AMS Science Preview: Sea-ice loss may accelerate; tornadoes and flying cars

Early online research from journals of the American Meteorological Society

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

 

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“FIG. 1. PHOTOGRAPH OF A THROWN COMBINE FROM THE GROUND SURVEY OF THE JULY 1, 2023, DIDSBURY, AB EF4 TORNADO” FROM MILLER ET AL. (2024), "Estimating Wind Speeds in Tornadoes using Debris Trajectories of Large Compact Objects," MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW.

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CREDIT: FIG. 1. PHOTOGRAPH OF A THROWN COMBINE FROM THE GROUND SURVEY OF THE JULY 1, 2023, DIDSBURY, AB EF4 TORNADO” FROM MILLER ET AL. (2024), "ESTIMATING WIND SPEEDS IN TORNADOES USING DEBRIS TRAJECTORIES OF LARGE COMPACT OBJECTS," MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW.

The American Meteorological Society continuously publishes research on climate, weather, and water in its 12 journals. Many of these articles are available for early online access–they are peer-reviewed, but not yet in their final published form.

Below is a selection of articles published early online recently. Some articles are open-access; to view others, members of the media can contact kpflaumer@ametsoc.org for press login credentials.

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JOURNAL ARTICLES

Large-Scale Climate Modes Drive Low-Frequency Regional Arctic Sea Ice Variability
Journal of Climate

Arctic sea ice loss may accelerate in the coming decade. This study examined the dominant natural climate patterns affecting Arctic summer sea ice, including the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation, El Niño-Southern Oscillation, and the Atlantic Multidecadal Observation. The results suggest that the phases of these dominant patterns favor enhanced loss of Arctic sea ice in the next ten years.

Extreme Temperatures, Birth Outcomes, and Social Inequalities: Evidence from South China
Weather, Climate, and Society

Exposure to extreme temperatures may lead to adverse birth outcomes in China. Low birth weight is correlated with long-term adverse health outcomes. Analysis of 1 million+ birth records from Dongguan, China shows that a 1% increase in days a pregnant person was exposed to extreme heat was associated with an average reduction in birth weight of 2.31 g and a 2% increase in odds of low birth weight. The link was stronger when birthing parents were migrants or less educated, and for vaginal births. Extreme cold was also associated with adverse outcomes, though slightly less severe.

Changes in the Typhoon Intensity under a Warming Climate: A Numerical Study of Typhoon Mangkhut
Journal of Climate

Ocean warming intensifies typhoon … somewhat. Researchers modeled Super Typhoon Mangkut (2019) under conditions of increased ocean warming, finding that warming increases the energy available to a developing typhoon. However, while typhoon intensity is likely to increase in the future, the study suggests that intensity will be moderated somewhat by future changes in atmospheric temperature and humidity.

Assessing NOAA Rip-Current Hazard Likelihood Predictions: Comparison with Lifeguard Observations and Parameterizations of Bathymetric and Transient Rip-Current Types
Weather and Forecasting

NOAA rip current forecasting model underpredicts transient rip currents. This study evaluated the performance of NOAA’s rip current forecast model with results from remote sensing and lifeguard observations at Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point, California. They found that NOAA’s model did a good job predicting bathymetric rip currents (which occur when waves break on sandbars interspersed with channels), but was less able to predict transient rip currents, which are shorter in duration and are caused by breaking waves coming from multiple directions.

Long-Term Climate Impacts of Large Stratospheric Water Vapor Perturbations
Journal of Climate

2022 Hunga Tonga volcano may have worldwide effects for several more years. The massive atmospheric injection of water vapor from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH) volcanic eruption continues to have regional atmospheric warming and cooling effects around the world, which may not peak until 2025–2029 in some areas, according to a new modeling study. Model simulations indicate winter temperature increases over North America, the Arctic, and central Eurasia, and cooler temperatures over Scandinavia and Australia during southern hemisphere winter. They also found precipitation anomalies in areas including Europe, the U.S. West Coast, and the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Tornadoes

Several recent papers have focused on tornadoes and their impacts.

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Spatial and Seasonal Shifts in Tornado Activity in the United States
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

Study confirms true eastward (and seasonal) shift in U.S. tornado dangers. Studies have suggested that the area of greatest tornado danger has moved eastward, away from the Great Plains and toward the Southeast and Midwest. This comprehensive study used data from 1951 to 2020 to confirm that tornado activity to the east has increased–all due to an increase in autumn and winter tornadoes–while western tornadoes have decreased by 25%. Jackson, MS, saw the greatest tornado increase; Cleburne, TX, saw the greatest decrease during the study period.

Estimating Wind Speeds in Tornadoes using Debris Trajectories of Large Compact Objects
Monthly Weather Review

Can flying cars and fridges help rank tornado winds? The EF scale only uses certain types of tornado damage to estimate wind speed, ignoring the harder-to-characterize evidence of cars and other large objects picked up by the storm. This study analyzed large debris from Canadian tornadoes using computer simulations. When solely estimating the wind speed needed to pick up and move the objects, their results agreed with general EF rankings of tornadoes; however, considering the actual flight path of the object led to a higher wind speed estimate than other ways of ranking the tornado.

Linking Survivor Stories to Forensic Engineering: How an Interscience Approach Reveals Opportunities for Reducing Tornado Vulnerability in Residential Structures
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Tornado survivors help researchers understand the aftermath. An interdisciplinary research team tested a new approach to assessing storm damage, and found that “survivors’ stories, photos/video and access to structural elements were invaluable for understanding how a tornado interacted with the residence.” Surveys found that most survivors took sheltering actions, but they were half as likely to reach a good sheltering place when a tornado struck at night. Half were able to describe important details (e.g., sequences of events) that helped researchers better characterize the storm and its impact.

The Tornado Archive: Compiling and Visualizing a Worldwide, Digitized Tornado Database
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

A global tornado archive. A new tornado database, the Tornado Archive, is the most comprehensive ever, combining over 100,000 tornado records from around the world–thus establishing a lower boundary for the number of documented tornadoes and improving our ability to study global tornado climatology. While information varies greatly across time and space, some trends are evident, including a decrease in tornadoes during the Dust Bowl, disproportionately large numbers of tornado fatalities in Bangladesh (8,325 recorded despite relatively low tornado frequency), and a strange uptick in Mediterranean tornadoes during the winter.

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You can view all research published in AMS Journals at journals.ametsoc.org.

About the American Meteorological Society

The American Meteorological Society advances the atmospheric and related sciences, technologies, applications, and services for the benefit of society. Founded in 1919, AMS has a membership of around 12,000 professionals, students, and weather enthusiasts. AMS publishes 12 atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic science journals; hosts more than 12 conferences annually; and offers numerous programs and services. Visit us at www.ametsoc.org/.

About AMS Journals

The American Meteorological Society continuously publishes research on climate, weather, and water in its 12 journals. Some AMS journals are open access. Media login credentials are available for subscription journals. Journals include the Bulletin of the American Meteorolocial Society, Weather, Climate, and Society, the Journal of Climate, and Monthly Weather Review.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Climate

 

CU researchers analyze prevalence, impact of ethical or religious barriers to providing medical aid in dying

The recently published paper finds that 26% of physician respondents reported large ethical or religious barriers to participating in medical aid in dying, but many were still willing to engage in discussions with patients and provide referrals for care.

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ANSCHUTZ MEDICAL CAMPUS

Recently published research led by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus examined the prevalence — and impact — of physicians’ ethical or religious barriers to their involvement in medical aid in dying (MAiD), a multi-step process where a physician provides a terminally ill adult with decision-making capacity with a lethal dose of medication to end their life.  

The research article, “Conscience-Based Barriers to Medical Aid in Dying: A Survey of Colorado Physicians,” was published this May in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. It shows that 26% of physician survey respondents reported large ethical and/or religious barriers to their involvement in MAiD.  

Despite these barriers, the research suggests these conscience-based barriers do not appear to affect these physicians’ willingness to discuss medical aid in dying with their patients. However, they are much less likely to have any direct participation in it — being significantly less likely to serve as a consulting or attending physician — compared to physicians without these barriers. 

Informing public policy 

As legislators and health leaders across the nation continue to debate policies related to medical aid in dying, research like this is vital to making informed decisions. 

“Medical aid in dying is under consideration in a number of states, and it comes up every legislative session. You cannot make policy around things that are not well understood, and so it was critical to gather data to better understand what's going on,” says Mika Hamer, PhD, MPH, the first author on the paper and a post-doctoral research fellow with the CU Center for Bioethics and Humanities. “It is important to look at the actual behaviors of physicians. This research offers essentially the first look into what is happening on the ground in a previously hidden and difficult-to-study population.”  

For Hillary Lum, MD, PhD, a co-author of the paper and associate professor in the CU Division of Geriatric Medicine, getting involved in this research was important to her as a geriatrician and palliative medicine physician, given that questions about MAiD may arise when caring for older adults with serious illnesses.  

“Medical aid-in-dying was legalized in 2016 in Colorado, but physician experiences providing care for patients seeking MAiD was under-studied,” Lum says. 

A reason for the lack of data is because there are extensive protections in place for physician and patient privacy. As a result, the vast majority of data that exists are from qualitative studies or surveys of the general physician population.   

“There is a long-standing debate around MAiD — the legality, the ethical appropriateness, the morality — and people have extremely strong opinions about it. But when we let those really strong opinions drive policy, rather than empirical data, we run the risk of implementing misguided policy that is more amenable to the cultural sentiment or social context at the time,” Hamer says. 

To gather data about this important issue, researchers used anonymized, aggregate information on the 554 patients known to have received a MAiD prescription in Colorado from 2017 to 2020 and then identified the clinical conditions most prominent in this patient population. The research team then determined which physicians in Colorado were providing care to patients likely to qualify for MAiD based on their clinical conditions and sent them an anonymous survey regarding their willingness to provide MAiD and actual prior participation in MAiD. Ultimately, 300 physicians responded. 

Since then, researchers have published several papers about the study, including: a scientific report about the research methodology; an analysis of physician’s attitudes and experiences; an examination of their perspectives on disclosure, presence, and eligibility; and the use and influence of medical aid in dying service on physician experiences.  

“We felt there was an opportunity to look at this untapped aspect of the survey research. We had a hunch that there was something about ethical or religious barriers that may be different than other types of barriers physicians faced, like lack of time or fear of stigma,” Hamer says.  

“We wanted to understand what these physicians have actually done when faced with these decisions, and we had a unique opportunity to measure that and lend some empirical data into what is a very contentious topic — but one that’s really quite understudied as far as hard data goes,” she adds.   

Lum agrees with Hamer, saying: “In the absence of data, it’s easy to make assumptions — either that there are many physicians who have a conscientious objection to MAiD, or that there are few.” 

“Thus, this study was important to actually measure the percentage of physicians who have a religious or ethical reason for not participating in MAiD activities,” Lum adds.  

What the research shows 

Out of the 300 survey respondents, 26% of physicians likely to care for MAiD-eligible patients in Colorado reported large ethical and/or religious barriers to participating in MAiD activities.  

The survey also shows physicians with a longer time in practice and those identifying as non-white were more likely to report these conscience-based barriers. 

Hamer said she was surprised that the survey data shows the physicians with these conscience-based barriers are still willing to participate in some aspects of the MAiD process. Specifically, when comparing physicians with and without these barriers, there was no difference in ancillary participation, meaning having discussions about MAiD or referring patients to other providers.  

However, there were significant differences regarding direct participation in MAiD. To be eligible for MAiD, a patient must have decision-making capacity and a prognosis of less than six months to live. This prognosis must be independently verified by two physicians — an attending and consulting physician.  

The survey found that only 5% of physicians with conscience-based barriers had served as a MAiD consultant, as compared to 31% of physicians without conscience-based barriers. When it came to serving as a MAiD attending, no physicians with conscience-based barriers had served in this role compared to 21% of physicians without these barriers.   

“Participation looks different for different people. As far as consulting or attending, which are much more active roles that may involve writing prescriptions or doing evaluations — that’s where we start to see those barriers really show up in terms of changes in behavior,” Hamer says.  

Lum says, “I think this emphasizes the importance of the relationship between physicians and patients. Whether a physician is willing to discuss, refer, serve as a consulting physician, or serve as a MAID attending physician is likely to vary. And there may be different reasons and situations related to the individual patient.” 

Both Hamer and Lum noted that this study was limited in its sample size, highlighting the need for further research. With regard to conscience-based barriers, Hamer says it is important to distinguish that these “are not necessarily barriers to be overcome in the traditional sense of barriers.” 

“We really see this as a space where physicians need accommodation — not intervention to help change their mind around this barrier,” Hamer says. “It calls for continued protection of physician rights to conscientiously object or not participate in a service to which they have deeply held, conflicting beliefs.” 

There is also a need to better understand what support systems and processes need to be in place in clinics or hospitals to help support those physicians who have religious or ethical barriers. For instance, perhaps a formal referral process could be created so that physicians with these barriers can be involved in the beginning stages of MAiD, but when it comes to the more active roles, there is an established team the patient can be referred to.  

“We must have protections in place and processes to support these physicians while ensuring patients are able to get the care they desire,” Hamer says. “It is something that needs to be considered especially as the legality of MAiD potentially expands. We need a balance between protecting physicians’ rights and preserving patient access.”  

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JOURNAL

Journal of General Internal Medicine

DOI

10.1007/s11606-024-08782-y 

ARTICLE TITLE

Conscience-Based Barriers to Medical Aid in Dying: A Survey of Colorado Physicians

 

Want to be a successful scientist? The McClements family has some tips

Senior food scientist from UMass Amherst joins with daughter and nephew to write latest book

Book Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

 

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DAVID JULIAN MCCLEMENTS, DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF FOOD SCIENCE, CO-WROTE HIS LATYEST BOOK WITH DAUGHTER ISOBELLE FARRELL MCCLEMENTS AND NEPHEW JAKE MCCLEMENTS.

 

 

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CREDIT: COURTESY OF DAVID JULIAN MCCLEMENTS

The latest book of prolific author David Julian McClements is a family affair. The Distinguished Professor of Food Science, along with his daughter Isobelle Farrell McClements and nephew Jake McClements, have written “How to be a Successful Scientist: A Guide for Graduate Students, Postdocs, and Professors” (Springer, 2024).

The three authors offer different perspectives as scientists at different stages in their careers. Julian McClements, who has published more than 1,300 scientific articles and numerous books, is the most highly cited author in food science in the world and a renowned expert in food design and nanotechnology.

Jake McClements recently completed his Ph.D. in the United Kingdom and is now a lecturer at Newcastle University in Newcastle on Tyne, focusing his research on developing next-generation biosensors to improve human health and well-being.

Isobelle McClements has just completed her first year as a Ph.D. student in chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

“We hope this book will be useful for those wanting to be more efficient and impactful scientists,” Julian McClements says.

The book includes tips on designing, performing, and analyzing experiments, writing manuscripts, preparing scientific presentations, writing grant proposals, networking and defending a graduate thesis, among other things. 

“A major emphasis of the book is the importance of writing and publishing scientific manuscripts, as this is the main way that scientific knowledge is disseminated, as well as being an important element for building a strong curriculum vitae,” the senior McClements says.

 

Overcoming barriers to heat pump adoption in cold climates and avoiding the 'energy poverty trap'

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

 

 

Converting home heating systems from natural gas furnaces to electric heat pumps is seen as a way to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

 

But a new University of Michigan study of 51 Southeast Michigan households shows that switching to efficient, cold-climate heat pumps would increase annual utility bills by an average of about $1,100.

 

Home weatherization upgrades, such as adding attic insulation and sealing around doors and windows, could help reduce utility bills and make electric heating more affordable.

 

But those energy retrofits are expensive and are likely beyond the reach of many low-income households, which could lead to what the researchers call an energy poverty trap.

 

"The clean energy transition is hindered by an energy poverty trap because the extensive retrofits needed to make electrification affordable are themselves too expensive for low-income households," said study lead author Claire McKenna, a doctoral candidate at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability.

 

"Our findings suggest that heat pumps are not a feasible economic alternative for households currently using natural gas, unless governments offset energy cost premiums through public funding. Policymakers should act to help lower the operating costs of heat pumps compared to natural gas for low-income households in cold climates."

 

The study was published online May 31 in the peer-reviewed journal Resources, Conservation & Recycling.

 

Residential heat pumps are reversible air conditioners that use electricity to move heat from one place to another, providing both heating and cooling in a building. In the winter, heat pumps move heat from the outdoors into a building, and in summer they move heat from the inside to the outside.

 

Heat pumps are growing in popularity and for the last two years have outsold gas furnaces in the United States.

 

For their study, U-M researchers analyzed utility bills, thermostat settings and energy burdens—the proportion of income that households spend on electricity and gas costs—for 51 homes in Wayne and Washtenaw counties, half of them below median income levels. Then they used a heat pump coefficient-of-performance model to determine energy cost and energy-burden impacts of switching to a heat pump.

 

The researchers also hired a contractor to conduct energy assessments of the homes and to provide energy-retrofit recommendations, including estimated costs and savings.  Members of the research team are from U-M's School for Environment and Sustainability, the Institute for Social Research and the School of Public Health.

 

The researchers found that converting homes to electric heat pumps would increase annual energy costs 58%, on average. Below-median-income households, which today experience a median energy burden of 6% (which is considered high and is twice the national average), would see that burden rise to 10% if they switched from natural gas heating to electric heat pumps.

 

Weatherization could offset the increase, bringing energy burdens back down to pre-electrification levels. However, median payback time for the retrofits was 24 years, making them "infeasible for the poorest," according to the study authors.

 

And it's not just the lowest income households that would feel the pinch of the heat pump transition.

 

Households earning $50,000 or more annually, which currently have a median energy burden of 2.6%, would see that number rise by more than one percentage point, on average, indicating that "energy burden could become a concern for households which are currently energy secure," according to the study.

 

The 51 homes in the study were, on average, 60 years old and were built in an era when Michigan did not have energy-efficient building codes. The cost of the average retrofit package recommended by the energy-audit contractor was $7,628.

 

On top of that, efficient cold-weather residential heat pumps typically cost between $5,000  and $10,000 for the hardware, and installation costs can double the total price tag.

 

"The upfront costs of weatherization and heat-pump installation can be very high," said study senior author Parth Vaishnav of the School for Environment and Sustainability. "Our findings clearly demonstrate the challenges associated with heat pump adoption in cold climates."

 

In the study, the lowest-income households had the least energy-efficient homes and also used the lowest amount of energy. That finding suggests that low-income households are likely not using enough energy to meet their health, safety and comfort needs, McKenna said.

 

Given that households below median income currently have a 6% median energy burden on their existing natural gas heating systems, the transition to electric heat pumps "would severely worsen existing energy insecurity," the study authors wrote.

 

"That, in turn, could increase coping behaviors like trading off paying utility bills for paying for rent or food, or the underconsumption of energy in households that struggle to pay their bills. This could have huge ramifications for health," said study co-author Carina Gronlund, an environmental epidemiologist at the U-M Institute for Social Research and the School of Public Health.

 

The researchers identified three ways that policymakers can help lower heat pump costs for low-income households in cold climates. First, government-sponsored initiatives to advance more energy-efficient heat-pump technology are essential.

 

Second, state regulators should exercise "a more robust scrutiny" of utility company returns and create more opportunities to improve customer outcomes in the rate-making process. Most households in the U-M study were DTE customers, with a few supplied by Consumers Energy.

 

Third, states should consider implementing "percentage of income payment plans," known as PIPPs, which place a cap on energy expenditures relative to household income. Such programs can be paired with federal- and state-funded retrofit programs to simultaneously improve the building stock and mitigate energy poverty, according to the study authors.

 

"The economics of electrification are adverse for the existing housing stock in cold climates," the authors concluded. "Policy action is needed to make heating electrification viable."

 

The study was funded by the U-M Graham Sustainability Institute's Heating with Justice project and by the U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Office Innovation in Buildings graduate research fellowship.

 

Study: Heating with justice: Barriers and solutions to a just energy transition in cold climates (DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107699)

 

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JOURNAL

Resources Conservation and Recycling

DOI

10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107699 

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not resp

 

Mussels downstream of wastewater treatment plant contain radium, study reports

Radioactivity from oil and gas produced water accumulated in freshwater mussels

PENN STATE

 

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RESEARCHERS FROM PENN STATE’S DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENT ENGINEERING ANALYZED THE COMPOSITION OF MUSSELS DOWNSTREAM OF A WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA THAT HAD ACCEPTED AND TREATED FRACKING WASTEWATER, AND FOUND THAT THEIR TISSUE AND SHELLS CONTAINED RADIUM. 

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CREDIT: POORNIMA TOMY/PENN STATE

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Burrowed into streambeds and rarely moving for their decades-long lifespans, freshwater mussels are biomonitors, meaning they indicate how clean their environment is, according to Penn State researchers. As the bivalves feed on organic matter and filter the water around them, their inner tissues and hard shells begin to reflect whatever is in their environment — including radioactive particles. 

A pair of researchers from Penn State’s Department of Civil and Environment Engineering (CEE) analyzed the composition of mussels downstream of a centralized treatment facility in Western Pennsylvania that had accepted and treated fracking wastewater from the oil and gas industry for at least two decades. The now-decommissioned facility stopped accepting oil- and gas-produced wastewater in 2019.  

The researchers found that, even years later, the tissue and shells of mussels contained radium that could be traced to wastewater from fracking in the Marcellus Shale. The rock formation stretches underground from West Virginia through New York and is the largest natural gas field in the country. Their findings are available online now and will appear in the June issue of Science of the Total Environment.  

Though most facilities in Pennsylvania do not accept oil- and gas-produced water now, from 2008 to 2011, Pennsylvania’s rivers and streams saw a significant volume of treated wastewater that originated from fracking in the Marcellus Shale. Wastewater treatment facilities remove major contaminants, including radium, before discharging the water into surface water, like rivers, according to researchers. However, the treated water still contains trace amounts of contaminants and is five to 10 times saltier than ocean water.  

“With a much higher salinity than the surrounding environment, the discharged water has a different chemical fingerprint than what the mussels are used to,” said Nathaniel Warner, professor of CEE and corresponding author on the paper. “Mussels that were closest to the water discharges died off. Further downstream, the mussels found a way to tolerate the salinity and radioactive materials and instead absorbed them into their shells and tissues.”  

He explained that other types of wastewater generally do not contain many radioactive particles, but oil and gas wastewaters found deep in the earth and brought out by fracking often contain specific unique element ratios — a kind of signature that can be traced. The unique ratios of radioactive elements allowed the team to identify that the source of the contaminants is likely the treated Marcellus Shale wastewater. 

To collect the samples for radium analysis, Katharina Pankratz, a doctoral candidate in CEE and first author on the paper, contacted the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to get a permit to sample mussels in the Allegheny River. DEP biologists, who offered to help with collection, identified the species that were present, then randomly collected 10 eastern spikes — a common type of mussel — from four designated locations along the river. 

The researchers found that half a kilometer downstream of a discharge site, mussels had approximately double the total radium levels as those upstream of the discharge site. And mussels five kilometers downstream of a discharge site had less than the mussels closer to the site, but still had a measurable amount of radium.  

Radiation exposure is measured in dose units known as micro-Seiverts (μSv). The researchers compared the radioactivity of the sampled eastern spikes to Brazil nuts, which take up radiation from the soil in which they grow. A 28-gram serving of Brazil nuts contain 0.47 to 0.80 μSv, while the maximum value calculated for a single mussel collected by researchers in the study was 63.42 μSv. The International Atomic Energy Agency recommends that individuals limit their annual exposure to no more than 1,000 μSv. Any more exposure can lead to health problems.  

“Along with nutrients, mussels also filter contaminants present in the water column, like metals, microplastics, synthetic chemical compounds and other emerging contaminants of concern,” Pankratz said. “Depending on the contaminant and its chemistry, if it is small enough to pass through the gills of the mussel, it has the potential to accumulate in their tissue or precipitate within the hard-shell structure.” 

While these mussels are not harvested for human consumption, larger species, like waterbirds, raccoons, muskrats and otters, regularly eat freshwater mussels, meaning the contamination could pass up the food chain, Pankratz said.   

“It raises concerns about potential impacts on other aquatic life, particularly endangered species more vulnerable to contaminants,” she said. “This information may help shape future regulations for wastewater disposal to surface water, especially in regions where mussels are harvested for food. I hope this study will inspire further research into the ecological consequences of these disposals worldwide.”  

The U.S. National Science Foundation supported this work.  

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JOURNAL

Science of The Total Environment

DOI

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172151 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Radioactivity from oil and gas produced water accumulated in freshwater mussels

 

Cognitive declines preceding Alzheimer’s diagnosis lead to credit card, mortgage delinquency

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

(May 31, 2024) — In the years prior to an Alzheimer’s disease or other memory disorder diagnosis, credit scores begin to weaken and payment delinquency begins to increase, concludes new research led by Georgetown University. The findings show consistent deterioration in these financial outcomes over the quarters leading up to diagnosis. The findings also show that credit card and mortgage delinquencies, specifically, both increase substantially prior to diagnosis. 

The research was released today by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY). (“The Financial Consequences of Undiagnosed Memory Disorders”).

“Most memory disorders aren’t diagnosed until symptoms are severe, yet, given the progressive nature of disease, cognitive decline usually starts many years prior,” says health economist and the study’s lead researcher, Carole Roan Gresenz, PhD, a professor in Georgetown’s School of Health and McCourt School of Public Policy. “The earliest changes in cognition might not be noticeable by family members and friends, but may be quietly compromising financial decision-making.” 

For the study, Gresenz teamed up with collaborators from Georgetown, including a neurologist who specializes in memory disorders as well as researchers at the FRBNY. They examined the effect of undiagnosed memory disorders on credit outcomes using nationally representative credit reporting data merged with Medicare data (all anonymized). Credit cards and mortgages are the primary components of debt among those 70 years and older. 

According to Gresenz, increased credit card delinquency was observed more than five years prior to diagnosis, while mortgage delinquency was seen three years prior. 

“The results are striking in their clarity and consistency,” she added. “The financial decline we observe mirrors the cognitive decline that these individuals are experiencing: credit scores consistently decline, quarter by quarter, and probability of delinquency consistently increases as diagnosis approaches.” 

The work builds on previous research conducted by Gresenz. That work, which used survey data on roughly 10,000 households, showed that prior to an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, a person in the early stages of the disease faces a heightened risk of adverse financial outcomes — a likely consequence of compromised decision-making when managing money  and financial exploitation by others. The research was published in 2019 in the journal Health Economics.

Gresenz added, “In addition to the human toll, a diagnosis of this type can be financially disruptive to families and exacerbated by the harmful financial effects of undiagnosed memory disorders. Our findings substantiate the possible utility of credit reporting data for facilitating early identification of those at risk for memory disorders.”

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In addition to Gresenz, authors include Jean M. Mitchell and R. Scott Turner of Georgetown and Belicia Rodriguez and Wilbert van der Klaauw‖ of the FRBNY. The authors report having no personal financial interests related to the study.

The research was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (R56AGO53272 and R01AG080623). The content of and views expressed do not necessarily represent the official views of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System or the National Institutes of Health.

 

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

(May 31, 2024) — In the years prior to an Alzheimer’s disease or other memory disorder diagnosis, credit scores begin to weaken and payment delinquency begins to increase, concludes new research led by Georgetown University. The findings show consistent deterioration in these financial outcomes over the quarters leading up to diagnosis. The findings also show that credit card and mortgage delinquencies, specifically, both increase substantially prior to diagnosis. The research was release

 

Wealthier neighborhoods in Boulder saw lower bee diversity

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER

 

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ASIA KAISER CHECKED ON THE JALAPEÑO PEPPER PLANTS THE TEAM GREW IN THE COMMUNITY GARDENS IN BOULDER COUNTY.

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CREDIT: JOHN RUSSELL/CU BOULDER

Community gardens in higher-income Boulder neighborhoods have fewer varieties of bees than their medium-income counterparts, new University of Colorado Boulder research suggests. Scientists suggest that people in these neighborhoods tend to apply more landscaping practices, such as using fertilizers, which could impact bees’ habitats.

The finding appeared May 22 in the journal Urban Ecosystems. 

“Bees are so important for local ecosystems through their pollination services. The landscape would not look the same without our pollinators,” said Asia Kaiser, a doctoral student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at CU Boulder. 

The result came as a surprise to Kaiser and Julian Resasco, assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the paper’s senior author, because it contradicted previous studies. 

Prior research showed that wealthier urban neighborhoods tend to have more trees and green space. As a result, a greater diversity of animal species tends to live in these areas, a pattern called the luxury effect. 

Ecologists Kaiser and Resasco wanted to explore how insects in urban gardens respond to the neighborhoods that surround them. Specifically, they are interested in how the urban environment could affect insects like bees that pollinate garden crops. 

Last spring, the team planted about 70 jalapeño pepper plants in seven large community gardens across Boulder and Louisville. Using traps, the team collected more than 3,000 insects and other arthropods such as spiders from the gardens. 

The researchers found that neighborhoods with more artificial structures—pavement, roads and rooftops that prevent water from soaking into the ground—had lower numbers of pollinators. At the same time, wealthier neighborhoods had fewer species of bees.

Landscaping practices and the type of plants that are more common in wealthier neighborhoods may contribute to lower bee biodiversity, Kaiser said. These communities tend to have more mature trees, which are different from plants found in native bees’ habitats. People living in these neighborhoods may also use more pesticides, fertilizers, water and mulch to support these plants, creating worse soil conditions for bees to nest in. 

“Most of the bees found in these gardens, such as long-horn bees and squash bees, nest in the ground, so they are sensitive to changes in the soil,” Kaiser said. 

In addition, the jalapeño pepper fruits grew larger in gardens with higher bee diversity, suggesting the important role that pollinators play in ecosystems.

Other arthropods—including pests like beetles and pest-eating predators like spiders—thrived in wealthier neighborhoods, the team found. It remains unclear why these critters were doing well, but Kaiser suspected they might be benefiting from the abundant food sources in the urban gardens. 

 the urban gardens may be providing sufficient food for them. 

“It’s interesting that different animal groups are being impacted by different features of the urban environment,” Kaiser said. 

She added that Colorado residents can plant more native plants and provide natural cover such as bare soil and downed wood for insects to nest in to promote bee diversity. 

Next, the team plans to expand the experiments to community gardens in Denver. This will allow them to evaluate pollinator diversity in neighborhoods with a wider range of urbanization and socioeconomic status, including lower-income areas. 

“Urban community gardens can be really important sources of nutrition in cities where nutritious food is often hard to come by,” Resasco said. “Understanding how different aspects of urbanization affect arthropod biodiversity and how that in turn affects the yield of these crops is very important.”

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JOURNAL

Urban Ecosystems

DOI

10.1007/s11252-024-01560-y 

ARTICLE TITLE

The impact of impervious surface and neighborhood wealth on arthropod biodiversity and ecosystem services in community gardens

 

A greener, more effective way to kill termites

Natural compound is appetizing to wood eaters

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - RIVERSIDE

 

IMAGE: 

WESTERN DRYWOOD TERMITES. 

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CREDIT: DONG-HWAN CHOE/UCR

UC Riverside scientists have discovered a highly effective, nontoxic, and less expensive way to lure hungry termites to their doom.

The method, detailed in the Journal of Economic Entomology, uses a pleasant-smelling chemical released by forest trees called pinene that reminds western drywood termites of their food. They follow the scent to a spot of insecticide injected into wood.  

“We saw significant differences in the death rates using insecticide alone versus the insecticide plus pinene,” said UCR entomologist Dong-Hwan Choe, who led the discovery. “Without pinene, we got about 70% mortality. When we added it in, it was over 95%.

Native to North America, western drywood termites are environmentally important. They are drawn to dead wood above ground, and consume it with the help of microorganisms in their guts. “They are recyclers,” Choe said. “And they’re very common.”

Unfortunately for humans, the insects are unable to distinguish between dead trees and the wood used to build homes. Of particular concern in California and Florida, as well as parts of Canada and Mexico, no dwelling is immune to them. “It’s only a matter of time before termites attack a house, especially in warmer parts of the states,” Choe said.

Fumigation is one of the most common drywood termite control techniques. Homes are covered with tents and then bombed with gas that kills the insects. In the U.S., California uses this method more than any other state.

The pest control industry is under pressure to find new methods because the chemical, sulfuryl fluoride, is both a greenhouse gas and is also toxic to humans. Additionally, fumigation is an expensive process that does not provide lasting protection against termites. 

“Even though it is very thorough, a home can be infested again soon after fumigation is completed,” Choe said. “Some people fumigate every three to five years because it doesn’t protect structures from future infestations.”

Localized injection is an alternative strategy to control drywood termites that does not involve gas. Technicians drill holes into the infested wood to reach the termite “gallery” or lair, then inject poison into the hole to inundate the bugs. 

“This is a more localized treatment, and in theory, it is a better strategy when you want to control drywood termites with fewer chemicals. It’s less expensive, and the treated wood may also stay protected from future infestations,” Choe said. 

The challenge with localized injection is figuring out exactly where the bugs are hiding. Typically, this method uses a contact-based insecticide, meaning the insects must touch the poison for it to work.

Using an attractant like pinene eliminates the need to hunt for the termites. “Even at low concentrations, pinene is good at attracting termites from a distance,” Choe said. 

“We don’t think it’s functioning as a pheromone,” Choe said. “We think the scent is more associated with their food. Smells nice… dinner time! That’s the concept that we had in mind.”

The insecticide they used, fipronil, is also used to control ant infestations. It can be toxic to aquatic insects and pollinators if it gets into the environment. In this case it is injected into the wood, so chances of off-target effects are low. 

Choe’s laboratory generally studies the chemical communication systems of urban insect pests to develop strategies like this one for western drywood termites. 

“Our study shows that if you understand insect behavior better, it’s interesting by itself,” Choe said. “Then there are also important implications for more effective pest management, so we can use fewer chemicals without compromising efficiency.” 

Western drywood termites are attracted to pinene, a chemical found released by forest trees. 

CREDIT

Dong-Hwan Choe/UCR

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JOURNAL

Journal of Economic Entomology

DOI

10.1093/jee/toae101 

ARTICLE TITLE

Potential use of pinenes to improve localized insecticide injections targeting the western drywood termite (Blattodea: Kalotermitidae)