London Health Sciences Centre first in Canada to implant cutting edge cardioverter defibrillator

New device receives Health Canada approval after LHSC team participates in global study to prove safety and efficacy

London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute

 

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Dr. Jaimie Manlucu

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Credit: London Health Sciences Centre

LONDON, ON – In a Canadian first, London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) was the first and only hospital in Canada to implant a new extravascular implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) during clinical trials. The global study has led to Health Canada approval of the device following publications in New England Journal of Medicine and, most recently, Circulation, which have shown the long-term safety, efficacy and performance of the device. 

In Canada, approximately 25,000 pacemakers and 7,000 ICDs are implanted each year making it essential for patients to receive the best device for their comfort and overall health.  

56-year-old Ian McCulloch first heard about implantable cardiovascular defibrillators when he started noticing that his heartbeat was irregular. “Several years ago, I started feeling what I thought was a heavy beat, or what was an extra or missed beat. My wife encouraged me to call my doctor, and I was referred to a cardiologist, and that led to me being asked if I wanted to be part of a study.” 
 
Through Dr. Jaimie Manlucu, Cardiac Electrophysiologist at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), McCulloch was enrolled in a clinical trial for the Medtronic Aurora Extravascular ICD (EV-ICD) device, a new and innovative defibrillator that was being studied for current and future cardiac patients. Dr. Manlucu, also a scientist at London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute (LHSCRI), was a key member of the International Steering Committee and site Principal Investigator on the pivotal trial 
 
A total of 356 patients participated in this study across 17 countries and 46 medical centres worldwide, demonstrating the safety of the EV-ICD implantation procedure and its effectiveness in treating life-threatening arrhythmias. 

“LHSC and some of my senior partners have had a significant role in helping develop the technology that we see in the defibrillators that we use day-to-day", says Dr. Manlucu. “I’ve been able to see this from the preliminary stages all the way through to the trials. It’s exciting to be part of the next generation helping to continue forward that partnership and effort in developing this technology.” 

Unlike traditional devices, this new device is implanted outside the vascular system and heart, providing life-saving arrhythmia treatment. The smaller battery and placement in the body offers better comfort and care for the patient and reduces the frequency of subsequent battery replacement procedures. 

Most standard defibrillator devices are typically inserted within the vascular system and are much larger and can sometimes cause discomfort. Dr. Manlucu notes that advancements in medical technology mean that many patients now outlive their devices, which leads to replacements or battery changes.  

“We have provided feedback that has guided the device’s development from the early stages to its current use across Canada,” says Dr. Manlucu. “Seeing the device evolve through clinical trials to now helping patients is very exciting.”  

Although the procedure took place in 2021, Dr. Manlucu notes that McCulloch's ability to maintain his daily routine as a young and active individual serves as additional proof of the success of both the procedure and device. 

Health Canada approved the new device earlier this year, and LHSC has already performed six procedures using it. 

For McCulloch, he admits it is an honour to be the first in Canada to receive this device, but mostly feels fortunate that he was able to have this done when he did. “It makes me feel proud! I’m glad to hear that a few more people have been able to do this now and I hope future patients have just as much success as I have.”  
 
McCulloch adds that he feels he has a new lease on life. “I can play volleyball or basketball pickup games and have no restrictions or mobility issues. I feel great!” 
 

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About London Health Sciences Centre  

With roots going back a century and a half, London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is an award-winning, research-intensive acute tertiary and quaternary teaching hospital, one of only 14 such hospitals in Ontario. LHSC is also home to Children’s Hospital, one of just four acute tertiary care paediatric hospitals in the province.  Our unique place in the health system positions us well to inform and advise on provincial, national and international health policy. We are the cornerstone of care for many specialized programs and services in Western Ontario. And, as a major provider of emergency care and through our community hospital mission, we also care for the more than 400,000 people who call London home as well as many in surrounding communities. With Ontario’s health system continuing its transformation, LHSC has an opportunity to inform it and to place itself at the locus of the regionalized health system by virtue of its size, specialized capabilities, research and education capacity and its current regional footprint. LHSC’s formal relationship and strong bond with Western University provide a mechanism for collaboration to enable the delivery of high-quality care through a process of continuous learning and research.  At its core, the affiliation is a reciprocal relationship that leverages the learning, teaching and care environments of both Western University and LHSC. LHSC is a 15,000-person strong team of physicians, staff and volunteers – collaborators, innovators and pioneers, meeting the care needs of those we serve and charting a course for the future.  

After-hours assistance: Call LHSC Switchboard at 519-685-8500 and ask to page the communicator on-call.   

Visit the LHSC media web page.   

Like us on Facebook at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), follow us on Twitter @LHSCCanada and watch us on YouTube at LHSCCanada.      

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Method of Research

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

Subject of Research

People

Research reveals unseen factors behind lithium-ion battery degradation

An international team of scientists has identified a surprising factor that accelerates the degradation of lithium-ion batteries leading to a steady loss of charge. This discovery provides a new understanding of battery life and offers strategies to combae

Kaunas University of Technology


Artūras Vailionis, a core lead of the X-ray and Surface Analysis group at Stanford University and a visiting professor at the Lithuanian Kaunas University of Technology (KTU)

Credit: Artūras Vailionis

An international team of scientists has identified a surprising factor that accelerates the degradation of lithium-ion batteries leading to a steady loss of charge. This discovery provides a new understanding of battery life and offers strategies to combat self-discharge, which could improve performance in various applications from smartphones to electric vehicles.

According to Artūras Vailionis, a core lead of the X-ray and Surface Analysis group at Stanford University and a visiting professor at the Lithuanian Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), it has been (and still is) commonly believed that the self-discharge of a fully charged battery is due to the diffusion of lithium atoms from the electrolyte to the battery’s cathode.

“However, our study has shown that it is the diffusion of protons (hydrogen ions) that is causing a battery’s self-discharge. Based on the results of this study, it is possible to propose ways to extend the life of the battery by reducing self-discharge,” says Vailionis.

These ways may include supplementing additives to the electrolyte that do not contain hydrogen molecules, such as CH2, or using a special coating to reduce the cathode surface’s reaction with the electrolyte.

Longer battery life for greener and more cost-effective technologies

Prof. Vailionis explains that self-discharge shortens both the calendar and cyclic life of the battery, and over time it causes a decrease in its voltage and capacity. The limited lifespan of a lithium battery has environmental and economic impacts; therefore, it is important to understand and prevent this issue.

The discovery of an entirely new phenomenon behind the self-discharge of the batteries might pave the way to greener, more cost-effective and more reliable technology.

“The longer lifetime of lithium-ion batteries means that consumers need to change their batteries or electronic devices less often. Also, longer battery life helps to reduce the amount of electronic waste and prevents resource depletion – lithium, cobalt, and nickel are finite resources – thus contributing to more sustainable practices,” says Vailionis, a visiting professor at KTU, Lithuania.

Devices with long-lasting batteries, such as smartphones, laptops and others, can be used for longer without the need to recharge them, and in industrial applications with large battery systems (e.g. electric vehicles or grid energy storage), longer battery life means a higher return on investment, making these technologies more economical. Besides, in renewable energy systems, such as solar and wind power, longer battery life increases the efficiency and reliability of energy storage, helps stabilise the energy supply and reduces dependence on fossil fuels.

As lithium-ion batteries are also used in medical devices, aerospace and defence systems, longer battery life reduces the risk of failure in critical situations.

“Overall, longer battery life improves sustainability, economy and productivity in a wide range of industrial applications,” adds Vailionis.

The outcome of the large international group of scientists

Prof. Vailionis emphasises that the study results are the outcome of the work of a large international group of scientists from different fields. Vailionis’s team at Stanford University used X-ray diffraction to identify two different structures in the cathode: one at the surface (the one affected by hydrogen ions) and one deeper inside the cathode. X-ray reflectometry also confirmed the existence of a surface layer with hydrogen atoms.

Vailionis, a Stanford University scientist, has been a visiting professor at KTU, Lithuania for 13 years. Every year, he gives a course on X-ray diffraction to the students of the physics study programmes and takes part in common projects with KTU scientists.

“Since I left, Lithuania has changed beyond recognition: universities are getting much better funding for education, they have access to European funds. Scientists and PhD students have great opportunities to go to other universities and research institutions to study, to go to conferences and to share their research results,” says a KTU visiting professor.

According to him, Lithuanian students have also changed: “They are much more active in the class than they were in my time, and there are no problems with the English language.”

Journal

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.adg4687

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Solvent-mediated oxide hydrogenation in layered cathodes


Developing advanced recycling technology to restore spent battery cathode materials

The recycling process restores spent batteries to 100% of their original capacity, making them equivalent to new batteries

National Research Council of Science & Technology

image:
Spent cathode material immersed in restorative solution.
Credit: KOREA INSTITUTE OF ENERGY RESEARCH


A research team led by Dr. Jung-Je Woo at the Gwangju Clean Energy Research Center of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) has successfully developed a cost-effective and eco-friendly technology for recycling cathode  materials* from spent lithium-ion batteries.

*Cathode Materials: Materials that play a crucial role in generating electricity by storing and releasing lithium ions during battery charging and discharging.

With the recent rise in electric vehicles and mobile devices, managing spent batteries has become a critical global challenge. By 2040, the number of decommissioned electric vehicles is expected to exceed 40 million*, leading to a sharp increase in waste batteries. Developing advanced recycling technologies has thus become an urgent priority, as the metals in batteries pose a significant risk of soil and water contamination.
*Government Support Measures for Activating a Future Waste Resource Circulation Ecosystem: Focusing on Batteries from End-of-Life Electric Vehicles" (KISTEP, February 8, 2023)

In conventional battery recycling, the typical method involves crushing spent batteries and extracting valuable metals such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt through chemical processes. However, this process requires high-concentration chemicals, which generate wastewater, and it demands substantial energy consumption due to the need for high-temperature furnaces that contribute significantly to carbon dioxide emissions.

To address these issues, direct recycling technology, which recovers and restores original materials without chemical alteration, has been attracting growing interest. However, direct recycling also has drawbacks, as it requires high-temperature and high-pressure conditions and involves complex procedures, making it both time-consuming and costly.

The research team has developed a novel technology for directly recycling spent cathode materials from lithium-ion batteries through a simple process that addresses the limitations of conventional recycling methods. This innovative approach restores the spent cathode to its original state by immersing it in a restoration solution under ambient temperature and pressure, effectively replenishing lithium ions.

The key technology is the application of galvanic corrosion using a restoration solution. Galvanic corrosion occurs when two dissimilar materials are in contact within an electrolyte environment, leading to the selective corrosion of one metal to protect the other. By utilizing this sacrificial mechanism, the research team has innovatively adapted this phenomenon for application in battery recycling.

The bromine in the restoration solution initiates spontaneous corrosion upon contact with the aluminum in the spent battery. During this process, electrons are released from the corroded aluminum and subsequently transferred to the spent cathode material. To maintain charge neutrality, lithium ions in the restoration solution are inserted into the cathode material. This recovery of lithium ions restores the cathode material to its original state.

Additionally, unlike conventional methods that require disassembly of the spent battery, the restoration reaction takes place directly within the cell, significantly enhancing the efficiency of the recycling process.

The research team confirmed through electrochemical performance testing that the restored cathode achieved a capacity equivalent to that of new materials.

Dr. Jung-Je Woo, the senior researcher, stated, “This research introduces a novel approach to restoring spent cathode materials without the need for high-temperature heat treatment or harmful chemicals.” He further emphasized, “The direct recycling of discarded electric vehicle batteries holds great potential for significantly reducing carbon emissions and establishing a circular resource economy.”

The team’s research results were published online in October 2024 in Advanced Energy Materials (Impact Factor 24.4, top 2.9%), a highly esteemed journal in the field of energy and materials science.

Journal

Advanced Energy Materials

DOI

10.1002/aenm.202402106

Article Title

Reviving Spent NCM Cathodes via Spontaneous Galvanic Corrosion in Ambient Atmospheric Condition

 

Overcoming the obstacles to conservation and development in lakeside communities: insights from recent empirical research at China Agricultural University

Higher Education Press

 

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Credit: Feng BA , Xiaoyun LI , Yue DING , Lixia TANG

Amidst escalating climate change and ecological degradation, coastal and lakeside communities rooted in traditional fishing economies are seeking alternative development paths. With overfishing and environmental decline threatening livelihoods, tourism has emerged as a promising option to diversify income sources. However, this shift demands significant adaptation from local communities and brings both environmental impacts and profound social and cultural changes. Research highlights tourism’s potential to reduce reliance on aquatic resources while becoming a cornerstone in policy frameworks promoting economic diversification. Yet, managing risks like cultural commodification and over-tourism is essential to maximize benefits for these regions.

A recent study led by Professor Li Xiaoyun’s team at China Agricultural University sheds light on the economic transition of lakeside communities like Eryuan County’s Gusheng Village near Erhai Lake, where traditional fishing economies are shifting toward tourism. This research provides a crucial case study from China on the “social-ecological” transformation of lakeside areas in response to ecological and economic pressures.

The study applies an Adaptive Sustainable Livelihood Framework, introduced by Natarajan et al. in 2022, which offers an open, flexible, and interdisciplinary approach to analyze the dynamic processes shaping livelihood shifts. This model redefines vulnerability, incorporating power relations, climate, and environmental changes, while highlighting the complex interactions between livelihoods, environment, and governance. Through integrating structural, ecological, and temporal factors, the framework examines the key drivers of livelihood transformation, focusing not only on livelihood capital but also on the interaction of historical, social, and institutional factors.

This research reveals four key findings regarding the transition from fishing to tourism in lakeside communities. First, while tourism offers new income streams for villagers, it also poses challenges due to strict environmental regulations aimed at preserving Erhai Lake, which limit construction and operations, creating uncertainty for tourism-dependent communities. Second, human capital—particularly the skills and experience of returning residents—plays a vital role in facilitating this shift, as those with external work experience drive tourism by opening guesthouses, small businesses, and organizing cultural activities, effectively merging modern practices with local culture. Third, material capital, such as traditional housing and property, significantly influences livelihood transformation, with historic homes in Gusheng Village becoming essential tourism assets. However, income opportunities from tourism are not evenly distributed, primarily benefiting families with premium properties. The study recommends investing in public infrastructure and providing financial support for families without direct assets to ensure equitable benefits. Lastly, the transition is shaped by long-term environmental policies that restrict traditional practices while promoting eco-friendly tourism; sustained institutional support is crucial for maintaining the sustainability and equity of this transition, especially in balancing ecological health with local economic growth.

The article highlights that the shift from fishing to tourism is complex and risk-laden, with institutional frameworks (such as environmental policies) playing a critical role. The authors underscore the importance of human and material capital in promoting sustainable tourism but caution against the unequal access to these opportunities. To address these challenges, they advocate for enhanced education, innovative business models, and improved local governance to bolster community resilience and adaptability in this transitional process.

This study was published in Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering on 2024, 11(4): 589–601 (DOI: 10.15302/J-FASE-2024560).

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Journal

Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering

DOI

10.15302/J-FASE-2024560 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Livelihood transformation from fishing to tourism: an adaptive sustainable livelihood framework for understanding lakeside communities of China

 

MIT engineers make converting CO2 into useful products more practical

A new electrode design boosts the efficiency of electrochemical reactions that turn carbon dioxide into ethylene and other products.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

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A new electrode design developed at MIT boosts the efficiency of electrochemical reactions that turn carbon dioxide into ethylene and other products.

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Credit: Courtesy of Simon Rufer, Kripa Varanasi, et al

As the world struggles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, researchers are seeking practical, economical ways to capture carbon dioxide and convert it into useful products, such as transportation fuels, chemical feedstocks, or even building materials. But so far, such attempts have struggled to reach economic viability.

New research by engineers at MIT could lead to rapid improvements in a variety of electrochemical systems that are under development to convert carbon dioxide into a valuable commodity. The team developed a new design for the electrodes used in these systems, which increases the efficiency of the conversion process.

The findings will be reported in the journal Nature Communications, in a paper by MIT doctoral student Simon Rufer, professor of mechanical engineering Kripa Varanasi, and three others. 

“The CO2 problem is a big challenge for our times, and we are using all kinds of levers to solve and address this problem,” Varanasi says. It will be essential to find practical ways of removing the gas, he says, either from sources such as power plant emissions, or straight out of the air or the oceans. But then, once the CO2 has been removed, it has to go somewhere.

A wide variety of systems have been developed for converting that captured gas into a useful chemical product, Varanasi says. “It’s not that we can’t do it — we can do it. But the question is how can we make this efficient? How can we make this cost-effective?”

In the new study, the team focused on the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to ethylene, a widely used chemical that can be made into a variety of plastics as well as fuels, and which today is made from petroleum. But the approach they developed could also be applied to producing other high-value chemical products as well, including methane, methanol, carbon monoxide, and others, the researchers say.

Currently, ethylene sells for about $1,000 per ton, so the goal is to be able to meet or beat that price. The electrochemical process that converts CO2 into ethylene involves a water-based solution and a catalyst material, which come into contact along with an electric current in a device called a gas diffusion electrode.

There are two competing characteristics of the gas diffusion electrode materials that affect their performance: They must be good electrical conductors so that the current that drives the process doesn’t get wasted through resistance heating, but they must also be “hydrophobic,” or water repelling, so the water-based electrolyte solution doesn’t leak through and interfere with the reactions taking place at the electrode surface.

Unfortunately, it’s a tradeoff. Improving the conductivity reduces the hydrophobicity, and vice versa. Varanasi and his team set out to see if they could find a way around that conflict, and after many months of trying, they did just that.

The solution, devised by Rufer and Varanasi, is elegant in its simplicity. They used a plastic material, PTFE (essentially Teflon), that has been known to have good hydrophobic properties. However, PTFE’s lack of conductivity means that electrons must travel through a very thin catalyst layer, leading to significant voltage drop with distance. To overcome this limitation, the researchers wove a series of conductive copper wires through the very thin sheet of the PTFE.

“This work really addressed this challenge, as we can now get both conductivity and hydrophobicity,” Varanasi says.

Research on potential carbon conversion systems tends to be done on very small, lab-scale samples, typically less than 1-inch (2.5-centimeter) squares. To demonstrate the potential for scaling up, Varanasi’s team produced a sheet 10 times larger in area and demonstrated its effective performance.

To get to that point, they had to do some basic tests that had apparently never been done before, running tests under identical conditions but using electrodes of different sizes to analyze the relationship between conductivity and electrode size. They found that conductivity dropped off dramatically with size, which would mean much more energy, and thus cost, would be needed to drive the reaction. 

“That’s exactly what we would expect, but it was something that nobody had really dedicatedly investigated before,” Rufer says. In addition, the larger sizes produced more unwanted chemical byproducts besides the intended ethylene.

Real-world industrial applications would require electrodes that are perhaps 100 times larger than the lab versions, so adding the conductive wires will be necessary for making such systems practical, the researchers say. They also developed a model which captures the spatial variability in voltage and product distribution on electrodes due to ohmic losses. The model along with the experimental data they collected enabled them to calculate the optimal spacing for conductive wires to counteract the drop off in conductivity. 

In effect, by weaving the wire through the material, the material is divided into smaller subsections determined by the spacing of the wires. “We split it into a bunch of little subsegments, each of which is effectively a smaller electrode,” Rufer says. “And as we’ve seen, small electrodes can work really well.”

Because the copper wire is so much more conductive than the PTFE material, it acts as a kind of superhighway for electrons passing through, bridging the areas where they are confined to the substrate and face greater resistance. 

To demonstrate that their system is robust, the researchers ran a test electrode for 75 hours continuously, with little change in performance. Overall, Rufer says, their system “is the first PTFE-based electrode which has gone beyond the lab scale on the order of 5 centimeters or smaller. It’s the first work that has progressed into a much larger scale and has done so without sacrificing efficiency.” 

The weaving process for incorporating the wire can be easily integrated into existing manufacturing processes, even in a large-scale roll-to-roll process, he adds.

“Our approach is very powerful because it doesn’t have anything to do with the actual catalyst being used,” Rufer says. “You can sew this micrometric copper wire into any gas diffusion electrode you want, independent of catalyst morphology or chemistry. So, this approach can be used to scale anybody’s electrode.” 

“Given that we will need to process gigatons of CO2 annually to combat the CO2 challenge, we really need to think about solutions that can scale,” Varanasi says. “Starting with this mindset enables us to identify critical bottlenecks and develop innovative approaches that can make a meaningful impact in solving the problem. Our hierarchically conductive electrode is a result of such thinking." 

The research team included MIT graduate students Michael Nitzsche and Sanjay Garimella,  as well as Jack Lake PhD ’23. The work was supported by Shell, through the MIT Energy Initiative.

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Written by David L. Chandler, MIT News

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-024-53523-8 

Article Title

“Hierarchically conductive electrodes unlock stable and scalable CO2 electrolysis”

 

New species discovered with refined DNA technology

University of Gothenburg

 

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Stoebe daisy bushes included in the study on a mountain slope near Villiersdorp in the Western Province of South Africa.

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Credit: Photo: Zaynab Shaik

Sometimes plants are so similar to each other that the methods developed by 18th century scientist Carl Linnaeus for identifying species are not enough. In a thesis from the University of Gothenburg, completely new species of daisies have been discovered when analysed using modern DNA technology.

There are currently estimated to be around 8.7 million different species on Earth, of which around 2.2 million are found in the oceans. Many species can be identified in the classical way, by their physical characteristics, the morphology. For over a decade, botanists and zoologists have also been using DNA sequencing to more accurately identify species. So far, scientists have selected a single site in the DNA that is typical of the species, but this sometimes risks being wrong.

“There are times when different plant species are difficult to characterise from a small DNA sequence. But now DNA sequencing has taken several steps forward and we have been able to identify completely new species by analysing a larger part of the genome,” says Zaynab Shaik, author of a doctoral thesis at the University of Gothenburg.

Daisies in South Africa

Zaynab Shaik's focused on a group of 66 accepted species of daisies, growing in the Cape Province of her native South Africa. The daisies are well known, with the first species described in 1753, but there is a group of daisies in the area that have been difficult for botanists to identify. The plants are ‘cryptic’, they look identical, with similar leaves and flowers, and have the same growth habit and similar distribution. Yet they differ significantly genetically.

“It is important that we have a better understanding of plant relationships and biodiversity on Earth. It is easy to imagine how wrong it could be if we discover that a plant is suitable for use as a base in a drug, and then we pick another, similar, species instead, which may not have the same properties at all,” says Zaynab Shaik.

Mistaken for other species

Zaynab's DNA analyses of these cryptic species have resulted in the discovery of four new species.

“When I'm asked about this, there's a bit of an anti-climax when I explain that it's not that I've found a new daisy in a remote location that no one has seen before. But these have been admired for a long time, but they have been mistaken for another species.”

The method Zaynab Shaik uses to identify species is called integrative taxonomy. It involves supplementing traditional observations of plant appearance and growth habit with DNA sequencing in a laboratory. Together, these methods provide a better understanding of the boundaries between different species. Scientists using this method will discover new species at a higher rate than previously expected.

“In the Cape, it has been thought that only 1 per cent of biodiversity remains to be discovered. My results suggest that it could be much more than that. And the same should reasonably apply to other areas of the globe,” says Zaynab Shaik.

Thesis: Extensions of the Multispecies Coalescent in Bayesian Phylogenetics: A Study of the Southern African-centred Stoebe Clade (Gnaphalieae: Asteraceae)

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Journal

South African Journal of Botany

DOI

10.1016/j.sajb.2024.05.037 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Piecing together the taxonomic puzzle: Generic delimitation in the Stoebe clade of Cape daisies (Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae) and a synopsis of the species

 

Stress is contagious – for animals, too

What happens to animals when their friends are stressed? Is it possible to document the spread of stress within groups of birds?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Konstanz

Animal habitats are currently changing extremely rapidly and extensively due to urbanization and climate change. As a result, animals are increasingly exposed to stressors. However, until now, little research has been conducted on how individual stress levels affect the group and the behaviour of other group members that may not have experienced a stressor themselves. Hanja Brandl, a behavioural biologist from the Cluster of Excellence Collective Behaviour at the University of Konstanz, and her colleague Damien Farine (now at Australian National University) conducted experiments with 96 zebra finches. Their aim was to find out whether and how the stress responses of individual birds affect other members of their group.

In three rounds of experiments lasting four weeks each, some members of groups of zebra finches were exposed to different disruptions resulting in stress. Cameras then recorded in fine detail how stress affected the behaviour the exposed individuals and—importantly—how these changes in turn affected the behaviour and reproduction of other members of the group that had not experienced the disruptions. In addition to this, the researchers measured the level of the stress hormone corticosterone in the animals' tail feathers.

Stress is contagious

"Our experiments show that stress responses can spread beyond individuals to other members of their social group, even to those who are not exposed to stress themselves", Hanja Brandl says. "In groups where a larger proportion of birds experiences stress, we observed this effect even more strongly". The social environment impacted both the activity and the social behaviour of the zebra finches that had not experienced stress. Their response was similar to that of the zebra finches that had experienced stress.

The researchers observed that unexposed birds in groups that had a large proportion of its members experience stress moved less. "For birds in the wild, this reduced level of activity could, for example, mean that they explore their environment less and limit their range of movement, which, in turn, means that they could have access to fewer resources", Brandl explains.

The experiment also showed that the presence of stress-exposed group members altered the social behaviours of other group members. Individual birds that were not exposed to the stressor maintained fewer social bonds and tended to rely more heavily on existing relationships. "This means that stress in a group could impact its social cohesion. At the same time, a reduction in weak social ties would, in turn, reduce the risk of stress transmission", Damien Farine says. Thus, stress transmission can have profound effects on both the dynamics of social groups as well as the fitness of individual members.

You can read the study "Stress in the social environment: behavioural and social consequences of stress transmission in bird flocks" online at: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1961

Key facts:

• The study "Stress in the social environment: behavioural and social consequences of stress transmission in bird flocks" was recently published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1961.
• The experiments were conducted by the Cluster of Excellence Collective Behaviour at the University of Konstanz where Hanja Brandl is a researcher. Damien Farine was a member of the Cluster of Excellence and a principal investigator at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior during the study, and now works at the University of Zurich and the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia.
• Funding for the study was provided by the Cluster of Excellence Collective Behaviour at the University of Konstanz as well as the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Max Planck Society.

 

Caption zebra finches: Zebra finches are social animals, copyright: Hanja Brandl

Caption enclosure: Three breeding pairs of zebra finches each shared an enclosure, whereby the stress level of each group varied: In some groups, one of the three pairs was exposed to disruptions causing stress, in other groups it was two pairs, and in still others it was none of the pairs. After each round of the experiment, there was a six-week break. Three cameras were mounted inside each enclosure that used high-resolution tracking to record the movements and interactions of the zebra finches.

Copyright: © Abschnitt eins / Cluster of Excellence Collective Behaviour

Caption portrait: Hanja Brandl is a researcher in the Cluster of Excellence Collective Behaviour at the University of Konstanz, copyright: Elisabeth Böker

 

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Journal

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI

10.1098/rspb.2024.1961 

 

University of Konstanz among the world's top locations to study political science

In the latest Shanghai Ranking, Konstanz's political science program shows it's on par with the global elite

University of Konstanz

Oxford, Yale, Konstanz – all of these universities are at the top of the latest Shanghai Ranking in the field of political science. Konstanz is thus one of the world's best locations for political science research. Ranking 11th among the 500 universities worldwide where you can study the subject, the University of Konstanz has earned a top placement this year – and can hold its own with international elite universities such as Oxford (9th place) or Yale (19th place). Nationwide, only Konstanz and the University of Mannheim (35th place) ranked among the global top 50 universities in the field of political science.

Universities were ranked based on indicators such as the number of journal publications, high-quality research, research impact and international collaboration. "Our Cluster of Excellence 'The Politics of Inequality' certainly plays a major role in this outstanding ranking result, because it helps drive cutting-edge research in our department", says Dirk Leuffen, Vice Rector for Research, Innovation and Impact and a political science professor at the University of Konstanz. "Our top-level research, in turn, feeds into university teaching, which provides our students with a first-class political science education that includes the latest research findings", he adds.

Yet, political science was not the only Konstanz subject to shine in the current Shanghai Ranking. Public administration ranked in the 76-100 range of universities worldwide (4-5 in Germany), ecology ranked in the 101-150 range globally (6-9 in Germany), and sociology ranked in the 151-200 range globally (8-10 in Germany).

About the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2024
The 2024 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy covers 55 academic subjects in the natural sciences, engineering, the life sciences, medicine and the social sciences. Data from 5,000 universities in 96 countries and regions was assessed, and more than 1,900 of these universities were included in the final ranking. The GRAS rankings use a range of objective academic indicators and third-party data to measure the performance of the world's universities in the respective subjects.

 

Key facts:

• Die Shanghai Ranking Consultancy announces results of the 2024 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS): https://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/gras/2024
• University of Konstanz places among Germany's top ten in four subjects:
  • Political science: 11th worldwide; 1st nationally
  • Public administration: 76-100 range worldwide; 4-5 nationally
  • Ecology: 101-150 range worldwide; 6-9 nationally
  • Sociology: 151-200 range worldwide; 8-10 nationally

 Robot learns how to be a surgeon

By Dr. Tim Sandle
DIGITAL JOURNAL
November 12, 2024


This handout photo released by the University of Maryland School of Medicine on January 10, 2022 shows surgeons performing a transplant of a heart from a genetically modified pig to patient David Bennett, Sr - 

Copyright AFP/File JIM WATSON

A robot, trained by watching videos of experienced surgeons at work, executed the same surgical procedures as skilfully as the human doctors.

The process of ‘imitation learning’ to train surgical robots removes the necessity to program robots with each move required during a medical procedure and brings the field of robotic surgery closer to true autonomy, where robots can perform complex surgeries without any human help.

The research has been led by Johns Hopkins University and it was presented to the November 2024 Conference on Robot Learning in Munich.

The device tested was the da Vinci Surgical System robot and the trials involved performing some fundamental surgical procedures: manipulating a needle; lifting body tissue, and suturing.

The model combined imitation learning with the same machine learning architecture that underpins ChatGPT. Imitation learning is a type of reinforcement learning, where an agent learns to perform a task by supervised learning from expert demonstrations.

Where ChatGPT works with words and text, this model speaks “robot” with kinematics, a language that breaks down the angles of robotic motion into mathematics.

For the training process, the researchers fed their model hundreds of videos recorded from wrist cameras placed on the arms of da Vinci robots during surgical procedures.

These videos, recorded by surgeons all over the world, are used for post-operative analysis and then archived.

Nearly 7,000 da Vinci robots are used worldwide, and more than 50,000 surgeons are trained on the system, creating a large archive of data for robots to “imitate.”

While the da Vinci system is widely used, it is relatively imprecise. However, the scientists found a way to make the flawed input work. This was achieved by training the model to perform relative movements rather than absolute actions, which are inaccurate.

The key was an update to the image input which permits the AI system to find the right actions. The model has the potential to quickly train a robot to perform any type of surgical procedure.

Robot identifies plants by “touching” their leaves

Cell Press

Researchers in China have developed a robot that identifies different plant species at various stages of growth by “touching” their leaves with an electrode. The robot can measure properties such as surface texture and water content that cannot be determined using existing visual approaches, according to the study, published November 13 in the journal Device. The robot identified ten different plant species with an average accuracy of 97.7% and identified leaves of the flowering bauhinia plant with 100% accuracy at various growth stages.

Eventually, large-scale farmers and agricultural researchers could use the robot to monitor the health and growth of crops and to make tailored decisions about how much water and fertilizer to give their plants and how to approach pest control, says Zhongqian Song, an associate professor at the Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences and an author of the study.

“It could revolutionize crop management and ecosystem studies and enable early disease detection, which is crucial for plant health and food security,” he says.

Rather than making physical contact with a plant, existing devices capture more limited information using visual approaches, which are vulnerable to factors such as lighting conditions, changes in the weather, or background interference.

To overcome these limitations, Song and colleagues developed a robot that “touches” plants using a mechanism inspired by human skin, with structures working together in a hierarchical way to gain information through touch. When an electrode in the robot makes contact with a leaf, the device learns about the plant by measuring several properties: the amount of charge that can be stored at a given voltage, how difficult it is for electrical current to move through the leaf, and contact force as the robot grips the leaf.

Next, this data is processed using machine learning in order to classify the plant, since different values for each measure correlate with different plant species and stages of growth.

While the robot shows “vast and unexpected” potential applications in fields ranging from precision agriculture to ecological studies to plant disease detection, it has several weaknesses that have yet to be addressed, says Song. For example, the device is not yet versatile enough to consistently identify types of plants with complicated structures, such as burrs and needle-like leaves. This could be remedied by improving the design of the robot’s electrode, he says. 

“It may take a relatively long period of time to reach large-scale production and deployment depending on technological and market developments,” says Song.

As a next step the researchers plan to expand how many plants the robot can recognize by collecting data from a wider variety of species, boosting the plant species database they use to train algorithms. The researchers also hope to further integrate the device’s sensor so that it can display results in real time, even without an external power source, says Song.

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Device, Chen et al., “Iontronic tactile sensory system for plants species and growth stage classification” https://www.cell.com/device/fulltext/S2666-9986(24)00570-2

Device (@Device_CP) is a physical science journal from Cell Press along with Chem, Joule, and Matter. Device aims to be the breakthrough journal to support device- and application-oriented research from all disciplines, including applied physics, applied materials, nanotechnology, robotics, energy research, chemistry, and biotechnology, under a single title that focuses on the integration of these diverse disciplines in the creation of the cutting-edge technology of tomorrow. Visit https://www.cell.com/device/home. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.

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Journal

Device

DOI

10.1016/j.device.2024.100615 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Iontronic tactile sensory system for plants species and growth stage classification

Article Publication Date

13-Nov-2024

 

Scientists call for G20 action on supply chain data

G20 countries need to collect comprehensive supply chain data, according to a policy brief by the Complexity Science Hub and other research institutions

Complexity Science Hub

[Vienna, 12 November 2024] — In light of recent global crises —the conflict in the Middle East, disruptions in the Panama Canal, and the Covid-19 pandemic—the vulnerabilities of international supply chains have become more evident than ever. The intensifying effects of climate change will exacerbate these challenges, threatening global supply networks, disrupting economies, and affecting millions of people worldwide.

In a new policy brief, scientists from the Complexity Science Hub and other international research institutions highlight the urgent need for the G20 to lead efforts in collecting comprehensive supply chain data to safeguard the global economy. The brief outlines three key recommendations for the G20:

• National Supply Chain Mapping: It is vital for G20 countries to gather and manage granular supply network data—such as value-added tax and payment flow data—in order to assess and mitigate climate risks at the national level.
• Global Cooperation for Risk Monitoring: G20 countries should establish an international framework for collaboration, enabling nations to link their supply network data and assess global climate risks more effectively,
• Data-Driven Resilience Policies: G20 countries should leverage this information to craft robust, data-driven policies aimed at enhancing the resilience of global supply networks against the growing threats of climate change.

Climate Change and Global Value Chains

Global supply chains are intricate networks of over 300 million firms connected by 12 billion supply chain relationships, according to the policy brief. These networks support no less than 63% of the world’s GDP, making them critical to modern economies. 

However, as global temperatures are projected to rise by 2.9°C by 2050, disruptions caused by climate change—including extreme weather events, resource shortages, and regulatory changes—will have profound implications on these supply chains.

Natural disasters, such as floods or droughts, can severely damage infrastructure and obstruct critical trading routes, leading to cascading effects that ripple through supply networks. Additionally, policy changes related to the green transition, such as carbon taxes or the rapid implementation of green technologies, can further destabilize supply chains, particularly those heavily reliant on carbon-intensive processes.

Uniquely Positioned to Lead

“The G20 is uniquely positioned to lead these efforts and ensure that the global supply network is equipped to handle the disruptions posed by climate change,” says Christian Diem, from the Complexity Science Hub (CSH)  “For instance, it’s crucial that the group engages in collaborative efforts for supply chain monitoring of critical and essential goods and services. Food security and medical supply distribution are particularly vulnerable to climate change,” adds Diem, one of the policy brief’s author.

In addition, CSH’s president Stefan Thurner stresses that data-driven policy measures will be critical in identifying key weaknesses in global supply networks and prioritizing resilience-building investments. By identifying "too relevant to fail" firms or production nodes and mitigating systemic risks, global leaders can prevent economic collapse in the face of future climate shocks, according to Thurner, also one of the policy brief’s author.

 

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About the Policy Brief

The policy brief “A Call for Granular Supply Network Data for Navigating the Climate Transition” is a collaborative effort by experts from the Complexity Science Hub, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, DIW Berlin, and ETH Chair of Weather and Climate Risks.

The document was published by the T20 under Brazil’s G20 Presidency. The T20 is an engagement group composed of think tanks and research centers from G20 members and guest countries.

For more information, access the full policy brief “A Call for Granular Supply Network Data for Navigating the Climate Transition” .

 

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About CSH 

The Complexity Science Hub (CSH) is Europe’s research center for the study of complex systems. We derive meaning from data from a range of disciplines —  economics, medicine, ecology, and the social sciences — as a basis for actionable solutions for a better world. Established in 2015, we have grown to over 70 researchers, driven by the increasing demand to gain a genuine understanding of the networks that underlie society, from healthcare to supply chains. Through our complexity science approaches linking physics, mathematics, and computational modeling with data and network science, we develop the capacity to address today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.

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Subject of Research

People