Federal government declines comment on First Nations elver quota court ruling

ELVER; BABY EELS

Story by The Canadian Press 


HALIFAX — The federal Fisheries Department is remaining silent while it reviews last week’s court ruling that affirms Ottawa’s decision to transfer part of the lucrative Maritimes elver fishery quota in 2022 to First Nations fishers.

In an emailed response, the department declined to comment on the Federal Court ruling, which rejected an application by three commercial elver licence holders who were seeking a judicial review of the minister's quota transfer.

“The department welcomes the Federal Court’s decision and we are conducting a thorough review of the findings,” said the department. “Because this decision is subject to an appeal process it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

In her Aug. 29 ruling, Justice Elizabeth Walker said the quota transfer was “fair and reasonable'' given the broad discretion the fisheries minister has to manage Canadian fisheries.

Former federal fisheries minister Joyce Murray cut the commercial quota for baby eels — also known as elvers — by about 14 per cent to give Indigenous fishers access to the fishery in recognition of a treaty right. Commercial fishers decried the decision because they weren't compensated, questioning whether Ottawa was moving away from the willing buyer, willing seller model, in which someone exits the commercial fishery through a buyout of his or her licence.

“Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is committed to working with First Nations to advance and uphold inherent and treaty rights and to increasing access in the fisheries … DFOs preferred approach remains, willing buyer – willing seller,” said the department, although it did not elaborate.

In an interview Friday, lawyer Michel Samson, who represents Wine Harbour Fisheries, a Nova Scotia licence holder who was part of the case, said the court’s decision leaves the door open to “arbitrary” cuts to quotas in other sectors of the industry, such as the lobster fishery.

However, the ruling noted that the elver quota transfer came after negotiations to buy out the existing licence holders were discontinued. The judge also said the substance of her decision was a “licensing decision applicable solely to the 2022 elver fishing season.”

Rick Williams, a former deputy minister of policy and priorities with the Nova Scotia government who advises fish harvester organizations, said he doesn’t think the ruling will lead to forced quota transfers in other fisheries.

“There’s a certain amount of gamesmanship going on here and it’s quite specific to this (elver) fishery,” Williams said.

Author of the book "Contested Waters: The Struggle for Rights and Reconciliation in the Atlantic Fishery," Williams said elver fishing is unique and regulations around the industry can't easily apply to other fisheries.

Ottawa has issued nine licences for elver fishing on rivers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick — with a total quota of 9,960 kilograms that has been in place since 2005. The American eel was designated as threatened by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada in 2012.

The contentious fishery was shut down by federal officials this year over safety and conservation concerns amid complaints about growing violence and intimidation due to unauthorized fishing.

Williams said ease of access and the low capital cost of participating in the elver harvest pose continuing problems “from a management point of view.”

“There’s a good reason why … DFO doesn’t just simply issue more licences in order to give First Nations access,” he said. “They are trying to limit the harvest to protect the fish stock by only reallocating existing quota.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2023.

Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press

B.C. helps Williams Lake First Nation buy property at former residential school site

Story by The Canadian Press 


WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — A former British Columbia residential school site being investigated as a possible location of unmarked graves has been purchased by the Williams Lake First Nation with the help of the provincial government.

Buying the private property will ensure the integrity of the ongoing investigation and allow the First Nation to consider how to honour both the children who disappeared and those who were taken from their families to attend the school, Chief Willie Sellars said Tuesday.

"It has long been the goal of Williams Lake First Nation's current and previous councils to see this property preserved and protected," Sellars said in a statement.

He said the return of the property to the control and stewardship of Indigenous people is an important step to commemorate the history and legacy of the residential school system in B.C.

A First Nation investigator said last January there was evidence of crimes against children. Two separate investigations using ground-penetrating radar at the former school site had detected 159 possible unmarked graves.

The Catholic-run school operated from 1891 to 1981 near Williams Lake, located about 500 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.

First Nations in B.C. have taken different approaches to former residential schools on their territories, with Alert Bay and Lower Post demolishing the sites, while nations in Kamloops and Williams Lake decided to keep the buildings.

B.C.'s Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Ministry said the Williams Lake First Nation purchased the 5.5 hectare property for $1.2 million from private owners, with an $800,000 contribution from the province.

Murray Rankin, B.C.'s Indigenous relations and reconciliation minister, said in a statement that residential school survivors and their families say the sites are of great significance and they must be protected.

"The return of these lands will support the process of truth telling, healing and remembrance as it will ensure future generations know the true history of this site and its impact on the generations of children who were forced to come here," he said.

Indigenous children from almost 50 communities were taken to St. Joseph's Mission.

The B.C. Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Ministry says in the 1980s and 1990s there were three high-profile criminal convictions for physical and sexual assault that took place at St. Joseph's Mission.

The investigation at St. Joseph's was launched after ground-penetrating radar located what are believed to be more than 200 graves at a former residential school in Kamloops in May 2021, prompting similar searches and findings in several provinces.

The final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which documented the experiences of those affected by Canada's residential school system, found at least 4,100 children died while attending the institutions.

— By Dirk Meissner in Victoria

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2023.

The Canadian Press

Enbridge to purchase three U.S. utilities for $14 billion in cash and debt

Story by The Canadian Press •


CALGARY — Enbridge Inc. has signed a US$14 billion cash-and-debt deal that represents a major vote of confidence by the Canadian company in the future of natural gas.

The Calgary-based energy infrastructure giant said Tuesday it will purchase three U.S.-based utility companies— The East Ohio Gas Company, Questar Gas Company and its related Wexpro companies, and the Public Service Company of North Carolina — all of which are owned by Virginia-based Dominion Energy Inc.

Enbridge, which plans to finance the deal through a combination of US$9.4 billion of cash consideration and US$4.6 billion of assumed debt, said the deal will double the scale of its gas utility business and will serve to balance its asset mix evenly between natural gas and renewables, and liquids.

In a presentation for investors Tuesday afternoon, Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel said the company's earnings mix is currently about 60 per cent weighted towards crude oil and liquids, and 40 per cent weighted towards natural gas and renewable energy. (Enbridge is currently the only major pipeline company in North America that owns a regulated utility. Enbridge Gas Inc. currently serves about 75 per cent of Ontario residents.)

Following the Dominion deal, which remains subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in 2024, that balance will be closer to 50-50, Ebel said. The deal will give Enbridge gas utility operations in Ohio, North Carolina, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, representing a significant presence in the U.S. utility sector.

The acquisition is expected to double the scale of Enbridge's gas utility business to approximately 22 per cent of Enbridge's total adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

While the purchase is larger than the more modest "tuck-in" acquisitions Enbridge has been pursuing in recent years, the scale and price of the Dominion assets made them a "once in a generation" opportunity that couldn't be passed up, Ebel said.

The purchase also fits with the company's previously stated bullish outlook on natural gas — even as the world aims to reduce emissions from fossil fuels to tackle climate change.

"We remain firmly of the view that all forms of energy will be required for a safe and reliable energy transition," Ebel said in Tuesday's investor presentation.

"This transaction helps us to achieve greater balance and gives us more exposure to natural gas, which is and will continue to be a critical fuel to help us realize our lower-carbon emissions."

Enbridge said following the transaction, its gas utility business will be the largest by volume in North America with a combined rate base of over C$27 billion and about 7,000 employees delivering over nine billion cubic feet per day of gas to approximately seven million customers.

Ebel said the purchase will be accretive to Enbridge's earnings within the first year, and the utilities will offer long-term, low-risk, predictable cash flow growth.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:ENB)

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

Enbridge set to be top US gas supplier with $14 billion bid for Dominion utilities

Story by Reuters •7h

LNG 2023 energy trade show in Vancouver

By Arunima Kumar and David French

(Reuters) -Enbridge will buy three utilities from Dominion Energy for $14 billion including debt, the Canadian pipeline operator said on Tuesday, creating North America's largest natural gas provider and doubling its gas distribution business.

The deal is seen as a bet on the future of natural gas in a regulated market even as energy companies and consumers are transitioning to a greener future by phasing out fossil fuels.

The deals for East Ohio Gas, Questar Gas, and Public Service Co of North Carolina will consist of $9.4 billion in cash and $4.6 billion of assumed debt.

U.S.-listed shares of Enbridge fell 6.5% to $33.01 in extended trading after the company also announced a C$4 billion ($2.9 billion) bought-share sale to fund a portion of the deal.

The divestments are the latest by Dominion following a strategic refresh announced last year aimed at focusing on its regulated operations. In July, Dominion agreed to sell its 50% stake in Cove Point LNG to the energy arm of Berkshire Hathaway for $3.3 billion.

Enbridge President and CEO Greg Ebel described the assets the company is acquiring as "must-have" infrastructure for providing safe, reliable and affordable energy.

The deal is expected to close in 2024, subject to approvals from the Federal Trade Commission and Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, among others.

Upon closing, Enbridge would supply over 9 billion cubic feet per day (bcfpd) of gas to about 7 million customers in Ohio, North Carolina, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, making it the largest gas utility business by volume in North America.

It would give the Calgary-based company access to a bigger chunk of cash from U.S. consumers as they buy gas for cooking and heating from an Enbridge-owned utility.

"Enbridge is currently the only major pipeline and midstream company that owns a regulated gas utility and we've further strengthened that position today by doubling the size of our GDS (gas distribution and storage) business," Enbridge's Chief Financial Officer Patrick Murray said in a statement.

U.S. utilities have zeroed in on their regulated operations as they provide the steady returns preferred by investors, compared with unregulated assets whose returns are dictated by market dynamics.

Morgan Stanley & Co LLC and RBC Capital Markets acted as financial advisors to Enbridge, while Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and McCarthy Tétrault LLP were legal advisors.

($1 = 1.3636 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru and David French in New York; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Sriraj Kalluvila and Richard Chang)

Canadians' view of economy deteriorates on eve of Bank of Canada rate decision, poll finds

Story by Gigi Suhanic •11h

Financial Post

Pedestrians walk past the Bank of Canada in Ottawa. 

Canadians’ view of the state of the economy continues to deteriorate, a new poll suggests, just as the Bank of Canada prepares to announce its latest interest rate decision .

A survey by Maru Public Opinion found the mood about the economy continued to sour over the summer, with only 33 per cent of people saying they believe the national economic outlook will improve over the next 60 days, down from 38 per cent in July and 41 per cent in the May edition of the poll of approximately 1,500 Canadians.

People are also more pessimistic about the prospects for their local economies, with 35 per cent expecting them to improve over the next two months, down from 40 and 41 per cent in the previous months.

“The sentiment reality: Things are dismal,” said John Wright, executive vice-president of Maru Public Opinion in a press release accompanying the latest results of the consumer sentiment survey, which was conducted from Aug. 25 to Aug. 27.

The results offered an echo of the latest GDP data from Statistics Canada that showed the economy contracted 0.2 per cent annualized in the second quarter. GDP slowed due to a drop in housing investment, smaller inventory accumulation, and slower international exports and household spending, the data agency said.

Analysts and the Bank of Canada had forecast GDP to grow 1.2 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively, in the second quarter.

Early estimates for July indicated GDP was flat, StatCan said.

The GDP shocker and an increase in the unemployment rate in July to 5.5 per cent have left most economists expecting the Bank of Canada to hold rates at five per cent, the highest level since 2001, when it meets on Sept. 6 . The bank has increased its benchmark lending rate 10 times from the pandemic-low rate of 0.25 per cent.

Economists expect GDP to keep softening as higher interest rates continue to seep through the Canadian economy. Many also said they believe the slowdown in GDP will finally bring an end to any more rate hikes .

“On the economic front, there’s still much more potential pain to come, especially if there is more than a soft-landing recession in the cards,” Wright said.

The Maru Household Outlook Index (MHOI), which is based on the results survey, has been mired in pessimism for some time. It registered 86 for August and has been stuck at that level for the last three months just off the index’s lowest reading of 83 in March.

The base number for the index is 100. A result above 100 indicates optimism and below that threshold pessimism. Canadians appeared to have the wind at their backs in July 2021 with the index soaring to 107 as the pandemic shackles loosened.

However, the long-running survey provides a time capsule of the ever-worsening condition of people’s personal finances.

For example, more than a third of Canadians said they struggled to make ends meet in August up from 27 per cent in April 2021. Meanwhile, 31 per cent said they rely on government payments to square up their budget, a 12 percentage point increase from 19 per cent in May 2022.

Half of people said they are worried about their finances and one quarter said they were worse off in August compared with July.

Further, those who say they will likely default on a major loan or mortgage doubled to 16 per cent last month from eight per cent in May.

More evidence Bank of Canada should stop hiking rates

Bank of Canada rate hikes might really be over this time

Economists diverge of Bank of Canada's July rate hike

Mixed-use solar and agricultural land is the silver bullet Alberta’s Conservatives have wished for

Story by Joshua M. Pearce, John M. Thompson Chair in Information Technology and Innovation and Professor, Western University •8h

THE CONVERSATION

The Alberta government recently announced a much-maligned seven-month pause on renewable (including solar) energy development in the province. While the exact reasons are up for debate, one specific factor has been the desire to investigate ways to make renewable energy, particularly solar, more integrated within the province over the long term.

Specifically, there is a real concern among some in the party and the general public that industrial solar will displace farming and raise food prices as well as create end-of-life problems with potentially abandoned equipment.

Luckily, we can have our cake and eat it too, with a new concept of agrivoltaics. Agrivoltaics is the simultaneous placement of food crops and solar photovoltaic systems that produce electricity directly from sunlight — while also producing a beneficial micro climate. Covering crops with solar panels may not seem intuitive, however, dozens of studies from all over the world have shown that many crop yields increase when they are partially shaded from solar panels.

This is good news for everyone, but especially for Alberta’s ruling Conservatives, as it provides a seemingly simple solution to a potentially complicated land-use debate between agriculture and energy generation within the province.

Alberta and energy

Alberta’s energy portfolio is changing rapidly. Low-cost solar energy is now growing so fast as to be a “gold rush” in Alberta.

In fact, much to Ontario’s shame, Alberta has taken on the leadership role in solar development in Canada, generating millions of solar dollars and creating thousands of solar jobs for Alberta’s energy workers.

Solar companies have grown so fast precisely because there is profit in offsetting costly fossil-fuel electricity. However, many in Alberta are worried that this new boom will lead to higher food costs, scarred landscapes and a repeat of costs from cleaning up after the oil and gas industry.

This particular land-use conflict between solar and agriculture has been a concern for solar researchers like myself for some time. However, our research in the United States has shown that agrivoltaics provide higher economic productivity, energy and food yields. So much so that the U.S. Department of Energy is now investing millions of dollars to ensure America’s dominance in the field.

Read more: How shading crops with solar panels can improve farming, lower food costs and reduce emissions

One of the studies in the U.S., for example, observed pepper production shoot up by more than 200 per cent while other crops like wheat in Germany were more reserved with a few per cent increase — but they still produced more wheat.

Not surprisingly, agrivoltaics is slated to grow to a $9.3 billion market by 2031.

Agrivoltaics in Canada

Agrivoltaics is happening right here in Canada already (mostly with sheep grazing between panels on marginal land). Last year, we held the first agrivoltaics conference anywhere in North America at the Ivey Business School.

The trade group made up of farmers and solar companies called Agrivoltaics Canada has formed because agrivoltaic farming can help meet Canada’s food and energy needs all the while getting rid of our fossil fuel reliance and greenhouse gas emissions (and the associated emissions liabilities).

Agrivoltaics will allow Alberta’s farmers to keep farming, make more money, drop energy costs, and help protect the environment for all of our children. To take advantage of all the profit that agrivoltaics represents for the province, our team completed a study that showed the changes to Alberta’s regulations would actually need to be relatively modest.

The simple trick is to install solar systems that enable conventional farming, so farmers do not need to change anything. By spacing solar rows out far enough that combines/tractors can drive between them using vertical racks or tracker systems, agrivoltaics are out of the way when the farmer needs to farm. We did a study that looked specifically at Alberta’s agrivoltaic potential, which was second only to Saskatchewan in Canada.
Moving forward together

Agrivoltaics really has broad appeal. Farmers love it as it increases yields and provides steady incomes and so do solar developers and environmentalists. Even most Americans support solar development when agrivoltaics protects farm jobs. It is thus not surprising that agrivoltaics is exploding on the world market.

Eighty-nine per cent of Alberta’s electricity came from fossil fuels, yet we published an article this year that showed that agrivoltaics on just one per cent of the current agricultural land would eliminate the carbon emissions entirely. Less than one per cent of Alberta’s farm land dedicated to agrivoltaics, cuts all harmful emissions from Alberta’s electricity sector while making more food.

Read more: Growing farmland inequality in the Prairies poses problems for all Canadians

This is a win-win for the farmers, and consumers alike. As Alberta’s Conservatives are now able to lift the renewable energy ban knowing that the environment and the food system will be protected, they should ensure that large-scale solar in the province is encouraged to be agrivoltaic. Then all of us, regardless of party, can enjoy the conserved beauty of nature, lower-cost electricity and more food produced per acre. Whether or not this will result in lower costs at the grocery store checkout is a question yet to be answered — but we can hope.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:

Global biodiversity: Why the proposed changes to Ontario’s Greenbelt matter

Is it worth investing in a battery for your rooftop solar? Here’s what buyers need to know (but often can’t find out)

Joshua M. Pearce has received funding for research from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Mitacs, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Defense, The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). In addition, his past and present consulting work and research is funded by the United Nations, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, many non-profits and for-profit companies in the energy and solar photovoltaic fields. He is a founding member of Agrivoltaics Canada. He does not directly work for any solar manufacturer and has no direct conflicts of interests.

SCI-FI-TEK

Exclusive-Canada oil sands carbon capture project struggles to get key contract


A tailings pond at the Suncor tar sands mining operations near Fort McMurray.

By Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada is struggling to get a key tool in place for major carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, said a representative of one of the largest such ventures, as the country seeks to launch incentives vital to cutting emissions from Alberta's oil sands.

A government fund has told the Pathways Alliance, comprised of the six largest oil and gas producers in Canada, that their project is too large and too risky for a contract for difference, a tool which would lock in future carbon credit prices, the representative told Reuters.

The mechanism gives investors in CCS certainty about their future revenue by setting a minimum price for their carbon credits. Oil companies in the country's highest-emitting sector are counting on CCS to help dramatically cut emissions while continuing to pump oil and gas.

Pathways is still in talks with the government to set up such a contract, though probably not through the C$15 billion ($11 billion) Canada Growth Fund - a body set up last year by the Finance Ministry to help attract private investment in clean tech by mitigating financing risks - the representative said.

"We sincerely do want to figure out a path to work with them," said a finance ministry official who was not authorized to speak on the record.

Canada is the world's fourth-largest oil producer, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made getting to net-zero by 2050 a guiding principle of his government in recent years.

However, Canada is lagging behind the U.S., which has offered massive incentives to clean tech companies under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) for more than a year now.

Related video: Carbon credits help expand Kenyan cookstove company (Reuters)
Duration 3:12  View on Watch

But Canada's system is more complex because, unlike the U.S., it has a carbon pricing system that will allow companies that capture or reduce emissions to sell carbon credits.

Carbon credits represent reduced or avoided carbon emissions, and companies use them to mitigate greenhouse gases they generate. However, environmental groups have said these schemes allow companies to appear to take climate action when in reality they are not cutting emissions.

The Pathways Alliance CCS hub would store emissions from 14 oil sands projects at an estimated cost of C$16.5 billion ($12.2 billion) by 2030. The project will take years to build and so Pathways is counting on government support to move forward.

The government has told Pathways that the Growth Fund may not be equipped to handle some projects, said the Pathways representative who asked not to be named. The alliance includes Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, Suncor Energy, Cenovus Energy, Imperial Oil, ConocoPhillips Canada and MEG Energy.

Pathways aims to sequester 14 megatonnes of carbon per year and the federal benchmark for credits in 2030 is set at C$170 per tonne. The contract would help pay for capital and operating costs, Pathways says.

Canada set up the Growth Fund last year, which is run through the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, a federal Crown corporation.

Jessica Eritou, a spokesperson for the Finance Ministry, said the government and the Growth Fund are speaking with many commercial project proponents to understand the demand for carbon contracts for difference, and how "we can best facilitate these."

A number of other industries are also looking to use contracts for difference. Adam Auer, president of the Cement Association of Canada, said the contracts are vital to attracting foreign investment.

"We need to have the details finalized and to get some contracts in place before we have the level of certainty that's needed to get some of that foreign capital into our country."

($1 = 1.3591 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Denny Thomas and Josie Kao)

 

Can an artificial nose detect food spoilage?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WILEY

Researchers have developed an energy-efficient computing-based chip with smell-sensing units that can detect food spoilage and provides real-time conditions continuously throughout the spoilage process. The system is described in a study published in Advanced Science.

Other electronic noses, or artificial olfactory systems (AOSs), have been developed in the past, but they have numerous limitations, including high energy consumption, time delays, and data loss.

The AOS developed in this study requires little energy and integrates sensing and computing units on the same chip. It detects food spoilage by employing thin zinc oxide films that sense even very low levels of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia gases, which are high-protein food spoilage markers.

When investigators tested it during the spoilage process of chicken tenderloin, the system continuously tracked freshness scores and food conditions over time. The platform could be used for various applications by adjusting the gas-sensing materials and other parameters.

“Our artificial olfactory system is extremely energy- and area-efficient since the sensing and processing units are integrated and operate concurrently like a biological olfactory system,” said corresponding author Jong-Ho Lee, PhD, of Seoul National University.

URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202302506

 

Additional Information
NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact: Sara Henning-Stout, newsroom@wiley.com.

About the Journal
Advanced Science, part of the prestigious Wiley Advanced portfolio, is an open access interdisciplinary science journal publishing the best-in-class fundamental and applied research in materials science, physics, chemistry, medical and life sciences, and engineering. Our mission is to give top science the maximum accessibility through open access publishing.

About Wiley
Wiley is a knowledge company and a global leader in research, publishing, and knowledge solutions. Dedicated to the creation and application of knowledge, Wiley serves the world’s researchers, learners, innovators, and leaders, helping them achieve their goals and solve the world's most important challenges. For more than two centuries, Wiley has been delivering on its timeless mission to unlock human potential. Visit us at Wiley.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

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JOURNAL

Advanced Science

DOI

10.1002/advs.202302506 

ARTICLE TITLE

Energy Efficient Artificial Olfactory System with Integrated Sensing and Computing Capabilities for Food Spoilage Detection

 

Synchronizing your internal clocks may help mitigate jet lag, effects of aging

A hearty breakfast instead of a midnight snack could lead to better sleep when traveling

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS

 

IMAGE: SCHEMATIC OF THE MATHEMATICAL MODEL. THE MODEL CONSISTS OF TWO POPULATIONS OF COUPLED OSCILLATORS, WHERE ONE POPULATION REPRESENTS THE CENTRAL CLOCK IN THE BRAIN, ENTRAINED BY LIGHT, AND THE OTHER POPULATION REPRESENTS THE PERIPHERAL CLOCKS, ENTRAINED BY FOOD. view more 

CREDIT: HUANG ET AL.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2023 -- Traveling to faraway places is a great way to seek out new experiences, but jet lag can be an unpleasant side effect. Adjusting to a new time zone is often accompanied by fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and a host of other problems that can turn an otherwise exciting adventure into a miserable trip.

Jet lag is caused by a difference between the circadian system — the body’s internal clock — and the surrounding environment. Around the turn of the century, scientists began to recognize that the body has multiple internal clocks, calibrated in different ways, and that jet lag-like symptoms can result when these clocks drift out of sync with each other. This can happen in several ways and grows more prevalent with age.

In Chaos, from AIP Publishing, a team of scientists from Northwestern University and the Santa Fe Institute developed a theoretical model to study the interactions between multiple internal clocks under the effects of aging and disruptions like jet lag.

Modern research has shown that circadian clocks are present in almost every cell and tissue in the body. Each relies on its own set of cues to calibrate; the brain’s clock depends on sunlight, for instance, while the peripheral organs calibrate at mealtime.

“Conflicting signals, such as warm weather during a short photoperiod or nighttime eating — eating when your brain is about to rest — can confuse internal clocks and cause desynchrony,” said author Yitong Huang.

At this point, little is known about how the body’s various internal clocks affect each other. The added complexity of accounting for multiple clocks means researchers tend to use simplified models.

“Most studies primarily focus on one particular time cue or a single clock,” said Huang. “Important gaps remain in our understanding of the synchronization of multiple clocks under conflicting time cues.”

Huang and her colleagues took a different approach, building a mathematical framework that accounts for this complex interplay between systems. Their model features two populations of coupled oscillators that mimic the natural rhythms of circadian cycles. Each oscillator influences the others while simultaneously adjusting based on unique external cues.

Using this model, the team was able to explore how such a coupled system could be disrupted and what makes the effect worse. They found that common symptoms of aging, such as weaker signals between circadian clocks and a lower sensitivity to light, result in a system that is more vulnerable to disruptions and slower to recover.

They also landed on a new method to speed up recovery from jet lag and similar disruptions. According to their results, the way to better sleep is through the stomach.

“Having a larger meal in the early morning of the new time zone can help overcome jet lag,” says Huang. “Constantly shifting meal schedules or having a meal at night is discouraged, as it can lead to misalignment between internal clocks.”

The authors plan to investigate the other side of the equation and identify the factors that result in more resilient internal clocks. Such discoveries could result in recommendations to prevent jet lag in the first place, or to keep the circadian system healthy into old age.

The article, "A minimal model of peripheral clocks reveals differential circadian re-entrainment in aging," is authored by Yitong Huang, Yuanzhao Zhang, and Rosemary Braun. It will appear in Chaos on Sept. 5, 2023 (DOI: 10.1063/5.0157524). After that date, it can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0157524.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Chaos is devoted to increasing the understanding of nonlinear phenomena in all areas of science and engineering and describing their manifestations in a manner comprehensible to researchers from a broad spectrum of disciplines. See https://pubs.aip.org/aip/cha.

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JOURNAL

Chaos An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science

DOI

10.1063/5.0157524 

ARTICLE TITLE

A minimal model of peripheral clocks reveals differential circadian re-entrainment in aging

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Sep-2023

 

Why are male kidneys more vulnerable to disease than female kidneys? USC Stem Cell-led mouse study points to testosterone

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KECK SCHOOL OF MEDICINE OF USC

 

IMAGE: TWO OF THE GENES—GSTA4 IN RED AND CYP4A14 IN GREEN—THAT ARE MORE ACTIVE IN FEMALE MOUSE KIDNEYS (BLUE). view more 

CREDIT: IMAGE BY JING LIU/MCMAHON LAB

Female kidneys are known to be more resilient to disease and injury, but males need not despair. A new USC Stem Cell-led study published in Developmental Cell describes not only how sex hormones drive differences in male and female mouse kidneys, but also how lowering testosterone can “feminize” this organ and improve its resilience.

“By exploring how differences emerge in male and female kidneys during development, we can better understand how to address sex-related health disparities for patients with kidney diseases,” said Professor Andy McMahon, the study’s corresponding author, and the director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. 

First authors Lingyun “Ivy” Xiong and Jing Liu from the McMahon Lab and their collaborators identified more than 1,000 genes with different levels of activity in male and female mouse kidneys, in a study supported by the National Institutes of Health. The differences were most evident in the section of the kidney’s filtering unit known as the proximal tubule, responsible for reabsorbing most of the nutrients such as glucose and amino acids back into the blood stream. Most of these sex differences in gene activity emerged as the mice entered puberty and became even more pronounced as they reached sexual maturity. 

Because female kidneys tend to fare better in the face of disease or injury, the researchers were interested how the gene activity of kidneys becomes “feminized” or “masculinized”—and testosterone appeared to be the biggest culprit.

To feminize the kidneys of male mice, two strategies worked equally well: castrating males before puberty and thus lowering their natural testosterone levels, or removing the cellular sensors known as androgen receptors that respond to male sex hormones. 

Intriguingly, three months of calorie restriction—which is an indirect way to lower testosterone—produced a similar effect. Accordingly, calorie restriction has already been shown to mitigate certain types of kidney injuries in mice. 

To re-masculinize the kidneys of the castrated males, the researchers only needed to inject testosterone. Similarly, testosterone injection masculinized the kidneys of females who had their ovaries removed before puberty.

The scientists performed some similar experiments with mouse livers. Although this organ also displays sex-related differences, the hormones and underlying factors driving these differences are very different than those at play in the kidney. This suggests that these sex-related organ differences emerged independently during evolution.

To test whether the same genes are involved in sex-related kidney differences in humans, the scientists analyzed a limited number of male and female donor kidneys and biopsies. When it came to genes that differed in their activity between the sexes, there was a modest overlap of the human genes with the mouse genes. 

“There is much more work to be done in studying sex-related differences in normal human kidneys,” said McMahon. “Given the divergent outcomes for male and female patients with kidney disease and injury, this line of inquiry is important for making progress toward eventually closing the gap on these sex-related health disparities.”

Additional authors are Kari Koppitch, Jin-Jin Guo, Megan Rommelfanger, and Adam L. MacLean from USC; Zhen Miao and Junhyong Kim from the University of Pennsylvania; Fan Gao, Ingileif B. Hallgrimsdottir, and Lior Pachter from the California Institute of Technology. 

One hundred percent of this work was supported by federal funding from the National Institutes of Health (grants R01DK126925 and R35GM143019) and the National Science Foundation (DMS2045327). 

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JOURNAL

Developmental Cell

DOI

10.1016/j.devcel.2023.08.010 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Direct androgen receptor control of sexually dimorphic gene expression in the mammalian kidney

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Sep-2023

 

Linking two solar technologies is a win-win for efficiency and stability

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, ENGINEERING SCHOOL

While conventional silicon-based solar cells have had an unmistakable impact on the buildout of renewable energy resources around the world, additional performance improvements have become increasingly difficult to make as the devices approach their practical efficiency limits. This constraint has prompted scientists to seek out new technologies that can be combined with silicon cells to unlock higher efficiencies.

Solar cells made with crystals called perovskites are one such technology that have rapidly emerged as an appealing low-cost add-on, but perovskite cells are notoriously susceptible to voltage-induced changes — the shade cast from an overhanging tree branch or nearby plant can zap an entire module within minutes.

Now, researchers from Princeton University and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have connected the well-established silicon solar cell with the up-and-coming perovskite in a tandem solar cell to not only boost overall efficiency, but also to strengthen stability. The results, reported in Joule on Sep. 5, illustrate that the connection protects the frail perovskite solar cell from voltage-induced breakdown while attaining greater efficiencies than either cell can achieve on their own.

“Tandem solar cells have already demonstrated power conversion efficiencies that are greater than either silicon or perovskite solar cells alone,” said Barry Rand, research leader and professor of electrical and computer engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. “We thought that in addition to their higher efficiencies, tandem solar cells could also solve some of the stability challenges facing perovskites by linking them with silicon cells, which are much more stable.”

To test their hypothesis, the researchers built three strings of solar cells: one containing only silicon solar cells, one with only perovskites, and one composed of tandem solar cells, with the two technologies connected in a series. The researchers then shaded one of the cells in the string to simulate the partial shading conditions that a solar array may encounter at least once in its decades-long lifespan.

Such partial shading usually spells doom for perovskites, as the still-illuminated cells force charge to flow through the now-shaded and inactive cell, quickly degrading both it and the entire module. Silicon solar cells, on the other hand, are much more resilient to voltage fluxes, and can endure periods of partial shading with fewer issues.

As expected, the perovskite-only solar module quickly deteriorated after partial shading, while the silicon solar module was only minimally impacted. Interestingly, however, the tandem solar module was just as resilient as the silicon-only module, implying that by connecting the two solar technologies, the silicon cell was able to mask the frailty of the perovskite.

“When you combine two different materials to form a final product, usually it’s the weakest link that ends up determining the overall strength of the chain,” said co-author Stefaan De Wolf, professor of material science and engineering at KAUST. “But in this case, it’s actually the stronger component that protected the weaker one.”

The researchers said their findings demonstrate that partial shading — which has been a major obstacle to perovskite-only modules — may be a negligible concern for series-connected tandem solar devices.

The team also said that the findings bode well for the commercialization prospects of perovskites, because they imply that perovskites may have the most potential when deployed in complement with silicon solar cells, for which a mature manufacturing ecosystem already exists. Instead of having to build a competing manufacturing process, perovskites could be added onto the commercially proven production process for silicon solar cells.

While the team noted that several challenges in addition to partial shading remain to be solved before tandem solar cells achieve the lifespan expected of commercial solar technologies, such as their poor resilience to heat, they said that tandem devices could enable solar research to continue evolving after silicon solar cells hit their upper power conversion efficiency limits.

“If some other stability challenges can be solved, tandem solar cells could essentially take an already successful commercial technology and make it even better,” Rand said. “Our results make a strong case that tandem devices should be an all-hands-on-deck area for future solar research.”

The paper, “Reverse-bias resilience of monolithic perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells,” was published September 5 in Joule. In addition to Rand and De Wolf, co-authors include Zhaojian Xu of Princeton; Helen Bristow, Maxime Babics, Badri Vishal, Erkan Aydin, Randi Azmi, Esma Ugur, Bumin Yildirim, and Jiang Liu of the KAUST Solar Center; and Ross Kerner of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The work was supported by KAUST under contract numbers OSR-CRG2020-4350, OSR-CARF/CCF-3079, and OSR-CRG2022-5035. The research was authored in part by NREL under contract number DE-AC36-08GO28308, and the researchers also received support from NREL’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program.

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JOURNAL

Joule

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Reverse-bias resilience of monolithic perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Sep-2023