Sunday, May 26, 2024

US Army doubles down on laser tag with $95M for prototyping

Recently confirming first use of energy weapons in the field, military now wants bigger, better systems

Brandon Vigliarolo

THE REGISTER
Wed 22 May 2024

It hasn't been using them for long, but the US Army is apparently pleased enough with its early directed energy (i.e. laser) weapons systems that it's investing another $95.4 million in improved versions.

BlueHalo, makers of the LOCUST counter-drone laser system, announced its R&D bankrolling by the Army Space and Missile Defense Command yesterday. The company said it would use the funds, awarded as part of the Laser technology Research Development and Optimization (LARDO) program, to improve size, weight, and power of its laser weapons.

Current LOCUST systems are outfitted with AI able to track, identify, and engage targets with a laser that BlueHalo describes as a "hard-kill" high-energy laser.

Hard-kill systems, in military jargon, are those that destroy enemy weapons, craft, and personnel, as opposed to soft kills, which disable the aforementioned. The advantage to using laser weapons for hard kills over kinetic weapons is that drones or vehicles can be disabled with far less noise, destruction, and potential for collateral damage.

In order to kill airborne enemies – particularly drones, LOCUST's primary purpose – LOCUST can output a beam with as much as 20 kW of output power.

All that power means LOCUST is relatively stationary. It can be dropped in place and used modularly, as the unit is self-contained, but doesn't appear to be usable on the move. Lockheed Martin, meanwhile, has demoed its own 50 kW DEIMOS system that is designed for mounting on a Stryker combat vehicle.

In other words, BlueHalo will need those funds if it intends to put more bang behind its pew-pew. These systems, however, have already been reportedly proven in combat.

The Army has fielded LOCUST units in the Middle East since 2022, where it's been using them to take down drones, missiles, and mortar shells. According to Forbes earlier this month, LOCUST is able to melt sensitive drone parts in seconds, destroying them; the report marks the first time the US military has confirmed its use of laser weapons in the field.

And it's not like we haven't been dreaming of laser weapons for decades. According to the DoD, its research into the weaponization of lasers has been ongoing since the technology was invented in 1960. Multiple efforts over the years have failed to get a true directed energy weapon out of the laboratory stage, but here we are: Actually in the laser warfare age.

It's unknown what sort of future laser weapons will come out of BlueHalo's research grant. It hopes to improve automation, efficiency, and performance as well as make the units more rugged, but whether we can expect to be carrying around something as small as a laser rifle anytime soon is far less clear.

Of course we asked. We just haven't heard back yet. ®

Conservation of nature's strongholds needed to halt biodiversity loss

Researchers argue for scaling-up area-based conservation to maintain ecological integrity

Date: May 21, 2024

Source: PLOS

Summary: To achieve global biodiversity targets, conservationists and governments must prioritize the establishment and effective management of large, interconnected protected areas with high ecological integrity, researchers argue in a new essay.

FULL STORY

To achieve global biodiversity targets, conservationists and governments must prioritize the establishment and effective management of large, interconnected protected areas with high ecological integrity, John G. Robinson from the Wildlife Conservation Society, US, and colleagues argue in an essay publishing May 21 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), signed at the 2022 Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, recognized the importance of protecting large areas of natural habitat to maintain the resilience and integrity of ecosystems.

To halt biodiversity loss, these protected and conserved areas need to be in the right places, connected to one another, and well managed.

One of the GBF targets is to protect at least 30% of the global land and ocean by 2030, known as the 30x30 target.

To achieve GBF targets, the authors propose prioritizing large, interconnected protected areas with high ecological integrity, that are effectively managed and equitably governed.

They emphasize the importance of conserving landscapes at scales large enough to encompass functioning ecosystems and the biodiversity they contain.

In many cases, this will require interconnected groups of protected areas that are managed together.

Effective governance means that the diversity of stakeholders and rights holders are recognized and that the costs and benefits are shared equitably between them.

The authors argue that protected and conservation areas that meet all four criteria -- which they name "Nature's Strongholds" -- will be disproportionately important for biodiversity conservation.

They identify examples of Nature's Strongholds in the high-biodiversity tropical forest regions of Central Africa and the Amazon.

By applying the four criteria presented in this essay to identify Nature's Strongholds around the world, governments and conservationists can coordinate their efforts to best address threats to biodiversity, the authors say.

The authors add, "'Nature's Strongholds' -- large, interconnected, ecologically intact areas that are well managed and equitably governed -- are identified in Amazonia and Central Africa. The approach offers an effective way to conserve biodiversity at a global scale."

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Materials provided by PLOS. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:John G. Robinson, Danielle LaBruna, Tim O’Brien, Peter J. Clyne, Nigel Dudley, Sandy J. Andelman, Elizabeth L. Bennett, Avecita Chicchon, Carlos Durigan, Hedley Grantham, Margaret Kinnaird, Sue Lieberman, Fiona Maisels, Adriana Moreira, Madhu Rao, Emma Stokes, Joe Walston, James EM Watson. Scaling up area-based conservation to implement the Global Biodiversity Framework’s 30x30 target: The role of Nature’s Strongholds. PLOS Biology, 2024; 22 (5): e3002613 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002613

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PLOS. "Conservation of nature's strongholds needed to halt biodiversity loss." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 May 2024. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/05/240521204330.htm>.

Cement recycling method could help solve one of the world's biggest climate challenges

Date: May 22, 2024

Source: University of Cambridge

Summary:

Researchers have developed a method to produce very low emission concrete at scale -- an innovation that could be transformative in the transition to net zero. The method, which the researchers say is 'an absolute miracle', uses the electrically-powered arc furnaces used for steel recycling to simultaneously recycle cement, the carbon-hungry component of concrete.

FULL STORY

Researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a method to produce very low emission concrete at scale -- an innovation that could be transformative in the transition to net zero.

The method, which the researchers say is "an absolute miracle," uses the electrically-powered arc furnaces used for steel recycling to simultaneously recycle cement, the carbon-hungry component of concrete.

Concrete is the second-most-used material on the planet, after water, and is responsible for approximately 7.5% of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions. A scalable, cost-effective way of reducing concrete emissions while meeting global demand is one of the world's biggest decarbonisation challenges.

The Cambridge researchers found that used cement is an effective substitute for lime flux, which is used in steel recycling to remove impurities and normally ends up as a waste product known as slag. But by replacing lime with used cement, the end product is recycled cement that can be used to make new concrete.

The cement recycling method developed by the Cambridge researchers, reported in the journal Nature, does not add any significant costs to concrete or steel production and significantly reduces emissions from both concrete and steel, due to the reduced need for lime flux.

Recent tests carried out by the Materials Processing Institute, a partner in the project, showed that recycled cement can be produced at scale in an electric arc furnace (EAF), the first time this has been achieved. Eventually, this method could produce zero emission cement, if the EAF was powered by renewable energy.

"We held a series of workshops with members of the construction industry on how we could reduce emissions from the sector," said Professor Julian Allwood from Cambridge's Department of Engineering, who led the research. "Lots of great ideas came out of those discussions, but one thing they couldn't or wouldn't consider was a world without cement."

Concrete is made from sand, gravel, water, and cement, which serves as a binder. Although it's a small proportion of concrete, cement is responsible for almost 90% of concrete emissions. Cement is made through a process called clinkering, where limestone and other raw materials are crushed and heated to about 1,450°C in large kilns. This process converts the materials into cement, but releases large amounts of CO2 as limestone decarbonates into lime.

Over the past decade, scientists have been investigating substitutes for cement, and have found that roughly half of the cement in concrete can be replaced with alternative materials, such as fly ash, but these alternatives need to be chemically activated by the remaining cement in order to harden.

"It's also a question of volume -- we don't physically have enough of these alternatives to keep up with global cement demand, which is roughly four billion tonnes per year," said Allwood. "We've already identified the low hanging fruit that helps us use less cement by careful mixing and blending, but to get all the way to zero emissions, we need to start thinking outside the box."

"I had a vague idea from previous work that if it were possible to crush old concrete, taking out the sand and stones, heating the cement would remove the water, and then it would form clinker again," said first author Dr Cyrille Dunant, also from the Department of Engineering. "A bath of liquid metal would help this chemical reaction along, and an electric arc furnace, used to recycle steel, felt like a strong possibility. We had to try."

The clinkering process requires heat and the right combination of oxides, all of which are in used cement, but need to be reactivated. The researchers tested a range of slags, made from demolition waste and added lime, alumina and silica. The slags were processed in the Materials Processing Institute's EAF with molten steel and rapidly cooled.

"We found the combination of cement clinker and iron oxide is an excellent steelmaking slag because it foams and it flows well," said Dunant. "And if you get the balance right and cool the slag quickly enough, you end up with reactivated cement, without adding any cost to the steelmaking process."

The cement made through this recycling process contains higher levels of iron oxide than conventional cement, but the researchers say this has little effect on performance.

The Cambridge Electric Cement process has been scaling rapidly, and the researchers say they could be producing one billion tonnes per year by 2050, which represents roughly a quarter of current annual cement production.

"Producing zero emissions cement is an absolute miracle, but we've also got to reduce the amount of cement and concrete we use," said Allwood. "Concrete is cheap, strong and can be made almost anywhere, but we just use far too much of it. We could dramatically reduce the amount of concrete we use without any reduction in safety, but there needs to be political will to make that happen.

"As well as being a breakthrough for the construction industry, we hope that Cambridge Electric Cement will also be a flag to help the government recognise that the opportunities for innovation on our journey to zero emissions extend far beyond the energy sector."

The researchers have filed a patent on the process to support its commercialisation. The research was supported in part by Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Cambridge. Original written by Sarah Collins. The original text of this story is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:Cyrille F. Dunant, Shiju Joseph, Rohit Prajapati, Julian M. Allwood. Electric recycling of Portland cement at scale. Nature, 2024; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07338-8

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Ukraine war caused migrating eagles to deviate from their usual flight plan, study

finds

Date: May 20, 2024

Source: Cell Press

Summary:

When migrating through Ukraine in 2022, Greater Spotted Eagles were exposed to multiple conflict events that altered their migratory course, according to a new study.

When migrating through Ukraine in 2022, Greater Spotted Eagles were exposed to multiple conflict events that altered their migratory course, according to a study reported on May 20 in the journal Current Biology. Greater Spotted Eagles are large raptors that are classified as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

"Armed conflicts can have wide-ranging impacts on the environment, including changes in animal behavior," says Charlie Russell of the University of East Anglia, UK. "Our study provides the first quantitative evidence of this, showing how migrating eagles made deviations to avoid conflict events and spent less time refueling at stopover sites. It also indicates that there are potentially many human activities, beyond wars, that likely change or impact animal behavior."

Researchers from The Estonian University of Life Sciences University, British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), and their in-country partners started tagging Greater Spotted Eagles that were breeding in Belarusian Polesia in 2017. Although the eagles are no longer found in most of Europe, Polesia remains a stronghold for the species. The goal was to track the raptors and identify important areas that the species relies on to inform future conservation efforts.

Then, on February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine. On March 3, the first of 21 tagged Greater Spotted Eagles crossed into Ukraine on their usual migration. By that time, the conflict had spread from Kyiv and eastern regions to most major cities.

"We did not expect to be following these birds as they migrated through an active conflict zone," Russell says.

While they may not have expected it, the researchers recognized an opportunity to document the effects of human conflict on wildlife. It's clear that such human activities must have major impacts, but the effects are usually hard to quantify, especially in conflict zones.

Using GPS tracking and conflict data, the researchers quantified changes in the eagles' expected behavior. In comparison to earlier and more peaceful years, they found that Greater Spotted Eagles used stopover sites less. Stopover sites are essential places to get food, water, and shelter for migrating birds during their long journeys. The eagles also made large deviations from their earlier routes.

The changes to their migratory behavior patterns delayed their arrival to the breeding grounds and likely increased the energetic costs to the birds in detrimental ways. Although all the tagged birds survived, the researchers suspect their experience may continue to affect them into the breeding period and possibly beyond.

"Similar responses have been recorded for birds residing in military training zones, but these new findings that show an impact for migratory species means that disturbance events can have more far-reaching impacts across many more individuals, over greater distances," says Adham Ashton-Butt of BTO. "The size of the effect on migratory behavior was also quite large, substantial enough to be detected in a relatively small sample size."

The findings serve as an important reminder that the effects of armed conflicts are wide ranging and stretch beyond the immediate humanitarian crisis, the researchers say. As such, they note, post-conflict recovery also should consider the environmental impact on species and whole ecosystems. The findings also raise important questions about how the conflict in Ukraine -- as well as other extreme disturbances caused by humans -- may affect many different species, including hundreds of threatened species and millions of migratory birds.

This work was supported by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative.

Story Source:

Materials provided by Cell Press. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:Charlie J.G. Russell, Aldina M.A. Franco, Philip W. Atkinson, Ülo Väli, Adham Ashton-Butt. Active European warzone impacts raptor migration. Current Biology, 2024; 34 (10): 2272 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.047

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Cell Press. "Ukraine war caused migrating eagles to deviate from their usual flight plan, study finds." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 May 2024. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/05/240520122700.htm>.

Opinon: Conservation areas stand between needs of local communities and preserving natural resources

by Shaun Smillie, Wits University

For centuries the Makuleke community lived in the northeastern corner of South Africa, close to the modern-day border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique. But by the beginning of the 20th century, the squeeze on a disenfranchised community had begun, as they were forced to make way for the private game reserves that were springing up in the Lowveld.

In 1912, the Singwidzi Game Reserve displaced several Makuleke villages, followed by the establishment in 1933 of the Pafuri Game Reserve.

The limited number of game rangers policing the area meant that the community still had limited access to their former lands, but this changed in 1969 when Pafuri was incorporated into the Kruger National Park and the Makuleke were forcibly removed.

The South African government was not alone in removing communities from newly-established conservation areas. Other countries including the United States had also displaced communities as they carved out pristine wilderness areas that became the preserve of wealthier tourists.

But more recently, over the last several decades, there has been a change in thinking. The old idea of wildlife reserves as exclusive domains fell away and was replaced by a more inclusive model that took into consideration the needs of those communities living adjacent to these areas.

South Africa joined this global movement and shortly after the advent of democracy, the Makuleke made history. Under the Restitution of Land Rights Act, in 1997, they reached the first successful settlement of a land restitution claim involving a South African national park.

Benefitting from conservation

Through the settlement, the Makuleke chose to keep the land as a joint management venture between themselves and the Kruger National Park to generate funds and jobs for their community. Today, there are five-star lodges and educational programs running aimed at uplifting the community on the 22,000 hectares of land.

The Makuleke are not alone; across the country, communities are benefitting from conservation thanks to changes in policy and legislation.

In addition to the more than 2,000 jobs created by the Kruger National Park, peripheral services such as car washes and emergency towing services at camps have been outsourced to entrepreneurs from the neighboring communities.

The recent South African National Parks (SANParks) Resource Use Policy of 2019 allows for a number of renewable and non-renewable resources to be harvested in their parks annually, including thatch harvesting, the collection of medicinal plants and even the picking of mopani worms, all done under the watchful eye of an armed ranger.

"In a post-apartheid South Africa, the point is that those national reserves actually belong to the people and those who were disadvantaged by the establishment of these conservation areas should not still be disadvantaged by the continued existence of these parks. As citizens, they should be the first line of stakeholders who should be benefitting from conservation," says Wayne Twine, Associate Professor in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences.

It is not just state-run reserves; many private reserves have community outreach programs and are addressing the needs of communities within their areas with job opportunities and ancillary services which are outsourced to small, local businesses.

But Twine warns that addressing the needs of both is often a complex balancing act that requires the building of good relationships and honest communication. SANParks has used forums to communicate with the various communities.

"It's really important that you don't wait until you have a crisis before you reach out to neighboring communities," says Twine. Also, it's important that expectations are kept realistic. "It's about balances and trade-offs," he adds.

Data-driven decision-making

It is not just about providing economic opportunities. Recently the people living alongside the Kruger National Park between Numbi Gate and Matsulu complained of elephants venturing onto their land. SANParks said in a press release that they were in discussion with affected communities to work together on the construction of a fence, which is expected to take about eight months to complete.

But protecting ecosystems that better serve both communities and conservation requires gathering data that can help in the making of future policy decisions. This is what the Future Ecosystems for Africa Program, a partnership between scientists, policy makers and land users and led by academics at Wits, provides.

"If we get good data, we can find ways to enable people to derive the benefit of the land's resources while maintaining healthy ecosystems," says Professor Sally Archibald, the Principal Investigator at the Future Ecosystems for Africa Program in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences.

Their research is also helping to dispel some preconceptions held by the Global North about conservation in the developing world. One example of this is afforestation programs that involve planting trees in areas that evolved as open, grassy savannah systems with their own unique biodiversity. Although the aim is to help mitigate the impact of climate change, scientists like Archibald have argued that this would destroy these ecological areas, reduce water supplies and do little to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels.

Combating the 'wilderness philosophy'

The 'wilderness philosophy' is something that was brought to Africa with colonialism and is exemplified by fortress conservation—the idea that protected areas can only exist by excluding humans from the land.

However, recent research done by Archibald in the Mozambique Niassa Special Reserve in collaboration with Claire Spottiswoode and David Lloyd Jones from the University of Cape Town is showing that people can live in such protected areas while leaving a minimal imprint on the ecosystem.

The research involved studying honey hunters who live in the park and who, in order to calm the bees and access the hives, light fires at the base of trees and then chop them down.

"Many people, with a more 'wilderness philosophy' would think that this is shocking, and the activity needed to be stopped. But we have shown that they are harvesting a very small proportion of the total tree population and that the rates of tree recovery make these activities sustainable. Our student, Rion Cuthill, has done great work in showing that, yes, sometimes, honey hunting does cause wildfires, but they often happen at times of the year when it is recommended that you burn," says Archibald.

In 2022, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the "Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework" which set a 2030 deadline for one third of the planet being under effective conservation management.

"The Framework had pushback from Africa and South America over not just who was going to fund this, but also what it means to conserve. Can we consider landscapes conserved if they have people living on them and are managed in a sustainable way?" asks Archibald.

To help international organizations best fund projects in Africa, together with colleagues Barnie Kgope in the Department of Environmental Affairs and Odirilwe Selomane from the University of Pretoria, Archibald is developing a checklist that provides guidance on how projects should be funded in Africa.

"This is so that we not only become the recipients of funding, but so we can also guide that funding towards activities that really will benefit our biodiversity and people. Otherwise, we are always going to be fighting, telling people you can't plant trees on grasslands," explains Archibald.

But while much has been done to democratize the relationships between communities and conservation areas, the future looms with challenges, and climate change and a growing population will make resources even more scarce.

"There are certainly going to be challenges, and that is why going forward it is important to find innovative ways of creating economic opportunities for communities through conservation—rather than conservation being pitted against development," says Twine.

Provided by Wits University South Africa's conservation model: Why expanding the use of biodiversity to generate money is a good idea

Iron Age Woman May Have Been Sacrificed in England

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

(Bournemouth University)

DORSET, ENGLAND—According to a BBC News report, researchers from Bournemouth University examined the 2,000-year-old remains of a woman unearthed in 2010 in southwestern England’s site of Winterborne Kingston and determined that she had been stabbed in the neck. Forensic and biological anthropologist Martin Smith said that the woman’s skeleton had been found lying face down in a pit on top of an arrangement of animal bones. He added that analysis of her bones indicates that she was in her late 20s when she died, she had broken ribs, and her spine showed evidence of hard labor, while isotopic analysis of her teeth shows that she grew up more than 20 miles away from the site where she was buried. When taken together, Smith concluded, the evidence suggests that the woman had been ritually killed and deposited in the pit as part of an offering. To read about Iron Age roundhouses uncovered in northwest England, go to "Hail to the Chief."

Residue Analysis Identifies Possible Uses

of Pottery Vessels

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

(State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, Matthias Zirm)

HALLE, GERMANY—According to a statement released by the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology (LDA) Saxony-Anhalt, a new study has identified specific functions for several types of pottery vessels unearthed in central Germany. Residues from more than 100 pottery vessels of different sizes, shapes, and contexts were analyzed by researchers from the LDA and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. The scientists found that the increase of consumption of dairy products during the fourth millennium B.C. by the Baalberge Culture was linked to the development of small handled cups. The researchers think these cups may have been used to scoop milk products from larger vessels. Carinated beakers, which feature a rounded base and inward sloping sides, are thought to have been used by Bell Beaker populations of the third millennium B.C. to serve dairy products as well. Beakers recovered from Corded Ware Culture graves dated to the third millennium B.C., however, were found to contain a variety of plant and animal fats. The analysis of the animal fats indicates that pigs were widely consumed. It had been previously suggested that these Corded Ware Culture funerary containers held beer. In contrast, the highly standardized pottery of the Bronze Age Únĕtice Culture (2200–1550 B.C.) was found to contain a greater variety of animal and plant residues, indicating that the pottery was multifunctional in design. Read the original scholarly article about this research in PLOS ONE. To read about early evidence of cheese making recovered from pottery found on Croatia's Dalmatian Coast, go to "When Things Got Cheesy."

Democratizing air quality data at nearly no cost

by Kaitlyn Landram, Carnegie Mellon University

Due to the high cost of air quality monitors, many countries don't have the tools in place to regularly monitor pollutants. Without routine measurements, policymakers cannot make evidence-based policy decisions to reduce fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure and improve human health.

To combat this problem, Albert Presto, a research professor of mechanical engineering, has identified a low-cost way to quantify black carbon in PM2.5 using glass-fiber filter tapes that are already collected by select U.S. embassies around the world.

"For this project, we started with the Global South, because in Africa the need for air quality data is the greatest," Presto said.

The team collected tapes from U.S. embassies in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Ethiopia and compared their particulate matter to that collected from a site in Pittsburgh. Their paper is posted to the preprint server ChemRxiv.

To test air quality, the researchers used a cell phone camera to photograph the filter spots on the tape on top of a custom-designed reference card. By applying an image processing algorithm to each photo, they could extract the red scale value of the photo.

This value allows them to identify the air's black carbon concentration during the hour of the day that the filter was collected.

Using this method, researchers can get a better understanding of pollutant sources. Black carbon is considered a short-term climate forcer because of the way it absorbs light and consequently warms the atmosphere. For example, if deposited on a glacier, the glacier will melt faster.

Credit: Carnegie Mellon University

The study's findings underlined the need for more air quality monitoring in developing countries. The black carbon PM2.5 levels in the sub-Saharan African countries were as much as four times higher than those collected in Pittsburgh.

"Our process is a new way to think about low-cost analysis," Presto said. "Because the tapes are already being collected, the marginal cost for our analysis is near zero. This method can democratize air quality data because there are plenty of groups that can collect tapes from other embassies and do their own analysis for practically no cost."

Presto is eager to work with more embassies and explore what else his team can learn from the tapes. They are currently exploring a new way to extract the filters in a solvent to uncover exactly what else the PM2.5 is composed of throughout the day.

"There's growing work in monitoring air quality from outer space, but to do that we need data collected on the ground to validate the findings," he said. "Using this method, we can likely grow the number of locations where we can compare the satellite's measurement to data on the ground. We can also make more data available to countries around the world."

More information: Abhishek Anand et al, Low-Cost Hourly Ambient Black Carbon Measurements at Multiple Cities in Africa, ChemRxiv (2024). DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-6srm4

Provided by Carnegie Mellon University Unraveling the impact of edge cracks on superconducting REBCO tapes: A leap in material durability and efficiency

Video: Fireball witnessed by weather satellite

by European Space Agency

While a meteor lit up the skies over Spain and Portugal recently, it was also captured by the Meteosat Third Generation Imager weather satellite hovering 36,000 km away in geostationary orbit.

On 18 May, the meteor burned up in the night sky over Spain and Portugal—not only impressing those lucky enough to see it with their own eyes, but it was also caught by the fireball camera in Cáceres, Spain, operated by ESA's Planetary Defense Office.

And zooming across the skies at over 160,000 km an hour, it was also captured by the Lightning Imager on the Meteosat Third Generation Imager satellite far away in geostationary orbit, offering another perspective on this remarkable event.

As its name implies, the Lightning Imager will be used to detect lightning, once it has been fully commissioned following the satellite's launch at the end of 2022.

The Meteosat Third Generation Imager satellite is the first geostationary weather satellite that has the capability to detect lightning across Europe, Africa and the surrounding waters. It continuously monitors more than 80% of the Earth disk for lightning discharges, taking place either between clouds or between clouds and the ground.

The instrument has four cameras covering Europe, Africa, the Middle East and parts of South America. Each camera can capture up to 1000 images per second and will continuously observe lightning activity from space.

Data from the Lightning Imager will give weather forecasters greater confidence in their predictions of severe storms, particularly in remote regions and on the oceans where lightning detection capabilities are limited.

Although designed to monitor lightning, it also captured the flashes of light from the meteor burning up over Spain and Portugal.

Using preliminary data from the Lightning Imager, the animation above shows light flashes accumulated over six seconds as the meteor moves across the instrument's field of view.

The Meteosat Third Generation mission is a cooperation between Eumetsat and ESA. ESA is responsible for developing and procuring six satellites. Eumetsat defines the system requirements, develops the ground systems, procures the launch services, operates the satellites, and makes the data available to users.

The Meteosat Third Generation satellites are built by a large consortium of European industries, led by Thales Alenia Space in cooperation with OHB. The innovative Lightning Imager is developed by Leonardo in Italy.

Provided by European Space Agency

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Video: European satellite captures lightning strikes

Researchers reconstruct genome of extinct species of flightless bird that once roamed the islands of New Zealand

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

A team of evolutionary biologists at Harvard University, working with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, East Carolina University, Osaka University and the University of Toronto, has reconstructed the genome of an extinct species of flightless bird that has come to be known as the little bush moa.

In their study, published in the journal Science Advances, the group sequenced DNA recovered from a fossilized bone found on South Island (the largest and southernmost of the two main islands that make up New Zealand).

The little bush moa was once one of the biggest birds in the world—about the size of a modern turkey, they went extinct shortly after the arrival of human settlers in New Zealand. Prior to that, they roamed the forested islands of New Zealand for millions of years. They were unique due to a complete lack of wings. Prior partial sequencing has shown that they had the genes needed to grow wings, but over time, they had mutated as the birds slowly became flightless land dwellers.

The fossil used by the research team came from a bird that was one of what are believed to be nine species of extinct Anomalopteryx didiformis. The team describes their results as the recovery of a complete mitochondrial genome of a male moa nuclear genome—a feat that was deemed challenging.

After sequencing, the researchers discovered that the birds had been able to see in the ultraviolet spectrum—an ability that would have helped them capture hiding prey. They also had what the group describes as a sensitivity to bitter foods—a trait common in modern birds. The data also showed that the likely population of the birds had once been as high as 240,000 and that the birds diverged from their closest relatives approximately 70 million years ago.

The research team suggests that in addition to providing new information on the little bush moa, their results should also function as a new resource for other teams working to better understand avian evolution.

More information: Scott V. Edwards et al, A nuclear genome assembly of an extinct flightless bird, the little bush moa, Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj6823

Journal information: Science Advances

California bill to protect children from lead exposure advances to Senate

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – On May 21, California Assembly lawmakers passed a bill to safeguard children’s health from the lasting and devastating effects of lead exposure through drinking water, an urgent threat in the state.

Assembly Bill 1851, by Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), would enact a goal of zero lead in school and childcare drinking water. It also would set up a state-funded pilot program to test for, and clean up, lead in drinking water in up to 10 school districts. The program would identify strategies schools can use to bring water lead levels to as close to zero as possible.

The Environmental Working Group and Children Now are co-sponsoring the bill, which now heads to the Senate for consideration.

Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can permanently harm children’s intellectual development and affect their behavior and ability to concentrate. Even in tiny amounts, it can lower a child’s IQ, slow growth and harm hearing. Studies show lead’s harm cannot be reversed and there is no safe level of exposure to it.
Lead testing

Holden’s bill, if enacted, would create a state goal of zero lead in school and childcare facilities’ drinking water, help identify and clean up any faucets on campuses that release lead above 5 parts per billion, or ppb, and identify the most health-protective, cost-effective methods of sampling and removing lead in school drinking water.

“Lead consumption among youth and disenfranchised communities occurs at a higher rate. Assisting schools with the resources and appropriate standards to ensure the water our children drink is safe will help us protect our schools, students and communities,” said Holden.

“Children do not become more resistant to lead’s toxic effects once they transition from daycare to kindergarten, so California should take the responsible step of aligning child care and school lead testing standards,” he added.

Holden has long championed drinking water safety. He authored a law in 2018 requiring licensed child care centers in the state to test their tap water for lead contamination.

The results of those tests, released last year, revealed alarming levels of lead. The drinking water in nearly 1,700 licensed child care centers statewide – one in four – topped 5 ppb, the allowable threshold in California.

Over 260 centers found levels between 50 and 1,000 ppb – 50 to 200 times the state’s limit. One center found levels as high as 11,300 ppb, a staggering 2,200 times the limit.
Irreversible damage

Because of the lifelong serious health harms linked to childhood lead exposure, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends lead in drinking water not exceed 1 ppb.

"Even in minuscule amounts, lead can irreversibly damage young minds and bodies, leading to developmental delays, cognitive disorders and lifelong health complications,” said Susan Little, EWG senior advocate for California government affairs.

“We must act swiftly to protect our children from the devastating effects of lead exposure, which can rob them of their potential and inflict a lifetime of suffering,” she said. “Lead is not just a neurotoxin; it's a ticking time bomb that threatens our kids' health and well-being.”

“Lead exposure is a health, education and racial justice issue for our kids,” said Ted Lempert, president of Children Now, a statewide children’s advocacy organization. “We thank Assemblymember Holden for authoring this legislation to protect students from lead in drinking water, and we are pleased to partner with EWG to co-sponsor the bill.

“Children Now is committed to ensuring that schools have the support and resources they need to keep kids safe,” said Lempert.

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The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action. Visit www.ewg.org for more information.

Children No is a non-partisan, whole-child research, policy development and advocacy organization dedicated to promoting children’s health, education and well-being in California. The organization also leads the Children’s Movement of California, a network of over 4,800 direct service, parent, youth, civil rights, faith-based and community groups dedicated to improving children’s well-being. Learn more at https://www.childrennow.org

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