Op-Ed: Yet another threat to all life on Earth — Mirror life bacteria and an insane culture

By Paul Wallis
December 13, 2024

DIGITAL JOURNAL

Source - Matti Blume. CC SA 2.0.

Another major threat has emerged to go with all the others. This time it’s unequivocal and there are no defenses against it yet. “Mirror life” is a mirror image of existing life. It’s the opposing “left-handed” form of current organic molecules.

This threat is real enough, and despite the sudden horde of headlines, this isn’t even new microbiology. It’s been a subject for discussion for years. Only now is it being considered a significant risk. Immune systems are adapted to fight “right-handed” pathogens. Mirror pathogens could bypass immune systems with ease. No defense at all.

Yes, it is a risk. What’s happened is that a group of Nobel Laureates have warned against researching mirror life. The risks are too great, they say.

(Bear in mind that research is bread and butter for science. When they start warning against the sources of their own income streams, it’s serious enough.)

History is full of cases of scientific warnings being ignored. The history speaks for itself.

This pole-to-pole sewer of a so-called planet is a case in point, So many toxic materials have been allowed to bypass safeguards. The air is dangerous. So is the water. The “food” is ridiculous and dangerous. A lot of places on Earth are uninhabitable.

This is what happens when you ignore common sense, too.

Just in passing – Why do you think so many people are so sick worldwide?

Now add a whole new class of unknown pathogens with no countermeasures to this spectacularly unimpressive global mix of disasters.

The timing couldn’t be better if you’re a pathogen or an idiot. This mirror life issue has arisen just as the most anti-scientific, backward, stupid, and utterly talentless culture in history leaves a century-long dung trail of idiocy across history.

The 20th century was a time of great progress, sure, but much of it was in the wrong directions. As a prolonged period of scientific irresponsibility, it has no equal – yet.

The Super Dumb Kids will move into the White House next month. Like most conservatives, their combined scientific knowledge doesn’t take up much space in a teaspoon. Whatever happens, they can’t manage it.

The usual herd of failed scientific misanthropes will probably do the mirror life research simply because there’s been a warning by real scientists. These aren’t just “mad” scientists. They’re true mediocrities, dumber than any number of house bricks, too. They’re the fools who do plagiarist papers and commit scientific fraud.

No collection of short planks could ever be that thick, but these fools are.

So you see the problem. Extremely dangerous research by imbeciles under the watchful eyes of highly paid political professional morons. This is where “deregulation” becomes a synonym for “suicide”.

Meanwhile, the mirror life problem has yet to even begin to be addressed. The warning is OK, but what happens if and when this inevitably stupid research is done? The weirdest thing about researching the “left handed” molecules is the lack of objectivity. What’s to be achieved by this research?

There’s some good possible science here, but it’s tricky. You could argue that these pathogens need research simply because they are so potentially dangerous. Obviously, “left-handed” pathogens fit a pattern of structures. In theory, the counters should be just that – mirrors of current treatments.

What if it’s not that simple? What else can happen? What if you evolve an “ambidextrous” pathogen that can dodge treatments by switching from right to left and vice versa?

This is so dangerous it’s not even a money issue. The intellectual property values aren’t worth the risk of a sort of super-COVID with no option for treatment. It’s quite possible that you only get one shot at managing these risks.

Naivete is not an option.

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Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.

It’s time to put AI to work for the employee


By Dr. Tim Sandle
December 13, 2024
DIGITAL JOURNAL

Laptops are useful, but bring with them privacy and security concerns. — Photo: © Tim Sandle.

What will 2025 have in store for the employee experience and the application of artificial intelligence within the world of work?

Answering this, the company Rightpoint, which has partnerships with Adobe and Microsoft, focuses on human-centric digital transformation. Digital Journal heard from Tom Keuten and Jesse Murray, who have extensive experience with the technology shaping customer and employee experiences.

Keuten and Murray note that as the AI landscape continues to evolve in 2025, we should expect an evolving AI landscape where technology enhances experiences and productivity while driving human-centric engagements.

Starting with Jesse Murray, SVP of Employee Experience at Rightpoint. According to Murray, AI needs to be put into service to support workers within the firm. Murray makes three essential points for businesses to take note of.

Companies will need to customize AI tools to enhance employee experiences

Murray says: “Recent AI-driven expansion of collaboration tool options and capabilities is creating user confusion, lost productivity, and lower engagement. To address this trend of limitless options, companies will have to understand employees and personalize technologies accordingly, rather than employ something generic that will not stick. This includes integrating platforms with existing tools and systems.”

AI-Enhanced Workflows will Redefine Employee Productivity

Murray observes: “The next big shift in employee experience will come from AI’s ability to enhance workflows, allowing employees to focus on higher-value tasks and take on new capabilities. While we’re already seeing AI supporting tasks like note taking or generating summaries, the long-term potential lies in AI helping employees achieve tasks that were previously out of reach: designers generating code or executives extracting insights with Python, all with AI as the enabler. Over time, AI will evolve into role-specific applications that learn about employees’ individual contexts, transforming productivity across all sectors.”

AI and Data Driven Insights will Drive Hyper-Personalized Employee Experiences

On the subject of big data, Murray indicates: “As companies gain unprecedented insights into how employees work, the future of employee experience (EX) lies in hyper-personalization.”

As to how companies can harness this, Murray proposes: “Tools like Microsoft Viva Insights are already analyzing digital interactions—email, meetings, and chats—to reveal key patterns in collaboration, leadership, and productivity. By combining these insights with employee engagement data from platforms like Qualtrics, employers can create tailored roles and workflows that match employees’ preferences, whether it’s flexible hours, remote work, or group collaboration.”

In terms of the consequences, Murray opines: “This shift will unlock new levels of employee engagement and efficiency, driving business success through truly personalized work experiences.”

How can AI automate decisions and improve the employee perspective?


ByDr. Tim Sandle
December 13, 2024
DIGITAL JOURNAL

A man uses a laptop at a coffee shop in downtown Hanoi. - AFP

In a companion article, we asked the question: ‘What will 2025 have in store for the employee experience and the application of artificial intelligence within the world of work?’

Continuing this theme, and drawing on the expertise of Rightpoint, Tom Keuten SVP & Global Microsoft Alliance Lead at Rightpoint, considers how digital transformation will evolve in 2025 and why it is time for human resources to get behind the potential that AI promises.

HR technology will focus on driving human engagement

Keuten opens by considering how artificial intelligence can aid the employee, noting: “As technological opportunities increase, human connection through mentors and leaders will be critical for technical success. Positive employee experience will focus on aligning technology, human resources and organizational goals. Great HR technology has the opportunity to make an employee feel like the whole work experience has been created for them to contribute, learn and grow.”

Data Governance will Become the Backbone of AI-Powered EX

Building on the above, Keuten weighs in on exploiting the potential of AI to aid data governance processes: “As AI takes centre stage in improving employee experience, the spotlight will increasingly fall on the integrity of data. Trust will be the key differentiator in successful AI implementations, and technologies related to data governance, quality, and explainability will be critical.”

This means improved outcomes and better determinations, as Keuten finds: “With AI automating decisions and providing insights, employees and companies must trust the outputs. Building this trust will require robust data foundations that ensure accuracy, privacy, and transparency, making data governance essential for the future of AI-driven employee experience.”

Hybrid Work will Evolve with AI, Rethinking Digital and In-Person Engagements

Keuten considers how the current digital technology enhances the way workers interact with the office, and the best technological streams for achieving this shift. Here he observes: “As return-to-office (RTO) policies take shape and hybrid work models become the norm, AI will redefine how employees engage both digitally and in-person.”

As to specific platforms, Keuten throws his weight behind Microsoft, saying: “Tools like Microsoft Copilot are revolutionizing team collaboration by shifting from individual AI assistants to AI that supports group tasks. At the same time, in-person experiences will need to offer more meaningful engagement—gathering employees with a purpose rather than out of routine.”

Firms need to tread carefully, though, if the potential of digital transformation is to be realized. Keuten concludes with: “Companies must balance advanced AI tools that support digital collaboration with intentional, purposeful in-person experiences that foster deeper personal and professional connections.”

 

Chinese firms take on EV truck challenges


By AFP
December 15, 2024

Chinese companies have been consolidating their position in the lesser-watched trucking scene - Copyright AFP STR

Jing Xuan TENG and Rebecca BAILEY

Dominant in the electric car sector, Chinese companies have been quietly consolidating their position in the lesser-watched trucking scene — but foreign tariffs and a perceived quality gap could signal roadblocks ahead, experts warn.

The domestic supply chain and low-price strategy that helped make China’s EV car industry world-leading are being leveraged by established automakers and start-ups alike, aiming to similarly transform trucking.

Electric trucks currently represent less than one percent of truck sales worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) — with China making up 70 percent of those sales in 2023.

But the agency said it was “optimistic” policy and technology developments would see more widespread adoption in the next 10 years.

“This industry, I believe, is ripe for disruption,” Han Wen, the founder of start-up Windrose, told AFP on a factory floor as the company’s first vehicles for delivery were assembled behind him.

Fleets of electric heavy goods vehicles from China have been growing internationally, even as Western countries target the country’s EV cars with heavy sanctions.

Chinese companies like BYD and Beiqi Foton have shipped trucks to countries including Italy, Poland, Spain and Mexico, and have opened assembly plants around the world.

“China’s trucks are generally cost-competitive in emerging markets,” Stephen Dyer, from consulting firm AlixPartners, told AFP.

“For mature markets, performance and durability do not yet meet the needs of most customers, but that is changing.”

When it comes to emissions, “heavy-duty trucks are considered one of the more difficult to abate transport segments (after aviation and shipping)”, IEA analyst Elizabeth Connelly told AFP.

– Battery issues –

A major challenge is the trade-off between battery size and range.

“The larger the battery, the longer the range. But the larger the battery, the heavier the truck… and the worse the fuel economy,” Connelly said.

Chinese manufacturers have been seen as producing lower quality products than foreign counterparts.

“Historically, Chinese trucks tended to have a shorter useful lifecycle than European or Japanese trucks,” AlixPartners’ Dyer told AFP.

While that perception is changing, China’s flagship companies still lag rivals on factors like range and battery capacity.

According to the Zero-Emission Technology Inventory, the median Chinese heavy duty truck range is 250 kilometres (155 miles), compared with 322 km in the United States.

BYD — which in October beat Tesla in quarterly revenue for the first time — says its 8TT model’s range is 200 kilometres, compared with the 800 kilometres promised by Tesla’s Semi truck.

But Chinese manufacturers could close the gap quickly.

Han’s Windrose says its semi-trucks can go up to 670 kilometres on a single charge.

Meanwhile, battery giant CATL has rolled out truck battery-swapping facilities — where drained units can be immediately replaced, eliminating charging time altogether.

China’s existing EV ecosystem is a massive advantage.

“We’re very lucky to have the Chinese supply chain (for EVs),” said Han, noting Windrose was using an electric bus company’s factory to build its trucks.

“There’s no doubt that China also will have an edge on the electrification of heavy-duty trucks.”

– ‘Not normal times’ –

More unpredictable are the testy geopolitical waters the sector risks stalling in.

This year has seen important trading partners including the European Union and the United States impose hefty tariffs on Chinese EV cars, saying Beijing’s state aid to automakers undercut their own firms.

China refutes this, but as its EV truck footprint grows globally, so could the risk of similar action being taken.

“Governments in potential export markets want to protect their local industries,” Sam Fiorani, at AutoForecast Solutions, told AFP.

US President-elect Donald Trump has promised huge tariff hikes on Chinese imports once he takes office.

“Since EV truck volume is smaller than passenger EVs, there is a chance that EV trucks would fall a little under the radar in normal times,” AlixPartners’ Dyer said.

But “these are not ‘normal times’ anymore and anything Chinese is high profile in the US government currently”, he added.

Some companies have already taken steps that could mitigate this risk.

BYD proudly touts its trucks as being “assembled by union workers in Lancaster, California”, while it has announced plans to build a factory in Mexico, and has plants in Hungary and Romania.

Windrose’s Han told AFP the firm has consciously spread its operations across multiple countries, moving key headquarters to Belgium earlier this year.

“We do embrace the fact that every major market would like its own domestic supply chain of EV,” he told AFP.

But he added: “You have to start in China. We then try to move the supply chain globally… But you have to start in China. There’s no alternative.”

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

McKinsey to pay $650 mn to settle US criminal case on opioids


By AFP
December 13, 2024


Prosecutors said the settlements marks the first time a management consulting firm has been held criminally responsible for advice resulting in commission of a crime by a client - Copyright AFP/File Fabrice COFFRINI
John BIERS

Consulting giant McKinsey & Company will pay $650 million to settle US criminal charges that it collaborated with Purdue Pharma to intentionally misbrand opioids, worsening a public health crisis, officials announced Friday.

US prosecutors unveiled a sweeping deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) over McKinsey efforts that helped Purdue “turbocharge” sales of the highly addictive OxyContin opioid, responsible for deadly overdoses.

The accord, which requires McKinsey to implement a comprehensive compliance program, represents the “first time a management consulting firm has been held criminally responsible for advice that it has given resulting in the commission of a crime by a client,” said US Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh, of the Western District of Virginia, speaking at a news conference.

Additionally, prosecutors charged McKinsey US with one felony count of knowingly destroying evidence with an intent to impede a probe and a misdemeanor of knowingly conspiring with Purdue to abet the misbranding of drugs, the Justice Department said.

The DPA, which will expire in five years if McKinsey meets the conditions, also noted that a senior partner with the prominent consultancy “knowingly” destroyed and hid records with the “intent to impede, obstruct and influence” the probe.

Prosecutors said the former McKinsey partner, Martin Elling, had agreed to plead guilty in the case.

From 1999 through 2022 nearly 727,000 people died from opioid overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

McKinsey expressed regret for the firm’s role in the scandal.

“We are deeply sorry for our past client service to Purdue Pharma and the actions of a former partner who deleted documents related to his work for that client,” McKinsey said in a statement. “We should have appreciated the harm opioids were causing in our society and we should not have undertaken sales and marketing work for Purdue Pharma.”

McKinsey has bolstered its risk management practices, it said, adding, “though we wish we had taken these steps sooner, we are committed to building on them to ensure that McKinsey sets the standard for accountability and compliance across our profession.”

Friday’s announcement comes about a week after US prosecutors in New York unveiled a nearly $123 million settlement with McKinsey and Co. Africa in a separate DPA, over charges the subsidiary paid bribes to South African officials to obtain lucrative consulting contracts.



– ‘High- Value Prescribers’-



Kavanaugh described McKinsey as intimately involved in efforts to boost OxyContin sales after they fell off following a 2007 US settlement with Purdue over criminally misbranding the drug.

Undertaking a study for client Purdue, McKinsey determined that the sales dropped due to concerns by doctors and pharmacists that the drug was being abused.

“To turbocharge sales, McKinsey devised, and Purdue followed, the targeting of High Value Prescribers, including those who are prescribing opioids for uses that were unsafe, ineffective and medically unnecessary,” Kavanaugh said.

“This was not just marketing,” he added. “It was strategy. It was executed and it worked.”

The settlement requires McKinsey to establish and provide updates on a compliance program that involves employee training and risk-assessment reviews of potential clients. The company must also undertake new document retention policies.

Such measures constitute “a full infrastructure of what professional services firms are expected to do to make sure they don’t end up in this situation,” said US Attorney Joshua Levy.

McKinsey also agreed not to do any work “related to the marketing, sale, promotion or distribution of controlled substances,” the filing said.

Friday’s criminal agreement comes on the heels of earlier civil McKinsey settlements over its conduct relating to Purdue.

In February 2021, McKinsey agreed to pay $573 million to settle claims brought by 47 states and five US territories that it contributed to the opioid crisis through its advice to pharmaceutical giants.

In September 2023, McKinsey agreed to an additional $230 million in settlements with US municipalities, counties and public school districts.

Staff at UK luxury store Harrods vote to strike


By AFP
December 13, 2024

Harrods' staff will strike on some of the busiest retail days of the year - Copyright AFP/File Fabrice COFFRINI

Hundreds of staff at London’s luxury department store Harrods will walk out just days before Christmas, a union said Friday, in a row over pay and working conditions.

The strike at the store — whose late former owner Mohamed Al-Fayed is now accused of being a serial sex offender — will target some of its busiest retail days on December 21 and 22 as well as December 26, or Boxing Day, traditionally the launch of the busy end-of-year sales.

Workers including shop, restaurant, kitchen and cleaning staff had “no option” but to vote to strike “as Harrods’ management refuses to recognise or engage with their union for negotiations,” the United Voices of the World UVW union said in a statement.

“Pay and conditions have deteriorated even as the company rewards its owners and top executives with exorbitant payouts,” it added.

Among the workers’ demands are an annual bonus, guaranteed above inflation pay rises and better staffing levels.

Some 95 percent of UVW union members who were balloted voted to strike.

“This is a momentous result and demonstrates just how ready we are to fight for what we deserve and push for more than the bare minimum,” said Alice Howick, a Harrods waiter and UVW member.

Fayed, who died last year aged 94, owned the store for 25 years until 2010.

London’s Metropolitan Police, which is investigating the sexual assault claims against him, said last month it had so far identified 90 victims.

It comes in the wake of a BBC documentary, aired in September, that detailed several claims of rape and sexual assault against him.

The Egyptian billionaire was one of Britain’s most well-known businessmen. His son Dodi was killed in a 1997 Paris car crash alongside Princess Diana, the former wife of King Charles III.

Ligand-engineered copper nanoclusters could help combat CO₂ emissions

Tohoku University

 

image: 

Detailed architecture of two distinct Cu14 NCs, protected by two different thiols which were investigated in this study. These NCs exhibit different intercluster interactions which shape their stability and reaction selectivity for electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction. 

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Credit: ©Yuichi Negishi et al.

While the humble copper (Cu) may not boast the allure of gold or silver, its remarkable versatility makes it invaluable in cutting-edge research. A collaborative effort by scientists from Tohoku University, the Tokyo University of Science, and the University of Adelaide has unveiled a groundbreaking method to enhance the selectivity and sustainability of electrochemical CO2 reduction processes. By engineering the surfaces of Cu nanoclusters (NCs) at the atomic level, the team has unlocked new possibilities for efficient and eco-friendly carbon conversion technologies. This breakthrough not only showcases the transformative potential of Cu in sustainable chemistry, but also highlights the critical impact of global collaboration in addressing pressing challenges like carbon emissions.

The results were published in Small on December 4, 2024.

Electrochemical CO2 reduction reactions (CO2RR) have garnered significant attention in recent years for their potential to transform excess atmospheric CO2 into valuable products. Among the various nanocatalysts studied, NCs have emerged as a standout due to their distinct advantages over larger nanoparticles. Within this family, Cu NCs have shown great promise, offering formation of variable products, high catalytic activity, and sustainability. Despite these advantages, achieving precise control over product selectivity at an industrial scale remains a challenge. As a result, current research is intensely focused on refining these properties to unlock the full potential of Cu NCs for sustainable CO2 conversion.

"To achieve this breakthrough, our team had to modify NCs at the atomic scale," explains Professor Yuichi Negishi of Tohoku University, "However, it's very challenging since the geometry of the NCs was heavily dependent on the precise parts that we needed to alter. It was like trying to move a supporting pillar of a building."

They successfully synthesized two Cu₁₄ NCs with identical structural architectures by altering the thiolate ligands (PET: 2-phenylethanethiolate; CHT: cyclohexanethiolate) on their surfaces. Overcoming this limitation required the development of a carefully controlled reduction strategy, which enabled the creation of two structurally identical NCs with distinct ligands--a significant step forward in NC design. However, the team observed variations in the stability of these NCs, attributed to differences in intercluster interactions. These disparities play a crucial role in shaping the sustainability of these NCs during catalytic applications.

Although these NCs share nearly identical geometries derived from two different thiolate ligands, they demonstrate markedly different product selectivity when their catalytic activity for CO2 reduction was tested. These variations impact the overall efficiency and selectivity of the CO2RR.

Negishi concludes, "These findings are pivotal for advancing the design of Cu NCs that combine stability with high selectivity, paving the way for more efficient and reliable electrochemical CO2 reduction technologies."

Representation of the Faradic Efficiency of the CO2 reduction products of different Cu NC samples at -1.2 V vs. a reversible hydrogen electrode (a) product collected after initial 2h of reaction and (b) product collected after 16h of reaction represent the sustainability of the selectivity of the products. 

Credit

©Yuichi Negishi et al.

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Journal

Small

DOI

10.1002/smll.202409910 

Article Title

Ligand-Dependent Intracluster Interactions in Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Using Cu14 Nanoclusters

Article Publication Date

14-Dec-2024

 

Scientists innovate breeding strategies to create climate-smart crops

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters

 

image: 

Professor XU Cao from IGDB inspects the climate-smart tomatoes.

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Credit: Image by IGDB

A recent study has reported a novel breeding strategy to rapidly create climate-smart crops that show higher yield under normal conditions and greatly rescue yield losses under heat stress both in staple grain and vegetable crops.

The study, which was published in Cell on 13 December, was conducted by Prof. XU Cao’s team from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The year 2050 is fast approaching and farm productivity must increase by 60% in order to feed a projected global population of 10 billion. However, current crop production is insufficient and is expected to worsen due to the abiotic-stress burden of climate change.

An increase of 2 °C during the growing season will result in a yield loss of 3–13%. To ensure global food security and overcome breeding bottlenecks, scientists urgently need to develop “climate-smart” crops that achieve higher yields under normal conditions and stable yields under heat stress.

The physiological basis of crop yield and quality is the source-sink relationship. Source tissues (e.g., leaves) are net producers of photoassimilates—i.e., primarily carbohydrates such as sucrose. In contrast, sink tissues (e.g., fruits, seeds, roots, developing flowers, cotton fibers, and storage organs) are net importers, which use or store photoassimilates.

The cell wall invertase gene (CWIN) is the crucial gene regulating the source-sink relationship in plants. The enzyme encoded by this gene unloads and converts sucrose transported from leaves into glucose and fructose within sink organs, where these sugars can be directly absorbed and utilized. These sugars are not only essential nutrients for the development of fruits and seeds, but significantly influence the sweetness of fruits and the quality of rice grains.

Heat stress represses CWIN activity and thus disrupts the source-sink balance, resulting in inadequate energy supply in sink organs, reduced reproductive development, and yield penalties.

In their new study, Prof. XU Cao and his team developed a strategy based on climate-responsive optimization of carbon partitioning to sinks (CROCS) by rationally manipulating the expression of CWIN genes in fruit and cereal crops. They precisely knocked-in a 10-bp heat-shock element (HSE) into promoters of CWIN genes in elite rice and tomato cultivars, using self-developed high-efficiency, prime-editing tools. HSE insertion endows CWINs with heat-responsive upregulation in both controlled and field environments to enhance carbon partitioning to rice grains and tomato fruits.

Multi-location and multi-season yield tests on tomatoes under various cultivation conditions including greenhouses and open fields showed that under normal conditions, the CROCS strategy increased tomato yields by 14% to 47%. Under heat stress, it increased per-plot fruit yield by 26%~33% over controls and rescued 56.4%~100% of fruit yield losses caused by heat stress. Notably, aspects of fruit quality such as uniformity and sugar content were significantly improved compared to unmodified controls.

In addition, rice cultivars improved by this strategy not only showed a yield increase of 7% to 13% under normal conditions, but also showed a 25% grain yield increase over controls under heat-stress conditions. Specifically, up to 41% of heat-induced grain losses were rescued in rice.

Prof. Xu noted that CROCS is an efficient, versatile, prime-editing based system for rapid crop improvement, which paves the way to rapidly create climate-smart crops by targeted insertion of environment-responsive cis-regulatory elements. The strategy also provides effective gene-editing tools and feasible operational procedures for the fundamental study of plant responses to stress.

The researchers also noted that this breeding strategy has now also been applied to crops such as soybeans, wheat, and corn.

Engineering source-sink relations to create climate-smart crops with higher yields under normal conditions and stable yields under heat stress.

Credit

Image by IGDB

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Journal

Cell

DOI

10.1016/j.cell.2023.10.005 

Article Title

Engineering source-sink relations by prime editing confers heat-stress resilience in tomato and rice

Article Publication Date

13-Dec-2024

 

New device produces critical fertilizer ingredient from thin air, cutting carbon emissions

Stanford University

The air around us contains a powerful solution for making agriculture more sustainable. Researchers at Stanford University and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia have developed a prototype device that can produce ammonia – a key fertilizer ingredient – using wind energy to draw air through a mesh. The approach they developed, if perfected, might eliminate the need for a century-old method that produces ammonia by combining nitrogen and hydrogen at high pressures and temperatures. The older method consumes 2% of global energy and contributes 1% of annual carbon dioxide emissions from its reliance on natural gas.

The study, published Dec. 13 in Science Advances, involved the first on-site – rather than in a lab – demonstration of the technology. The researchers envision someday integrating the device into irrigation systems, enabling farmers to generate fertilizer directly from the air.

“This breakthrough allows us to harness the nitrogen in our air and produce ammonia sustainably,” said study senior author Richard Zare, the Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor in Natural Science in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. “It’s a significant step toward a decentralized and eco-friendly approach to agriculture.”

A cleaner alternative

In preparation for designing their device, the researchers studied how different environmental factors – like humidity, wind speed, salt levels, and acidity – affect ammonia production. They also looked at how the size of water droplets, the concentration of the solution, and the contact of water with materials that do not dissolve in water impact the process. Lastly, they tested the best mix of iron oxide and an acid polymer with fluorine and sulfur to determine the ideal conditions for producing ammonia and understand how these catalyst materials interact with water droplets.

The Stanford team’s process makes ammonia cleanly and inexpensively and utilizes the surrounding air to get nitrogen and hydrogen from water vapor. By passing air through a mesh coated with catalysts to facilitate the necessary reaction, the researchers produced enough ammonia with a sufficiently high concentration to serve as a hydroponic fertilizer in greenhouse settings. Unlike traditional methods, the new technique operates at room temperature and standard atmospheric pressure, requiring no external voltage source to be attached to the mesh. Farmers could run the portable device onsite, eliminating the need to purchase and ship fertilizer from a manufacturer.

“This approach significantly reduces the carbon footprint of ammonia production,” said study lead author Xiaowei Song, a chemistry research scientist at Stanford.

In laboratory experiments, the team demonstrated further potential by recycling water through a spraying system, achieving ammonia concentrations sufficient to fertilize plants grown in a greenhouse after just two hours. By incorporating a filter made from a microporous stone material, this approach could produce enough ammonia to support broader agricultural applications.

A future without fossil fuels

The device is two to three years away from being market-ready, according to study co-author Chanbasha Basheer of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. In the meantime, the researchers plan to use increasingly large mesh systems to produce more ammonia. “There is a lot of room to develop this,” Basheer said.

Ammonia’s importance extends beyond fertilizers. As a clean energy carrier, it can store and transport renewable energy more efficiently than hydrogen gas due to its higher energy density. The innovation positions ammonia as a linchpin in decarbonizing industries like shipping and power generation.

“Green ammonia represents a new frontier in sustainability,” Zare said. “This method, if it can be scaled up economically, could drastically reduce our reliance on fossil fuels across multiple sectors.”

 

Co-authors of the study also include Jinheng Xu, a PhD student in chemistry in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences.

Zare is also a professor, by courtesy, of physics in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences and an affiliate of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

The study was funded by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.ads4443 

Article Title

Onsite Ammonia Synthesis from Water Vapor and Nitrogen in the Air

Article Publication Date

13-Dec-2024

 

Image tool to help AI scour wildlife shots for climate change clues

University of Edinburgh

A new AI image tool could aid the development of algorithms to analyse wildlife images to help improve understanding of how species around the world are responding to climate change, a study suggests.

The advance could help scientists create new AI-powered algorithms to perform rapid, in-depth analysis of the millions of wildlife images uploaded to the internet by members of the public each year.

These could help reveal key insights into the impacts of climate change, pollution, habitat loss and other pressures on tens of thousands of animal and plant species, researchers say.

Citizen science websites are a potentially rich source of information on how animals and plants are responding to climate change. However, while existing AI algorithms can automatically identify species in uploaded images, it was unclear if they could reveal other information too.

Now, an international team of scientists has created a new tool to test how well AI algorithms can mine image banks for other information. This could include details such as what species are eating, how healthy they are, and with which other species they are interacting.

The tool – called INQUIRE – measures AI’s ability to drawn conclusions from an image bank of five million wildlife photos uploaded to the iNaturalist citizen science website.

The team found that current AI algorithms are capable of answering some of these types of questions, but they fail on the more complex ones. These included those that require reasoning about small features within images and ones that contain detailed scientific terminology.

The findings highlight opportunities to develop new AI algorithms that can better help scientists efficiently explore vast image collections, the team says.

The peer-reviewed findings will be presented at the NeurIPS conference, one of the leading conferences on machine learning.

The team included researchers from the University of Edinburgh, University College London, UMass Amherst, iNaturalist and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The work was in part supported by the University of Edinburgh’s Generative AI Laboratory.

Dr Oisin Mac Aodha, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics, said: “The thousands of wildlife photos uploaded to the internet each day provide scientists with valuable insights into where different species can be found on Earth. However, knowing what species is in a photo is just the tip of the iceberg.

“These images are potentially a hugely rich resource that remains largely untapped. Being able to quickly and accurately comb through the wealth of information they contain could offer vital clues about how species are responding to multi-faceted challenges like climate change.”

Dr Sarah Beery, Assistant Professor at MIT, said: “This careful curation of data, with a focus on capturing real examples of scientific inquiries across research areas in ecology and environmental science, has proven vital to expanding our understanding of the current capabilities of current AI methods in these potentially impactful scientific settings.

“It has also outlined gaps in current research that we can now work to address, particularly for complex compositional queries, technical terminology, and the fine-grained, subtle differences that delineate categories of interest for our collaborators.”

 

Oxidation in glacial rivers and lakes could help mitigate methane emissions

Dickinson College

(Carlisle, Pa.) — A new study in the journal Scientific Reports offers a rare glimmer of hope in the face of climate change, suggesting glacial rivers and lakes may play a crucial role in mitigating the effects of  methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that recent studies have shown emerging as glaciers melt in warming global temperatures.

This new study, led by Dickinson College Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Kristin Strock, looked at what happens when glaciers melt and release trapped methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Strock, a 2019 National Geographic Explorer, led an all-female team of researchers including Dickinson students and scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and U.S. Geological Survey. The team traveled to four sites on three different Icelandic glaciers to gather samples for the study.

The team found that when water from melting glaciers enters lakes and streams, the microbes living in those bodies of water can consume large amounts of methane being flushed from under the melting glaciers. Researchers found this natural process, called oxidation, may reduce atmospheric methane emissions by as much as 53 percent. The study is one of only a handful of its kind, according to Strock.

“Studies that span the land, ice, water and air are rare, because it requires an interdisciplinary and full ecosystem kind of perspective,” Strock said. “My co-researcher and former student, Rachel Krewson, proposed this study as part of her senior research thesis in environmental science. I’m immensely proud of Rachel and our entire team of women researchers for doing this critical work in a field that’s still male-dominated.”

Strock's team’s findings are significant because they provide new insights into the complex interactions between climate change, glacial systems and methane emissions. By incorporating methane oxidation into estimates of glacial methane emissions, scientists may be able to assess the impact of melting glaciers on the global climate more accurately.

This study was funded by a grant from the National Geographic Society and in-kind support from the U.S. Geological Survey alongside contributions from The Churchill Exploration Fund and the Dickinson College Research and Development Fund.

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Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-024-73041-3 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Oxidation is a potentially significant methane sink in land-terminating glacial runoff