Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Dogs understand words from soundboard buttons, study reveals

The study is the first empirical paper to emerge from the world’s largest longitudinal project on button-trained pets led by UC San Diego

University of California - San Diego

B&W dog and soundboard — image:
Dog and soundboard from UC San Diego's Comparative Cognition Lab study of pet communication
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Credit: Photo by Christopher Wood, courtesy Comparative Cognition Lab at UC San Diego.

If you’ve seen those viral social media videos of dogs using soundboard buttons to “talk,” you’re not alone. These buttons have taken the pet world by storm, leading to impressive and sometimes seemingly miraculous feats shared across platforms like TikTok and Instagram. But are these dogs truly communicating, or are they just responding to cues from their owners?

Now, a new study published in PLOS ONE – by researchers from the University of California San Diego and other institutions – reveals that dogs trained with soundboard buttons can indeed comprehend specific words, producing contextually appropriate responses. Led by Federico Rossano, associate professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego and head of the Comparative Cognition Lab, this is the first empirical study emerging from the world’s largest longitudinal project on button-trained pets.

Rossano, who is also featured in the popular new Netflix documentary “Inside the Mind of a Dog,” emphasizes that this research is just one step in his lab’s ongoing investigation of interspecies communication.

Key findings: The study shows that dogs trained to use soundboards responded appropriately to words like “play” and “outside,” regardless of whether the words were spoken by their owners or triggered by pressing a button, as well as whether the buttons were pressed by the owner or an unrelated person. This suggests that dogs are not merely “reading” their owners’ body language or presence but are indeed processing the words.

“This study addresses public skepticism about whether dogs truly understand what the buttons mean,” said Rossano. “Our findings are important because they show that words matter to dogs, and that they respond to the words themselves, not just to associated cues.”

The research involved two complementary experiments. The first was conducted in person, with researchers visiting 30 dogs’ homes across the country to test their responses to soundboard buttons. The second experiment utilized citizen science, where 29 dog owners conducted the trials themselves at home under remote guidance.

The study’s methodology was rigorously pre-registered, ensuring transparency and replicability. This pre-registration, which is publicly available online, outlines the study’s hypotheses, data collection methods, variables, and analysis plans before any data was collected. This process, Rossano explained, enhances accountability, reduces the risk of cherry-picking results, and aligns with a growing movement in cognitive science and psychology to increase scientific rigor and reduce the likelihood of bias or fraud.

Rossano added, “We’re just scratching the surface in this study. Future studies explore how dogs actively use these buttons, including the meaning and systematicity behind sequences of button presses. Our research underscores the importance of studying animals in their home environment, providing a more ecologically valid understanding of their abilities.”

This study is part of a larger, ongoing research project involving thousands of participants worldwide. Upcoming research will delve deeper into how dogs spontaneously use soundboard buttons, further illuminating the complexities of dog cognition and communication.

The paper’s first author is Amalia Bastos, a former postdoc at UC San Diego now a postdoc at Johns Hopkins University. The study was also conducted in collaboration with researchers from UC Davis, University of St. Andrews, Universitat de València, and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. The study data was collected in 2022 during the Omicron surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, with participants generously opening their homes to researchers, highlighting the growing public interest and engagement in citizen science.

This research was supported in part by a UC San Diego Academic Senate Research Grant (RG103503).

Journal

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0307189

Article Title

How do soundboard-trained dogs respond to human button presses? An investigation into word comprehension

Article Publication Date

28-Aug-2024

Designer poodle crossbreed dogs including cavapoos, cockerpoos and labradoodles may be neither more nor less healthy than the purebreeds they are bred from, according to their owners, in UK survey of 9,402 dogs

PLOS

The doodle dilemma: How the physical health of ‘Designer-crossbreed’ Cockapoo, Labradoodle and Cavapoo dogs’ compares to their purebred progenitor breeds — image:
A graphical representation illustrating how some current breeds were created from crossbreeding between pre-existing breeds. Many of today’s purebreds originated from crossbreeding between different pre-existing purebreds. The Silky Terrier, Golden Retriever and Bullmastiff were products of intentional breeding between different pre-existing breeds and therefore, could be considered ‘designer dogs’ that later gained purebred status. The Irish Wolfhound originated similarly but later on, and necessitated crossbreeding with other breeds like Great Danes in order to keep the Irish Wolfhound from disappearing altogether.
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Credit: Bryson et al., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Designer poodle crossbreed dogs including cavapoos, cockerpoos and labradoodles may be neither more nor less healthy than the purebreeds they are bred from, according to their owners, in UK survey of 9,402 dogs

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Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0306350

Article Title: The doodle dilemma: How the physical health of ‘Designer-crossbreed’ Cockapoo, Labradoodle and Cavapoo dogs’ compares to their purebred progenitor breeds

Author Countries: UK

Funding: R.M.A.P. (Kennel Club Charitable Trust - Research Grant) D.G.O. (Kennel Club Charitable Trust - International Canine Health Award) The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Journal

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0306350

Article Title

The doodle dilemma: How the physical health of ‘Designer-crossbreed’ Cockapoo, Labradoodle and Cavapoo dogs’ compares to their purebred progenitor breeds

Article Publication Date

28-Aug-2024

COI Statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Study reveals isolation, endogamy and pathogens in early medieval Spanish community

Stockholm University

image:
Aerial view of the excavated area in the early medieval settlement of Las Gobas (Condado de Treviño, Spain). / GPAC (Grupo de investigación en Patrimonio Construido) Basque Country University
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Credit: GPAC (Grupo de investigación en Patrimonio Construido) Basque Country University

An archaeogenetic study sheds new light on the isolated medieval community Las Gobas in northern Spain. Besides isolation and endogamy, the researchers have also identified the variola virus which can offer a new explanation on how smallpox entered Iberia.

Researchers from Sweden and Spain have conducted a comprehensive archaeogenetic study on a community that lived on the border between the northern Christian kingdoms and Al-Andalus during the early Medieval period. This dynamic era, especially in the Iberian Peninsula, was marked by religious competition, power struggles, and significant human mobility—factors that shaped the foundation of modern Europe.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, focused on Las Gobas, a rural site in northern Spain's Burgos province, near the village of Laño. The community existed from the mid-6th to the 11th century and is notable for its church and living areas carved into caves. The site also provides evidence of violence, likely from sword blows, found on some of the buried individuals. Forty-one burials were excavated, and 39 of them were subjected to archaeogenetic analysis.

The interdisciplinary research, led by Ricardo Rodríguez Varela from the Centre for Palaeogenetics (CPG)* in Stockholm integrated genetic, archaeological, and historical data to reveal the presence of an endogamous community in northern Iberia that remained relatively isolated despite centuries of turbulent regional history.

"Our findings indicate that this community stayed relatively isolated for at least five centuries," said Rodríguez Varela. Although Las Gobas is located just north of regions under Islamic rule, "we found relatively low levels of North African and Middle Eastern ancestry compared to other medieval individuals from the Iberian Peninsula, and we did not observe a significant increase in these ancestries after the Islamic conquest of Iberia," he concluded.

Zoé Pochon, also from CPG, highlighted the discovery of several understudied pathogens in Las Gobas human remains. "For example, Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, a bacterium that causes skin disease through contamination of open wounds, often infects humans via domestic animals, suggesting that animal-keeping was important for this community."

She also identified the variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox, in an individual from one of the more recent burials. This specific strain is similar to those found in Scandinavia, Germany, and Russia, underscoring the pan-European presence of smallpox during the Middle Ages.

Anders Götherström, the senior author of the study and also based at CPG, emphasized the exhaustive nature of their research: "It is amazing how much information we were able to gather on this group of people through our archaeogenetic investigation." He further explained, "An endogamous group, familiar with violence, appears to have established itself in Las Gobas during the 6th or 7th century. By the 10th century, smallpox seems to have affected Las Gobas, likely spreading through Europe rather than via Islamic routes, as was previously theorized for how smallpox entered Iberia."

This study provides new insights into the complex social, genetic, and health dynamics of a long-isolated community in early Medieval Spain.

Contact Information:

Ricardo Rodríguez Varela: ricardo.rodriguez.varela@arklab.su.se, +46737147174 (Please keep the phone number private—only for the journalists' use.)

Zoé Pochon: zoe.pochon@arklab.su.se, +41793329529 (Please keep the phone number private—only for the journalists' use.)

Anders Götherström: anders.gotherstrom@geoeo24.polar.se (Can be hard to reach because of field studies at Greenland.)

Skulls showing signs of violence. / Lourdes Herrasti

Aerial photo of the burials. /Lourdes Herrasti

Credit

Lourdes Herrasti

Publication Details: The study is published in Science Advances, DOI: 10.1126/scieadv.adp8625.

* The Centre for Palaeogenetics (CPG) is a joint venture between Stockholm University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History. The overall objective of the centre is to bring researchers from different disciplines, such as biology, archaeology and geology, together into a state-of-the-art research environment dedicated to ancient DNA analyses. Read more https://palaeogenetics.com/

Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/scieadv.adp8625

Article Publication Date

28-Aug-2024

Making MRI more globally accessible: how metamaterials offer affordable, high-impact solutions

A trio of studies from BU researchers demonstrate how precisely engineered, low-cost structures can be used to boost the power and speed of medical imaging

Boston University

By allowing clinicians to look noninvasively inside the human body, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become a mainstay of injury and disease detection and treatment planning and monitoring. But not everyone has benefited equally: the most powerful modern MRI tech is typically bulky, rigid, and expensive, limiting its use and impact in low-resource and remote areas.

At Boston University, engineer Xin Zhang is leading a team that’s working to democratize access to MRI, developing innovation-infused devices that can make scans faster, cheaper, and more accurate. To do it, they’ve turned to metamaterials—precisely engineered structures that use surprisingly ordinary building blocks, such as copper, fabric, and plastic, to manipulate electromagnetic waves and radio frequencies.

Their work has led to a string of breakthrough devices that can sharpen and speed up MRI imaging of knees, ankles, spines, and more. Each new metamaterials tool and method—from resonators that manipulate magnetic fields to wearable, jewelry-like bracelets that cut background noise—is capable of dramatically boosting the power of MRI. The researchers have reported their findings in a series of recent journal articles.

“How can we improve MRI technology to enable clear imaging that’s also affordable, accessible, and tolerable for patients?” says Zhang, a BU College of Engineering distinguished professor of engineering. “This is a practical problem I’ve been interested in for a long time.”

Manipulating Magnetic Fields

Zhang, who has studied the use of metamaterials in a diverse range of fields, from optical applications to noise reduction, began focusing on their potential to improve medical imaging in 2016. Within a few years, she and her team had developed what she calls an “intelligent metamaterial” to speed up scans, as well as a tunable helmet that could channel an MRI machine’s magnetic field to deliver clearer images of the brain and drastically cut scanning time.

In one of the latest papers, published in Advanced Science, they build on that work with computationally designed wearable metamaterials that can be fitted to any part of the body—even irregularly shaped areas like the elbow or knee. In the article, the researchers show examples of how the metamaterials could be used to improve scans of the ankle (picture a brace of connected discs surrounding the joint). Because they “readily conform to a patient’s knee, ankle, head, or any part of the body in need of imaging…while ensuring an optimal resonance frequency,” the researchers write, the new tech could facilitate “the widespread adoption of metamaterials in clinical MRI applications.”

In their earlier work, the team was able to manually design the helmet to fit over the human head. But in the latest study, says Ke Wu (ENG’23), first author of the paper and a postdoctoral fellow in Zhang’s lab, “we recognized that free-form deployable metamaterials fitted to other parts of the body would require computational aid.”

Wu developed algorithms and programs capable of analyzing a 3D scan of a part of the body and, within less than a second, calculating the geometry and arrangement of helical resonators—structures made of plastic and thin copper coils—that can manipulate the magnetic field of MRI. Critically, these arrays of coils help to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of MRI of the target area, reducing the fuzziness of imaging that’s caused when background electromagnetic signals seep into view.

Wu’s computational programs use the principles of circle packing—a geometric approach to squeezing circles together without any of them overlapping—to determine the best array and architecture for arranging the magnetic coils. They can also be tuned to resonate with a particular radio frequency, while the free-form shapes can be integrated into comfortable, wearable cuffs.

Boosting MRI with Low-Cost Materials

In related work published in an Advanced Materials paper, Zhang’s team demonstrated an alternative wearable metamaterial design for MRI that replaces copper and plastic coils with loops made from coaxial cables—the same cables used to bring you the internet. Coaxial cables are designed to transmit and shield high-frequency electrical signals from their surroundings, preventing unintended loss of signal. “This material has inherent advantages because it is lightweight, flexible, and restricts the electrical field to exactly where you want it,” says Xia Zhu (ENG’26), first author of the paper and a graduate student in Zhang’s lab.

Zhu created fabric-based wearable metamaterials—each using only about $50 of supplies—designed to bring loops of coaxial cables as close as possible to the part of the body undergoing a scan. In the paper, the team illustrates a potential knee scan: a pad of lightweight fabric, covered with a handful of coils, bending to the curve of the patient’s leg as they lie in the MRI machine. The researchers found it achieved “substantial electric field attenuation in its proximity, thereby minimizing electric field exposure to the imaging subject.”

Pushing even further, the team sought to develop an entirely wireless, formfitting wearable metamaterial that could boost SNR and passively tune and amplify the MRI signal. “To create a design this simple and elegant, we had to solve several problems first,” says Zhang, who’s affiliated with the BU Photonics Center, which provided technical assistance for much of the latest research.

In a paper published in Science Advances with their longtime collaborator Stephan W. Anderson, a BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine professor of radiology, Zhang’s team demonstrated that the coaxial cables can be arranged into freestanding cuffs without additional support materials—no fabric needed. They prototyped rings and cuffs sized to enhance MRI scans of the spine, the wrist, and a single finger—and in every experiment proved their seemingly simple design could amplify SNR and enable crisp MRI. The looped and ringed cables look like modern art or custom jewelry.

“Our recent designs demonstrate several strategies for using metamaterials to boost MRI using low-cost materials,” Zhang says, “which we hope will be translated into technologies that allow more patients around the world to benefit from MRI.”

BU engineer Xin Zhang says this thin, lightweight, and flexible metamaterial, embedded in textile, ensures “a comfortable and unrestricted MRI experience.” By manipulating the magnetic field of MRI, the tech can improve the quality of scans.

Credit

Photo by Jackie Ricciardi.

The first paper was supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and BU’s Rajen Kilachand Fund for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering; the second and third papers were supported by the Kilachand Fund.

Republishers are kindly reminded to uphold journalistic integrity by providing proper crediting, including a direct link back to the original source URL here.

New technology ‘lights up’ bacteria in wounds for better infection prevention

Innovative tool could potentially reduce chronic wound complications and improve patient outcomes

University of Southern California - Health Sciences

image:
David G. Armstrong, DPM, PhD, is a podiatric surgeon and limb preservation specialist with Keck Medicine of USC and senior author of the study.
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Credit: Richard Carrasco III

LOS ANGELES — Over 6.5 million Americans experience chronic wounds — wounds that do not heal after a few months. Almost all such wounds contain bacteria, which, if not detected and removed, can lead to severe infection and resulting complications, including amputation if a limb is involved.

This is especially true for patients with diabetic foot ulcers (open sores), which affects one-third of people with diabetes. Approximately 20% of those who develop a diabetic foot ulcer will require a lower-extremity amputation, according to the American Diabetes Association.

When physicians debride, or clean out, a wound, they remove as much bacteria as possible. However, they face one key limitation — not all bacteria can be seen by the human eye, and some may be missed during the debridement.

New Keck Medicine of USC research published in Advances in Wound Care suggests there may be a more effective method to detect bacteria during wound debridement. Autofluorescence (AF) imaging, where a handheld device “lights up” bacteria previously invisible to the human eye, uses violet light to illuminate molecules in the cell walls of any bacteria. Different types of bacteria turn different colors, allowing physicians to immediately determine how much and which types of bacteria are in the wound.

“We’re hopeful this new technology can help surgeons improve their accuracy when pinpointing and consequently removing bacteria from wounds and therefore improve patient outcomes, particularly for those with diabetic foot wounds,” said David G. Armstrong, DPM, PhD, a podiatric surgeon and limb preservation specialist with Keck Medicine and senior author of the study. “The early detection and removal of bacteria from a wound is vital to preventing avoidable amputations.”

The research, a literature review of 25 studies examining the effectiveness of AF imaging in treating diabetic patients with foot ulcers, reveals that AF imaging can identify bacteria in wounds in approximately 9 in 10 patients that traditional clinical assessments miss.

Traditionally, physicians debride wounds, then send tissue samples to the lab to identify specific types of bacteria present in the wound and determine the best treatment protocol based on those findings, such as starting the patient on antibiotics or providing a special type of wound dressing. This process can take days, during which time an infection can set in, said Armstrong.

With AF imaging physicians are able to make medical decisions during the wound debridement, rather than waiting for lab results to initiate treatment.

Another benefit to the technology is that if bacteria is caught early, the patient may avoid being prescribed antibiotics, which in wound care can be prolonged, thus avoiding possible antibiotic resistance.

“This real-time intervention may allow for faster, more effective treatment for wounds,” said Armstrong.

Keck Medicine physicians are already using the technology to successfully treat patients with chronic wounds, including diabetic foot ulcers.

“I look forward to more research in this area as we hope to see AF imaging become the standard of care for wound care in the near future,” said Armstrong.

The study is partially supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Award Number 1R01124789-01A1 and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center to Stream Healthcare in Place (#C2SHiP) CNS Award Number 2052578.

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For more information about Keck Medicine of USC, please visit news.KeckMedicine.org.

Journal

Advances in Wound Care

DOI

10.1089/wound.2024.0067

Dunick receives funding for Center For Economic Education

George Mason University

Dunick Receives Funding For Center For Economic Education

Jason Dunick, Associate Chair and Term Associate Professor, Economics, College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), received $108,692 from Virginia Council on Economic Education for: “Center for Economic Education.”

Dunick will use this funding to support the continuation of the services of the Center for Economic Education. The Center supports K-12 teachers who are teaching economics and personal finance in Virginia.

This grant represents the renewal of a long-standing relationship with the Virginia Council on Economic Education, and the work of the Center for Economic Education at Mason is in coordination with eight other Centers across the Commonwealth all working to ensure that Virginia remains a nationwide leader in economics and personal finance education.

Funding for this award began in July 2024 and will end in late June 2025.

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ABOUT GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

George Mason University is Virginia’s largest public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls more than 40,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity, and commitment to accessibility. In 2023, the university launched Mason Now: Power the Possible, a one-billion-dollar comprehensive campaign to support student success, research, innovation, community, and stewardship. Learn more at gmu.edu.

Wiener studying learning & metacognition for the perception of time

George Mason University

Wiener Studying Learning & Metacognition For The Perception Of Time

Martin Wiener, Associate Professor, Psychology, College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), received funding to study learning and metacognition for the perception of time.

Via this research, Wiener will conduct a series of studies that will inform metacognition and interval timing. He holds that this work will lead to a new domain of study to further understand how humans learn and adapt to temporal intervals.

By understanding how the brain measures and learns intervals of time, we can better understand psychiatric pathologies such as schizophrenia and autism, where metacognition is impaired.

Wiener received $721,141 from the National Science Foundation for this project. Funding began in Aug. 2024 and will end in late July 2027.

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ABOUT GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

Not sure how to stand out as a leader on Zoom calls? It starts with how you communicate, new study shows

Binghamton University research collaboration can help companies improve how they structure virtual teams

Binghamton University

Zoom call — image:
New research involving a collaboration between Binghamton University, State University of New York schools and research centers shows how, in virtual teams where nonverbal cues are limited, a person’s engagement and influence in conversations can significantly shape whether they’re perceived as a leader.
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Credit: Binghamton University, State University of New York

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- More companies are embracing remote work, and with that comes a need for more frequent communication. Teamwork through a screen isn’t always the same as having a group in the same room, so how are companies cultivating leaders in these virtual settings?

New research involving a collaboration between Binghamton University, State University of New York schools and research centers shows how, in virtual teams where nonverbal cues are limited, a person’s engagement and influence in conversations can significantly shape whether they’re perceived as a leader.

But taking charge of the conversation isn’t enough, the study found; for leadership to be effective and teamwork to be successful, all the group’s participants must also speak up. The study’s findings could guide the development of new training programs to strengthen verbal communication skills in virtual workspaces and help organizations improve the structure of virtual teams.

“Emerging leadership is really important in a virtual environment because we have to rely more on the effectiveness of our communication since we cannot observe formal leaders directly or as easily,” said Fuhe Jin, PhD ’23, now an assistant professor of management at The College of New Jersey, who worked on the study while a doctoral student at Binghamton. “If you want to be recognized as a leader in a virtual group, you need to pay closer attention to how the audience responds to what you’re saying and support others’ ideas so you can better facilitate communication.”

In the study, researchers based their findings on data gathered from 51 participants in 12 virtual teams at universities in Tokyo between 2021 and 2022. They found virtual team members whose contributions received inspiring or affirming responses from others in the group were more likely to be viewed as emergent leaders because their central role in team communications was being highlighted.

Using a machine-learning program to gain a detailed look into the virtual teams’ verbal dynamics, researchers tracked affirmative responses such as “You are correct,” “Indeed it is,” and “I agree with you.”

Next, they followed each team member’s level of engagement and responsiveness.

One important takeaway from analyzing the data was that just because someone dominated a team discussion, that didn’t necessarily make them a better leader, said Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship Chou-Yu (Joey) Tsai, who worked on the study.

“We found speaking in Zoom becomes quite important for everyone because, in these virtual settings, you cannot capture many nonverbal backchannel behaviors that would indicate whether people agree with or understand you in the same way as if you were meeting in person,” Tsai said. “This work reminds us that the audience matters as much as the person speaking, so both should have some common ground. That will enhance the perception of leadership, making you more effective in that role.”

This study represents a promising direction in artificial intelligence research because it shows how AI can be used to better understand and possibly improve human collaborative teams instead of seeking ways to replace them, said SUNY Distinguished SSIE Professor Hiroki Sayama, who was on the research team.

Researchers also noted in the study that if companies focused more on developing a person’s ability to engage in verbal interactions while also fostering team socioemotional support, virtual teams could more effectively nurture potential leaders.

“Regarding the scientific value of the key findings, we learn how leadership emerges from the complex interactions among people,” Sayama said of the study. “A classic, traditional view would attribute leadership to individual traits (vision, determination, charisma, etc.), but our study clearly showed that leadership is more relational.”

The study, “Leader Emergence in the Digital Realm: Exploring Communication Dynamics via Machine Learning,” recently received the Best Division Paper award from the Academy of Management’s Communication, Digital Technology, and Organization division. In addition to Binghamton researchers, the study included collaboration with Professor Mikiko Shimaoka and Professor Tomomi Kito) from Waseda University in Japan.

Journal

Academy of Management Proceedings

DOI

10.5465/AMPROC.2024.17615abstract

Article Title

Leader Emergence in the Digital Realm: Exploring Communication Dynamics via Machine Learning

NREL advances method for recyclable wind turbine blades

Resin made from biomass enables chemical recycling at end of useful lifespan

DOE/National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) see a realistic path forward to the manufacture of bio-derivable wind blades that can be chemically recycled and the components reused, ending the practice of old blades winding up in landfills at the end of their useful life.

The findings are published in the new issue of the journal Science. The new resin, which is made of materials produced using bio-derivable resources, performs on par with the current industry standard of blades made from a thermoset resin and outperforms certain thermoplastic resins intended to be recyclable.

The researchers built a prototype 9-meter blade to demonstrate the manufacturability of an NREL-developed biomass-derivable resin nicknamed PECAN. The acronym stands for PolyEster Covalently Adaptable Network, and the manufacturing process dovetails with current methods. Under existing technology, wind blades last about 20 years, and afterward they can be mechanically recycled such as shredded for use as concrete filler. PECAN marks a leap forward because of the ability to recycle the blades using mild chemical processes.

The chemical recycling process allows the components of the blades to be recaptured and reused again and again, allowing the remanufacture of the same product, according to Ryan Clarke, a postdoctoral researcher at NREL and first author of the new paper. “It is truly a limitless approach if it’s done right.”

He said the chemical process was able to completely break down the prototype blade in six hours.

The paper, “Manufacture and testing of biomass-derivable thermosets for wind blade recycling,” involved work from investigators at five NREL research hubs, including the National Wind Technology Center and the BOTTLE Consortium. The researchers demonstrated an end-of-life strategy for the PECAN blades and proposed recovery and reuse strategies for each component.

“The PECAN method for developing recyclable wind turbine blades is a critically important step in our efforts to foster a circular economy for energy materials,” said Johney Green, NREL’s associate laboratory director for Mechanical and Thermal Engineering Sciences.

The research into the PECAN resin began with the end. The scientists wanted to make a wind blade that could be recyclable and began experimenting with what feedstock they could use to achieve that goal. The resin they developed using bio-derivable sugars provided a counterpoint to the conventional notion that a blade designed to be recyclable will not perform as well.

“Just because something is bio-derivable or recyclable does not mean it's going to be worse,” said Nic Rorrer, one of the two corresponding authors of the Science paper. He said one concern others have had about these types of materials is that the blade would be subject to greater “creep,” which is when the blade loses its shape and deforms over time. “It really challenges this evolving notion in the field of polymer science, that you can't use recyclable materials because they will underperform or creep too much.”

Composites made from the PECAN resin held their shape, withstood accelerated weatherization validation, and could be made within a timeframe similar to the existing cure cycle for how wind turbine blades are currently manufactured.

While wind blades can measure the length of a football field, the size of the prototype provided proof of the process.

“Nine meters is a scale that we were able to demonstrate all of the same manufacturing processes that would be used at the 60-, 80-, 100-meter blade scale,” said Robynne Murray, the second corresponding author.

The other coauthors, all from NREL, are Erik Rognerud, Allen Puente-Urbina, David Barnes, Paul Murdy, Michael McGraw, Jimmy Newkirk, Ryan Beach, Jacob Wrubel, Levi Hamernik, Katherine Chism, Andrea Baer, and Gregg Beckham.

The U.S. Department of Energy jointly funded the research through its Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office and Bioenergy Technologies Office and their support of the BOTTLE Consortium. Additional research and funding will allow the investigators to build larger blades and to explore more bio-derived formulations.

NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC.

Journal

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.adp5395

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Manufacture and testing of biomass-derivable thermosets for wind blade recycling

Article Publication Date

27-Aug-2024