Researchers show chemical found naturally in cannabis may reduce anxiety-inducing effects of THC

Study finds an essential oil, d-limonene, significantly reduces feelings of anxiety and panic, without altering the desired effects of marijuana’s active ingredient

JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE

 

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A JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE-LED TEAM HAS SHOWN THAT D-LIMONENE (LEFT SIDE OF GRAPHIC), AN ESSENTIAL OIL DERIVED FROM CITRUS — AND FOUND IN CANNABIS — SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCES FEELINGS OF ANXIETY AND PANIC, WITHOUT ALTERING THE DESIRED EFFECT OF THC (RIGHT SIDE OF GRAPHIC), THE PRIMARY PSYCHOACTIVE INGREDIENT OF CANNABIS.

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CREDIT: M.E. NEWMAN, JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE, USING PUBLIC DOMAIN IMAGE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A Johns Hopkins Medicine-led research team has added to evidence that a chemical found naturally in cannabis (also known as marijuana) can — in the right amounts — lessen the anxiety-inducing effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive sister chemical found in cannabis. The finding has the potential to advance the medicinal use of THC, and reduce the risks of its recreational use in some people.

The substance, called d-limonene, is one of the most abundant terpenes, or essential oils, in the cannabis plant, and has shown promise in rodent studies in reducing anxiety behaviors. However, there has been little research on d-limonene or other terpenes in humans. As a group, terpenes are responsible for the taste, aroma and color of plants.

In a recent study, first published online April 1 in the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, investigators tested the effects of vaporized d-limonene alone and mixed with THC to examine the anxiety-reducing effects in humans. They found the addition of d-limonene significantly reduced overall ratings of feeling “anxious/nervous” and “paranoid” compared with rating the effect of THC alone.

As cannabis legalization becomes more prevalent, its use for both medicinal and non-medicinal purposes is expanding rapidly. In recent years, selective breeding of cannabis plants has resulted in strains that contain upwards of 20% – 30% THC, compared with an average of 12% a decade ago. This may make it more difficult for users to be consistent with the amount of THC they consume on a given occasion.

THC interacts with receptors in the brain to produce feelings of relaxation and euphoria. However, researchers say that when a user is exposed to higher-than-usual doses of THC, the drug can also trigger anxiety, fear and panic.

“People use cannabis to help reduce anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, but since THC levels vary widely, if a person overshoots their tolerance of THC, cannabis can induce anxiety rather than relieve it,” says study senior author Ryan Vandrey, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Our study demonstrates that d-limonene can modulate the effects of THC in a meaningful way and make THC more tolerable to people using it for both therapeutic and non-therapeutic purposes.”

In the study, 20 healthy adults with a median age of 26 participated in up to 10 outpatient sessions, during which they inhaled vaporized d-limonene alone, vaporized THC alone, vaporized THC and d-limonene together, or vaporized distilled water (as a placebo).

The study was double-blinded, meaning neither the researchers nor participants knew who was receiving which mixture. Twenty participants completed nine test sessions, while 12 participants also took part in an optional tenth session of THC combined with a triple-dose (15 milligrams) of d-limonene to test the extreme extent of the essential oil’s dose response curve. This was conducted after appropriate safety data were obtained from the lower doses (1 milligram and 5 milligrams).

In all participants, the researchers measured subjective drug effects, subjective ratings of mood, vital signs (heart rate and blood pressure) and cognitive performance (measures of memory, psychomotor ability and attention) at baseline, and then an additional nine times after initial exposure over the course of each of the six-hour test sessions. They also collected blood and urine samples from each subject before, during and after each six-hour session to test for THC and d-limonene levels.

The research team concluded that combining d-limonene with THC significantly reduced subjective indicators/reports of THC-induced anxiety in participants. These reductions were greater as the dose of d-limonene was increased.

Additionally, they saw no interference with THC’s subjective, cognitive or physiological effects when co-administered with d-limonene, as well as no effects from d-limonene alone that differed from the placebo test.

“This study is a first step in uncovering how we can mitigate risks of THC when used in medicine, and also is targeted at making cannabis safer for the general, non-therapeutic consumer,” says study lead author Tory Spindle, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The researchers plan to continue experimenting with other terpenes alone and in combination with THC to see how they interact with each other, as well as replicate the d-limonene study in larger and more diverse clinical populations. They also plan to test alternative methods of administration, such as oral ingestion.

Along with Vandrey and Spindle, members of the study team from Johns Hopkins Medicine are George Bigelow, Lauren Pollak and C. Austin Zamarippa. Other team members are Ethan Russo at CReDO Science, and Uwe Christians, Jost Klawitter, Cristina Sempio, Touraj Shokati, Bridget Tompson and Alexandra Ward at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.  

Spindle has served as a consultant for Canopy Health Innovations Inc. and has received research funding from Cultivate Biologics. Vandrey has served as a consultant or received honoraria from Mira1a Therapeutics Inc., Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Charlotte’s Web, Syqe Medical Ltd. and WebMD. Russo is the founder and CEO of CReDo Science and a scientific adviser to True Terpenes.

A patent application (PCT/US2022/014296) has been submitted by The Johns Hopkins University on behalf of Vandrey, Spindle and Russo for the use of d-limonene to reduce THC-induced anxiety, based on the data presented in this study (after the trial concluded and data were analyzed).

The other study authors do not have financial or conflict-of-interest disclosures.

 

Taking on the global challenge of hidden hunger

Mizzou researcher Kiruba Krishnaswamy recently received an NSF CAREER award to develop a sustainable food system

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA

 

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MIZZOU GRADUATE STUDENT KARISHMA SRI RAVICHANDRAN (LEFT) SPEAKS WITH KIRUBA KRISHNASWAMY WHILE WORKING IN THE LAB AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI.

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CREDIT: SAM O’KEEFE/UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI

COLUMBIA, Mo. — More than 2 billion people suffer from hidden hunger, a form of malnutrition where individuals lack essential micronutrients — like vitamins and minerals — even though they consume what appears to be an adequate amount of calories.

University of Missouri researcher Kiruba Krishnaswamy is focused on tackling this global challenge. She recently received a five-year, $532,000 Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) — the NSF’s most prestigious award for early-career faculty — in support of her project titled “FEAST (food ecosystems and circularity for sustainable transformation) framework to address hidden hunger.”

“Food is a universal basic human right,” said Krishnaswamy, an assistant professor with joint appointments in the MU College of Engineering and MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. “Whenever we talk about hunger, we usually talk about chronic hunger, but hidden hunger is much more dangerous. If we don’t have enough micronutrients, our bodies won’t be able to absorb the required nutrients. This can create a snowball effect — leading to serious health issues like spina bifida, iron deficiency and anemia.”

Recognizing the urgent need for groundbreaking solutions, Krishnaswamy launched a project that incorporates engineering innovations in the creation of a culturally appropriate, circular food system model — a sustainable alternative to the existing linear food system.

“A linear food system is more focused on quantity or production, and sometimes during that process, food quality standards are not met,” Krishnaswamy said. “This can lead to people consuming empty calories. But, by making the system more circular, we’re tailoring solutions to the specific needs of individual communities, and then everyone can get the benefit of nutritious food in larger quantities.”

By addressing the specific needs of different under-resourced communities, Krishnaswamy aims to address the root cause of hidden hunger — and through that effort fight the related problem of chronic hunger.

Building a sustainable model

As part of the project, Krishnaswamy is partnering with the Osage Nation in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, to address hidden hunger and support food sovereignty — community-based, self-sustainable food practices — within the community. This process emphasizes the importance of preserving traditional agriculture practices while being ecologically sustainable.

Krishnaswamy has three main research goals for this part of the project. They are:

• Understanding interactions: Investigating specific interactions in the soil-water-plant-food-people chain to pinpoint micronutrient deficiencies and inform targeted interventions.
• Sustainable food processing: Exploring sustainable food process engineering strategies to enhance the nutrition, accessibility and availability of traditional Osage foods, such as elderberry.
• FEAST framework development: Co-creating a FEAST framework integrating circular food systems and sustainable development goals to bolster food and nutrition security in the Osage Nation and beyond.

“Undernourishment and obesity are what we call the double burden of malnutrition because people are eating food, but they aren’t getting the right amount of nutrition,” Krishnaswamy said. “Recent studies have found micronutrients are a common connector between these two problems.”

It’s important to Krishnaswamy, whose grandfather was a farmer in India, to ensure that whatever process she designs respects and fits the culture it’s intended for.

“We could develop something in the lab, but if it’s not culturally appropriate or socially acceptable, then it’s not going to reach people,” Krishnaswamy said. “As a researcher, I learn a lot from the community members I meet, and it’s eye-opening to hear their stories. By listening to what they need, we can develop solutions based on what their specific needs and wants are.”

The project is committed to fostering educational outreach and community engagement by seeking to increase awareness about hidden hunger, sustainable food processing and sustainable development goals.

“I am grateful for this opportunity,” Krishnaswamy said. “Mizzou is a comprehensive place with researchers from all disciplines — from agriculture to engineering and medicine — where you can reach out to someone for help, and they get back to you or direct you to someone else who can assist.”

Krishnaswamy said she’s humbled to receive the NSF award and credits her support system, her family, students, colleagues and mentors — including the MU CAREER Club and community partners at the Osage Nation — for inspiring her to tackle difficult topics and help drive her goals for the field forward.

A sample containing one of the strategies Krishnaswamy is testing in her lab.

CREDIT

Sam O’Keefe/University of Missouri

 

Engineers making a better, more profitable grid for distributing solar power

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

 

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IOWA STATE ENGINEERS ARE WORKING TO MAKE THE POWER GRID BETTER AT INTEGRATING RENEWABLE POWER PLANTS, SUCH AS THE ALLIANT ENERGY SOLAR FARM AT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY.

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CREDIT: PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER GANNON/IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY.

AMES, Iowa – If you’re the Midcontinent Independent System Operator – the organization that manages the flow of high-voltage electricity across a central stripe of the U.S. and Canada, from Manitoba, Michigan and Minnesota through Iowa and all the way to Louisiana – you want energy supplies to meet the energy demands of 45 million people.

 

“We make sure the right amount of electricity is generated and transmitted to our member utilities,” says the regional grid operator’s website.

 

Balancing power supply and demand is complicated these days. Electricity is no longer exclusively generated by power plants using coal- or natural gas-powered turbines spinning away at known capacities and ramped up or down according to customer demand.

 

Now there are very different kinds of power plants producing electricity. There are all the wind farms across Iowa, for example, that now produce more than 64% of the state’s electricity. And there are solar operations such as the new Alliant Energy Solar Farm at Iowa State University, a new power generator and agricultural research project just south of Ames.

 

All those power plants fueled by renewables raise new challenges for grid operators and utilities.

 

“You can’t control the sunshine; you can’t control the wind speed,” said Zhaoyu Wang, a Northrop Grumman associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Iowa State who’s affiliated with the university’s Electric Power Research Center. “But the power system wants certainty.”

 

Wang’s research specialty is working to modernize electric grids for better, more reliable energy flow. The latest project he’s leading, in fact, is called “MODERNISE,” for “Modernizing Operation and Decision-Making Tools Enabling Resource Management in Stochastic Environment.”

 

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced last month it has selected the project for a three-year, $3 million grant, pending final negotiations. A cost-share of an additional $1.1 million, including in-kind contributions of labor and equipment, will be provided by project collaborators.

 

Institutional collaborators include Argonne National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, PJM Interconnection (a regional transmission organization based in Pennsylvania), AES Indiana and AES Ohio (utility companies), Siemens Corp., and Hitachi America Ltd. ISO New England (a regional transmission organization) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (a federally owned utility and development corporation) are project advisors.

 

In addition to Wang, other Iowa State electrical engineers working on the project include Bai Cui, an assistant professor and project coleader, and Salish Maharjan, a postdoctoral research associate.

 

The MODERNISE project is part of a $34 million investment by the DOE's Solar Energy Technologies Office supporting 11 new projects developing “tools to advance a clean, reliable electricity grid run on wind and solar energy,” according to an agency announcement.

 

“We can’t deploy clean energy if we can’t get renewable sources connected onto our grid,” Jennifer M. Granholm, the U.S. secretary of energy, said in the announcement.

 

Wang said MODERNISE will produce computational algorithms that allow grid operators to take renewable energy sources – from rooftop solar panels to multi-acre solar farms – and combine them for better grid operations.

 

“We’re aggregating small, distributed energy resources to larger ones,” Wang said. “We’re using this aggregation capability to improve the transmission grid.”

 

Those aggregations can help grid operators regulate frequency, voltage, peak demand and importantly, balance supply and demand in real time, Cui said.

 

“By aggregating these renewable resources, we’re able to help operators better understand the uncertainties of supply,” Wang said. “Putting together a lot of renewables smooths out the uncertainty. There’s more predictability.”

 

Cui said the researchers will also develop other algorithms that will help operators of bulk power systems integrate the supply of aggregated renewables. That can make grid operations more reliable and efficient.

 

Wang and Cui said the new tools will help create a modern grid that’s smart and flexible enough to harness renewable electricity from far and wide and get it wherever and whenever customers need it.

 

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Initiative increases awareness of the threats posed by light pollution to the global ocean

The Global Ocean Artificial Light at Night Network has been launched at the United Nations Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona

UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH

 

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STREET LIGHTING CREATES AN ARTIFICIAL GLOW IN THE NIGHT SKY ABOVE PLYMOUTH AND THE SURROUNDING AREAS

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CREDIT: THOMAS DAVIES, UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH

Scientists, policy makers, and marine and environmental professionals across the world are being encouraged to sign up to a new initiative highlighting some of the global threats posed by light pollution.

The Global Ocean Artificial Light at Night Network (GOALANN) has been launched today at the United Nations Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona.

It has been established by ecologists, oceanographers and social scientists who have spent more than a decade studying the impact of light pollution on the ocean, and the many species living in or near it.

The GOALANN network aims to expand on the impact of that work, unifying research groups from around the world to provide a central resource of marine light pollution expertise, projects and tools.

The idea is then for this information to be accessed by policy makers, environmental managers, maritime industries and others responsible for future decisions which may create or mitigate light pollution, as well as the general public.

Dr Thomas Davies, Lecturer in Marine Conservation at the University of Plymouth, is one of the co-leaders of the GOALANN initiative.

He said: “Ten years ago, we knew almost nothing about how much light pollution the oceans were exposed to, or the ecological harm this caused. We are beginning to answer these questions and uncovering the extent to which we need to make decisions that will help ecosystem recovery. However, light pollution is not receiving the same attention as climate change, ocean acidification, marine plastics or noise pollution. That urgently needs to change in the face of increasing coastal development, and an ever-growing global population, and we hope the GOALANN initiative will go some way to delivering that.”

Professor Tim Smyth, Head of Science for Marine Biogeochemistry and Observations at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, is also a co-leader of the GOALANN initiative. He added: “It seems that the more marine ecological indicators we look at, the more impacts we find of artificial light pollution. That includes having an effect on functions such as predator prey dynamics, reproductive cycles and disruption to the daily rhythm of life in the ocean. By launching this initiative, we hope to raise awareness of these threats and push the impacts of light pollution up the environmental agenda.”

Dr Davies and Professor Smyth, and others involved in the GOALANN network, have been involved in a number of impactful light pollution studies in recent years.

They showed that coastal cities leave up to 75% of the seafloor exposed to harmful light pollution, and that up to 1.9 million sq km of the world’s coastal waters are being exposed to biologically significant levels of artificial light at night.

They have also demonstrated the effects it can have on marine and coastal species, from crustaceans who rely on light from the moon and stars to find food, to coral reefs that have been tricked into spawning earlier than they should.

These findings and others were highlighted at the launch of the GOALANN network in Barcelona, with scientists hoping it will help better represent the issue of light pollution on the Ocean Decade agenda.

More information about the Global Ocean Artificial Light at Night Network is available at http://www.goalann.org/

Dr Thomas Davies, Lecturer in Marine Conservation at the University of Plymouth, addresses delegates at the United Nations Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona

CREDIT

University of Plymouth

 

How autocrats control internet traffic out of sight

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS

Authoritarian regimes exert control over the internet through transit networks that operate largely out of public view, according to a recent study by researchers in the U.S. and Germany. The work, published in PNAS Nexus, also shows how more sophisticated authoritarian regimes extend their influence by providing network access in poorer but politically similar countries.

“This is a mechanism autocracies seem to prefer, it’s a lot less visible,” said Alexander Gamero-Garrido, assistant professor of computer science at the University of California, Davis and a co-author on the paper. The work was led by Eda Keremoğlu at the University of Konstanz, Germany.

Most internet users are familiar with access networks, the providers that bring internet connections to our homes and businesses, much like local streets. These access networks in turn connect to transit networks that carry internet traffic across large distances and around the world, like freeways. The companies that operate these transit networks are much less well-known.

“They operate in a shadow space, nobody knows about them,” Gamero-Garrido said.

In the Global North, transit networks have become less relevant in the past 10 to 15 years as large access networks make deals to connect with each other, Gamero-Garrido said. But they remain important in the rest of the world.

Gamero-Garrido, Keremoğlu and colleagues used publicly available Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) data to see how access and transit networks are controlled in different countries. These are large tables of internet addresses that networks announce to each other so that they can make connections across the world wide web. The researchers ranked countries politically based on an index of electoral democracy.

They found that overall, there was not much difference in ownership of access networks between democracies and autocracies. But in autocracies, state-owned entities had a higher degree of control over transit networks. This potentially allows the state to monitor and control internet traffic in a more centralized way.

“There are at least 75 countries, with a quarter of the world’s internet users, where a small group of transit providers is dominant, often a single company,” Gamero-Garrido said.

The researchers also found that state-owned internet companies from wealthier autocracies often provide access networks in poorer autocracies. This creates clusters of technological cooperation within the internet between non-democratic countries.

Policy implications

For those who advocate open exchange of information on the internet, revealing how authoritarians manipulate networks is a first step.

“Almost no one knows about these companies,” Gamero-Garrido said. Some authoritarian leaders might also be susceptible to vanity: a centralized internet structure is also more prone to failure.

“We can also invest in infrastructure that allows direct interconnection,” Gamero-Garrido said. Such Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), which are often funded in part by states, can provide connections among access networks and reduce reliance on transit networks. Privately owned facilities known as colocations or ‘colos’ provide similar benefits, he said.

Additional authors on the paper, which was published Feb. 14, are: Nils Weidmann, University of Konstanz; Esteban Carisimo, Northwestern University, Illinois; Alberto Dainotti, Georgia Institute of Technology; and Alex Snoeren, UC San Diego. The work was supported in part by grants from the German Research Foundation and U.S. National Science Foundation.

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JOURNAL

PNAS Nexus

DOI

10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae069 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Network topology facilitates internet traffic control in autocracies

 

Economic wealth may be linked with happiness in China – if inequality is low

Data spanning eleven years indicate that well-being rises with economic growth but falls when income inequality increases

PLOS

 

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A COUNTRY’S ECONOMIC PROSPERITY IS LINKED WITH IMPROVED WELL-BEING IN ITS RESIDENTS, ACCORDING TO THE NEW STUDY.

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CREDIT: KSCHNEIDER2991, PIXABAY, CC0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/PUBLICDOMAIN/ZERO/1.0/)

A country’s economic prosperity is linked with improved well-being in its residents, according to a study published April 10, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Feng Huang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and colleagues.

Philosophers have long pondered the fraught relationship between money and happiness. Aristotle and Solon argued against the euphoric powers of wealth, while the Easterlin Paradox suggests that a nation’s economic fortitude can influence its residents’ health and happiness. Little evidence exists to support this claim in China, especially after the country’s recent economic expansion and rapid industrialization.

Huang and colleagues investigated the influence of national economic growth on subjective well-being (someone’s self-assessed level of happiness) across 31 provinces in mainland China from 2010-2020. To track economic health, the researchers used two data points from the National Bureau of Statistics of China: gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and the Gini coefficient, which reflects income inequality. To gauge the subjective well-being of Chinese residents, the researchers securely analyzed public content from 644,243 users of the microblogging platform Weibo. The researchers used natural language processing to analyze and quantify the tone of each post.

Results suggest that across all provinces from 2010-2020, subjective well-being increased alongside increased GDP per capita (by 0.38 units for every 46.70% increase in GDP per capita). Higher income inequality was associated with reduced subjective well-being (a reduction of 1.47 units for every 0.09 unit increase in the Gini coefficient), and when it becomes too high (i.e., when the Gini coefficient exceeds 0.609), the link between the economy and mental health no longer exists.

A majority of participants lived in the more affluent Eastern China, and all were literate social media users, which might affect the research’s generalizability to other populations. Further research could also interrogate wealth disparities within specific localities (as opposed to provinces). Nonetheless, the researchers state that their study "advocates for a balanced approach to economic planning" and they encourage adopting policies that combat income disparities and foster sustainable economic growth.

The authors add: “The equilibrium between economic growth and income equality is crucial for improving well-being in China, underscoring the nuanced interplay between prosperity and equitable wealth distribution for true happiness.”

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In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0301206

Citation: Huang F, Ding H, Han N, Li F, Zhu T (2024) Does wealth equate to happiness? an 11-year panel data analysis exploring socio-economic indicators and social media metrics. PLoS ONE 19(4): e0301206. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0301206

Author Countries: China

Funding: Tingshao Zhu received the Scientific Foundation of Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No.E2CX4735YZ). The sponsor had no further role in study design, in the collection, nalysis and interpretation of data, in the writing of the report, and in the ecision to submit the paper for publication.

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JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0301206 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Does wealth equate to happiness? an 11-year panel data analysis exploring socio-economic indicators and social media metrics

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Apr-2024

COI STATEMENT

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

 

Indigenous Australian message sticks, which feature markings to convey messages over long distances, analyzed for first time at scale through new database of 1,500 artifacts

PLOS

 

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ONE OF THREE MURUWARI MESSAGE STICKS (AMSD ID: AMUS_E032197) IN THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM, PREVIOUSLY ON DISPLAY AS ‘MAKER UNKNOWN’.

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CREDIT: KELLY ET AL., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

Indigenous Australian message sticks, which feature markings to convey messages over long distances, analyzed for first time at scale through new database of 1,500 artifacts

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Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0299712

Article Title: AMSD: The Australian Message Stick Database

Author Countries: Australia, Germany

Funding: The lead author (Piers Kelly) receives salary and project funding specifically for the research described in this paper. He is funded by an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award with the grant number DE220100795. No other author has received specific funding for this work. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0299712 

ARTICLE TITLE

AMSD: The Australian Message Stick Database

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Apr-2024

 

The hidden role of the Milky Way in ancient Egyptian mythology

UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH

 

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THE ATTACHED IMAGE SHOWS THE SKY GODDESS NUT, COVERED IN STARS, IS HELD ALOFT BY HER FATHER, SHU, AND IS ARCHED OVER GEB, HER BROTHER THE EARTH GOD. ON THE LEFT, THE RISING SUN (THE FALCON-HEADED GOD RE) SAILS UP NUT’S LEGS. ON THE RIGHT, THE SETTING SUN SAILS DOWN HER ARMS TOWARDS THE OUTSTRETCHED ARMS OF OSIRIS, WHO WILL REGENERATE THE SUN IN THE NETHERWORLD DURING THE NIGHT. 

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CREDIT: E. A. WALLIS BUDGE, THE GODS OF THE EGYPTIANS, VOL. 2 (METHUEN & CO., 1904).

Ancient Egyptians were known for their religious beliefs and astronomical knowledge of the Sun, Moon, and planets, but up until now it has been unclear what role the Milky Way played in Egyptian religion and culture. 

A new study by a University of Portsmouth astrophysicist sheds light on the relationship between the Milky Way and the Egyptian sky-goddess Nut. 

Nut is goddess of the sky, who is often depicted as a star-studded woman arched over her brother, the earth god Geb. She protects the earth from being flooded by the encroaching waters of the void, and plays a key role in the solar cycle, swallowing the Sun as it sets at dusk and giving birth to it once more as it rises at dawn. 

The paper draws on ancient Egyptian texts and simulations to argue that the Milky Way might have shone a spotlight, as it were, on Nut’s role as the sky. It proposes that in winter, the Milky Way highlighted Nut’s outstretched arms, while in summer, it traced her backbone across the heavens. 

Associate Professor in Astrophysics, Dr Or Graur, said: “I chanced upon the sky-goddess Nut when I was writing a book on galaxies and looking into the mythology of the Milky Way. I took my daughters to a museum and they were enchanted by this image of an arched woman and kept asking to hear stories about her. 

“This sparked my interest and I decided to combine both astronomy and Egyptology to do a double analysis - astronomical and cross-cultural - of the sky-goddess Nut, and whether she really could be linked to the Milky Way.”

Dr Graur drew from a rich collection of ancient sources including the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, and the Book of Nut and compared them alongside sophisticated simulations of the Egyptian night sky. 

He found compelling evidence that the Milky Way highlighted Nut’s divine presence.

Furthermore, Dr Graur connected Egyptian beliefs with those of other cultures, showing similarities in how different societies interpret the Milky Way. 

He said: “My study also shows that Nut’s role in the transition of the deceased to the afterlife and her connection to the annual bird migration are consistent with how other cultures understand the Milky Way. For example, as a spirits' road among different peoples in North and Central America or as the Birds' Path in Finland and the Baltics.

“My research shows how combining disciplines can offer new insights into ancient beliefs, and it highlights how astronomy connects humanity across cultures, geography, and time. This paper is an exciting start to a larger project to catalogue and study the multicultural mythology of the Milky Way.”

The paper is published in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage and has been highlighted in Scientific American.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage

DOI

10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2024.01.02 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

The ancient Egyptian personification of the milky way as the sky-goddess Nut: an astronomical and cross-cultural analysis

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Apr-2024