It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, September 12, 2024
European COFUND to convert ideas into actions to tackle global climate-related challenges
The DREAM+PLAN program will spearhead a new community of visionary changemakers across Europe and Australia.
RMIT University
RMIT Europe, RMIT University’s innovation hub in Barcelona, will coordinate Driving Climate Positive Futures (DREAM+PLAN), an interdisciplinary, international and intersectoral PhD program encouraging doctoral researchers to think big to challenge pressing climate-related problems.
The program has been awarded over €7.5 million (AUD $12.42 million) by the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action COFUND through the European Union's Horizon Europe framework.
DREAM+PLAN will recruit up to 32 PhD researchers who will be united by a mission to create a positive impact towards a more sustainable, fair, inclusive and thriving planet for future generations.
Their research will be driven by resilience (the ability to withstand and recover from disruptions), restoration (the ability to repair or rehabilitate degraded ecosystems) and regeneration (fostering the renewal, revitalisation and replenishment of ecosystems and communities) to address key societal challenges.
Professor Anne-Laure Mention, RMIT’s academic lead and Chief Investigator for DREAM+PLAN, said that the program aligned with the European Green Deal and would support research and innovation strategies related to clean technologies, green finance, nature-based technologies, renewable industry and entrepreneurship, among others.
“DREAM+PLAN will recruit a group of forward-thinking early-stage researchers tasked with developing tangible pathways for solving local and global climate-related emergencies,” said Mention, Director for the Global Business Innovation Enabling Impact Platform at RMIT.
Each candidate will benefit from cutting-edge training grounded in best practice, that will include scientific training as well as transferable skills.
The cohort will also enjoy a truly global experience, with a secondment of up to 12 months to RMIT, and will participate in activities and events including yearly doctoral schools, monthly online seminars and industry roundtables.
The DREAM+PLAN consortium is composed of 10 implementing partners across Europe that will employ and supervise the PhD candidates.
17 non-academic associated partners (SMEs, multinationals, unicorns, NGOs, civil society associations, innovation agencies, clusters and policymakers) will work alongside the candidates to shape their research projects thereby ensuring applicable, actionable knowledge outcomes.
“DREAM+PLAN’s doctoral graduates will be equipped with a unique set of skills and capabilities to fully comprehend and address the multifaceted nature and scale of climate change across sectors, setting them up advantageously in the competitive global job market,” said Mention.
An international recruitment campaign will begin in early 2025.
European participating universities: University of Cambridge; Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT); Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC); University of Vaasa (UVA); Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM); Tallinn University of Technology (Taltech); Kaunas University of Technology; University of Agder; University of Liege; St. Gallen University.
Associated partners: RMIT University; International Society for Professional Innovation Management; The Finnish Innovation Fund (SITRA); Oy Merinova Ab; HAUS Finnish Institute of Public Management Ltd; Radical Innovations Group Ab; Kempower Oy; Kuovola Innovation, Global Center of Expertise NODE; Huizing Academic Development; Schneider Electric; Innoget; MTU Finance Estonia; Tunne ry; DIVERSIunity; The Magic Circle Hut; Rosteka (UAB).
Development of latent fingerprints. Representative images on stainless steel are shown, illuminated by and viewed under visible light (a) before development and (b) after development with MCM-41@Ch@DnsGly NPs. Corresponding images generated by illumination with UV light (λex = 365 nm) after MCM-41@Ch@DnsGly NP development are shown on (c) stainless steel, (d) glass, (e) plastic and (f) unfired brass cartridge case substrates.
Innovative nanomaterials have the potential to revolutionise forensic science, particularly in the detection of latent (non-visible) fingermarks, following research conducted at Diamond’s labSAXS instrument (P38).
Researchers created a fluorescent nanoparticle using a combination of materials (MCM-41, chitosan and dansylglycine) to examine latent fingermarks. These nanoparticles have special properties that make them adhere well to fingerprint residues, even old ones. The nanoparticles work on various surfaces, including metal, plastic, glass and complex objects such as polymer banknotes. They have the potential to be used directly at crime scenes without lab facilities, which is a significant advantage over some previous reagents. They produce high-quality fingerprint images, with the vast majority of those tested meeting the UK Home Office standards for a successful identification. This new method captures the finer details of a fingermark, making it easier to identify individuals and is expected greatly to aid in forensic investigations.
The research was published in a Royal Society of Chemistry paper, highlighting that the new nanomaterial has proven to be a versatile and effective tool for visualising fingermark evidence. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) techniques at Diamond provided useful data to validate these results.
The research team includes scientists from the Technical and Scientific Section of Alagoas, Federal Police, Brazil; the National Institute of Criminalistics of the Federal Police, Brazil; the University of Leicester’s School of Chemistry; the Federal University of Alagoas, Brazil; and the UK’s national synchrotron, Diamond Light Source.
Ridge patterns on fingertips remain unchanged during and beyond a person’s life. They provide the primary method of personal identification in criminal investigations. When an object’s surface is touched by a finger, sweat and oily substances are transferred and deposited onto the surface, resulting in the formation of a mark. Most fingermarks are invisible to the naked eye and are referred to as latent fingermarks.
The international collaboration of researchers developed the new nanostructured hybrid material, MCM-41@chitosan@dansylglycine, to visualise latent fingermarks. This material combines mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a fluorescent dye (dansylglycine) and chitosan, a polysaccharide derived from the exoskeletons of shrimps, crabs and lobsters.
Latent fingermarks require physicochemical development techniques to enhance their visibility and make them interpretable for forensic purposes. Traditional methods for developing fingerprints include optical, physical, and chemical processes that involve interaction between the developing agent (often a coloured or fluorescent reagent) and the fingermark residue. These methods have limitations in recovering high-quality results in certain conditions.
Recently, new methods using mass spectrometry, spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and nanoparticles have improved the development of latent fingermarks. These techniques offer better contrast, sensitivity, and selectivity, with low toxicity. The ability to adjust nanomaterial properties further enhances the detection of both fresh and aged fingermarks.
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have attracted significant interest since the discovery of the M41S family of molecular sieves, which encompasses MCM-41, MCM-48, and SBA-15. These nanoparticles are characterised by their controlled particle size, porosity, high specific surface area, chemical stability, and ease of surface functionalisation.
Profa. Adriana Ribeiro, Federal University of Alagoas comments: “There are few studies employing chitosan for detection and enhancement of latent fingerprints and, to the best of our knowledge, no reports of the use of hierarchically structured MSNs modified with chitosan (MSN@Ch) for such applications – which was our strategy in this research. We exploited the MCM’s desirable characteristics – notably high surface area and surface modification – for the case of MCM-41 to enhance the interaction between the development reagent and fingerprint residue.”
The team added dansyl fluorophores which exhibit intense absorption bands in the near UV region and emit strong fluorescence in the visible spectrum with high emission quantum yields.
Professor of Physical Chemistry, Robert Hillman, University of Leicester concludes: “The overarching aim of this study was to create a versatile and effective latent fingermark visualisation material based on MSNs, chitosan and dansyl derivatives. These nanoparticles were applied as latent fingermark developers for marks on surfaces of diverse chemical composition, topography, optical characteristics and spatially variant nature, typical of forensically challenging evidence. For quality assessment of the enhanced fingermarks, we analysed the developed images using the UK Home Office scale, forensic protocols and, in terms of their constituent features, (minutiae), specialist forensic software. Across a substantive collection of marks deposited on chemically diverse surfaces and subject to complex environmental and temporal histories, the overwhelming majority of the enhanced images presented sufficient minutiae for comparison with model dactyloscopy images.”
Diamond Light Source CEO Prof. Gianluigi Botton adds: “It is pleasing to see that Diamond’s unique analytical tools once again have delivered outstanding science. Our network of international users is key to making sure our science delivers results. This advance in nanomaterials could be a step change in how forensics may be applied in the future.”
Development of latent fingerprints. Representative images on stainless steel are shown, illuminated by and viewed under visible light (a) before development and (b) after development with MCM-41@Ch@DnsGly NPs. Corresponding images generated by illumination with UV light (λex = 365 nm) after MCM-41@Ch@DnsGly NP development are shown on (c) stainless steel, (d) glass, (e) plastic and (f) unfired brass cartridge case substrates.
For further information on the research: Federal University of Alagoas, Campus A. C. Simões, Maceió, AL, Brazil E-mail:aribeiro@qui.ufal.br
School of Chemistry, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK E-mail:arh7@leicester.ac.uk
For further information: please contact Diamond Communications: Lorna Campbell +44 7836 625999 or Isabelle Boscaro-Clarke +44 1235 778130 Diamond Light Source: www.diamond.ac.uk X/Twitter: @DiamondLightSou
Diamond Light Source provides industrial and academic user communities with access to state-of-the-art analytical tools to enable world-changing science. Shaped like a huge ring, it works like a giant microscope, accelerating electrons to near light speeds, to produce a light 10 billion times brighter than the Sun, which is then directed off into 33 laboratories known as ‘beamlines’. Additionally, Diamond offers access to several integrated laboratories including the world-class Electron Bio-imaging Centre (eBIC) and the Electron Physical Science Imaging Centre (ePSIC).
Diamond serves as an agent of change, addressing 21st century challenges such as disease, clean energy, food security and more. Since operations started, more than 16,000 researchers from both academia and industry have used Diamond to conduct experiments, with the support of approximately 760 world-class staff. Almost 12,000 scientific articles have been published by its users and scientists.
Funded by the UK Government through the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), and by the Wellcome Trust, Diamond is one of the most advanced scientific facilities in the world, and its pioneering capabilities are helping to keep the UK at the forefront of scientific research.
Diamond was set-up as an independent not for profit company through a joint venture, between the UKRI’s Science and Technology Facilities Council and one of the world’s largest biomedical charities, the Wellcome Trust - each respectively owning 86% and 14% of the shareholding.
The University of Leicester is led by discovery and innovation – an international centre for excellence renowned for research, teaching and broadening access to higher education. It is among the Top 30 universities in the Times Higher Education (THE)’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 rankings with 89% of research assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent, with wide-ranging impacts on society, health, culture, and the environment. In 2023, the University received an overall Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023, making it one of a small number of institutions nationally to achieve TEF Gold alongside a top 30 REF performance. The University is home to more than 20,000 students and approximately 4,000 staff.
Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) Located in the city of Maceió, the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) is the major University in coastal state Alagoas. It is currently considered one of the main research centers in the Brazilian Northeast region. The Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) is a national reference in teaching, research and extension activities, establishing itself as an excellent support for the demands of society. It is the largest public higher education institution in the state of Alagoas and was ranked 49th among the best universities in Brazil in the 2023 edition of the World University Rankings (CWUR). One of the reasons for reaching this level was the impact of institutional support and investment in research. All of this is the result of the prioritization of research at the University over the last four years, which is reflected in quality teaching and service. UFAL has 82.1% of its publications with national and international collaboration. And most of the citations were from works produced with researchers from other countries.
More on : www.ufal.br, Instagram: @ufaloficial, Facebook: @ufaloficial, X (twitter): @ufaloficial Youtube: @ufaloficial
Aerial view of Diamond Light Source, the UK's national synchrotron
Dansyl fluorophore functionalized hierarchically structured mesoporous silica nanoparticles as novel latent fingerprint development agents
Supported youth become supportive adults, researchers find
UC Davis study of Mexican-origin families looks at origins of kindness
University of California - Davis
Adolescents who had emotional support from friends and relatives, and who were biologically prepared to respond well to others, were more likely to exhibit prosocial behavior and empathy for others as they entered young adulthood, compared to adolescents without that kind of backing. The findings came from a recent University of California, Davis, study of Mexican-origin teens living in the United States.
The study is part of a continuing assessment of multiple generations of Mexican-origin families living in the United States called the California Families Project. This was the first of these studies to look at how the adolescents’ physiology and relationships worked together to support positive development across the teen years, researchers said.
“We give a lot of attention to adolescents’ problems, and of course that’s important, but we also need to learn more about what helps youths to thrive and live better lives as kind and caring adults,” said Paul Hastings, professor of psychology and the lead author of the paper.
Hastings said the research is important when one considers that in California more than half of children and adolescents identify as Latino or Latinx, and the majority of these families identify Mexico as their country of origin. The people studied were living in Northern California at the time.
The study found that family support predicted the youths’ helpful and compassionate actions toward people they were close to, whereas youths who had good friend support systems became more engaged in volunteer work and other helpful community actions by 19 years of age. In addition, adolescents with physiology that prepared them to be sensitive to others were more likely to be empathic, helpful and kind.
The study was published in Developmental Psychology, a journal of the American Psychological Association, in August.
Researchers looked at 229 Mexican-origin adolescents from fifth grade onward (ages 10 through 19), with data collected from 2006 through 2016. They assessed adolescents’ electrocardiography (heart rate activity), their socialization in relationships with family and friends, and multiple aspects of their prosocial tendencies, including empathy, helpfulness, kindness and civic engagement with their communities.
The study was performed by researchers conducting individual assessments using questionnaires, behavioral tasks, and physiological monitoring of the youths’ ability to manage their physiological arousal. Youths reported on social support they received from family and friends in surveys between ages 10 to 16. They then had their baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia, or RSA, measured at 17. Empathy and prosocial behavior were assessed at ages 17 and 19.
“The unique benefit of having supportive friendships was evident for emerging adults’ engagement in broader community-oriented prosocial behaviors,” researchers wrote.
“This finding suggests that feeling secure and connected may be particularly important for youths to be prepared to engage with the broader community,” Hastings said.
Additional authors of the paper include Jonas Miller, University of Connecticut; Davis G. Weissman, California State University Dominguez Hills; Gustavo Carlo, UC Irvine; and from UC Davis, Richard W. Robins (psychology), Amanda E. Guyer (human ecology), and Ryan T. Hodge (human development).
The research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Parasympathetic Regulation and Support From Family and Friends Predict Prosocial Development in U.Sl Mexican-Origin Adolescents
Indoor allergens worsen respiratory infections in children with asthma, study finds
University of Texas at Austin
AUSTIN, Texas — Children with asthma who are exposed to high levels of indoor allergens, such as cockroach and mouse allergens, are at an increased risk of developing respiratory viral infections with symptoms, according to a new study by researchers at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin. The study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, reveals that these indoor allergens not only heighten the likelihood of upper respiratory infections with cold symptoms but also contribute to more severe pulmonary outcomes, including reduced lung function and increased inflammation.
“This research highlights the critical role that environmental factors, particularly those found in disadvantaged communities, play in exacerbating respiratory infections among children with asthma,” said lead author Darlene Bhavnani, Ph.D., an infectious disease epidemiologist and assistant professor of population health at Dell Med. “By understanding these links, we can better target interventions to reduce exposure to harmful allergens and improve health outcomes in at-risk populations.”
Key findings of the study include:
Children with persistent asthma who lived in homes with high levels of cockroach and mouse allergens were more likely to have upper respiratory viral infections with cold symptoms.
Higher levels of pest allergens in the home were also connected to a greater chance of having breathing problems when sick.
This link was stronger in children who were allergic to these pest allergens.
“These results could help explain why some children, especially those who live in underserved areas, have more trouble with their asthma than others,” said Bhavnani.
The study suggests that interventions that help to achieve healthy housing and healthy neighborhoods could decrease the risk of respiratory infections in children with asthma. Future research will look at whether other factors in the home and neighborhood environment, such as air pollution, also play a role in how often kids with asthma get colds.
Journal
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
The legacy of corn nitrogen fertilizer: Study shows lengthy impact in tile drained systems
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
image:
Research from the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign shows an unexpectedly large and stable "legacy" pool of nitrogen in crop fields that can impact local and regional water quality.
Credit: Lauren D. Quinn, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
URBANA, Ill. — Midwestern soils are among the most productive in the world, thanks in part to extensive tile drainage systems that remove excess water from crop fields. But water isn’t the only thing flowing through tile drains. Nitrogen moves along with soil water into drainage ditches, streams, and ultimately into the Mississippi River Basin, where the nutrient contributes to massive algal blooms and hypoxic conditions that impact aquatic life in the Gulf of Mexico.
A recent study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign provides a new look at the sources and processes affecting the nitrogen load in tile drainage water. The study reveals an unexpectedly large and stable “legacy” pool of nitrogen, adding nuance to the common belief that nitrogen pulses rapidly through tile drainage systems as a transient reflection of fertilizer input and microbial activity.
“The legacy effect relates to the time lag between when nitrogen is made available in the soil environment to its loss to waterways. For example, if you have a nitrogen input via fertilizer this year, it won't be reflected in offloads downstream immediately. This lag has been found in many systems, but previous researchers didn't know what caused it or how large its magnitude was,” said lead study author Zhongjie Yu, assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES), part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at Illinois.
To understand the origin of nitrogen in drainage water, the research team first had to differentiate nitrate derived from various sources. They collected tile drainage samples from a corn-soybean field on a weekly basis over three years and measured nitrate. They also collected soil, crop residue, and fertilizer samples to analyze nitrogen concentrations as well as naturally occurring, stable isotopes of nitrogen and oxygen, the two elements that make up nitrate molecules. Using sensitive laboratory equipment, previous researchers associated slight variations in heavier nitrogen (15N) and oxygen (18O) isotopes with various nitrogen sources and the microbial nitrogen cycling processes of nitrification and denitrification.
“We can think of nitrogen and oxygen isotopes as a fingerprint to identify the sources of nitrate and how it’s being recycled by microbial processes,” Yu said. “Different sources have different isotope ratios, just like humans have different fingerprints.”
Yu added that nitrate derived from inorganic fertilizer has a lower isotope ratio, with fewer heavy nitrogens and oxygens, than bulk soil organic nitrogen sources.
The research team also brought soil samples into the lab and incubated them to learn how microbial nitrogen cycling affects nitrate isotopes. With both the field and lab data, the researchers could trace nitrate sources through time and across cropping systems.
“Our results show that the original isotope ratios of nitrate were similar to those of ammonia fertilizer and soybean biomass nitrogen and did not vary over time when there was no new fertilizer input to the system,” Yu said. “This suggests a large legacy pool of nitrate in the soil and a time lag between when nitrogen is added to the system and when it is exported as nitrate in tile drainage.”
He added that when new fertilizer was added as anhydrous ammonia to corn, a large shift in the isotopic signal, reflecting the new nitrogen, was recorded in tile drainage water, especially when rain events followed the application. However, this new nitrogen signal was often short-lived, with the legacy signal reemerging within the following days to weeks.
The pattern lines up with results from study co-author and NRES professor Richard Mulvaney’s group. In a series of studies, that group used labeled isotope techniques to trace nitrogen uptake in corn plants, finding that less than half of fertilizer nitrogen is used by the plants; instead, corn took up most of its nitrogen from the soil. The remaining fertilizer nitrogen, according to the new results, is likely lost in tile drainage or converted into a reactive fraction stored in the soil, leading to the release of nitrogen long-term.
Yu said the evidence of a legacy effect can inform management and impact how policymakers evaluate the success of nitrogen loss reduction practices.
“Often, we expect to see immediate effects of management changes in nitrogen load. However, even if we stopped applying nitrogen fertilizer for a given year, we might still see significant loss from that system for a few years,” he said. “It’s not like if we reduce nitrogen input, it can solve everything immediately.”
The study’s first author, doctoral student Yinchao Hu, added that nitrate loss derived from corn fertilizer was strongest during high tile-drainage discharge events, suggesting that a little management foresight could be beneficial when rain is in the forecast.
“If we can control application during periods of high discharge, that may help us to reduce nitrogen pollution,” she said. “Or if there are sufficient forecasts for rain events, farmers can take adaptive measures and temporarily close the tile drainage.”
The study, “Deciphering the isotopic imprint of nitrate to reveal nitrogen source and transport mechanisms in a tile-drained agroecosystem,” is published in JGR Biogeosciences [DOI:10.1029/2024JG008027]. The research was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture [project no. ILLU-875-983] and the Illinois Nutrient Research and Education Council [project nos. 2021-4-360649-46 and 2014-5-360847-320].
Researchers in Germany can harvest protein and vitamin B9 from microbes by feeding them nothing much more than hydrogen, oxygen, and CO2. The technology, published September 12 in the Cell Press journal Trends in Biotechnology, runs on renewable energy to produce a sustainable, micronutrient-enriched protein alternative that may one day make it to our plates.
“This is a fermentation process similar to how you make beer, but instead of giving the microbes sugar, we gave them gas and acetate,” says corresponding author Largus Angenent of the University of Tübingen, Germany. “We knew that yeast could produce vitamin B9 on their own with sugar, however, we didn’t know if they could do the same with acetate.”
“We are approaching 10 billion people in the world, and with climate change and limited land resources, producing enough food will become harder and harder,” says Angenent. “One alternative is growing proteins in bioreactors through biotechnology rather than growing crops to feed animals. It makes agriculture much more efficient.”
The team designed a two-stage bioreactor system that produces yeast rich in protein and vitamin B9. This vitamin is also known as folate and is essential for bodily functions like cell growth and metabolism. In the first stage, the bacterium Thermoanaerobacter kivui converts hydrogen and CO2 into acetate, which is found in vinegar. In the second stage, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, more commonly known as baker’s yeast, feeds on acetate and oxygen to make protein and vitamin B9. The hydrogen and oxygen can be produced by zapping water with electricity produced by clean energy sources like windmills, for example.
It turns out acetate-fed yeast produces about the same amount of vitamin B9 as those that eat sugar. Just 6 grams, or 0.4 tablespoon, of the harvested dried yeast meets the daily vitamin B9 requirement. The vitamin levels were measured by a team led by co-author Michael Rychlik at the Technical University of Munich, Germany.
For protein, the researchers found that the levels in their yeast exceed those of beef, pork, fish, and lentils. Eighty-five grams, or 6 tablespoons, of yeast provides 61% of daily protein needs, while beef, pork, fish, and lentils meet 34%, 25%, 38%, and 38% of the need, respectively. However, the yeast should be treated to rid compounds that can increase the risk of gout if consumed excessively. Even so, treated yeast still meets 41% of the daily protein requirement, comparable to traditional protein sources.
This technology aims to address several global challenges: environmental conservation, food security, and public health. Running on clean energy and CO2, the system reduces carbon emissions in food production. It uncouples land use from farming, freeing up space for conservation. Angenent also stresses that it will not outcompete farmers. Instead, the technology will help concentrate farmers to produce vegetables and crops sustainably. The team’s yeast may also help developing nations overcome food scarcity and nutritional deficiencies by delivering protein and vitamin B9.
But before picking up the research team’s yeast at a grocery aisle as a protein alternative, Angenent says there’s much more to do. They plan to optimize and scale up production, investigate food safety, conduct technical and economic analyses, and gauge market interest.
“The fact that we can make vitamins and protein at the same time at a pretty high production rate without using any land is exciting,” says Angenent. “The end product is vegetarian/vegan, non-GMO, and sustainable, which could appeal to consumers.”
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This work was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Germany, the Novo Nordisk Foundation CO2 Research Center (CORC), SPRIND GmbH, and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Trends in Biotechnology (@TrendsinBiotech) is a multi-disciplinary Cell Press journal publishing original research and reviews on exciting developments in biotechnology, with the option to publish open access. This journal is a leading global platform for discussion of significant and transformative concepts across applied life sciences that examine bio-based solutions to real-world problems. Trends in Biotechnology provides cutting-edge research that breaks new ground and reviews that provide insights into the future direction of the field, giving the reader a novel point of view. Visit https://www.cell.com/trends/biotechnology. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.
Power-to-Vitamins: producing folate (vitamin B9) from renewable electric power and CO2 with a microbial protein system
Article Publication Date
12-Sep-2024
Researchers study cloud data from Tasmania to Texas
University of Oklahoma
NORMAN, OKLA. – Two atmospheric researchers at the University of Oklahoma have received funding from the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric System Research program. Greg McFarquhar, Ph.D., and Zachary Lebo, Ph.D., will both lead projects to advance understanding of cloud processes by utilizing datasets from distinct atmospheric field campaigns.
One key focus will be on ice multiplication processes, such as how ice is generated in clouds. McFarquhar will use the CAPE-K data and modeling simulations to examine how ice is multiplied in these clouds, with the broader aim of further informing global climate and earth systems models.
McFarquhar says that the advantage of the CAPE-K data is that the duration of collection, from April 2024 to September 2025, gives scientists a good picture of what controls these cloud properties. He will partner with Yongjie Huang, Ph.D., a research scientist with OU’s Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms, to run simulations examining how these cloud properties depend on environmental conditions and aerosols.
“If we can get these simulations well-verified against the observations that we collect within the models, we can turn processes on and off to give us a lot of important information on what the processes are most responsible for the generation of ice,” said McFarquhar.
Lebo will work with data collected during the Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions Experiment, or TRACER. TRACER and its sister campaign ESCAPE (Experiment of Sea Breeze Convection, Aerosols, Precipitation, and Environment) took place in Houston, Texas, an area selected for its frequent thunderstorms, as well as the added interest of the influence of the metropolitan area on storm processes. During these campaigns, data on cloud and aerosol interactions in deep convection were collected by a variety of observation instruments. Lebo will leverage the TRACER data to link the processes that are ongoing inside of thunderstorms to the actual development of the storms themselves.
“There’s a huge scale gap here that we’re trying to bridge to understand how these small-scale processes are affecting the large scale of these storms and vice versa,” said Lebo.
Lebo will examine the ongoing processes on the scale of hydrometeors. Hydrometeors, such as raindrops or ice crystals, are microscopic –10s to 1000s of micrometers in size – compared to the large-scale properties such as temperature and wind that vary at the scale of several kilometers. Bridging that vast gap will strengthen and expand scientists’ understanding of the processes and properties of convective clouds.
Lebo says a better grasp of how these storms form and evolve will pave the way for more accurate simulation and forecasting of these storms. Processes that are determined to be critical in the evolution of thunderstorms could also be used as guidance for future model development.
