nine policy changes have a minimal chance of increasing enrollment fraud. People may be less likely to support changes to policies aimed at preventing fraud. Future research into other policies and attitudes toward other public assistance programs will be valuable.

Despite these limitations, the findings of this study point to substantial public support of efforts to shift administrative burdens away from individuals and improve communication and outreach about Medicaid enrollment procedures. Pandemic policies showed the potential success of reducing administrative burdens, and public support of such changes could lead to changes in how governments handle assistance programs in the future.

By George Hale, Texas A&M University School of Public Health

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JOURNAL

Health Affairs Scholar

DOI

10.1093/haschl/qxad001 

ARTICLE TITLE

Most Americans support minimizing administrative burdens for Medicaid recipients as the public health emergency ends

The Caspian Conundrum: Receding Waters Spell Trouble For Kazakhstan

By RFE/RL staff - Jul 25, 2023

The receding waters of the Caspian Sea, particularly in Kazakhstan's region, have triggered a state of emergency due to the severe implications for local infrastructure and ecosystem.

The decrease in water levels has impacted the operations of the Mangyshlak Atomic Energy Combine and the Aqtau seaport, both of which depend on the sea for their functioning, leading to critical economic concerns.

There is a contentious debate about the causes of this issue, with some attributing it to climate change and upstream regulation of rivers.

Azamat Sarsenbaev, an activist from the Kazakh Caspian Sea city of Aqtau, is trying to bring attention to a problem that is closing in on residents of his city at the same time as their only water source recedes further into the distance.

“Ten years ago we would swim around 200 meters in order to get to these rocks,” Sarsenbaev told RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, recalling his childhood. “Now we are standing on them.”

There is no doubt that the Caspian Sea -- the world’s largest enclosed body of water that is shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan -- is shrinking.

And because Kazakhstan’s section of the Caspian is among the shallowest, it is no surprise that authorities here are scrambling to deal with severe consequences that are no longer far off on the horizon.

Earlier this summer, Aqtau officials announced a state of emergency in relation to the recession of the shoreline -- a measure intended to accelerate mitigation efforts.

Kazakh Environment Minister Zulfiya Suleimenova acknowledged the scale of the problem on the day of the June 8 announcement, citing “climate change as an exogenous factor” and upstream “regulation” of rivers that flow into the lake, such as the Russian-originating Volga and the Ural, as the main causes.

Sarsenbaev is less diplomatic.

While acknowledging that Kazakhstan needs to use water more efficiently, he argues that the construction of multiple dams and other industrial objects along the Russian parts of those two rivers is causing big problems for Kazakhstan.

“They stop the water flow. And if less is coming in from the rivers, the Caspian will keep shrinking,” he said, dismissing the idea popular among many Aqtau residents that the latest plunge is the result of time-honored tectonic shifts under the seabed.

Geological changes have caused sudden shoreline recessions in the past -- including in the late 1970s -- but “a lot has changed in 50 years,” Sarsenbaev argued.

Aqtau: A City On The Edge

Experts say the Caspian’s most recent shrinking phase began around 2005.

In the last few years, the rate of recession has increased, reaching a visibly critical low.

According to Nature, a British scientific journal, the Caspian Sea’s levels are projected to fall by nine to 18 meters “in medium to high emissions scenarios” before 2100.

The drop is “caused by a substantial increase in lake evaporation that is not balanced by increasing river discharge or precipitation,” the authors of a paper published in 2020 said.

Indeed, current trends suggest that both of those balancing factors may now be in decline.

The need for immediate action is not lost on Murat Igaliev, deputy director of the Mangyshlak Atomic Energy Combine (MAEK), an energy complex that comprises a decommissioned nuclear power plant -- thermal power plants that provide heat and electricity for Aqtau -- and a plant that desalinates water for the town where more than 200,000 people live.

MAEK, in turn, depends on Caspian Sea water drawn from a water intake channel.

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, Igaliev said that 590 meters of the channel was submerged in 2005, compared to just 145 meters now.

During a harsh winter last year, part of the channel froze, contributing to a drop in power generation, while in the long-run, problems at the aging MAEK threaten the viability of Aqtau as a city.

The urgent reconstruction work required for the channel is part of the reason the authorities declared a state of emergency over the Caspian.

Igaliev said it is vital to find a contractor to begin preparatory work for dredging as quickly as possible and determine “what equipment is better to use so as not to harm the marine ecosystem.”

In addition to the former Soviet “closed town’s” existence, declining water levels in the Caspian put the work of seaports central to the so-called “middle corridor” -- a cross-Caspian trade route that bypasses Russia -- into jeopardy.

Kazakhstan’s traditionally sleepy ports of Aqtau and Quryq have seen demand for their services increase in the wake of the Ukraine war, as some shippers look for alternatives from routes that traverse Russia, which has been hit hard by international sanctions.

Kazakhstan, in turn, is keen to boost modest oil exports across the Caspian as far as possible in order to ease a near-total dependence on a troubled pipeline that sends Kazakh oil to international markets by way of the Novorossiysk-2 Marine Terminal in Russia.

But the director of the Aqtau port, Abay Turikpenbaev, said the shallow waters near his port had already impacted the work of oil tankers, which can no longer be loaded to capacity.

Turikpenbaev noted that from January 1, 2022 to January 1, 2023, the water levels at the port fell 30 centimeters, significantly more than the average of 5-10 centimeters in recent years.

If that trend continues, dredging work will have to be carried out in order to prevent the port from falling into disuse, Turiqpenbaev told RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, bemoaning a lack of research into the problem by Kazakh institutions.

For Quryq, some 70 kilometers from Aqtau, the problem is less pressing, given that the port, which was opened in 2017, occupies a position on the shore where the water is deeper.

Nevertheless, Quryq’s port director Serik Akhmetov said the port is already planning for a worst case scenario.

“There are forecasts that the sea will recover. There are also predictions of the opposite. But we cannot sit back and wait. We are currently negotiating with Belgian and Greek dredging companies. We have been dealing with this question for the last six months,” Akhmetov said.

Is Russia To Blame?

Scientists have few doubts that a drying Caspian will have major impacts -- ecological and socioeconomic -- on its five littoral states and the wider region.

The most obvious evidence for that is the fate of the Aral Sea, once one of the largest inland bodies of water in the world.

The Aral catastrophe, driven by the Soviet Union’s cotton-growing policies in Central Asia, bequeathed a mostly dried up lake that split off into separate Kazakh and Uzbek sections.

And the tragedy still haunts neighbors further afield, as dust storms from the dried parts of the lake travel across borders, lacing farmland in countries like Turkmenistan with salt.

But the degree, timing, and nature of the Caspian impact will vary from littoral state to littoral state, making collective action harder to guarantee.

This is a challenge insofar as the effects are less immediate for Moscow, whose Volga River alone accounts for around 80 percent of the Caspian’s inflow, with the Ural and other Russian rivers playing important secondary roles.

During the Soviet Union’s industrialization drive in the 1930s, systematic damming along the Volga was seen as a factor in a sudden drop in the Caspian’s sea levels that was later corrected by a spell of strong precipitation.

And Kazakh experts believe Russia is now intensifying its use of upstream water, hastening the rapid decline of the northeastern Caspian that also hosts Kazakhstan’s economically vital Qashagan oil field.


Former Water Minister Nariman Qypshaqbaev told RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service that he believed state officials who sign and oversee the current transboundary water-sharing agreements with Russia had not done their duty in regards to the Caspian.

“If seven billion cubic meters of [water from] the Ural were still entering the Caspian [each year], then the Ural would not be as shallow [in Kazakhstan] as it is [today],” Qypshaqbaev argued, referencing an agreement that he said was in place during his time as a minister more than two decades ago.

Nowadays, Qypshaqbaev claimed, Russia only guarantees Kazakhstan its agreed share of the Ural’s water for farming and other economic activities, marking the end of the idea that “both sides are responsible for the water going into the Caspian, because the Caspian is common.”

By Ainur Saparova via RFE/RL's Kazakh Service

Caspian Pipeline Consortium - Wikipedia