Sometimes you're the windshield: Utah State University researcher says vehicles cause significant bee deaths

In the Sustainable Environment journal, USU ecologist Joseph Wilson and colleagues report millions of pollinators are killed daily in vehicle collisions along roadways in U.S. western states

Utah State University

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Utah State University ecologist Joseph Wilson and colleagues report millions of bees die in vehicle collisions along Western U.S. highways. As pivotal pollinators, the consequences of these deaths could be significant.

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Credit: Joseph S. Wilson

LOGAN, UTAH, USA -- When a large mammal such as a deer or a moose is struck by a motor vehicle, the damage is usually dramatic. To reduce these unfortunate events, transportation officials have teamed with wildlife researchers to place warning signs, and to construct wildlife underpasses and overpasses, to mitigate mishaps along animal migration paths.

In contrast, collisions with much smaller bees often go unnoticed or are perceived by motorists as simply an annoying splat on a windshield. The significance, Utah State University researcher Joseph Wilson argues, is much greater.

“Bees play a pivotal role in our in ecosystem,” says Wilson, an evolutionary ecologist and professor in the Department of Biology at USU Tooele. “The consequences of their frequent collisions with vehicles extend well beyond a minor travel inconvenience. In fact, the impacts of bee deaths, occurring minute-by-minute each day, may have a greater negative impact than we realized.”

A new study by Wilson and colleagues suggests tens of millions of bees may perish every day as motorists zoom down busy highways of the western United States. He and USU alums Thomas Porter and Olivia Messinger Carril report preliminary findings in the November 7, 2024 online issue of Sustainable Environment.

“Unlike collisions with larger animals that are easy to measure, it is much harder to detect the extent of bee mortality caused by moving vehicles,” Wilson says.

The team used sticky traps attached to car bumpers and extrapolated the data based on Department of Transportation statistics. Wilson says the large estimated numbers of bees being hit was sobering.

Why is bee mortality along roads so high?

“Roadsides, especially those in arid landscapes, have more flowering plants due to water runoff from roads,” Wilson says.

In the desert, these roadside plant communities often house diverse bee communities. Further, the team’s findings reveal roads with the highest bee mortality estimates are often near national parks, where visitation has sky-rocketed with a steady stream of motor vehicles.

“The quality of the roadside habitat, however, determines if insects stay along the roadside, or if they decide to cross the road, looking for better places to forage,” he says.

Increased awareness of the importance of bees, as well as a growing number of studies suggesting some bee communities are declining, have led public managers and private organization to encourage plantings along roads and in medians.

“This may not be the best solution in all areas, if those plantings encourage in insects to cross roads to access those resources,” Wilson says.

A challenging conundrum, then, is how to you create bee-friendly habitat, without further imperiling bees?

“We’ve raised a lot of questions,” Wilson says. “More research is needed to better understand how roads and roadside habitats are impacting insect movement, along with ways roadway design and maintenance, as well as vehicle designs, can be less detrimental to these pollinators.”

And it’s not all bad news, he says.

“Some studies show healthy roadside habitat facilitates movement of pollinators along the road,” Wilson says. “So, with some awareness, landscapes can be restored along roadways to support pollinator communities and reduce the need for road crossings.”

Still, habitat modification, habitat fragmentation and habitat loss are taking a grim toll on pollinator populations, he says.

“Bees are keystone species that support plant diversity and reproduction,” Wilson says. “Understanding how we can support pollinators at a landscape scale is an important step towards the protection of these important insects.”

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Journal

Sustainable Environment

DOI

10.1080/27658511.2024.2424064 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Are vehicle strikes causing millions of bee deaths per day on western United States roads? Preliminary data suggests the number is high

Article Publication Date

7-Nov-2024

 

AMS Science Preview: Turbulence & thunderstorms, heat stress, future derechos

Early online research from journals of the American Meteorological Society

American Meteorological Society

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

A New Heat Stress Index For Climate Change Assessment
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Heat Index may dramatically underestimate heat stress in extreme temperatures. This work compares the Heat Index (HI), developed to measure heat stress on the human body, to a recently developed Extended Heat Index (EHI) that aims to function better for the kind of extreme humid heat that is becoming more common with climate change. The study finds that during extreme heat waves, “the original [Heat Index] can underestimate heat stress by a considerable amount” (5-10°C) compared to the EHI.

Lengthening Atlantic Hurricane Seasons with Earlier Storm Formation Dates Including Implications from 2020
Journal of Climate

Atlantic hurricane season is lengthening. A statistical analysis of Atlantic hurricane seasons indicates a statistically significant lengthening trend since the 1970s. This is primarily due to more storms forming earlier in the year. “Since the early 1970s, dates for the earliest storms have trended earlier, the last storm’s dissipation dates later, and seasons correspondingly longer,” the authors write.

Spatial Patterns of Turbulence near Thunderstorms
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Thunderstorms cause flight turbulence up to 100 km away. A new study examining radar data and airline reports finds that turbulence risk is up to five times higher than normal within 32 km of a radar-identified storm at flight altitude, and twice as high 70 km away. Elevated risk was found up to 100 km away from a storm. In addition, when flying over a storm, turbulence risk was up to 20 times higher than normal, and never completely dissipated at any height.

Future Derecho Potential in the United States
Journal of Climate

Derechos to increase, intensify in central, eastern U.S. under future climate. Derechos, and other windstorms driven by thunderstorm systems, are due to increase according to the authors’ high-resolution climate simulations. With both intermediate and pessimistic future greenhouse gas concentrations, models suggest increased frequency, intensity, and geographic spread of MCS-driven windstorms across the central and eastern contiguous United States.

Changes in Extreme Daily Precipitation over the Contiguous United States from Convection-Permitting Simulations
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

Precipitation extremes to shift across continental U.S. cities, model suggests. A model shown to “admirably” model historical precipitation extremes (the highest 1% of daily rainfall events) found statistically significant increases in these events during winter and spring across the Midwest and Ohio Valley, and decreases in such events during the winter for the southern Great Plains by the end of the century. The authors also found increasing variability in extremes across several U.S. cities, including Seattle, Phoenix, and Minneapolis.

Delayed Impact of Biomass Burning in the Indochinese Peninsula on the Bay of Bengal Monsoon
Journal of Climate

Biomass burning on the Indochinese Peninsula may delay monsoon onset in the Bay of Bengal. A modeling study suggests that aerosols from fires on the Indochinese Peninsula can reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the ocean’s surface, creating a cooler area that suppresses convection and certain atmospheric flows. According to the model, this could lead to a delayed monsoon onset in the Bay of Bengal.

The Efficacy of Red Flag Warnings in Mitigating Human-Caused Wildfires across the Western United States
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

Red flag warnings have limited usefulness for reducing human-caused wildfire ignitions. National Weather Service red flag warnings (RFWs) denote weather conditions conducive to extreme wildfires. Examining data from the Western United States, the authors found some evidence to support the idea that fewer people engaged in activities like debris burning on red flag days, while the warnings had no impact on habitual behaviors like smoking, or the incidence of fires caused by infrastructure issues (e.g., power lines).

Burn Period: A use-inspired metric to track wildfire risk across Arizona and New Mexico in the southwest U.S.
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

“Burn period” tracks time windows for wildfire-inducing conditions. A new tool, the Burn Period Tracker, formalizes a term used by wildland fire managers. Burn period (the number of hours each day with atmospheric humidity below 20%) tracks well with fire weather conditions in the U.S. Southwest and allows for improved short-term planning around fire risk.

Projected effects of climate change on meteorological droughts over China: A study based on high-resolution NEX-GDDP data
Journal of Hydrometeorology

Droughts to increase in China under future climate scenarios. The authors’ analysis suggests that moderate and extreme droughts are projected to increase across China under moderate (RCP4.5) and worst-case (RCP8.5) atmospheric greenhouse gas scenarios, respectively.

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

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AMS BLOG

Tornado damage risk is increasing across the U.S. (even where tornadoes aren’t); peer pressure presents campus tornado safety issues; and bilingual weather warnings are a lifeline for Spanish-speakers. The 31st Conference on Severe Local Storms took place October 20-25, 2024, and the first session dealt with societal risks and perceptions of severe storms. Read about some of the takeaways on the AMS Front Page Blog, including how weather warnings are evolving.

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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

 

Heartier Heinz? How scientists are learning to help tomatoes beat the heat

Biologists at Brown University found what makes some types of tomatoes more heat tolerant, yielding insights that could help crops adapt to climate change

Brown University

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — By studying tomato varieties that produce fruit in exceptionally hot growing seasons, biologists at Brown University identified the growth cycle phase when tomatoes are most vulnerable to extreme heat, as well as the molecular mechanisms that make the plants more heat tolerant.

The discovery, detailed in a study in Current Biology, could inform a key strategy to protect the food supply in the face of climate instability, the researchers said. Agricultural productivity is particularly vulnerable to climate change, the study noted, and rising temperatures are predicted to reduce crop yields by 2.5% to 16% for every additional 1 degree Celsius of seasonal warming. 

The scientists took some lessons from evolution to experiment with how best to speed up the adaptation process for varieties of tomato plants, explained study author Sorel V. Yimga Ouonkap, a research associate in molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry at Brown. It would take a long time to wait for evolution to weed out the vulnerable tomato varieties like Heinz in favor of those that can handle extreme heat, a process that might also jeopardize the qualities that make vulnerable crops commercially desirable.

“We’re trying to figure out thermoregulation at a molecular and cellular level, and identify what and where we need to improve so that we can target those in commercial plant cultivars and conserve everything about them except for this one aspect that makes them vulnerable to extreme heat,” Ouonkap said. “Over time, you can start accumulating different resistance mechanisms as the growing conditions continue to change.”

Understanding thermotolerance, or the ability of a plant to withstand extreme temperatures, is a promising strategy to address climate adaptation, said study author Mark Johnson, a professor of biology at Brown.

“Imagine if you could just make a Heinz tomato more resilient to temperature stress without affecting the flavor profile or the way people experience the tomato,” Johnson said. “That would be a great advantage.”

Plant reproduction: a ripe area for research

The plant reproduction phase has been the focus of research in Johnson’s lab for many years. While the scientific literature includes studies of how heat stress affects plant growth in general, or the development of key reproductive structures, there was an absence of work that specifically examined what happens after pollen lands on the stigma during plant reproduction, Johnson said.

For Ouonkap’s thesis project, he focused on the pollen tube growth phase of the plant reproductive cycle. He studied different cultivars of tomato plants known for their ability to produce fruit in exceptionally hot growing seasons. The tomato varieties in the study were native to the Philippines, Russia and Mexico and were all grown in the Plant Environment Center at Brown.

Collaborating with scientists at the University of Arizona, Ouonkap studied how heat stress affects the ability of the pollen to grow in the flower of the tomato plant. He focused on how gene expression changes when tomato pollen produced by plants growing in optimal greenhouse conditions were exposed to high temperatures when growing in a petri dish. 

The team’s partners in Arizona found that exposure to high temperature solely during the pollen tube growth phase limits fruit and seed production more significantly in tomato cultivars that were heat sensitive than those that were heat tolerant. Importantly, Ouonkap found that pollen tubes from the Tamaulipas variety of tomato, known to be tolerant to heat, have enhanced growth under high temperature. His molecular analysis of the pollen tube in these tomatoes allowed the research team to pinpoint the mechanisms that were associated with thermotolerance.

Tomatoes are an ideal organism for this kind of research, the researchers said. The ability of different varieties to adapt to a variety of extreme climates offer scientists insights into how species vary in their responses to environmental conditions. Tomatoes are also an important commercial crop in countries all over the world, from the Mediterranean to Egypt to Turkey to California — some of which are among the most vulnerable to extreme heat conditions. 

With the right molecular mechanisms now identified, a next step would be determining specific techniques for enabling tomato growth in different climates. In one hypothetical scenario, scientists might develop a small molecule that could prime the pollen in the plants to be able to withstand a heat wave, Johnson explained. 

“When the weather forecast showed two weeks of high temperatures during the pollen tube growth phase, the farmer would apply a product to plants that would change the gene expression so that the pollen would be resilient to heat,” he said.

While that type of manipulation is still far off in the future, the researchers said this area of research is ripe for exploration.

This project was funded by the National Science Foundation (IOS-1939255) with additional support from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (2020-67013-30907, 2024-67012-41882) and the National institutes of Health (5R35GM139609, PI AEL).

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Journal

Current Biology

DOI

10.1016/j.cub.2024.10.025 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Cells

Article Title

Enhanced pollen tube performance at high temperature contributes to thermotolerant fruit and seed production in tomato

Article Publication Date

6-Nov-2024

COI Statement

R.P. is the Editor-in-Chief of Plant Reproduction. All other authors declare no competing interests.

 

Study of mountaineering mice sheds light on evolutionary adaptation

Evolution enables a single species to thrive across diverse environments

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

 

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Nebraska's Naim Bautista (left) and Jay Storz are part of an international research team that studied how localized genetic adaptations can help a single species thrive across diverse environments 

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Credit: Craig Chandler | University Communication and Marketing |University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Teams of mountaineering mice are helping advance understanding into how evolutionary adaptation to localized conditions can enable a single species to thrive across diverse environments.

In a study led by Naim Bautista, a postdoctoral researcher in Jay Storz’s lab at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the team took highland deer mice and their lowland cousins on a simulated ascent to 6,000 meters. The “climb” ventured from sea level and the mice reached the simulated summit seven weeks later. Along the way, Bautista tracked how the mice responded to cold stress at progressively lower oxygen levels.

“Deer mice have the broadest environmental range of any North American mammal, as they are distributed from the plains of Nebraska to the summits of the highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada,” said Storz, Willa Cather Professor of biological sciences. “This study tested whether they are able to thrive across such a broad range of elevations by evolving adaptations to local conditions or by possessing a generalized ability to acclimatize.”

Conducted in a specialized lab at Canada’s McMaster University, the study divided each team of highland and lowland mice into two distinct groups — a control that remained at sea level throughout the study, and an acclimation group that embarked on the seven-week ascent.

After seven days at sea-level, conditions for the acclimated group advanced by 1,000 meters in elevation weekly, with oxygen levels reduced to reflect what climbers would experience. The research team monitored the ability of each mouse to cope with cold exposure by means of metabolic heat production. 

Data showed that the highland and lowland deer mouse cousins do not share a general ability to acclimate to hypoxia (low oxygen conditions). As the simulated elevations rose above 4,000 meters, the homefield advantage of the highland mice quickly became apparent. As oxygen levels dropped, the highland mice were better able to regulate body temperature than their lowland counterparts owing to more efficient breathing and circulatory oxygen-transport.

“The results show us that the highlanders and lowlanders do not share a generalized ability to acclimatize to changing environmental conditions,” Bautista said. “Rather, the mice living at higher elevations share evolved ways to acclimatize to low oxygen conditions that are distinct from those of the lowland prairie mice.”

The study also showed that the highland mice have a genetic advantage that helps suppress thickening of the right ventricle of the heart, a symptom of pulmonary hypertension, which is a common malady among lowland mammals that are forced to acclimatize to low oxygen conditions.

Bautista said the findings show how adaptation to local conditions can allow a widely distributed species like the deer mouse to thrive in diverse environments.

 

“It highlights how evolved changes specific to populations help shape their flexibility,” Bautista said. “Ultimately, it is these changes that influence their ability to survive within different habitats.”

Bautista is finalizing plans to repeat the study, taking it to new heights by measuring the responses of the yellow-rumped leaf-eared mouse, the world’s highest-dwelling mammal. The species hails from the Andes mountains, living at elevations up to 22,110 feet, and was discovered by Storz.

The deer mice study was recently published in PNAS. Other members of the research team include Storz; Ellen Shadowitz and Graham Scott of McMaster University; Nathanael Herrera and Zachary Cheviron of the University of Montana; and Oliver Wearing of the University of British Columbia.

 

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Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2412526121 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Local adaptation, plasticity, and evolved resistance to hypoxic cold stress in high-altitude deer mice

 THE 'FRIDGE' CREATED THE MIDDLE CLASS

The refrigerator as a harbinger of a better life

Radboud University Nijmegen

To get a good sense of a country’s level of development, you need to look at the items people have in their homes, according to economists Rutger Schilpzand and Jeroen Smits from Radboud University. Research on low- and middle-income countries often focuses on income, health or education, but that doesn’t tell you the full story of a country’s situation. ‘That’s why, for the first time, we are mapping out how the material wealth of households is developing,’ Schilpzand explains. The researchers coin this material wealth growth for households the 'domestic transition'. Their research is published today in the Journal of International Development.

Today, people in wealthy countries can scarcely imagine life without a refrigerator, television or washing machine, but prior to 1960 very few households owned these appliances. From that point on, however, things moved quickly: just fifteen years or so later these items could be found in pretty much every kitchen and living room in these countries. This development from  a society in which households own hardly any of these kinds of items to one in which almost every household has them is what the researchers refer to as ‘the domestic transition’. In their paper, they describe what this transition means for emerging countries and what factors contribute to a faster transition.

Decent standard of living

All these appliances that households in wealthy countries own today represent the basic conditions for what could be called a decent standard of living. ‘Virtually every household in the world that is wealthy enough to buy such items actually does so,’ says Smits. ‘And that’s not surprising, as behind all the colourful images we see of markets in developing countries or women washing clothes in a river lies a huge burden of time and energy, which mostly falls on the shoulders of (house)wives.’ ‘Buying a refrigerator or washing machine immediately reduces their workload and creates space for spending their time in more productive ways, agrees Schilpzand. ‘The domestic transition is therefore an important prerequisite for strengthening the position of women worldwide.’ 

Phase and speed of the transition

Wealthy countries completed the domestic transition decades ago, but in many developing countries it is still in progress or may even have only just begun. The researchers wanted to know whether the transition in emerging countries follows a similar pattern to that in Western countries a few decades earlier. This pattern was characterised by a slow start, followed by a rapid sprint towards mass adoption of a particular item, after which a ceiling was reached. To answer this question, they examined amongst others TV and refrigerator ownership in 1,342 different regions within 88 low- and middle-income countries. 

The transition did indeed follow a pattern that barely differs from that seen in Western countries. However, both between and within countries substantial differences in the phase and speed of the transition were observed. Smits: ‘Whereas China and Mexico have already pretty much completed the transition, in the rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa it has barely begun. There, basic needs, such as food, clothes and shelter, have to be met first, before people can even think about buying a refrigerator.’ 

Related factors

The data also reveal that the transition starts earlier and progresses faster in cities. Also regions with more economic development and higher levels of education experience a faster transition . A more favourable ratio of children and elderly people compared to the working-age population appears to be important too.

‘Our analyses have given us a better understanding of the situation of households in developing countries, what is still needed to ensure a reasonable standard of living there and how quickly this could be achieved’, explains Schilpzand.

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Journal

Journal of International Development

DOI

10.1002/jid.3965 

Article Title

The Domestic Transition: Progress Towards Decent Living of Households in Low and Middle-Income Countries

THIRD WORLD U$A

First-of-its-kind analysis of U.S. national data reveals significant disparities in individual well-being as measured by lifespan, education, and income

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

• White males make up largest share of the group with lowest well-being while American Indian and Alaska Native individuals, and Black males, face the most significant challenges to overall well-being.  

• Populations at the lowest levels of well-being across the US are especially concentrated in the Deep South, Appalachia, and the Rust Belt. 

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has published a new study published in The Lancet that finds significant disparities in well-being among racial and ethnic groups, and across sex and age groups. In the first analysis of its kind, the Human Development Index (HDI) was adapted to examine trends and inequities at the individual rather than the group level from 2008 to 2021. 

Published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the HDI is an indicator of well-being composed of lifespan, education, and income and a statistical measurement of a country’s average achievements in these three areas. IHME’s adaptation of HDI used data from the American Community Survey (ACS) to estimate years of education and household spending, combined with life expectancy estimates based on death records, to estimate expected lifespan.  

Significant disparities in HDI by race and ethnicity and by sex.      

Although average HDI increased gradually from 2008 to 2019 for all demographic groups—with a decline in 2020 due to decreases in lifespan—and people of every race and ethnicity and sex can be found at both highest and lowest HDI segments, disparities in HDI were observed by race and ethnicity  and by sex. American Indian and Alaska Native males and females, Black males, and Latino males are most likely to experience the lowest levels of well-being in the nation, while Asian Americans and White females are most likely to experience the highest levels of well-being.   

Among American Indian and Alaska Native males, one in two were in the lowest HDI group (the lowest 10% of the population), while approximately one of every four American Indian and Alaska Native females were in this segment. Among Black Americans, 40% of males were in the lowest HDI segment, while among the Latino population, 21% of males were in the lowest group. Only 8% of White males were in the lowest HDI segment; however, as the White population is the largest racial and ethnic group in the US, White males were the largest population group in the lowest HDI segment (27%).  

The study also highlighted stark geographical differences in the distribution of HDI within the US population, with people living in parts of the southern US, Appalachia, and the Rust Belt states over-represented in the lowest segment. In contrast, people living in parts of Colorado, Maryland, New York, California, Virginia, and Washington, DC, were over-represented in the highest segment. 

“As a new federal administration prepares to take actions aimed at solving the most pressing economic, social, and health issues the US population faces, this study underscores the urgent need for action by policymakers, educators, and public health experts,” said Dr. Christopher J.L. Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics Evaluation. “IHME’s findings further emphasize the critical need to develop highly targeted social programs to dismantle deep-rooted structural inequalities in the US,” he added.  

HDI analysis suggests vast intergenerational differences in racial and ethnic and sex disparities.   

The study’s findings by age group highlight notable differences, including shifts in demographics accounting for the lowest HDI segments: predominantly male in younger age groups, and predominantly female among older age groups. For example, while only 5% of the highest HDI segment among those aged 25-44 was made up of White males, this figure dramatically increases to 49% among those aged 85 and older, illustrating profound changes in the makeup of the best (and worst) off across different age groups. 

“The disparities highlighted in our study are not merely statistics but a call for action, highlighting the long-term societal consequences of ignoring these gaps, particularly among the most affected groups and regions,” said study author and IHME Associate Professor Laura Dwyer-Lindgren. “Historical, systemic inequalities in access to opportunities must be addressed to reduce economic and social inequalities and ensure a healthier, more inclusive future for all,” she concluded.  

Time trends in US education, household consumption, and lifespan  

All racial and ethnic groups saw an increase in average years of education, with the largest gains among Latino females (+0.9 years) and males (+0.8 years), who had the lowest starting levels. The increase was larger for females than for males in every racial and ethnic group; among most racial and ethnic groups, younger females had higher education levels than their male counterparts, while the trend reversed in older age groups.   

For household consumption—a measure of household income that accounts for household size—similar patterns were observed across race and ethnicity and sex groups, with an initial decline from 2008 until approximately 2011, followed by an increase through 2019 or 2020, and a second decline through 2021.  

When analyzing life span, Asian American females led with the longest expected lifespan (88.6 years), while AIAN males (77.0 years) and Black males (77.4 years) had the shortest. In every racial group, females lived longer than males. The expected lifespan rankings stayed the same for both males and females: Asian Americans lived the longest, followed by Latino, White, Black, and AIAN populations. 

The COVID-19 pandemic drove decreases in lifespan and HDI from 2019 to 2020 in every race and ethnicity and sex group, but the size of the decrease was notably larger in historically marginalized populations, probably in part due to their increased likelihood of performing essential work or living in higher-exposure conditions. Health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic underscore the need for more sustainable progress, emphasizing that improvements in societal well-being are not guaranteed and require continuous, focused action to ensure lasting change.   

This Article is one of five expected analyses from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 focused on health in the USA. All five papers will be included in a special print issue of The Lancet dedicated to health and policy in the USA scheduled to be published on 5 December 2024. 

For access to the Article after the embargo lifts at 23:30 UK time on November 7, 2024, please see:  https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01757-4/fulltext - PLEASE NOTE POST-EMBARGO PAPER LINK WILL NOT WORK UNTIL THE EMBARGO LIFTS. 

For interviews with article authors please contact IHME media at ihmemedia@uw.edu   

 

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Journal

The Lancet

Article Publication Date

7-Nov-2024

Disclaimer: AAAS 

 

Memories are not only in the brain, new research finds

Study shows kidney and nerve tissue cells learn and make memories in ways similar to neurons

New York University

 

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An NYU researcher administers chemical signals to non-neural cells grown in a culture plate. 

 

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Credit: Nikolay Kukushkin

It’s common knowledge that our brains—and, specifically, our brain cells—store memories. But a team of scientists has discovered that cells from other parts of the body also perform a memory function, opening new pathways for understanding how memory works and creating the potential to enhance learning and to treat memory-related afflictions. 

“Learning and memory are generally associated with brains and brain cells alone, but our study shows that other cells in the body can learn and form memories, too,” explains New York University’s Nikolay V. Kukushkin, the lead author of the study, which appears in the journal Nature Communications. 

The research sought to better understand if non-brain cells help with memory by borrowing from a long-established neurological property—the massed-spaced effect—which shows that we tend to retain information better when studied in spaced intervals rather than in a single, intensive session—better known as cramming for a test.

In the Nature Communications research, the scientists replicated learning over time by studying two types of non-brain human cells in a laboratory (one from nerve tissue and one from kidney tissue) and exposing them to different patterns of chemical signals—just like brain cells are exposed to patterns of neurotransmitters when we learn new information. In response, the non-brain cells turned on a “memory gene”—the same gene that brain cells turn on when they detect a pattern in the information and restructure their connections in order to form memories.

To monitor the memory and learning process, the scientists engineered these non-brain cells to make a glowing protein, which indicated when the memory gene was on and when it was off.

The results showed that these cells could determine when the chemical pulses, which imitated bursts of neurotransmitter in the brain, were repeated rather than simply prolonged—just as neurons in our brain can register when we learn with breaks rather than cramming all the material in one sitting. Specifically, when the pulses were delivered in spaced-out intervals, they turned on the “memory gene” more strongly, and for a longer time, than when the same treatment was delivered all at once.

“This reflects the massed-space effect in action,” says Kukushkin, a clinical associate professor of life science at NYU Liberal Studies and a research fellow at NYU’s Center for Neural Science. “It shows that the ability to learn from spaced repetition isn't unique to brain cells, but, in fact, might be a fundamental property of all cells.”

The researchers add that the findings not only offer new ways to study memory, but also point to potential health-related gains.

“This discovery opens new doors for understanding how memory works and could lead to better ways to enhance learning and treat memory problems,” observes Kukushkin. “At the same time, it suggests that in the future, we will need to treat our body more like the brain—for example, consider what our pancreas remembers about the pattern of our past meals to maintain healthy levels of blood glucose or consider what a cancer cell remembers about the pattern of chemotherapy.”

The work was jointly supervised by Kukushkin and Thomas Carew, a professor in NYU’s Center for Neural Science. The study’s authors also included Tasnim Tabassum, an NYU researcher, and Robert Carney, an NYU undergraduate researcher at the time of the study.

This research was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (R01-MH120300-01A1). 

 Non-neural cells in a lab [VIDEO] |

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-024-53922-x 

Article Title

Humans, sea slugs, kidney cells: we all learn the same way

Article Publication Date

7-Nov-2024