Air pollutants commonly found indoors could have an impact on creativity, NTU Singapore scientists find

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

 

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A TEAM OF SCIENTISTS FROM NTU SINGAPORE, IN COLLABORATION WITH GLOBAL AIR FILTER MANUFACTURER CAMFIL, HAVE FOUND THAT AIR POLLUTANTS COMMONLY FOUND INDOORS (MONITORED THROUGH VARIOUS EQUIPMENT ON THE BLUE TABLE) COULD HAVE AN IMPACT ON CREATIVITY.

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CREDIT: NTU SINGAPORE

Air quality in the office may affect our level of creativity at work, scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have found.

Working with the global air filter manufacturer Camfil on a shared research project, the NTU Singapore scientists found in a study that high levels of volatile organic compounds – gases released from products such as detergents, pesticides, perfumes, aerosol sprays and paint – affected the study participants’ creativity when they were asked to build 3D models with LEGO bricks.

Using a statistical analysis, the NTU team estimated that reducing total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) by 72 per cent could improve a student’s creative potential by 12 per cent.

TVOC is an indicator that refers to the volume of volatile organic compounds in the air. Indoor VOCs are emitted from interior decoration sources such as paints and carpets and household products such as detergents and air fresheners.

This study, conducted on the NTU Smart Campus, is part of a partnership between the University and Camfil to investigate the impact of indoor air quality on the cognitive performance of adults, test various air filter technologies in tropical weather conditions, and deliver innovative clean air solutions combined with optimised energy efficiency.

The findings detailed in the study, published in Scientific Reports in September, shed light on the importance of indoor air quality on our creative cognition, said the research team led by Assistant Professor Ng Bing Feng and Associate Professor Wan Man Pun, Cluster Directors for Smart & Sustainable Building Technologies at the Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N).

Asst Prof Ng said: “While most people would correctly associate indoor air quality with effects on the lungs, especially since we just emerged from a pandemic, our study shows that it could also have an impact on the mind and creative cognition, or the ability to use knowledge in an unconventional way. Our findings suggest that relatively low TVOC levels, even if well within the accepted threshold, could impact an individual’s creative potential.”

Assoc Prof Wan added: “This could have serious consequences for industries that rely on creativity for the bulk of their work. For instance, artists often use paints and thinners that release high levels of volatile organic compounds and may not know they need adequate ventilation to clear them from their workplace. The findings also point to how making minor adjustments in the office, such as reducing the use of aroma diffusers or ensuring adequate ventilation, could positively impact employees and their productivity.”

The study also aligns with the Health & Society and Brain & Learning research clusters under the research pillar of NTU 2025, the University’s five-year strategic plan.

The other scientists on the research team were NTU PhD graduate Dr Shmitha Arikrishnan, former NTU senior research fellow Dr Adam Charles Robert, who is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Singapore-ETH Centre, and NTU graduate Lau Wee Siang.

The study involved data gathering from study participants in an environment simulating an indoor workspace, with varying air quality depending on the different combination of air filters used. The air filters used (also pictured) are from Camfil, NTU’s industry partner for the study.

CREDIT

NTU Singapore

Assessing creativity through LEGO 3D models

To quantifiably assess creative potential in this study, the NTU team developed the Serious Brick Play method, which is largely adapted from the LEGO Serious Play framework. This tool involves expressing thoughts and ideas using 3D models built with LEGO bricks.

A typical LEGO Serious Play session involves a facilitator who introduces a challenge, to which participants respond by building a model using LEGO bricks. Participants then discuss their models and reflect on the building process, prompted by the facilitator.

In the Serious Brick Play method designed by the NTU team, participants do not discuss their models and share their reflections in a group. Instead, they provide written descriptions of their LEGO models. These written descriptions and LEGO models are then scored by a panel of judges for creativity.

Asst Prof Ng explained: “While the LEGO Serious Play framework has been used in various settings to unleash creative thinking and has even been used to support dementia patients, it does not have a quantitative assessment component and cannot systematically assess creativity. This is why we added a component to score participants on their creativity.”

The scoring guidelines for the participants’ LEGO models were developed based on the Creative Product Analysis Matrix model, which is used to grade creativity and has been validated in earlier studies, he added.

The NTU researchers tested the scoring guidelines to measure the degree of consistency among the different judges when they independently assessed the LEGO models, and concluded that the scoring guidelines provided were reliable.

The researchers also tested the Serious Brick Play method’s ability to measure what it was designed for through statistical analyses and found that the method was able to cover the key aspects of the Alternative Uses Task, a well-known tool that assesses creativity. Specifically, it assesses divergent thinking, a thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions.

The researchers said that the Serious Brick Play method further assesses another thought process called convergent thinking, which focuses on coming up with a single, well-established answer to a problem.

“Divergent and convergent thinking are thought to be the central components of creativity, but most existing tools are designed around divergent thinking. Our Serious Brick Play method adds value by also covering the aspect of convergent thinking,” said Asst Prof Ng.

How the study was done

Over six weeks, the researchers gathered data from a sample size of 87 undergraduate and postgraduate students in a controlled environment simulating an indoor workspace. Every week across three 40-minute sessions, the study participants read a summary of a global issue – such as climate change, mental health, and poverty – and then offered a solution by building a 3D model using LEGO bricks. The participants were then asked to give a written description and explanation for their models.

In each session, researchers varied the air quality of the workspace using different combinations of air filters contributed by Camfil. This varied the level of pollutants in the air, including carbon dioxide, PM2.5 (air pollutants less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter), and total volatile organic compounds (TVOC).

The participants’ LEGO models and descriptions were then graded by seven randomly selected adults, who were trained to familiarise themselves with the scoring guidelines based on:

• Originality: whether the solution is usual or unusual,
• Fluency: the level of elaboration in the description of the solution, and
• Build: how sophisticated, complex, or aesthetic the solution is.

 

Link between TVOC levels and creativity

The NTU team’s statistical analysis of the participants’ average scores and indoor air quality data gathered from 18 sessions revealed that participants tended to turn in creative solutions with lower scores – an indicator of lower creative potential – when the workspace had higher TVOC levels.

Using a statistical model, the team calculated that reducing TVOC from an acceptable threshold[1] of 1,000 parts per billion to 281 parts per billion – or a 72 per cent reduction in TVOC levels – led to a 12 per cent increase in creative potential in the study cohort.

Less significant relationships were found between PM2.5 and creativity as well as carbon dioxide levels and creativity.

Asst Prof Ng said: “The results from this study indicate that creativity levels can be linked to the concentration of pollutants in a room. Improving the air quality could be an economical solution to improve occupants’ creativity.”

Having uncovered a link between TVOC levels and creativity, the research team is now studying how TVOC and other indoor air pollutants affect cognitive processes by measuring participants’ brain activity.

***END***

 

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[1] According to the Singapore Standards SS554 Code of Practice for indoor air quality for airconditioned buildings, the total volatile organic compounds should be less than or equal to 1,000 parts per billion.

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-42355-z 

Fresh Research for Fresh Air: Harnessing microbes for removing indoor pollutants

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

 

IMAGE: 

MICROBIAL COMMUNITY PRESENT IN THE RADIAL-FLOW BIOPURIFICATION PROTOTYPE

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CREDIT: ALBERTO VERGARA-FERNÁNDEZ

Researchers in Chile have designed an indoor air purification prototype which uses microorganisms to capture and degrade pollutants, with efficiencies above 90%.

In the study, published in SCI’s Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, the scientists demonstrated that the system could operate for 8 months without any loss in efficiency.

As the demand for better insulation and energy efficiency in buildings increases, a lack of air flow has resulted in worsening indoor air quality, posing a risk to human health and the environment. Biofiltration systems, which pass air through a thin film containing immobilised bacteria and fungi, offer a potentially low-cost and effective solution.

Alberto Vergara-Fernández, Founder of Green Technologies Research Group at Universidad de los Andes in Chile and corresponding author of the study explained the rationale behind the research.

‘The first motivation was the search for a treatment system that was easy to install and did not depend on new pipes and installations for its use. In addition, it can be applied in different confined environments, from domestic to industrial under the same principle.’

The study focused on the removal of two pollutants of particular concern in indoor spaces, namely volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which can originate from building materials and household products such as paint; and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from wood-burning.

Current methods for the removal of these pollutants are largely limited to adsorption techniques, which use an activated carbon filter to capture the impurities. However, Vergara-Fernández explains a key issue with these systems -  pollutants will accumulate on the activated carbon and form a new waste requiring disposal.

Explaining the advantages of the new prototype system, he said, ‘The main difference is related to the destruction capacity of the contaminants rather than the transfer of them to another phase, from which they must also be eliminated. Given the degradation of the contaminants and not just adsorption, the lifetime of the support is much longer, maintaining its high removal efficiency.’

The researchers used the fungus Fusarium solani and the bacterium Rhodococcus erythropolis to grow an initial microbial population for the system. After 8 months of continuous performance, further species were captured from the air, demonstrating the potential of the prototype for retaining airborne bacteria and fungi.

Vergara-Fernández explained how the high specialisation of the microbial flora developed in the bioreactor contributed to the efficiency of the purification system. ‘One of the main findings was the possibility of developing a highly specialised microbial consortium, which allows obtaining high elimination capacities in very short periods of operation time, maintaining good elimination capacities.’

Whilst there have been a number of previous studies using biological methods for the treatment of indoor pollutants under laboratory conditions, no commercial systems have been deployed on a large scale, possibly influenced by the large sizes required to achieve an acceptable removal efficiency.

Vergara-Fernández and the team hope that they can continue to develop their research to address this problem.

He explained, ‘The main challenges and limitations of the biopurification system, on which we are currently working, is the reduction in the dimensions of the equipment that makes up the system. We are developing a hybrid system that combines physical-chemical and biological technology, with the aim of reducing the inlet flows to the biological system’.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology

DOI

10.1002/jctb.7533 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

A radial-flow device for the biopurification of a model VOC- and wood-smoke- contaminated confined space

COI STATEMENT

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Radial-flow biopurification device prototype

Scanning electron microphotography showing multiple microbial species in the biopurifier after 8 months of operation: Aspergillus niger

Scanning electron microphotography showing multiple microbial species in the biopurifier after 8 months of operation: Aspergillus fumigatus

CREDIT

Alberto Vergara-Fernández

 

Research finds animated short videos are effective in sharing environmental health information

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA MEDICAL SCHOOL

Air pollution is a major health risk that is only getting worse due to climate change. However, many health professionals feel they are not equipped to sufficiently address these impacts. 

Published in the peer-reviewed journal BMC Medical Education, a University of Minnesota Medical School research team found animated short videos are an effective means for disseminating environmental health information to health professionals.  

The research team created a two-minute educational video on the health impacts of air pollution and ways to mitigate risks. Between March and June of 2021, more than 200 practicing health professionals and learners viewed the video and took a pre-and post- evaluation survey. After watching the video, participant knowledge of the inequitable health impacts of air pollution significantly increased and their perceived comfort in identifying and counseling at-risk patients also significantly improved.

“Identifying at-risk patients who may be impacted by air pollution and providing counseling is not yet standard practice, and it is also not integrated into medical education. A major barrier is time. We created this video to overcome that barrier,” said Brenna Doheny, PhD, MPH, a postdoctoral associate at the U of M Medical School, Duluth Campus. “The results exceeded our expectations. A two-minute video can really make an impact in improving knowledge and confidence in applying that knowledge.”

The team suggests incorporating animated videos into health professional educational programs. Future research plans include evaluating videos as a patient education tool and producing videos on further environmental health topics.

“Minnesotans are already facing the health impacts of climate change. Just in 2023, I’ve taken care of patients admitted with breathing issues from wildfire smoke and worked with farmers to prevent heat strokes,” said Laalitha Surapaneni, MD, MPH, an assistant professor with the U of M Medical School and hospitalist with M Health Fairview. “Given our success, we look forward to creating and studying videos that can be easily accessed by patients.” 

The production of the video was funded by the nonprofit Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate. The survey research was funded in part by a mini grant from the Institute on the Environment and a General Internal Medicine Clinical Research Analysis, Informatics, Data & Dissemination mini grant.

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Along with Drs. Doheny and Surapaneni, the research team includes Scott Lunos, a senior biostatistician with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and Jack Inglis and Karly Boll. Inglis and Boll were medical students at the start of the project and are now residents at Hennepin County Medical Center.

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About the University of Minnesota Medical School
The University of Minnesota Medical School is at the forefront of learning and discovery, transforming medical care and educating the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and faculty produce high-impact biomedical research and advance the practice of medicine. We acknowledge that the U of M Medical School is located on traditional, ancestral and contemporary lands of the Dakota and the Ojibwe, and scores of other Indigenous people, and we affirm our commitment to tribal communities and their sovereignty as we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with tribal nations. For more information about the U of M Medical School, please visit med.umn.edu. 

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JOURNAL

BMC Medical Education

DOI

10.1186/s12909-023-04785-1 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Short animated video increases knowledge and perceived comfort in clinical counseling on inequitable health impacts of air pollution among interprofessional health learners and clinicians

A trillion scents, one nose

Smell’s sensory magic emerges from intricate developmental mechanism that tailors each of nose’s sensory cells, mice studies suggest

Peer-Reviewed Publication

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

THE GENOME INSIDE AN OLFACTORY CELL’S NUCLEUS IS SHOWN AS A TANGLE OF COLOR-MARKED CHROMOSOMES WITH GENOMIC LOCATIONS OF OLFACTORY RECEPTOR GENES REVEALED ON THE RIGHT.

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CREDIT: LOMVARDAS LAB, COLUMBIA'S ZUCKERMAN INSTITUTE.

The mammalian nose is a work of evolutionary art. Its millions of nerve cells, each tailored with just one of thousands of specific odor-chemical receptors encoded in the genome, can collectively distinguish a trillion distinct scents. Those sensations, in turn, inform many behaviors, from assessing food options to discerning friends from foes to sparking memories. 

Today, in the journal Nature, a research team led by scientists at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute describes a previously undetected mechanism in mice—starring the genetic molecule RNA—that could explain how each sensory cell, or neuron, in mammalian noses becomes tailored to detect a specific odor chemical. 

For example, there are sensory neurons in our noses that bear receptors uniquely tuned to detect ethyl vanillin, the main odorant in vanilla, and other cells with receptors for limonene, lemon’s signature odorant.

“How sensory cells in the nose make their receptor choices has been one of the most vexing mysteries about olfaction,” said Stavros Lomvardas, Ph.D., a Herbert and Florence Irving Professor at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute and corresponding author on the paper. “Now, the story behind our sense of smell, or olfaction, is becoming clearer, and also more dramatic.”

The sense-refining drama he is referring to unfolds entirely within the minuscule confines of each olfactory neuron’s nucleus, where the cell’s chromosomes and genes reside. There, in a Squid Games-style, winner-takes-all competition, a developing cell’s myriad olfactory receptor genes vie with each other in a process that winnow them down, in stages, first to handful of finalists and then to a single winner. The prevailing gene is the one that determines the cell’s odorant sensitivity. In their study, Dr. Lomvardas and his team uncover details of the final stage of this process when the winner emerges from the finalist genes.

“It’s basically a battle between a 1000 contenders,” said Ariel Pourmorady, the paper’s first author and an M.D.-Ph.D. candidate at the Zuckerman Institute in the Lomvardas lab.

The action is exceedingly complex and involves a dizzying cast of molecular characters. Playing roles that either dial up or down each gene’s ability to produce olfactory receptors are a variety of gene-regulating molecules. By gathering into various alliances within the genome, these molecular players help turn specific genes on or off. 

Also in the fray is another set of molecular hubs that reshape portions of the genome in ways that favor specific receptor genes. When his team first observed these in the genome in 2014, Dr. Lomvardas dubbed them “Greek Islands” because they reminded him of islands in the Aegean Sea. 

“It turns out that the genome has a certain spatial organization in the nucleus and changes in this structure are pivotal when it comes to which genes are expressed into proteins, like olfactory receptors,” said Pourmorady. “We are learning just how important this process is within maturing olfactory cells.”

In their new Nature paper, the researchers summon a trove of data from mouse studies pointing toward RNA as the linchpin molecule in the olfactory system’s gene-choosing mechanism. RNA is most known as the go-between molecule that translates the genetic code embodied in DNA into protein molecules with specific cellular jobs, like detecting odorants. Using sophisticated techniques for analyzing changes in genome structure as cells mature, however, the researchers say their evidence points to a pivotal second role for the RNA. 

“It looks like the RNA the cell makes during gene expression also is altering the genome’s architecture in ways that bolster the expression of one olfactory receptor gene while also shutting down all the others,” Pourmorady said. 

Big gaps in this genome-controlling story remain, but the researchers say the outline 

is becoming more defined. It starts with maturing olfactory cells, which initially express many receptor genes at those genomic hubs where gene-regulating molecules and complexes, including Greek Islands, converge. 

Then the RNA winnows the contending olfactory-receptor genes down to one. The particular hub in each cell where the molecular stars align to produce the highest amount of RNA wins the competition. At this hub, receptor-gene expression soars. But, like a slinky saboteur, RNA from that same hub may wind its way to all the other hubs. In those locations, the RNA causes shape changes in the genome that shut down gene expression. The result is a nose’s worth of mature olfactory neurons, each of which bears on its surface only one odorant receptor. 

“We are reaching the edge of science fiction when it comes to the molecular and genomic details we now can observe inside a single cell’s nucleus,” said Dr. Lomvardas. “We need to keep going back in to figure out the rest of this olfaction puzzle.”

                                                                                                                              ###

The paper, “RNA-mediated symmetry breaking enablessingular olfactory receptor choice,” was published today in Nature.

The full list of authors includes Ariel D. Pourmorady, Elizaveta V. Bashkirova, Andrea M. Chiariello, Houda Belagzhal, Albana Kodra, Rachel Duffié, Jerome Kahiapo, Kevin Monahan, Joan Pulupa, Ira Schieren, Alexa Osterhoudt, Job Dekker, Mario Nicodemi and Stavros Lomvardas.

The authors declare no competing interests.

 

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JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-023-06845-4 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

RNA-mediated symmetry breaking enables singular olfactory receptor choice

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Dec-2023

 

Move over dolphins. Chimps and bonobos can recognize long-lost friends and family — for decades

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - BERKELEY

Researchers led by a University of California, Berkeley, comparative psychologist have found that great apes and chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, can recognize groupmates they haven't seen in over two decades — evidence of what’s believed to be the longest-lasting nonhuman memory ever recorded. 

The findings also bolster the theory that long-term memory in humans, chimpanzees and bonobos likely comes from our shared common ancestor that lived between 6 million and 9 million years ago.

The team used infrared eye-tracking cameras to record where bonobos and chimps gazed when they were shown side-by-side images of other bonobos or chimps. One picture was of a stranger; the other was of a bonobo or chimp that the participant had lived with for a year or more. 

Participants' eyes lingered significantly longer on images of those with whom they had previously lived, the researchers found, suggesting some degree of recognition. In one case, a bonobo named Louise had not seen her sister, Loretta, or nephew, Erin, for over 26 years. But when researchers showed Louise their images, her eyes homed in on the photos. 

"These animals have a rich recognition of each other," said Laura Simone Lewis, a UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow in Berkeley's psychology department and lead author of the study, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. 

What's more, participants looked longer at individuals with whom they had had more positive, as compared with antagonistic, relationships. In other words, they seemed to recognize friends more than foes. 

"We don't know exactly what that representation looks like, but we know that it lasts for years," she said. "This study is showing us not how different we are from other apes, but how similar we are to them and how similar they are to us."

The findings expand what was known about long-term memory in animals and also raise questions central to evolutionary biology and psychology. Chief among them: How did humans develop such good long-term memory?

Understanding the links between our vivid, episodic memory and the recall of other animals has long been a research puzzle. Previous studies have shown that ravens, for example, remember people who tricked them and can recall social relationships in uncanny ways. Social memory beyond just a few years had previously been documented only in dolphins, which studies have found can recognize vocalizations for up to 20 years. 

"That, up until this point, has been the longest long-term social memory ever found in a nonhuman animal," Lewis said of the dolphin research. "What we're showing here is that chimps and bonobos may be able to remember that long — or longer."

Lewis's project was one born from a longtime observation among primate researchers, who often go months or years between seeing the animals they study. When they returned, bonobos and chimpanzees acted as if they were picking up right where they left off. So the researchers decided to see if that memory hunch was true. 

To get answers, the team began what at times was equal parts genealogy and scrapbooking.

First, they needed to identify bonobos and chimps that had been separated from what we might view as friends or family. Sometimes, their groupmates had been relocated to other zoos to prevent in-breeding. Other times, a sibling or elder may have died while they all lived together. 

With a list of pairs in hand, sprinkled across zoos in Europe and Japan, researchers needed to track down photos to show the participants. It couldn't be just any snapshot, however. They needed a quality image taken from around the time that the pair last saw one another. This was somewhat easy for the animals that were separated recently in an era rich with high-quality photos. It proved much trickier for others, like Louise's relatives, who were separated circa 1995. 

The team ended up being able to show images to 26 bonobos and chimpanzees.

After setting up a computer system with sensitive cameras and non-invasive eye-tracking tools, participating animals were allowed to enter the room voluntarily. Their compensation? A bottle filled with diluted juice. (Bonobos and chimps love fruit juice and eat lots of fruit in the wild.) 

As they sipped, the screens in front of them alternated between pairs of images. The cameras monitored where the animals' eyes wandered. And the computer logged the time spent on each image down to a fraction of a second — data the team would comb through months later.

"It was a really simple test: Do they look longer at their previous groupmate, or are they looking longer at the stranger?” Lewis said. “And we found that, yes, they are looking significantly longer at the pictures of their previous groupmates."

Lewis said she and others were especially concerned about how the participants might react when they were shown an image of a relative they hadn't seen in years. As the project began, zookeepers monitored the animals for signs of stress. But they didn't show any markers of agitation. Instead, when images of a once-close relative appeared on the screen, the participants would sometimes stop drinking the juice entirely, seemingly mesmerized by the image. 

The study showed that something is happening with the mind in recognizing the images. What's unclear is what kind of memories they were. Could they have been rich, episodic narratives like humans have? Might there have been some fleeting curiosity about why they saw this? Can they extrapolate what those relatives might look like today?

These are the next questions for Lewis. Born and raised in Berkeley, Lewis attended Duke University and Harvard University and conducted a fellowship at the University of St. Andrews. Lewis' co-authors include researchers from Harvard, Johns Hopkins University, Kyoto University, the University of Antwerp in Belgium and the University of Konstanz in Germany. 

Lewis returned to Berkeley earlier this year as a postdoctoral fellow. It was a homecoming of sorts, she said, and she plans to continue asking big questions about what our closest living ancestors can teach us about our memory. Partly it's out of a curiosity that drives science. It's also out of a determination to conserve the habitats that are home to endangered bonobos — animals that can teach us about ourselves. 

"This study is reminding us how similar we are to other species walking on the planet," Lewis said. "And therefore, how important it is to protect them." 

 

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Bonobos and chimpanzees remember familiar conspecifics for decades

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

18-Dec-2023

 

Pandas active posters on social media

They keep up with family and friends, scout mates, network

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

A GIANT PANDA IN THE WOLONG NATURE RESERVE IN CHINA'S SZECHUAN PROVINCE CHECKS ON RECENT SOCIAL POSTINGS ON A SCENT-MARKING TREE. 

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CREDIT: CAMERA TRAP PHOTO COURTESY OF JINDONG ZHANG

Pandas, long portrayed as solitary beasts, do hang with family and friends – and they’re big users of social media. Scent-marking trees serve as a panda version of Facebook.

An article in the international journal Ursus paints a new lifestyle picture of the beloved bears in China’s Wolong Nature Reserve, a life that’s shielded from human eyes because they’re shy, rare, and live in densely forested, remote areas. No one really knows how pandas hang, but a new study indicates pandas are around others more than previously thought. They use scent marking to keep track of both family members and friends, leave updates about life events, and check out the dating scene.

Thomas Connor, lead author of the article, did this work for his PhD from Michigan State University’s Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability (MSU-CSIS) by spending months hanging out in those forests, watching for signs of pandas, since actual pandas are virtually invisible. His work was built on previous observations by other MSU-CSIS scientists who suspected pandas likely weren’t the total loners everyone thought.

“Once you’ve gotten an eye for it, you can see on ridge tops and different trails the scent-marking trees, which are stained with a waxy substance – and the pandas seem to be doing this a lot,” Connor said. “It was pretty evident they were exchanging information through scent marking behavior.”

To link the marked trees with an understanding of pandas' social structure, nearby panda communities needed to be documented. To explore that hunch, Connor teamed up with MSU Foundation Professor of Sociometrics Ken Frank, an expert on social networks and a co-author of the article.

The researchers didn’t have a camera on a bear every time it sniffs a tree. “That’s a key part,” Frank said. “I told him that once he has data on which bears are close to each other we can use the techniques and theories that apply to humans to understand their social networks.

“And these scent trees are a social media. Like Facebook, it’s asynchronous, meaning you don’t have to be in the same place at the same time. It allows one to broadcast to many, and it’s a record. A panda marking a tree isn’t so different from a Facebook post."

Poo - a panda portal of social insight

To determine which bears were close to each other, Connor dug into a wealth of data he had collected in the form of fresh panda poop.

Panda scat is the gold standard of panda watching. What pandas lack in obvious sociability they make up for in poop production – going some 90 times a day. That means they leave a reliable trail. Connor was able to extract DNA from the fresh panda poop he and his colleagues collected in a 46 square kilometer area known as prime panda habitat.

Information from the scat allowed them to identify specific pandas in the vicinity of the scent-marking trees, and showed if these pandas were related to each other. That allowed them to combine that with the information from their chosen communication method – the scent trees – to explore their social network.

“We defined two panda individuals within a certain distance from each other as an association, Connor said. “Even if they’re not directly communicating or running into each other physically – they can exchange information in the chemical scent signature. That built up the social network for the analysis.”

Which was a revelation for an animal thought of as a loner.

A giant panda in China's Wolong Nature Reserve rubs scent glands against a tree used by the animals to leave messages about their status.

CREDIT

Camera trap photo courtesy of Jindong Zhang

Deploying a clique detector to spot social networks

Frank said once they could determine the bears were in proximity, they could apply the social network technique of community or clique detection.

“It’s pretty much like high school,” Frank said. “And like in high school, cliques have lots of implications. There are strong norms within a clique – and while encountering those outside a clique is rare the information can be very important.”

The scent-marking trees are ripe with information, telling the sniffer who the animal is if they’d encountered them before. It also tells the marker’s sex, an idea of how dominant and large the bear is, and whether they’re ready to mate.

Connor said the most tantalizing information they gleaned is that in non-mating seasons, the pandas seem to be hanging mostly with other family members. But they seemed to branch out in mating seasons – likely using the scent-marking trees as a territory map.

That’s an important behavioral change since moving out of the family groups during mating season reduces the changes of inbreeding and competition. Connor noted this result was preliminary and limited by small sample sizes, but a tantalizing one that should be followed up on.

"The discoveries in this study shed new light on how pandas use their habitat,” said Jianguo “Jack” Liu, senior author of the article, Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability, and CSIS director. “Pandas are a part of coupled human and natural systems where humans share their habitat. Anything we can learn about how they live and what they need can ultimately help inform good conservation policies and maybe understand our own behavior a little more.

In addition to Connor (now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California – Berkeley), Frank and Liu, "Social network analysis uncovers hidden social complexity in giant pandas" was authored by Maiju Qiao, Kim Scribner, Jin Hou, Jindong Zhang, Abbey Wilson, Vanessa Hull and Rengui Li.

The work is supported by the National Science Foundation.

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JOURNAL

Ursus

DOI

10.2192/URSUS-D-22-00011.1 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Social network analysis uncovers hidden social complexity in giant pandas

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Dec-2023

NEW AGE SPIRITUALISM
Chinese mourners use AI to digitally resurrect the dead

By AFP

December 20, 2023

Seakoo Wu and his wife have joined a growing number of Chinese people turning to AI technology to create lifelike avatars of their departed - Copyright AFP Hector RETAMAL
Matthew WALSH

At a quiet cemetery in eastern China, bereaved father Seakoo Wu pulls out his phone, places it on a gravestone and plays a recording of his son.

They are words that the late student never spoke, but brought into being with artificial intelligence.

“I know you’re in great pain every day because of me, and feel guilty and helpless,” intones Xuanmo in a slightly robotic voice.

“Even though I can’t be by your side ever again, my soul is still in this world, accompanying you through life.”

Stricken by grief, Wu and his wife have joined a growing number of Chinese people turning to AI technology to create lifelike avatars of their departed.

Ultimately Wu wants to build a fully realistic replica that behaves just like his dead son but dwells in virtual reality.

“Once we synchronise reality and the metaverse, I’ll have my son with me again,” Wu said.

“I can train him… so that when he sees me, he knows I’m his father.”

Some Chinese firms claim to have created thousands of “digital people” from as little as 30 seconds of audiovisual material of the deceased.

Experts say they can offer much-needed comfort for people devastated by the loss of loved ones.

But they also evoke an unsettling theme from the British sci-fi series “Black Mirror” in which people rely on advanced AI for bereavement support.



– ‘Needs are growing’ –



Wu and his wife were devastated when Xuanmo, their only child, died of a sudden stroke last year at the age of 22 while attending Exeter University in Britain.

The accounting and finance student, keen sportsman and posthumous organ donor “had such a rich and varied life”, said Wu.

“He always carried in him this desire to help people and a sense of right and wrong,” he told AFP.

Following a boom in deep learning technologies like ChatGPT in China, Wu began researching ways to resurrect him.

He gathered photos, videos and audio recordings of his son, and spent thousands of dollars hiring AI firms that cloned Xuanmo’s face and voice.

The results so far are rudimentary, but he has also set up a work team to create a database containing vast amounts of information on his son.

Wu hopes to feed it into powerful algorithms to create an avatar capable of copying his son’s thinking and speech patterns with extreme precision.

Several companies specialising in so-called “ghost bots” have emerged in the United States in recent years.

But the industry is booming in China, according to Zhang Zewei, the founder of the AI firm Super Brain and a former collaborator with Wu.

“On AI technology, China is in the highest class worldwide,” said Zhang from a workspace in the eastern city of Jingjiang.

“And there are so many people in China, many with emotional needs, which gives us an advantage when it comes to market demand.”

Super Brain charges between 10,000 and 20,000 yuan ($1,400-$2,800) to create a basic avatar within about 20 days, said Zhang.

They range from those who have died to living parents unable to spend time with their children and — controversially — a heartbroken woman’s ex-boyfriend.

Clients can even hold video calls with a staff member whose face and voice are digitally overlaid with those of the person they have lost.

“The significance for… the whole world is huge,” Zhang said.

“A digital version of someone (can) exist forever, even after their body has been lost.”



– ‘New humanism’ –



Sima Huapeng, who founded Nanjing-based Silicon Intelligence, said the technology would “bring about a new kind of humanism”.

He likened it to portraiture and photography, which helped people commemorate the dead in revolutionary ways.

Tal Morse, a visiting research fellow at the Centre for Death and Society at Britain’s University of Bath, said ghost bots may offer comfort.

But he cautioned that more research was needed to understand their psychological and ethical implications.

“A key question here is… how ‘loyal’ are the ghost bots to the personality they were designed to mimic,” Morse told AFP.

“What happens if they do things that will ‘contaminate’ the memory of the person they are supposed to represent?”

Another quandary arises from the inability of dead people to consent, experts said.

While permission was probably unnecessary to mimic speech or behaviour, it might be needed to “do certain other things with that simulacrum”, said Nate Sharadin, a philosopher at the University of Hong Kong specialising in AI and its social effects.

For Super Brain’s Zhang, all new technology is “a double-edged sword”.

“As long as we’re helping those who need it, I see no problem”.

He doesn’t work with those for whom it could have negative impacts, he said, citing a woman who had attempted suicide after her daughter’s death.

Bereaved father Wu said Xuanmo “probably would have been willing” to be digitally revived.

“One day, son, we will all reunite in the metaverse,” he said as his wife dissolved into tears before his grave.

“The technology is getting better every day… it’s just a matter of time.”

U$A

Scripps News survey finds $70M stolen from food assistance program

Forty-six states reported, in an exclusive Scripps News survey, $70,655,962 stolen from recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

By Karen Rodriguez and Mallory Sofastaii and Amy Fan
Dec 14, 2023
Scripps News Investigates

Before Burnes Garrison goes to her local grocery store, she plans. She has a strict budget and a set of criteria: Is it shelf-stable? Does it freeze well? Is it healthy?

“Buy your chicken, your beef, you know, your fish and then your vegetables,” she said. “Stuff like that, you know, trying to keep healthy."

The food she buys usually lasts for a month; she tries to buy in bulk to support her family. In 2012, she became the guardian of her grandkids, who moved into her Baltimore home after their mother passed away.

With more mouths to suddenly feed and on a fixed income, Garrison turned to the federal government for food assistance.

“[My] Grandson ... eat like a man working two jobs, you know, and the food stamps SNAP program helps a lot,” she said.

BURNES GARRISON IN HER BALTIMORE HOME (ZACH CUSSON / SCRIPPS NEWS)

Since 1939, the federal government has helped millions of Americans buy food. Today, the program is known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP for short. It’s funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and more than 20 million low-income households – including Burnes Garrison – receive a monthly stipend to help put food on the table.

But when Garrison was checking out at her neighborhood market with her grandson earlier this year, something unexpected happened when she tried to pay: Her card with SNAP benefits on it was declined.

“A young man behind the counter said, ‘There's nothing on your card,’” she said. But it was Feb. 11, and Garrison always got her benefits on the 10th of each month.

“I just checked this last night to prepare for the day and it was $360 on this card,” she said.

She was forced to return the meat and vegetables she was planning to buy to the store shelves. When she got home, she called the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, the local department that administers her benefits. An official confirmed her account was empty and they said her food benefits had been used at a Target in Minneapolis.

“Minneapolis, Minnesota? I live in Baltimore,” she said. “I don't know anybody in Minneapolis.” A Scripps News investigation found Garrison is one of thousands of SNAP recipients from across the country whose food benefits have been electronically stolen.

To get a sense of the scale of this ongoing crime, Scripps News reporters sent surveys to agencies in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. We found at least 106,000 cases of stolen food benefits across 46 states, costing taxpayers more than $70 million.

“It's awful. It's horrible. I don't understand why they're doing it,” said Garrison.



A Flourish map




An easy target


When arrison signed up for SNAP benefits in 2012, she received an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card. The card functions like a debit card: Money is loaded onto her card each month that, with a swipe, she can use to buy eligible food items at certain stores.


But these EBT cards are what make SNAP benefits an easy target for thieves. Unlike most modern credit and debit cards that have microchip and “card-tapping” capabilities, EBT cards still rely on a magnetic strip and a PIN. It’s this archaic payment mechanism that leaves these cards vulnerable to skimming devices that criminals place on top of card readers. Whenever someone swipes their card, the skimming device captures their card information. It’s a security flaw that is robbing taxpayers of tens of millions of dollars.

“There's all these security features in the private credit card and debit card sector that just don't exist with EBT cards,” said Michelle Salomon Madaio, the director of economic justice for the Homeless Persons Representation Project, a nonprofit organization that provides legal services for low-income persons. “When folks go to the department to find out why is there nothing on my card, they're told sometimes that 'Oh, well, in the middle of the night the entire balance was withdrawn' ... other families have been told 'Oh well, there was a purchase in California and New York.'”

How thieves are doing it

Scripps News saw just how easy it is for these skimming devices to be installed. We obtained surveillance footage of criminals walking into grocery and convenience stores and planting skimming devices on top of card readers in checkout lanes.

“It fits perfectly and matches to the device that's there in the store,” said Commander John Haines, head of the criminal investigation division of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. “Just looking at it, you wouldn't be able to tell that anything is different. It literally takes seconds to put on.”

Haines said thieves then either sell the stolen data or use it to make fake cards which can be used to buy items eligible for SNAP purchases.

“That's what the plan is. As soon as the money hits the account, spend it as quickly as possible,” said Haines.

Across the country, law enforcement officials are playing whack-a-mole with card skimmers. Haines said incidents of theft come and go like waves.

“Last year, we had a wave that came, literally we could see it coming up from Florida, coming all the way up the East Coast,” he said. “We recovered a little over a dozen devices in a 30-day time period last year. And then right after us, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, all had the exact same thing happen. We do believe it was one group of people who clearly were organized in what they're doing.”

Haines said they haven’t made any arrests in that case because these types of cases are hard to solve. The devices themselves don’t have any clues that tell law enforcement who placed it and when. By the time someone reports it to the police, the criminal is long gone with the data.

Scripps News also learned possessing a skimming device isn’t illegal in D.C. Haines explained it’s illegal to capture information using a skimming device, but it’s not against the law to own the device. Our own analysis found that, like D.C., 28 states do not have laws that specifically make it illegal to possess a skimming device.


A Flourish map


“If I had it here in my pocket and you stop me, there's no crime you can charge me with,” Haines said. “It's kind of a loophole in the law that I know we're looking at trying to work with our legislators here and see if maybe that's something that we can plug up so the actual placing of it and the possession of it to be illegal.”


But some investigations have been successful. In March, law enforcement arrested 15 individuals, some who were Romanian nationals, for allegedly stealing benefits in California. Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department confiscated $129,000 and 429 fake cards.

Just a state over, Arizona law enforcement seized more than 1,200 fake SNAP cards and more than 3,200 cans of baby formula bought using stolen benefits. According to the state attorney general’s office, “more than 2,700 individual victims lost over $1.2 million in stolen SNAP benefits.”

CONFISCATED SKIMMING DEVICES (TOP LEFT), BABY FORMULA (TOP RIGHT) AND FAKE SNAP CARDS. (PHOTOS PROVIDED BY ARIZONA ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE)

“Law enforcement is being overwhelmed with this,” said Haywood Talcove, the CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions Government Division. His team started to analyze stolen SNAP benefits in October of 2022. “There are thousands of these going on a day across the country, right? They don't have the resources, nor do they have the technical capability.”

Talcove says SNAP cards should have microchips, but he also wants the USDA to implement two-factor authentication, so users can stop their benefits from being spent across state lines.


“You need to add on some tools like multi-factor authentication to say: Is this really you? Did you really mean to go ahead and do this?” he said.

A spokesperson for the USDA said in a statement that the agency does not tolerate fraud and officials work closely with “state and federal partners, law enforcement, SNAP retailers, EBT processors, and other industry experts to protect SNAP benefits.”

In March, the USDA launched a partnership with five states to test “mobile contactless payments” in the food program. SNAP recipients in Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri and Oklahoma will be able to tap or scan their phones to pay for food, instead of swiping their card. USDA did not say if this advanced payment mechanism will be rolled out nationwide.

The spokesperson added that state administrators have the option to adopt chip-enabled cards and the USDA will “provide technical assistance” and “support” to them.

Last year, Congress passed a bill to reimburse victims of stolen SNAP benefits, like Garrison. But the funding only applies to benefits stolen between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2024.


U.S. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger from Maryland hopes his bill will change that. He told us our reporting led him to introduce legislation to provide permanent funding for reimbursements and beef up security for the SNAP program.

“What this is doing is lining the pockets of criminals and hurting, you know, all of these people who are in a less-fortunate situation, and that's inexcusable,” he said. “It needs to be done because in the end that’s the only way you’re going to stop it.”

In the meantime, what kind of security features are available depends on where SNAP recipients live. States have contracts with third-party companies that process EBT payments and provide different levels of security. For example, in Wisconsin and Arizona, SNAP recipients can use a mobile app to request a temporary deactivation of their cards and block out-of-state or online purchases. But no state currently offers microchip technology.

There are other steps SNAP recipients can take to protect themselves, such as avoiding using a simple PIN like 1111.

“First, do not use a small retailer to get your provisions. Use a big retailer. They have much better security,” Talcove said. “The second thing that you should do is when you're using your card, even at the bigger retailers, put your hand over it when you're entering in the PIN number. The third thing that you should do is change your PIN number every month.”

But advocates like Madaio say it doesn’t matter if this is a state or federal issue: The bottom line is that people are being harmed.

“We've worked with families who have not been able to pay their rent, get an eviction notice, families who can't afford to pay the utility bill. It's very costly,” she said.

'You'll survive'

Losing her benefits meant Garrison didn’t pay her phone and cable bills that month. And she could only afford to pay half of her electric and gas bill.

“I was like, OK, you’ll survive, you’ll survive, but you don't know how devastating it can be,” said Garrison. “You have a budget. You know this is going to happen. We're going to go to the market. We're going to do this. We're going to do that. And then all of a sudden it just disappears. It does something to you.”

Some states, like Maryland, have their own state-funded reimbursement programs. In response to our national survey, 39 states said they had already reimbursed some 70,000 thefts a total of $52.9 million using a combination of state and federal funds.

Two months after her benefits were taken, Garrison was notified by the state of Maryland the money that was stolen was going to be replaced.

BURNES GARRISON RECOLLECTS HOW WORRIED SHE WAS WHEN SHE FOUND OUT HER SNAP BENEFITS WERE STOLEN. (ZACH CUSSON / SCRIPPS NEWS)

But the financial toll doesn’t compare to the emotional one. The most important thing to Garrison was to make sure her grandson was fed.

“I don't want him to worry about things that he shouldn't have to worry about. He should be worried about going to school, getting an education and planning for the future,” she said, teary-eyed. “I don't need him to be at school worrying about whether he’s going to have something to eat or not when he comes home.”

But it’s not just SNAP benefits that are being targeted. Scripps News learned other federal assistance programs that disburse benefits on EBT cards, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), are also being stolen. TANF are cash benefits that can be withdrawn from an ATM.

“I woke up on the third, I’m pregnant, went to call my card and found out that my benefits were swiped,” said Courtney Obee, a Baltimore resident whose TANF benefits were withdrawn in Miami, two hours after they were deposited into her account. “They took $1,300, $1,320 to be exact.”

For Erika Johnson, a mom of five who also lives in Baltimore, it happened a day later. Her account activity shows someone spent her $460 in SNAP benefits at a BJ’s in Tampa and withdrew $1,110 at a Tampa Target store.


“Florida? I’ve never even been to Florida personally myself, so I’m not understanding how it happened,” said Johnson. “It’s a hurtful feeling. I made promises to my kids and others I was unable to keep, so it’s hard.”

At the time, these women were denied reimbursements, and Johnson felt she was being treated differently because she received federal assistance benefits. "I feel like we should be protected as if this was the Bank of America or Wells Fargo or something like that. I feel like we should be protected just as they are,” she said.

Michelle Salomon Madaio, director of economic justice at the Homeless Persons Representation Project, says that by not prioritizing these families, the U.S. has a “second-class consumer system.” Certain protections under federal law require banks to reimburse customers for unauthorized fraudulent transactions, but no such law exists for federal assistance benefits.

“The majority of recipients in this program are children; there's a high percentage of people living with disabilities. So, I think if we as a society truly saw people as deserving of food and cash assistance, we would have the same level of response that we do when the same crime happens to someone who holds a credit card,” said Madaio.

'Shock after shock': A visit to China's secret biolab in California

Scripps News shows how a secret lab in central California was connected to the Chinese Communist Party.

Scripps News
By Sasha Ingber
Dec 7, 2023

In the heart of California’s San Joaquin Valley, the city of Reedley is known locally as the “world’s fruit basket.” They say more fresh fruit is grown here than any other place on Earth.

But it’s what was going on inside a dilapidated warehouse in the center of town that thrust this small agricultural community into the nation’s spotlight.

“It was literally shock after shock after shock,” Jesalyn Harper, Reedley’s only full-time code enforcement officer, told Scripps News. She said it all started when she received a tip that cars were parking outside a building which she thought was vacant.

So, she knocked on the door.

“There were three women that answered the door,” Harper said. “They appeared to be of Asian descent, possibly Chinese. They were all wearing basic PPE, white lab coat, gloves and surgical masks.”

When she walked inside, she was stunned by what she saw. There was blood and other bodily fluids in Gatorade bottles labeled in Mandarin, samples of at least 20 potentially infectious agents including malaria, dengue fever, and COVID-19 — and a pungent odor from what turned out to be nearly 1,000 mice.

“I started to get nervous because it started to go into the realm of ‘This is a lab,’” she said. “And it's scary to think that something like this could be hidden in plain sight.”

A look inside a suspected Chinese police outpost in the US

Scripps News investigates a suspected Chinese police facility in New York.

LEARN MORE

Her discovery launched some 15 investigations across local, state and federal agencies — and sparked conspiracy theories that a Chinese biological weapons lab had taken root in rural America.

“Our local politicians are out there terming it Wuhan 2.0,” said Reedley City Manager Nicole Zieba. As officials scrambled to make sense of what Harper had found, it was quickly apparent to Zieba that no one at the lab wanted locals to know they were there.

“They moved in under the cover of night into Reedley,” she said. “And no one, not even the businesses across the street that we talked to, no one knew anything was happening inside this building.”

No one knew who was behind it, either. Scripps News' search for answers led to court records that listed a company called Universal Meditech as the lab’s owner. Not a single associate responded to phone calls or emails. So, we found their company address through California state records and drove to their Fresno offices.

When we arrived, we found a modern building in stark contrast to the run-down warehouse in Reedley. It was surrounded by security cameras made by a Chinese surveillance technology firm called Hikvision, which is now banned from selling its products in the U.S. for national security reasons.

"Universal Meditech — who is in charge of Universal Meditech?" Scripps News national security correspondent Sasha Ingber asked Zieba.

“Boy, that's the grand question right now, because this company has been able to play so many shell games and create so much misdirection in everything,” Zieba responded. “We know that that they're sending us down rabbit holes and some wild goose chases. If we find prosecutable offenses, who in fact, are we going to be prosecuting?”

As Scripps News dug further to try to answer that question, we uncovered FDA records detailing medical supplies that Universal Meditech received from a China-based firm called Ai De. That company, Scripps News learned through a collaboration with open-source intelligence research group Strike Source, is owned by Yibai, another Chinese business whose leaders are members of China’s Communist Party. Scripps News found their portraits prominently featured on a Shanghai stock exchange website.

China's connection to the lab in Reedley also captured the attention of Congress.

In November, a House committee released a report identifying the man behind the secret lab in Reedley as David He, who we had tried to contact months before. He was arrested this past October by federal agents in a sting operation for allegedly making false statements and misbranding medical devices. The House report claimed he entered the U.S. as a fugitive and his real name is Jiabei Zhu. The report said in the past he was convicted of stealing $240 million in U.S. intellectual property related to the cattle industry, all to benefit China’s Communist Party.

For Anna Puglisi, a former U.S. national counterintelligence officer for East Asia, the revelations about Zhu and his lab in Reedley weren’t surprising. The efforts of China’s Communist party, she told us, go way beyond traditional espionage and are deliberately carried out in more remote parts of this country.

“China looks beyond the national and they do look to the state and local. It's easier to operate,” she said. “We're not used to dealing with issues like this at the state and local level. And so it really requires a raising of awareness of how China is targeting different parts of our society.”

What China’s lab was targeting with so many dangerous pathogens remains a mystery, but Puglisi told Scripps News its purpose may have been to glean medical research.

“One of the policies that we've seen in place for several decades is called Serve in Place,” she said. “The whole idea [is] that you can serve the Chinese Communist Party without returning to China.” She said the U.S. system was set up to counter the Soviets, "things that are illegal, have direct military application, or involve intelligence officers — that doesn’t fit how China targets us."

This wouldn’t be the first time that Beijing has used the suburbs of California in this way. Scripps News has learned that in the early 2000s, Chinese researchers were assembling optical devices in the basements of homes there, and attempting to send them back to China in defiance of export bans.

Nearly a year after the lab in Reedley was busted, no one has determined that what happened here caused any harm. But for Jesalyn Harper, her chance discovery has opened her eyes and she believes Reedley should serve as a wake-up call for other towns in America.

“There is a really good possibility that there are other labs like this operating all over the United States,” Harper said. “And it's just no one has found them yet.”