Placing nanoparticles in the palm of your hand

Anne Bentley, chemistry professor at Lewis & Clark College, has developed an innovative way to teach nanoscience, using 3D-printed models that make the unseen visible

Peer-Reviewed Publication

LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE

 

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ANNE BENTLEY, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AT LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE IN PORTLAND, OREGON, HAS DEVELOPED AN INNOVATIVE WAY TO TEACH NANOSCIENCE, USING 3D-PRINTED MODELS THAT MAKE THE UNSEEN VISIBLE

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CREDIT: STEPHEN MERCIER / LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE

Nanoparticles are super tiny―as small as one nanometer, or one billionth of a meter―and are of keen interest to materials scientists for their unique physical and chemical properties. They cannot be detected by the naked eye and require a highly specialized electron microscope to be seen.

In fact, advancements in imaging technologies through the 1990s and early 2000s are what made the field of nanoscience possible, says Anne Bentley, a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

“I think a lot of chemistry is outside the realm of what people can hold in their hands,” she says. “You can obtain evidence about what’s going on, but you’re still investigating something that’s at too small a scale for your eyes to see. Anything you can do to scale it up is helpful.”

So Bentley did just that, creating 3D models of the simplest geometric shapes that nanoparticles form. She has made the instructions for creating these models, either with paper or 3D-printing material, available as part of an article she co authored, published in the Journal of Chemical Education, called: “A Primer on Lattice Planes, Crystal Facets, and Nanoparticle Shape Control.”

A Primer for Materials Chemistry Students

Nanoparticles come in different geometric shapes and are crystalline, or composed of atoms arranged in a pattern that repeats in three dimensions. The shapes display flat surfaces, called planes or facets, similar to the cuts in a gemstone. The arrangement of atoms on these crystal surfaces influences the material’s special properties, says Bentley.

“The shapes are derived from this packing of the atoms,” she says. “The motivation to make different shapes really comes down to the arrangement of the atoms when the material is sliced in different ways on different crystal planes.

In the paper, Bentley focuses on low-index shapes, which she describes as the three simplest ways to slice the structure.

“There are lots more complex ways to slice it, but these are the three fundamental ways to do it, by making them either six, eight, or twelve sides―cubes, octahedra, or rhombic dodecahedra. It was a natural choice to focus on those three for the article.”

Transforming a “Jumble of Numbers” Into Shapes

 “Nanoscience is a topic that both falls between chemistry and physics in the curriculum, but also between undergraduate- and graduate-level research,” says Bentley. “It’s important that beginning materials chemists have a fundamental understanding of crystal planes, facets, and directions of growth. They also need to understand the three-digit notation system used to index these attributes, known as the Miller indices. Otherwise, this system can look like a mysterious jumble of numbers.”  

She felt it was important to provide a foundation of knowledge in an accessible format that could aid educators in introducing this important and growing field. While more complex structures than the 3D-printed models can be created digitally via computer simulation programs, Bentley believes that there are advantages to being able to hold the models in your hands.         

“I like things I can look at and think about,” she says, adding 3D models are particularly useful for generating an understanding of this key nanoscience topic.

Growing Gold Particles to Convert Carbon Dioxide                                                         

In Bentley’s lab, she and students work on manipulating gold atoms in vials of liquid to control the nanoparticle shapes. 

“You need to just make the right conditions at the right temperatures, a whole environment that is conducive to growing a particular shape,” she says.

Bentley studies gold nanoparticles, which are notable for their catalytic properties, or ability to accelerate chemical reactions. The way the material is sliced exposes different patterns of atoms, she explains. Previous research has identified that one particular gold nanoparticle shape, the 12-sided rhombic dodecahedra, is more effective for converting carbon dioxide into fuel materials.

“It’s like recycling,” says Bentley. “Not only does this nanoparticle shape enable researchers to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but it allows them to turn it back into some kind of fuel that can be used. So if we can grow particles that have this facet on them only, that’s a real advantage.”

Three fundatmental nanoparticle shapes: cubes, octahedra, or rhombic dodecahedra

CAPTION

This image demonstrates how three families of planes in the face-centered cube extended crystal lattice are defined relative to the unit cell, how atoms are packed on the surfaces of these planes, and how these planes can form the crystal facets of three nanoparticle shapes.

CREDIT

Anne Bentley / Lewis & Clark College

About Anne Bentley

Anne K. Bentley is the Dr Robert B. Pamplin Jr Associate Professor of Science at Lewis & Clark College, where she studies the chemistry of nanoscale materials and teaches general, inorganic, and nanomaterials chemistry. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, and the W. M. Keck Foundation. Since 2014, she has served on the leadership team of the Interactive Online Community of Inorganic Chemists (IONiC), a national group supporting and studying the teaching of inorganic chemistry. Professor Bentley has recently been recognized with the American Chemical Society’s Rising Star Award (2020), Lewis & Clark’s Division of Student Life Partner Award (2021), and the Lorry Lokey Faculty Excellence Award (2022).

 

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JOURNAL

Journal of Chemical Education

DOI

10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c00371 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

A Primer on Lattice Planes, Crystal Facets, and Nanoparticle Shape Control

 

Filling data gaps to assess the role of education in fertility decline

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

IIASA researchers have introduced an innovative methodology for reconstructing data on fertility and education, particularly in developing countries with inconsistent or unreliable data sets.

Decision makers need consistent and reliable data to evaluate the impact of women’s education on fertility, particularly during periods of educational expansion and fertility transition (in other words, the decline of fertility from high levels), which is common in populations across the world today. This is especially important in developing countries where demographic issues are intricately connected to a range of other challenges, such as economic disparities, healthcare access, education gaps, environmental and climate change impacts, and political instability. However, getting hold of accurate and consistent data on fertility rates based on education and age is a challenge in many regions.

To help address the problem, Afua Durowaa-Boateng from the Vienna Institute of Demography (Austrian Academy of Sciences) together with IIASA researchers Anne Goujon and Dilek Yildiz, developed a modeling framework that can be used to reconstruct existing data to assess the role of education in fertility decline, providing historical evidence that can inform future population projections. Their work has been published in the journal Demographic Research.

“Our reconstructed data can help facilitate the assessment of the role of education in fertility decline and make up for the lack of available time series data. Furthermore, the estimates and historical evidence that our model provides can be used to inform the future when they are used in population projections,” Durowaa-Boateng explains.

The results affirm existing literature that women with a higher level of education tend to have lower fertility rates and also tend to have children at a later age. However, during an initial period, the fertility of educated women may be higher than that of women without education, as shown by the case of most countries in sub-Saharan Africa at the onset of the fertility decline in the 1980s. As education levels increase, the gap in fertility rates between individuals with different educational backgrounds increases, and then decreases as shown in the case of many Latin American countries which started their fertility transition in the 1970s and by 2020 show a reduced gap.

The study’s findings suggest that as more women become educated and reduce fertility, those with lower education levels tend to follow suit within their communities. This research is valuable for policymakers and organizations in low-income countries, providing insights into the spillover effects of education on fertility behavior.

“While the findings of our analysis are key for policymaking, the main immediate users will probably be scholars who can use the consistent time series data in their own models. Our research also opens avenues for more applications to reconstruct imperfect and incomplete education specific demographic data on fertility in other world regions such as South Asia,” says Yildiz.

“The fact that more researchers will be able to assess the role of education in fertility decline during the demographic transition, and the importance of changes in the age schedule in fertility depending on education, can be fed into population projections depending on different scenarios of education development as implemented at IIASA under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways projections. The spillover effect of education on fertility behavior is important for policymakers and international organizations working in other low-income countries,” adds Goujon, who is the IIASA Population and Just Societies Program Director.

The researchers hope that their data and model, which is freely available on an accompanying website that also presents the data graphically, will be used by scholars and policymakers to address demographic challenges around the world, and particularly in Africa. There are plans to expand the website with additional research on population in Africa in the near future.

Reference
Durowaa-Boateng, A., Yildiz, D., & Goujon, A. (2023). A Bayesian model for the reconstruction of education- and age-specific fertility rates: An application to African and Latin American countries. Demographic Research DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2023.49.31

 

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

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JOURNAL

Demographic Research

DOI

10.4054/DemRes.2023.49.31 

ARTICLE TITLE

A Bayesian model for the reconstruction of education- and age-specific fertility rates: An application to African and Latin American countries

 

'Doughnut' beams help physicists see incredibly small objects

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER

 

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SCATTER PATTERN PRODUCED BY DOUGHNUT-SHAPED BEAMS OF LIGHT BOUNCING OFF OF AN OBJECT WITH A REGULARLY REPEATING STRUCTURE.

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CREDIT: WANG, ET AL., 2023, "OPTICA"

In a new study, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have used doughnut-shaped beams of light to take detailed images of objects too tiny to view with traditional microscopes.

The new technique could help scientists improve the inner workings of a range of “nanoelectronics,” including the miniature semiconductors in computer chips. The discovery was highlighted Dec. 1 in a special issue of “Optics & Photonics News” called “Optics in 2023.”

The research is the latest advance in the field of ptychography, a difficult to pronounce (the “p” is silent) but powerful technique for viewing very small things. Unlike traditional microscopes, ptychography tools don’t directly view small objects. Instead, they shine lasers at a target, then measure how the light scatters away—a bit like the microscopic equivalent of making shadow puppets on a wall.

So far, the approach has worked remarkably well, with one major exception, said study senior author and Distinguished Professor of physics Margaret Murnane.

“Until recently, it has completely failed for highly periodic samples, or objects with a regularly repeating pattern,” said Murnane, fellow at JILA, a joint research institute of CU Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). “It’s a problem because that includes a lot of nanoelectronics.”

She noted that many important technologies like some semiconductors are made up of atoms like silicon or carbon joined together in regular patterns like a grid or mesh. To date, those structures have proved tricky for scientists to view up close using ptychography.

In the new study, however, Murnane and her colleagues came up with a solution. Instead of using traditional lasers in their microscopes, they produced beams of extreme ultraviolet light in the shape of doughnuts.

The team’s novel approach can collect accurate images of tiny and delicate structures that are roughly 10 to 100 nanometers in size, or many times smaller than a millionth of an inch. In the future, the researchers expect to zoom in to view even smaller structures. The doughnut, or optical angular momentum, beams also won’t harm tiny electronics in the process—as some existing imaging tools, like electron microscopes, sometimes can.

“In the future, this method could be used to inspect the polymers used to make and print semiconductors for defects, without damaging those structures in the process,” Murnane said.

Bin Wang and Nathan Brooks, who earned their doctoral degrees from JILA in 2023, were first authors of the new study. 

Pushing the limits of microscopes

The research, Murnane said, pushes the fundamental limits of microscopes: Because of the physics of light, imaging tools using lenses can only see the world down to a resolution of about 200 nanometers—which isn’t accurate enough to capture many of the viruses, for example, that infect humans. Scientists can freeze and kill viruses to view them with powerful cryo-electron microscopes but can’t yet capture these pathogens in action and in real time. 

Ptychography, which was pioneered in the mid-2000s, could help researchers push past that limit.

To understand how, go back to those shadow puppets. Imagine that scientists want to collect a ptychographic image of a very small structure, perhaps letters spelling out “CU.” To do that, they first zap a laser beam at the letters, scanning them multiple times. When the light hits the “C” and the “U” (in this case, the puppets), the beam will break apart and scatter, producing a complex pattern (the shadows). Employing sensitive detectors, scientists record those patterns, then analyze them with a series of mathematical equations. With enough time, Murnane explained, they recreate the shape of their puppets entirely from the shadows they cast.

“Instead of using a lens to retrieve the image, we use algorithms,” Murnane said.

She and her colleagues have previously used such an approach to view submicroscopic shapes like letters or stars.

But the approach won’t work with repeating structures like those silicon or carbon grids. If you shine a regular laser beam on a semiconductor with such regularity, for example, it will often produce a scatter pattern that is incredibly uniform—ptychographic algorithms struggle to make sense of patterns that don’t have much variation in them. 

The problem has left physicists scratching their heads for close to a decade.

Doughnut microscopy

In the new study, however, Murnane and her colleagues decided to try something different. They didn’t make their shadow puppets using regular lasers. Instead, they generated beams of extreme ultraviolet light, then employed a device called a spiral phase plate to twist those beams into the shape of a corkscrew, or vortex. (When such a vortex of light shines on a flat surface, it makes a shape like a doughnut).

The doughnut beams didn’t have pink glaze or sprinkles, but they did the trick. The team discovered that when these types of beams bounced off repeating structures, they created much more complex shadow puppets than regular lasers. 

To test out the new approach, the researchers created a mesh of carbon atoms with a tiny snap in one of the links. The group was able to spot that defect with precision not seen in other ptychographic tools. 

“If you tried to image the same thing in a scanning electron microscope, you would damage it even further,” Murnane said.

Moving forward, her team wants to make their doughnut strategy even more accurate, allowing them to view smaller and even more fragile objects—including, one day, the workings of living, biological cells.

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Other co-authors of the new study include Henry Kapteyn, professor of physics and fellow of JILA, and current and former JILA graduate students Peter Johnsen, Nicholas Jenkins, Yuka Esashi, Iona Binnie and Michael Tanksalvala.

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JOURNAL

Optica

DOI

10.1364/OPTICA.498619 

ARTICLE TITLE

High-fidelity ptychographic imaging of highly periodic structures enabled by vortex high harmonic beams

 

More and more Muslims choose to be buried in Germany

Academy for Islam in Research and Society (AIWG) publishes expertise on Islamic burials

Reports and Proceedings

GOETHE UNIVERSITY FRANKFURT

FRANKFURT. Without a coffin, facing Mecca – these are the religious guidelines according to which Muslims are traditionally buried. But to what extent do contemporary German cemeteries meet these guidelines? What solutions have cemetery operators found to enable burials according to Islamic rites?

AIWG’s recently published report “Islamische Grabfelder und Bestattungen auf deutschen Friedhöfen” [“Islamic burial grounds and burials in German cemeteries”] provides the first accurate reflection – based on a broad database – of the current status of Islamic burials in municipal cemeteries in Germany. As part of his research fellowship for the AIWG expertise, the main author, Prof. Thomas Lemmen of the Catholic University of Applied Sciences of North Rhine-Westphalia, carried out a quantitative survey. Some 86 percent of the more than 300 cemetery administrations nationwide that have Islamic burial plots took part in the poll, whose data shows that from a legal point of view, there are few obstacles to burial in conformity with Islam. Put differently: German burial law largely takes into account the religious beliefs of Muslims.

The high level of interest shown by cemetery administrations in Islamic burials reflects the changing reality of Germany as a migration society. An important study result is the finding that, in the municipal context, the successful implementation of burial regulations has been the result of the discourse between cemetery administrations and Muslim interest groups.

"Cemetery administrations in Germany are very well positioned to meet the challenges of setting up Islamic burial plots. The fact that the overwhelming majority of them not only took part in the extensive survey, but also that many cemetery administrations are now in close contact with local Muslim communities, is a sign of successful integration and functioning interfaith cooperation," says Thomas Lemmen.

The publication not only includes empirical data and information on historical developments, but also illustrative material as well as articles on rituals and practical issues relating to the religious principles and procedures of Islamic burials, written by Dr. Özgür Uludağ.

"Part of life is the end of it, with the place of burial serving as the final and eternal resting place. Funeral directors, local authorities and cemetery administrators also have to address growing religious and ideological heterogeneity. This expert report provides important information not only for them, but also for academics working on the subject. Beyond that, it is aimed at Muslims and their institutions, who are not only confronted with specific religious questions in the event of death in Germany, but also with official and practical challenges," says AIWG managing director Dr. Raida Chbib.

 

Advancing food safety: Natural alternatives for meat preservation

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY

In a study published in the journal Food Quality and Safety on 19 October 2023, researchers from Zhejiang A&F University and Zhejiang University conclude that natural preservatives offer a viable alternative to synthetic chemicals in meat preservation. These natural compounds, including phages and their endolysins, bacteriocins, and plant-derived substances, demonstrate significant potential in mitigating pathogenic bacteria in meat products. However, the transition from laboratory research to industrial application requires overcoming several challenges, such as ensuring efficacy, stability, and safety in diverse food matrices.

In this study, researchers conducted a detailed exploration of various natural preservatives, assessing their potential for application in the meat industry. The focus was on a diverse range of substances, such as phages and their endolysins, bacteriocins, microbial lipopeptides, plant-derived antimicrobial peptides, and essential oils or plant extracts. The research highlighted the need for streamlined methodologies and clear guidelines to transition these natural preservatives from the lab to industrial use effectively. The study makes a strong case for these natural alternatives to synthetic chemicals in meat preservation, particularly emphasizing the targeted efficacy of bacteriophages (phages) and their endolysins against specific bacterial pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli. It also delves into the potential of bacteriocins, which are antibacterial peptides produced by bacteria, noting the requirement for genetic engineering to enhance their effectiveness. Furthermore, the study acknowledges the antimicrobial capabilities of plant extracts and essential oils, while pointing out the challenges they face in practical applications. Lipopeptides, particularly those from Bacillus species, are also highlighted for their unique structure and antimicrobial activity. In conclusion, the study posits that while these natural compounds demonstrate significant potential in reducing pathogenic bacteria in meat products, their successful transition to widespread industrial use hinges on overcoming challenges related to their efficacy, stability, and safety in various food contexts.

The study underscores the potential of natural preservatives as alternatives to synthetic chemicals in meat preservation, highlighting their effectiveness against pathogenic bacteria. This research marks a significant step towards safer and more natural meat preservation methods.

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References

DOI

10.1093/fqsafe/fyad049

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1093/fqsafe/fyad049

Funding information

The National Program on Key Research Project of China (2019YFE0103900); Zhejiang Ningbo Public Welfare Science and Technology Key Project (2022S006); The National Natural Science Foundation of China (32172849).

About Food Quality and Safety

Food Quality and Safety (FQS) is an open access, international, peer-reviewed journal providing a platform to highlight emerging and innovative science and technology in the agro-food field, publishing up-to-date research in the areas of food quality, food safety, food nutrition and human health. It is covered by SCI-E and the 2021 Impact Factor (IF)=3.949, 5-yr IF=6.469.

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JOURNAL

Food Quality and Safety

DOI

10.1093/fqsafe/fyad049 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Can natural preservatives serve as a new line of protective technology against bacterial pathogens in meat and meat products?

What's behind the holiday-suicide myth

The suicide death rate is largely seasonal and low in winter

Reports and Proceedings

ANNENBERG PUBLIC POLICY CENTER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

 

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THE PERCENTAGE OF HOLIDAY-SEASON NEWSPAPER STORIES SUPPORTING THE HOLIDAY SUICIDE MYTH, FROM THE 1999-2000 SEASON THROUGH 2022-23. SOURCE: ANNENBERG PUBLIC POLICY CENTER

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CREDIT: ANNENBERG PUBLIC POLICY CENTER

PHILADELPHIA – For more than two decades, the Annenberg Public Policy Center has tracked the ways in which news organizations erroneously link the year-end holiday season with suicide, perpetuating the false holiday-suicide myth. But as years of national data show, the winter holiday months usually have low average daily suicide rates, with December the lowest of all.

In our new media analysis, we find that of the newspaper stories during the 2022-23 holiday season that explicitly connected the holidays with suicide, 60% correctly debunked the myth while 40% incorrectly supported it.

But it’s not just the media that often gets it wrong. So does the public.

In a separate, nationally representative survey we conducted earlier this year, 4 out of 5 adults incorrectly picked the month of December over several other months that typically have much higher suicide rates as the “time of year in which the largest number of suicides occur.”

“We are encouraged to see more news stories that debunked the myth than supported it,” said Dan Romer, research director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania. “But whether it’s the media that is influencing popular opinion, or mistaken beliefs by the public that appear in news stories, it’s unfortunate to see there are still persistent misimpressions about the holidays and suicide.”

APPC has sought for decades to correct the popular misconception linking the holidays with suicide by doing a content analysis of newspaper stories to see whether they perpetuated or debunked the myth. In the 2022-23 holiday season, 35 stories drew a link between the holidays and suicide, of which 21 debunked the myth (60%) and 14 perpetuated it (40%). A smaller percentage of news stories upheld the myth than in the prior three seasons.

The seasonal nature of the suicide rate in the U.S.

Provisional data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the number of U.S. suicides increased in 2022 for the second consecutive year following two years of declines. From 2021 to 2022, the number of U.S. suicide deaths increased by 2.6%, reaching a record of nearly 50,000, according to the CDC. It is likely to grow when final figures are in.

In 2022, the average number of U.S. suicide deaths per day in November and December made those the lowest months of the year – 11th and 12th, respectively – and January was ranked 8th.

While the late fall and winter had the lowest average number of suicide deaths per day in 2022, the late spring and summer months had the highest numbers. May, June, July, and August were, respectively, 2nd, 1st, 3rd, and 4th, in average suicides per day.

“The holiday season is undoubtedly a difficult time of year for some,” Romer said. “We see news stories, health features, and advice columns on seasonal affective disorder and the holiday blues. We see the reemergence of holiday movies like ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ and the media and many individuals reflect on the year past, contemplating what has been lost. But people are incorrect to conclude that the fraught nature of the season results in an increase in suicide.”

Seasonal suicide rates are reversed in Australia

Romer conducted an analysis of monthly suicide data in Australia, which is in the southern hemisphere, where the seasons are reversed from those in the United States. In the southern hemisphere, December through February are summer months. Romer found that the seasonal pattern of suicide death holds in Australia, too – but it’s the reverse of the United States.

In Australia, the late spring and summer months of November through March have higher rates of suicide deaths, with the highest rates during the mid-summer, in January and February. The lowest average daily suicide rate was in June – the beginning of winter in Australia. (The pattern in Australia has been shown to be true in Brazil, as well.)

“The increases and decreases in the suicide rate are largely seasonal,” Romer said. “The reason it’s low around the U.S. holidays is because it is winter here, and the suicide rate tends to be lower in the winter. If you go to Australia, where it is summer in December, you will see a higher rate – and that is true for summer here in the United States, too.

“This helps to explain the lower suicide rate we see here in December – it’s mostly a seasonal thing,” Romer added. “Psychologically, because of the shorter and gloomier days of winter in the U.S., we tend to associate them with suicide. But that’s not what happens in reality.”

A survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center in January 2023 supports the idea that in the United States, people overwhelmingly associate December with suicide. In the survey, 1,657 U.S. adults were given a choice of five months and asked which time of year they thought the largest number of suicides occur. Of those surveyed, 81% chose December, even though the other months (April, June, August, October) typically had higher average daily suicide rates over the past 20 years, and December never had the highest rate in that period.

“Our survey results show why journalists often encounter people associating the winter holidays with suicide,” Romer said. “Most people suppose December to be the highest-risk month for suicide. It is also likely that the advice that columnists give to readers about how to cope with the holiday blues and stress adds to the mistaken impression.”

How the media cover the holiday-suicide myth

APPC has analyzed news coverage of the holiday-suicide myth over two dozen holiday seasons, starting with the 1999-2000 season through 2022-23. For most of those years, more newspaper stories supported the myth than debunked it, though that was not the case in 2022-23.

The false connection between the holidays and suicide can be seen in stories such as these:

• A Houston Chronicle story on Dec. 9, 2022, “Suicides at border prompt effort to boost mental health aid,” concerns bipartisan efforts by U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R., San Antonio) and other legislators to provide more mental health resources to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol after a number of agent suicides. The story paraphrases Gonzales as saying that “it’s especially important for lawmakers to help agents this month since suicides usually spike around the holidays.”
  • (While it is important to provide mental health resources to these officers, the need is also great at other times of the year.)
• In a Dec. 23, 2022, column on holiday film favorites, a writer for the Owensboro (Ky.) Messenger-Inquirer chooses “It’s a Wonderful Life,” praising the “bold move for a Christmas movie in the 1940s to center around a suicidal man during the holidays.” But the item says the holidays “are a time where many feel depressed and the suicide rates increase.”
• A U.S. Navy veteran who is fund-raising to help veterans cope with mental-health issues says in a Christmas Eve story in The (Ashtabula, Ohio) Star Beacon that “Christmas is the highest time for suicides.”

More stories this year debunk the myth, including some that mention the CDC or the Annenberg Public Policy Center. “We were heartened to see that our efforts have been cited by some of these news outlets,” said Romer. Among these stories:

• The Chicago Daily Herald, in a story on “How to combat holiday blues,” which ran on Dec. 24, 2022, notes: “While December sees the lowest suicide rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the holidays often bring stressors that can trigger depression, anxiety or loneliness.”
• In a Nov. 21, 2022, story on a holiday-stress mental health webinar hosted by a Los Angeles County supervisor, a writer for The (Santa Clarita, Calif.) Signal, said: “While suicides have increased since the pandemic, suicides do not increase in rate during the holidays, according to the Centers for Disease Control. In fact, it actually decreases. The CDC has labeled this a myth…”
• In “Research center warns of holiday suicide myth,” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote on Christmas Day 2022 about APPC’s efforts to combat the myth: “More than two decades ago, the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania decided to make recommendations to journalists on how to cover suicides. In the course of developing them, researchers there found the widely-reported story that suicides jump around the holidays was actually a myth: suicides are no more common in the holiday season than any other time of year.”

Why news media should not support the holiday-suicide myth

As the policy center has pointed out previously, it’s important to dispel the holiday-suicide myth because allowing people to think that suicide is more likely during the holiday season can have contagious effects on people who are experiencing a crisis and contemplating suicide. National recommendations for reporting on suicide advise journalists not to promote information that can increase contagion, such as reports of epidemics or seasonal increases, especially when the claim has no basis in fact. The recommendations, which were developed by journalism and suicide-prevention groups along with the Annenberg Public Policy Center, say that reporters should consult reliable sources such as the CDC on suicide rates and offer information about resources that can help people in need.

Too few know about the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

Unfortunately, too few people know about a recently created resource for those in crisis. Anyone who is struggling or in crisis, or knows someone who is, should dial 988, the national Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

In July 2022, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline was renamed the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, and 988 was officially implemented as the hotline’s three-digit nationwide telephone number. But panel surveys from the Annenberg Public Policy Center find that only a small percentage of people are familiar with the new 988 number.

When a survey panel of U.S. adults were asked in October 2023 if they know the number to dial to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 1 in 5 (21%) said yes, only slightly higher than the 16% who said yes in January. In addition, among those who say they know the number only a portion can provide it. Another APPC survey that asked this question in June 2023 found that among those who said they knew the lifeline number, only half could correctly provide it. 

Journalists helping to dispel the holiday-suicide myth can provide other resources for readers who are in or know of someone who is in a potential crisis. Those offering valuable information include the CDC, the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

How this media study is conducted

News and feature stories linking suicide with the holidays were identified through searches of the LexisNexis and NewsBank databases combining the term “suicide” with words such as “holiday,” “Christmas” and “New Years,” (with the addition of terms such as “increase” in NewsBank) from November 15, 2022, through January 31, 2023. Researchers determined whether the stories supported the link, debunked it, or made a coincidental reference. Stories with a coincidental reference were eliminated. Only domestic suicides were counted.

APPC’s Sam Fox and Lauren Hawkins supervised the coding of the stories. The coding was done by Penn students Nicholas Bausenwein, Thomas Christaldi, Ginger Fontenot, Sienna Horvath, Nia Peterson, Tara Shilkret, and Julia Van Lare, who are with APPC’s Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute.

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The Annenberg Public Policy Center was established in 1993 to educate the public and policy makers about communication’s role in advancing public understanding of political, science, and health issues at the local, state, and federal levels.

The number of average daily suicides per month in 2022. Source: Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Table: Annenberg Public Policy Center.

Average daily suicides per month 1999-January 2023. The months of November, December, and January are shown as blue dots. Data from 2022 and 2023 are provisional. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Figure: Annenberg Public Policy Center

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Earliest known fossil mosquitoes suggest males were bloodsuckers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS

 

IMAGE: 

AGE RECOVERY OF FOSSIL MOSQUITOS IN LOWER CRETACEOUS AMBER FROM LEBANON

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CREDIT: IMAGE BY NIGPAS

Researchers led by Dany Azar from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) and the Lebanese University have found the earliest known fossil mosquitoes ever discovered—in Lower Cretaceous amber from Lebanon. The well-preserved insects are two males of the same species with piercing mouthparts, suggesting they likely sucked blood.

Their findings were published in Current Biology on Dec. 4.

"Molecular dating suggested that the family Culicidae arose during the Jurassic, but previously the oldest record was mid-Cretaceous,” said André Nel of the National Museum of Natural History of Paris. “Here we have one from the early Cretaceous, about 30 million years before."

The Culicidae family of arthropods includes more than 3,000 species of mosquitoes. Among modern-day mosquitos, only females are hematophagous, meaning that they use piercing mouth parts to feed on the blood of people and other animals.

Hematophagy in insects is thought to have arisen as a shift from piercing-sucking mouthparts used to extract plant fluids. For example, blood-sucking fleas likely arose from nectar-feeding insects. But the evolution of blood-feeding has been hard to study in part due to gaps in the insect fossil record.

In this study, the researchers described two male mosquitoes with piercing mouthparts, including an exceptionally sharp, triangular mandible and elongated structure with small, toothlike denticles. These findings suggest that male mosquitoes in the past fed on blood as well.

These amber-preserved mosquitoes extend the definitive occurrence of the mosquito family into the early Cretaceous. They also suggest that the evolution of hematophagy was more complicated than had been suspected, with hematophagous males in the distant past.

"In future work, we will try to learn more about the 'utility' of having hematophagy in Cretaceous male mosquitos, and why this no longer exists," said Prof. Dany Azar

Detail of mouthparts using a confocal microscope (scale bar, 10 μm)

Dorsal view of male mosquito in amber (scale bar, 500 μm)

CREDIT

Image by NIGPAS

JOURNAL

Current Biology

DOI

10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.047 

ARTICLE TITLE

The earliest fossil mosquito

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

4-Dec-2023