It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, January 27, 2024
Achieving sustainable urban growth on a global scale
From the impacts on the environment and climate to transforming land cover and habitats, urban growth is driving global change. Urban areas contribute up to 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions. By 2050, urban areas globally will either double or triple, and the raw materials needed to build future cities is more than the world can sustainably provide.
Yet, the impacts of cities on Earth systems are not factored into policy and planning among international agencies and that needs to change, says Karen Seto, Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science at the Yale School of the Environment. In a commentary recently published in Science, Seto and an international group of leading scientists called for the creation of a new urban advisory system.
Noting that more than half the world’s population live in urban areas and worldwide urban land expansion is one of the key drivers of habitat and biodiversity loss, the authors point to myriad ways that urban expansion affects global systems by putting pressure on resources, ecosystems, and the climate and emphasize the importance of scientific research in local and global decision making.
The authors advocate for the creation of an urban science panel that could support the United Nations as well as multilateral policy-making groups.
“This is about ensuring that world leaders and policymakers have the information that they need at their fingertips to design a world that reflects and responds to humanity’s urban future,” the authors wrote.
Seto, director of the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability, is one of the world’s foremost experts on the global impacts of urbanization. She was the coordinating lead author for two U.N. climate assessment reports, the IPCC 5th (2014) and 6th (2022), and co-led the chapters on how cities can mitigate climate change. She pioneered the use of satellite remote sensing analysis to study land change and urban growth and has focused her research on how cities can play a significant role in mitigating climate change through design, low-cost energy initiatives, and sustainable transportation and building materials. To accomplish this, a coordinated effort is needed to transform existing urban science into practical guidance for international policy design for urban areas, Seto and co-authors Jessica Espey, Michael Keith, Susan Parnell, and Tim Schwanen noted.
“Cities are the nucleus from which humanities’ impact on all Earth systems can be observed. One would thus expect urban dynamics and impacts to be at the top of global governance agendas,” they wrote in the commentary.
There are existing bodies that work on cities and sustainable development goals within the U.N. and regulatory bodies within states, cities, and towns that work at the local level, but the authors stress that their focus is on singular issues or local regulations rather than at the planetary level.
“Although these existing parallel processes are important, they are failing to bring the seismic effects of urban change on the world to the attention of policy makers,” they contend.
They recommend the creation of an urban science advisory panel composed of scientists who have a clear political mandate and a requirement to submit findings to the U.N. Such a group could be rooted in an entity affiliated with the office of the U.N. secretary general or as part of the U.N.’s Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development Goals.
“Whatever mechanism is used, it is well past time for evidence-based dialogue on the planet-wide effects of urbanization at the highest levels of international government. Our planet’s future is an urban future, and our systems of international administration must reflect that,” the authors state.
EVEN THE «ETERNAL ICE» ON THE GRAND COMBIN IS NOT MADE TO LAST FOREVER. VISIBLE AT THE UPPER RIGHT OF THE PHOTO IS THE DRILLING CAMP OF THE 2020 ICE MEMORY EXPEDITION LED BY PSI RESEARCHER THEO JENK.
As part of the Ice Memory initiative, PSI researchers, with colleagues from the University of Fribourg and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice as well as the Institute of Polar Sciences of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), analysed ice cores drilled in 2018 and 2020 from the Corbassière glacier at Grand Combin in the canton of Valais. A comparison of the two sets of ice cores published in Nature Geoscience shows: Global warming has made at least this glacier unusable as a climate archive.
Reliable information about the past climate and air pollution can no longer be obtained from the Corbassière glacier in the Grand Combin massif, because alpine glacier melting is progressing more rapidly than previously assumed. This sobering conclusion was reached by researchers led by Margit Schwikowski, head of the Laboratory for Environmental Chemistry at PSI, and Carla Huber, PhD student and first author of the study, when they compared the signatures of particulate matter locked in the annual layers of the ice. Glaciers are invaluable for climate research. The climatic conditions and atmospheric compositions of past ages are preserved in their ice. Therefore, they can serve, in much the same way as tree rings and ocean sediments, as a so-called climate archive for research.
Normally, the amount of particle-bound trace substances in ice fluctuates with the seasons. Substances such as ammonium, nitrate, and sulfate come from the air and are deposited on the glacier through snowfall: The concentrations are high in summer and low in winter, because lower amounts of polluted air can rise from the valley when the air is cold. The 2018 ice core, which was drilled from depths of up to 14 metres during a preliminary study and contains deposits dating back to 2011, shows these fluctuations as expected. But the core from 2020, from a depth of up to 18 metres – drilled under the leadership of PSI researcher Theo Jenk – shows those fluctuations only for the upper three or four annual layers. Deeper in the ice – that is, farther in the past – the curve indicating the concentration of trace substances becomes noticeably flatter, and the total amount is lower. Schwikowski’s team reports on this in the current issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.
Washed away by meltwater
Their explanation for the observed discrepancy: Between 2018 and 2020, the glacier melting must have been so strong that an especially large amount of water from the surface penetrated into the glacier and carried the trace substances it contained into the depths. “But apparently the water there did not freeze again, concentrating the trace substances,” the environmental chemist concludes, “but instead it drained off and literally washed them away.” Of course, that distorts the signatures of the layered inclusions. The climate archive is destroyed. It is as if someone had broken into a library and not only messed up all the shelves and books, but also stole a lot of books and mixed up the individual words in the remaining ones, making it impossible to reconstruct the original texts.
The researchers examined the meteorological data from 2018 through 2020: Since there is no weather station at the top of the Grand Combin, they combined data from the surrounding stations and extrapolated it for the study area on the mountain. According to this calculation, it was warm on the glacier in line with the general climatic trend, but these years were not extreme outliers. “From this we conclude that there was no singular trigger for this strong melting, but that it resulted from many warm years in the recent past,” Schwikowski says. “It seems a threshold has been crossed, which now has led to a comparatively strong effect.”
Unexpected dynamics
The bottom line is that the example of the Grand Combin shows that the melting of glaciers is progressing more dynamically than experts had assumed. “For a long time it has been clear that the glacier tongues are retreating. But we would not have thought that the areas feeding high alpine glaciers would also be so severely affected – that is, their highest part, where the ice replenishment is formed.” So far, the researchers have examined the distribution of oxygen isotopes in the ice, which can provide information about temperature developments, and of ionic trace compounds such as ammonium, nitrate, and sulfate. Next they want to analyse to what extent the signatures of organic substances in the ice are also affected.
Ice Memory: Ice core sanctuary in Antarctica
Another reason Schwikowski is interested in this is because, together with other ice core experts from around the world, she is involved in the initiative led by the Ice Memory Foundation. The aim of this research effort is to obtain ice cores from 20 endangered glaciers around the world in 20 years and collect them in a global climate archive. The cores, cut into rods around one metre long and eight centimetres in diameter, which were individually retrieved from the depths, are to be stored permanently and securely in an ice cave at the Italian-French research station Concordia in Antarctica – managed by an international governance on the long term. The reliable temperatures near the South Pole, averaging minus 50 degrees Celsius ensure that the cores will remain usable for studies in the future, even if global warming causes all alpine glaciers to melt at some point. This is important because analysis methods are constantly improving, and future generations of scientists could extract completely different information from the ice.
The Grand Combin ice core should be one of these 20 glacier samples. “But we already realised, on the mountain, that nothing would come of it,” Schwikowski says. “As I said, the test drilling in 2018 still looked good. But several times in 2020 we came across thick, solid layers of ice that had formed in the meantime as the water melted and froze again. We encountered one such particularly thick layer at a depth of 17 to 18 metres, which was underneath a very watery, soft layer. This transition caused us enormous problems. Especially when we were drilling deeper and then pulling it out, the drill got caught in the hard layer of ice. We nearly lost this expensive device.”
“Because further attempts at other parts of the glacier saddle encountered the same layer, and the same difficulties, the researchers had to abandon the expedition. They actually wanted to drill 80 metres deep, down to the bedrock, to record the entire archive of the glacier, which spans thousands of years. But this was not possible. “And our analyses have now confirmed it,”, Schwikowski says. “At the Grand Combin, we’re already too late.”
Race against time
It is to be feared that this is also the case with other glaciers around the world that have yet to be sampled as part of Ice Memory. In the Alps, besides the Col du Dôme glacier on Mont Blanc at 4,250 metres, where the project team first drilled in 2016, there is only Colle Gnifetti on the Italian-Swiss border, which is even higher at 4,450 metres and therefore colder than the Grand Combin glacier. There the PSI team, together with the Ice Memory Foundation partners, was actually able to obtain an ice core with the signature still intact the following year. Cores from Illimani in the Bolivian Andes, from Belukha in the Russian Altai, and from Elbrus in the Caucasus have already been secured. Last year, there were also expeditions on Spitsbergen and the Col del Lys in Italy; their analyses are still pending. An expedition to Kilimanjaro, which has the only significant ice body in Africa, failed last year due to political and administrative issues.
The project is a race against time. It is by no means guaranteed to succeed. Setbacks like those at Grand Combin become more likely every year.
Text: Jan Berndorff
About PSI
The Paul Scherrer Institute PSI develops, builds and operates large, complex research facilities and makes them available to the national and international research community. The institute's own key research priorities are in the fields of matter and materials, energy and environment and human health. PSI is committed to the training of future generations. Therefore about one quarter of our staff are post-docs, post-graduates or apprentices. Altogether PSI employs 2200 people, thus being the largest research institute in Switzerland. The annual budget amounts to approximately CHF 420 million. PSI is part of the ETH Domain, with the other members being the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne, as well as Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology), Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) and WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research). Insight into the exciting research of the PSI with changing focal points is provided 3 times a year in the publication 5232 - The Magazine of the Paul Scherrer Institute.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Margit Schwikowski Head of the Laboratory for Environmental Chemistry Paul Scherrer Institute, Forschungsstrasse 111, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland Telephone: +41 56 310 41 10, e-mail: margit.schwikowski@psi.ch [German, English]
Original publication
High-altitude glacier archives lost due to climate change-related melting
C.J. Huber, A. Eichler, E. Mattea, S. Brütsch, T.M. Jenk, J. Gabrieli, C. Barbante, M. Schwikowski.
Air pollution, a critical global public health issue, includes indoor air pollution from household fossil fuel consumption, notably from gas cooking in urban areas. In urban China, where population growth and urbanization are on the rise, NO2, a byproduct of gas cooking and outdoor pollution, poses a significant health threat. A groundbreaking study reveals the significant public health benefits of transitioning from gas to electric cooking in urban China. Researchers found that such a switch could reduce the economic losses associated with diseases caused by nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exposure by 35%.
On a new study (DOI: 10.1016/j.eehl.2023.10.003) published in the journal Eco-Environment & Health, researchers from Tsinghua University used modeled NO2 exposure concentrations, exposure-response relationships with lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes mellitus, and baseline DALYs to estimate the disease burden attributable to NO2 exposure in urban China in 2019. The result showed that approximately 1,675 thousand DALYs and 138 billion Chinese yuan in economic losses were attributed to NO2 in 2019. The study also estimated the potential reduction in disease burden that could be achieved by switching from gas to electric stoves for household cooking. Remarkably, transitioning from gas to electric cooking in households could reduce these losses by 35%.
"This study highlights the importance of considering both outdoor and indoor sources of NO2 exposure when assessing the health impacts of air pollution," said Prof. Zhao, lead author of the study. "Switching from gas to electric stoves is a simple and effective way to reduce NO2 exposure and improve public health."
The study's findings challenge the conventional view of gas as a clean energy source for cooking. It emphasizes the significant public health benefits of switching to electric cooking in urban settings. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of comprehensive strategies targeting both indoor and outdoor NO2 emissions to effectively mitigate pollution and its associated health risks.
Eco-Environment & Health (EEH) is an international and multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal designed for publications on the frontiers of the ecology, environment and health as well as their related disciplines. EEH focuses on the concept of "One Health" to promote green and sustainable development, dealing with the interactions among ecology, environment and health, and the underlying mechanisms and interventions. Our mission is to be one of the most important flagship journals in the field of environmental health.
Reconsidering Gas as Clean Energy: Switching to Electricity for Household Cooking to Reduce NO2-attributed Disease Burden
‘Hell chicken’ species suggests dinosaurs weren’t sliding toward extinction
The Conversation January 25, 2024 Birdlike dinosaur Eoneophron infernalis was about the size of an adult human.
Zubin Erik Dutta
Were dinosaurs already on their way out when an asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago, ending the Cretaceous, the geologic period that started about 145 million years ago? It’s a question that has vexed paleontologistslike us for more than 40 years.
In the late 1970s, debate began about whether dinosaurs were at their peak or in decline before their big extinction. Scientists at that time noted that while dinosaur diversity seemed to have increased in the geologic stage that spanned 83.6 million to 71.2 million years ago, the number of species on the scene seemed to decrease during the last few million years of the Cretaceous. Some researchers have interpreted this pattern to mean that the asteroid that struck the Gulf of Mexico was simply the final blowfor an already vulnerable group of animals.
However, others have argued that what looks like a decrease in the diversity of dinosaurs may be an artifact of how hard it is to accurately count them. Fossil formations might preserve different dinosaurs more or less often based on factors like their favored environment and how easily their bodies fossilized there. The accessibility of various outcrops could influence what kinds of fossils researchers have so far found. These biases are a problem because fossils are what paleontologists must rely on to conclusively answer how healthy dinosaur populations were when the asteroid hit.
At that crucial moment, what was really happening to dinosaur diversity? Discovery, identification and description of new dinosaurs provide vital clues. This is where our work comes in. Close examination of what we’d thought was a juvenile specimen of an already known species of dinosaur from this time period revealed that it was actually part of an adult from a completely new species.
Our work focusing on the life stage of our specimen demonstrates that dinosaur diversity may not have been declining before the asteroid hit, but rather that there are more species from this time period yet to be discovered – potentially even through reclassification of fossils already in museum collections.
Kyle Atkins-Weltman holds the femur of the new dinosaur as it was received, with the other fossils in the background.
Clues inside the bones of a birdlike dinosaur
Our new study focused on four hindlimb bones – a femur, a tibia and two metatarsals. They were unearthed in South Dakota, in rocks of the Hell Creek Formation, and date to the final 2 million years of the Cretaceous.
The only known species of caenagnathid from this time and region was Anzu, sometimes called the “chicken from Hell.” Covered in feathers and sporting wings and a toothless beak, Anzu was between roughly 450 and 750 pounds (200 and 340 kilograms). Despite its fearsome nickname, though, its diet is a matter of debate. It was likely an omnivore, eating both plant material and small animals.
Because our specimen was significantly smaller than Anzu, we simply assumed it was a juvenile. We chalked up the anatomical differences we noticed to its juvenile status and smaller size – and figured the animal would have changed had it continued to grow. Anzu specimens are rare, and no definite juveniles have been published in the scientific literature, so we were excited to potentially learn more about how it grew and changed throughout its lifetime by looking inside its bones.
Just like with a tree’s rings, bone records rings called lines of arrested growth. Each annual line represents part of a year when the animal’s growth slowed. They would tell us how old this animal was, and how fast or slow it was growing.
We cut through the middle of three of the bones so that we could microscopically examine the internal anatomy of the cross-sections. What we saw completely uprooted our initial assumptions.
Teal arkers point to lines of arrested growth on the cross-section of fossilized bone. Toward the outside of the bone, the lines are much closer together, reflecting less growth per year. Researchers counted exactly six lines, meaning this animal was between 6 and 7 years old when it died.
Holly Woodward
In a juvenile, we would expect lines of arrested growth in the bone to be widely spaced, indicating rapid growth, with even spacing between the lines from the inside to the outside surface of the bone. Here, we saw that the later lines were spaced progressively closer together, indicating that this animal’s growth had slowed and it was nearly at its adult size.
This was no juvenile. Instead, it was an adult of an entirely new species, which we dubbed Eoneophron infernalis. The name means “Pharaoh’s dawn chicken from Hell,” referencing the nickname of its larger cousin Anzu. Traits unique to this species include ankle bones fused to the tibia, and a well-developed ridge on one of its foot bones. These weren’t features a young Anzu would outgrow, but rather unique aspects of the smaller Eoneophron. Expanding the caenagnathid family tree
With this new evidence, we started making thorough comparisons with other members of the family to determine where Eoneophron infernalis fit within the group.
It also inspired us to reexamine other bones previously believed to be Anzu, as we now knew that more caenagnathid dinosaurs lived in western North America during that time. One specimen, a partial foot bone smaller than our new specimen, appeared distinct from both Anzu and Eoneophron. Where once there was one “chicken from Hell,” now there were two, and evidence for a third: one large (Anzu), weighing as much as a grizzly bear, one medium (Eoneophron), humanlike in weight, and one small and yet unnamed, close in size to a German shepherd.
Eoneophron infernalis and the smaller unnamed species now join the larger Anzu as late-Cretaceous caenagnathid dinosaurs from the Hell Creek region.
Zubin Erik Dutta
Comparing Hell Creek with older fossil formations such as the famous Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta that preserves dinosaurs that lived between 76.5 million and 74.4 million years ago, we find not only the same number of caenagnathid species, but also the same size classes. There, we have Caenagnathus, comparable to Anzu, Chirostenotes, comparable to Eoneophron, and Citipes, comparable to the third species we found evidence for. These parallels in both species count and relative sizes offer compelling evidence that caenagnathids remained stable throughout the last part of the Cretaceous.
Our new discovery suggests that this dinosaur group was not declining in diversity at the very end of the Cretaceous. These fossils show that there are still new species to be discovered, and support the idea that at least part of the pattern of decreasing diversity is the result of sampling and preservation biases.
Did large dinosaurs go extinct the way a Hemingway character quipped he went broke: “gradually, then suddenly”? While there are plenty of questions still outstanding in this extinction debate, Eoneophron adds evidence that caenagnathids were doing quite well for themselves before the asteroid ruined everything. Kyle Atkins-Weltman, Ph.D. Student in Paleoecology, Oklahoma State University and Eric Snively, Associate Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Oklahoma State University
Pictures have been teaching doctors medicine for centuries The Conversation January 24, 2024 Artists reveal what cannot be seen. Henry Gray, Anthony Edwward Spitzka/Internet Archive via Flickr
“Medical illustrators draw what can’t be seen, watch what’s never been done, and tell thousands about it without saying a word.”
As a practicing medical illustrator for over 30 years, I draw what can’t be seen and watch what’s never been done on a daily basis. And I teach my students to do the same.
But what exactly does all of that mean, and how does it improve medicine?
Tell thousands about it without saying a word
You may have heard the adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” In that same vein, medical illustrators use pictures to teach complex scientific concepts. As the famed medical illustrator Frank H. Netter once said, “(Pictures) eliminate the need for the lecturer or the author to translate what he has in his mind into words and for the listener or the student to translate those words back into a mental image.”
The use of illustrations to communicate medical information has a long history, dating back at least to ancient Egypt and flourishing in the Renaissance. The work of 16th century anatomists Giacomo Berengario da Carpi and Andreas Vesalius set a precedent for the use of detailed illustrations to teach anatomy, a practice that continues to this day.
The proliferation of illustrated anatomy atlases in the Renaissance coincided with the widespread acceptance of cadaver dissection. The earliest known human dissections were performed in the third century BCE. The practice was prohibited throughout the Middle Ages but became common again in the 13th and 14th centuries.
By the 1500s, dissections, usually of executed criminals, had become public spectacles. The demand for bodies eventually outstripped the supply of executed convicts, leading to the unscrupulous practices of grave robbing and even murder.
In addition to depicting the location and features of an object such as an organ, illustrations proved essential in describing events happening over time, such as the progression of a disease or the steps in a surgical procedure. Generations of surgeons learned new procedures from meticulously illustrated surgical atlases. An early example of physiology illustration, William Harvey’s classic 17th century work on the circulation of blood, “Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus,” depicts the direction of blood flow through the veins of the forearm.
This image from William Harvey’s ‘Exercitatio’ depicts the direction of normal blood circulation. William Harvey/Wikimedia Commons
Nowadays, surgeons can practice a procedure hundreds of times in virtual reality before trying it on a real patient. Modern physiology and pathology texts include countless illustrations of the body, not just at the anatomical level but also the cellular and molecular. So valuable are these depictions of complex pathways and interactions that many science journals now require papers to include a graphical abstract, a single illustration that summarizes the content of each paper.
Draw what can’t be seen
Medical illustrators employ special tools and training to visualize things that are normally hidden from the naked eye.
All professionally trained medical illustrators study human gross anatomy, including dissecting a human cadaver, in order to visualize the internal structures of the body. When a cadaver isn’t readily available to serve as reference for an illustration, illustrators use medical imaging, such as CT and MRI scans, and reconstruct the body in three dimensions.
At the cellular level, medical illustrators must understand how to use microscopy techniques in order to find references for accurate depictions of cellular structures.
Objects at the smallest scale – atoms and many molecules – are smaller than the wavelength of visible light. This means they are below the theoretical limit of what can be seen, even with the most powerful light microscope. So researchers experimentally determine the structures of molecules using techniques like X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy instead. These techniques use X-rays or radio waves, respectively, to determine how atoms are arranged.
This illustration, created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, depicts the notorious spiked structure of the virus that causes COVID-19. Alissa Eckert, MSMI; Dan Higgins, MAMS via CDC
Medical illustrators learn to locate and retrieve data on the structure of molecules from sites like the RCSB Protein Databank. They also use a host of visualization applications and software plug-ins to render these structures in 3D.
Medical illustrators Alissa Eckert and Dan Higgins at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used these techniques to create the famous red-spiked coronavirus image that went viral during the pandemic.
Watch what’s never been done
Obviously, you can’t really watch something that has never been done. But medical illustrators can help conceptualize new processes and techniques before they become a reality.
For example, they might illustrate how an experimental drug may theoretically work before it enters testing. Similarly, illustrations can be critically important in pre-surgical planning, especially in complex cases.
My favorite example of the role of medical illustration in surgery is the separation of conjoined twins Abbigail and Isabelle Carlsen at the Mayo Clinic in 2006. Working from nearly 6,000 radiographic images, the clinic’s medical illustrators produced five detailed illustrations of the twins’ anatomy. They even generated 3D-printed models of important structures, notably their shared liver.
The illustrations were critical in training a team of 70 surgeons, nurses and technicians involved in the case. They also served as a road map for the ultimately successful surgery, hung up on the walls of the operating theater during the procedure. Road to becoming a medical illustrator
In order to draw what can’t be seen and watch what’s never been done, medical illustrators require specialized training. Most medical illustrators in North America are trained at master’s programs accredited by the Association of Medical Illustrators in conjunction with the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs.
Since the profession requires a strong understanding of the biomedical sciences, students accepted into these programs must have a strong science background along with a portfolio demonstrating outstanding drawing skills. Students often have a double major in biology and art or a major in one area and minor in the other.
Once in the program, their science training continues with human gross anatomy and some combination of courses in neuroanatomy, embryology, histology, cell biology, pathology and immunology. Specialized courses in surgical observation and cellular and molecular visualization also include significant science content.
Scientific illustrator Val Altounian of the journal Science walks viewers through her process.
Students receive extensive training in computer graphics, including 2D digital illustration and animation, 3D computer modeling and animation, interactive media, virtual and augmented reality and educational game and mobile app design. Courses also emphasize the principles of design, including the use of color, layout and motion to create effective visuals.
Medical illustrators learn to consider the educational level of their audience, since their work may be used to educate patients – even kids – in addition to medical professionals. Illustrations made for a child recently diagnosed with leukemia would be very different from those aimed at the oncologist treating the disease.
After entering the workforce, many medical illustrators pursue optional board certification to become a certified medical illustrator, which recognizes professional competency and encourages continued learning. Continued certification requires 35 hours of continuing education every five years in the biomedical sciences, artistic techniques and business practices.
All of this education and training is essential to ensure that medical illustrators communicate complex scientific information with accuracy and clarity. I like to think of medical illustrators as teachers – they instruct with pictures.
Unusual ancient elephant tracks had our team of fossil experts stumped
The Conversation January 24, 2024 An African elephant in Botswana (Shutterstock.com)
Over the past 15 years, through our scientific study of tracks and traces, we have identified more than 350 fossil vertebrate tracksites from South Africa’s Cape south coast. Most are found in cemented sand dunes, called aeolianites, and all are from the Pleistocene Epoch, ranging in age from about 35,000 to 400,000 years.
During that time we have honed our identification skills and have become used to finding and interpreting tracksites – a field called ichnology. And yet, every once in a while, we encounter something we immediately realise is so novel that it has been found nowhere else on Earth.
Such a moment of unexpected discovery happened in 2019 along the coastline of the De Hoop Nature Reserve, about 200km east of Cape Town. Less than two metres away from a cluster of fossil elephant tracks was a round feature, 57cm in diameter, containing concentric ring features. Another layer was exposed about 7cm below this surface. It contained at least 14 parallel groove features. Where the grooves approached the rings, they made a slight curve towards them. The two findings, we hypothesised, were connected with each other and appeared to have a common origin.
Elephants are the largest, heaviest land animals. They leave large, deep, easily recognisable tracks. We’ve documented 35 fossilised elephant track sites in our study area, as well as the first evidence of fossilised elephant trunk-drag impressions.
Elephants, like another group of massive land creatures, dinosaurs, can be viewed as geological engineers that create minor earth-moving forces on the ground they walk(ed) on. This can be related also to a remarkable ability that elephants possess: communicating by generating seismic waves. These are a form of energy that can travel under the surface of the Earth.
The feature we found in 2019 seemed to reflect just such a phenomenon: an elephant triggering waves that rippled outwards. After additional investigation and a thorough search for alternative explanations, we could report in a recently published study that we believe we’ve found the world’s first trace fossil signature of seismic, underground communication between elephants.
Elephant seismicity
Since the 1980s, an ever-increasing body of literature has documented “elephant seismicity” and seismic communication through infrasound. The lower threshold of human hearing is 20Hz; below that, low frequency sounds are known as infrasound. Elephant “rumbles”, originating in the larynx and transmitted into the ground through the limbs, fall within the infrasonic range.
Infrasound at high amplitude (it would seem very loud to us if at a slightly higher frequency) can travel further than high frequency sounds, over distances as great as 6km. Elephants have an advantage here. Lighter creatures cannot generate low-frequency sound waves through vocalisation. It is thought that long-distance seismic communication can allow elephant groups to interact over substantial distances, and it has been shown that sandy terrain allows the communication to travel furthest.
Continuing the elephant-dinosaur analogy, we considered the multitude of publications on dinosaur tracks. We are aware of only a single example that exhibits possible concentric rings within a track, from Korea, and none that involve parallel grooves. This suggests something unique about elephants that generates concentric rings within tracks and leads to the associated groove features. Elephant rumbling provides a plausible explanation.
In our scenario at De Hoop Nature Reserve, we postulate that vibrations from rumbling travelled down the elephant limb and created the concentric ring features. They are reminiscent of some of the patterns that become evident when sprinkling sand onto a vibrating surface. The surface on which the concentric rings appear must have been just below the dune surface at the time. The parallel grooves would then represent a trace fossil signature of subsurface communication. We’re not yet sure how old the trace fossil is; we’ve sent samples for testing.
A video showing sand vibrating when it’s exposed to sound.
Rumblings in rock art
Elephant seismicity is a relatively new field of study for scientists. However, those who have lived close to elephants won’t be surprised at the idea of the animals communicating through vibration. Indeed, vibrations from elephant rumblings can sometimes be felt (rather than heard) by the astute observer. And it appears that this knowledge is not just recent.
The rock art experts on our team have identified and interpreted rock art that suggests the indigenous San people appreciated and celebrated this knowledge in southern Africa thousands of years ago. Elephants were of profound importance to the San and were prominently featured in their works of art. Several rock art sites appear to contain paintings of elephants in relation to sound or vibration.
For example, at the Monte Cristo site in the Cederberg the artist has painted 31 elephants, in several groups. They are in a realistic arrangement. Fine red lines surround each elephant; zigzag lines touch the abdomen, groin, throat, trunk, and specifically the feet. Many zigzag lines link the elephant to the ground. The finest lines are closest to the elephants, and every elephant is connected to this set of lines. These are in turn connected to broader lines surrounding the elephant group, which radiate out and away from the elephants as concentric rings.
This is interpreted as the San artist’s probable illustration of seismic communication between elephants. The feeling of shaking and vibration, which the San call thara n|om, is vital to the San healing dances, including the elephant song and elephant dance. Lines of energy, called n|om, are regarded as a vibrant life-giving force that animates all living beings and is the source of all inspired energy.
We believe that an understanding of elephant seismicity requires the integration of three bodies of knowledge: research on extant elephant populations, ancestral knowledge (often manifested in rock art) and the trace fossil record.
That elephant seismic communication might leave a trace fossil record has never been reported before, or even postulated. Our findings may have the potential to stimulate multi-disciplinary research into this field. This could include a dedicated search for sub-surface patterns in the sand in the vicinity of modern rumbling elephants.
A late painting by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt has resurfaced in a private collection and will be sold in April, Viennese auction house Kinsky said Thursday.
"Bildnis Fraeulein Lieser" (Portrait of Miss Lieser) was commissioned by a wealthy Jewish industrialist's family and painted by Klimt in 1917 shortly before he died.
The well-preserved painting, which shows a dark-haired woman, was presented to the public in Vienna for the first time on Thursday.
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It is due to be auctioned off on April 24 on behalf of the current Austrian owners and the legal successors of the Lieser family on the basis of an agreement in accordance with the Washington Principles.
That 1998 international agreement set out the procedure for returning art stolen by the Nazis.
The painting 'Bildnis Fraeulein Lieser' (Portrait of Miss Lieser)
The work was last seen at a Viennese exhibition in 1925, documented by a black-and-white photo cited as the only previous proof of its existence.
The photo identifies the last owner of the painting as a member of the Lieser family, who lived at Vienna's "Argentinierstrasse 20".
Henriette Lieser, who had remained in Vienna despite the Nazi rule, was deported in 1942 and murdered in Auschwitz in 1943.
The unfinished portrait re-emerged when the current owner sought legal advice from lawyer and art law expert Ernst Ploil before inheriting it.
Tracing its provenance
Despite extensive research, it remained unclear how the family of the current owner, who has possessed the artwork since the 1960s, obtained it, Ploil told journalists Thursday.
"We have a gap between 1925 and the 1960s," he added.
But he stressed that they had found no evidence that the work had been looted, stolen or unlawfully seized before or during the Second World War.
The back of the painting is "completely untouched" and has "no stamps, no stickers, nothing", Ploil said.
"There are no indications of any illegal confiscation during the Nazi era, i.e. the usual stamps from the Gestapo or a shipping house where looted art was stored," he added.
No claims have yet been made by the descendants of the Lieser family, but some of them have travelled to Vienna to see the painting.
Klimt portraits rarely come on to the open market.
The Kinsky auction house estimates its value at 30 to 50 million euros ($33-55 million), but considering recent Klimt auctions, higher sums are conceivable.
Last June, Klimt's "Dame mit Faecher" (Lady with a Fan) was sold in London for £74 million ($94.3 million at the time), setting a new European art auction record.
The previous auction record for an artwork sold in Europe was for Alberto Giacometti's "Walking Man I", which went for £65 million in February 2010.
(AFP)
Decoding China: How Beijing deals with the Houthis
Beijing has been increasingly vocal about Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Although Chinese ships are not being attacked, the volatile situation in the region is having a huge economic impact on China.
China has called for re-establishing "the safety of waterways in the Red Sea"
China had long tried to come to terms with the Houthi rebel group. But Beijing is now apparently losing patience with the Iran-backed Shiite Muslim militia, which has fought a civil war in Yemen since 2014 and controls large swaths of the conflict-ridden country.
Chinese officials have asked their Iranian counterparts to help rein in attacks on ships in the crucial waterway, or risk harming business ties with Beijing, Reuters reported, citing Iranian sources.
"Basically, China says: 'If our interests are harmed in any way, it will impact our business with Tehran. So tell the Houthis to show restraint,'" one Iranian official briefed on the talks, who asked not to be named, told the news agency. China calls for safe passage for ships
In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Chinese Premier Li Qiang emphasized the need to keep global supply chains "stable and smooth," without referring specifically to the Red Sea. Beijing has also appealed to the Houthis to stop attacking merchant ships.
"We call for an end to the harassment of civilian vessels, in order to maintain the smooth flow of global production and supply chains and the international trade order," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning.
She added that the top priority was to end the war in Gaza as quickly as possible in order to prevent it from spreading or even getting out of control.
The Commerce Ministry in Beijing has also called on actors in the region to "restore and ensure the safety of waterways in the Red Sea."
The Houthis have also said Russian and Chinese ships transiting the Red Sea will be granted safe passage. It justified the move by saying that ships from China and Russia are not involved in delivering supplies to Israel.
However, even if Chinese ships are not directly affected, the Houthi attacks pose a big challenge to Beijing's interests. A huge chunk of Chinese exports is handled by foreign ships, and also around 60% of all Chinese exports to Europe pass through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, according to the Middle East Institute think tank.
The volatile security situation in the region has already forced several shipping firms to divert away from the Red Sea and take the longer and more expensive route around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, exacerbating global supply chain problems. Houthi attacks having huge economic impact
The Houthi actions have an enormous economic impact on China, said Johann Fuhrmann, head of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's office in Beijing.
"In terms of supply chains and global trade, Beijing is facing enormous challenges. Not only is the route around the Cape of Good Hope longer and more expensive, it is also rapidly increasing container prices," he told DW.
"All of this comes at a time when China is focusing heavily on boosting exports — as the real estate crisis in the country has shown that property-based economic boom is no longer going to happen," Fuhrmann added.
Nora Kürzdörfer, China expert at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies in Hamburg, also pointed to China's high reliance on energy supplies from the Middle East and Africa.
"Despite the fact that Chinese ships have not yet been attacked, Chinese exporters are facing increased transportation costs and insurance premiums."
According to several estimates, the cost of shipping a container to Europe has more than doubled, to around $7,000 (€6,443), since the Houthis began attacking cargo ships in December. Beijing shows political restraint
Still, China has so far exercised political and military restraint, to avoid jeopardizing its economic and diplomatic interests in the region.
Beijing has traditionally pursued a policy of non-interference and emphasized national sovereignty, said Kürzdörfer. But this doesn't mean that China isn't pursuing its political interests, she added.
Beijing, for instance, is using the current situation to highlight that the US shares responsibility for the prevailing instability, Kürzdörfer noted. "It is also strengthening partnerships with local partners and allies such as Iran."
Furhmann said Beijing's political aim, in general, is to establish itself as a new power in the region, as demonstrated last year when China mediated a rapprochement between the two major rivals in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
At the same time, the Chinese government has repeatedly emphasized the sovereignty of other states and presented itself as a force for peace, he stressed.
"Beijing has said the military intervention of the US and its allies is destabilizing not only in Yemen, but in the entire region."
In general, China sees itself as an advocate for the Global South, Furhmann said. "The expressed solidarity with the Palestinians is also in line with this."
At the end of November, the Chinese government unveiled a policy paper on the war in Gaza, in which it called for a "comprehensive cease-fire and an end to the fighting," "effective protection of civilians" and humanitarian aid for the people in tiny coastal enclave.
Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by Germany, the US, the EU and some other countries, but not China.
Concerns about being too close to the US
"In this respect, it is remarkable that Israel generally has good relations with China, but is also perceived there as an ally of the US," said Fuhrmann.
Kürzdörfer shares a similar view. "While China maintains its trade relations with Israel, it tends to side with the Palestinians rhetorically and diplomatically, also to act as a counterweight to the US," she said.
However, practical considerations also play a role for Beijing, she added. "China is also arguing for a quick end to the war in Gaza in order to avoid a further escalation of the situation in the Red Sea."
Fuhrmann said Beijing has comparatively little operational military experience abroad, which is probably one of the reasons why it is being cautious.
"Instead, it prefers to watch other states from the sidelines during their military engagements and then criticize them. However, it remains to be seen whether this calculation will hold up in the long term." "Decoding China" is a DW series that examines Chinese positions and arguments on current international issues from a critical German and European perspective.
This article was originally written in German. Kersten Knipp Political editor with a focus on the Middle East
Germany's train drivers strike to end early
Train drivers across Germany will end their strike early and return in time for the start of the workweek.
The ongoing strike, has disrupted road and train traffic in Germany and its neighboring countriesImage: Michael Probst/AP/picture alliance
The GDL German train drivers union has agreed to end its strike early and return to work early on Monday, the union and Deutsche Bahn said on Saturday.
Millions of German passengers were caught up as the union escalated an ongoing labor dispute with Deutsche Bahn.
On Wednesday, train operators for passengers in Germany went on strike, announcing that they wouldn't be back to work until Monday night.
Bu the union and the railway operator held talks overnight into Saturday and train drivers now plan to return to work on Monday at 2 a.m. Drivers of freight trains are to end their strike on Sunday at 6 p.m.
"Negotiations are finally back on track. Our customers have planning security and our employees have the prospect of early pay rises," Deutsche Bahn's human resources director Martin Seiler said in a statement. No further strikes until March 3
Negotiations are to be held in private over the next five weeks and there are no strikes planned until until at least March 3.
The main point of contention in the labor dispute revolves around the required working hours for drivers on a shift schedule. Currently, drivers work a 38-hour week. The GDL is pushing for a 35-hour week, while Deutsche Bahn has offered a 37-hour week.
"DB's willingness to negotiate a reduction in working hours for shift workers is of central importance," said GDL leader Claus Weselsky.
In addition to the hours, the union is advocating for a monthly pay increase of €555 (approximately $600) before taxes for all its members. This amounts to an 18% raise in starting salaries.
In contrast, Deutsche Bahn's latest proposal, rejected by the union, suggests an almost 13% increase for those working the full 38-hour week.
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