It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Breakthrough in the development of a new low-cost computer
A low-energy challenger to the quantum computer that also works at room temperature may be the result of research at the University of Gothenburg. The researchers have shown that information can be transmitted using magnetic wave motion in complex networks.
Spintronics explores magnetic phenomena in nano-thin layers of magnetic materials that are exposed to magnetic fields, electric currents and voltages. These external stimuli can also create spin waves, ripples in a material's magnetisation that travel with a specific phase and energy.
The researchers can generate and control the spin waves, enabling a phase controlled mutual synchronization between two so-called spin Hall nano-oscillators. By controlling the phase of these waves, the research team was able to generate binary phases across the network. For the first time, they showed that spin waves can mediate both in phase and out of phase between the oscillators. The phenomenon can be tuned by adjusting either the magnetic field, the electric current, the applied gate voltage or the distance between the oscillators.
Produces the best guess
These advances pave the way for the next generation of Ising machines, an alternative to quantum computers that require much less energy and can operate at room temperature.
Quantum computers and Ising machines are useful for solving so-called combinatorial optimisation problems, where the aim is to produce the best guess rather than the exact answer to a problem. Many AI models aim to produce guesses that are good enough for the purpose. In today's computers, these AI calculations require a lot of computing power and thus consume energy.
Networks of oscillators
“With the help of spin waves, we are closer to creating highly efficient, low-power computing systems that can solve real-world problems,” says Akash Kumar, lead author of the study published in the scientific journal Nature Physics.
Following the breakthrough, researchers at the University of Gothenburg are now building networks of hundreds of thousands of oscillators to develop the next generation of Ising machines. Because the oscillators operate at room temperature and have a nanoscale footprint, these devices can be easily adapted to larger systems, but also to smaller devices, such as a mobile phone.
“Spintronics has the potential to impact many different fields, from artificial intelligence and machine learning to telecommunications and financial systems. The ability to control and manipulate spin waves at the nanoscale could lead to the development of more powerful and efficient sensors, and even high-frequency stock trading machines,” says Akash Kumar.
Facts: Ising machine
An Ising machine is a new type of computational system that mimics how magnetic spins in a physical material organise themselves to reach a stable state. It is mainly used to solve complex optimisation problems in an efficient way. Rather than calculating step-by-step as in conventional computers, the system's many small ‘spins’ work together to quickly find the best solution. The Ising machine is programmed by the strength of the connections between the different spins. If the coupling is positive, the spins will point in the same direction (in phase) and if it is negative, they will point in the opposite direction (out of phase). The solution to the problem is then read out as the final direction of all the different spins after they have been optimally aligned.
Bark beetle-infested spruce trees begin to dry out already before any visible signs of tree mortality appear, a recent study from the University of Eastern Finland shows.
Led by Dr Samuli Junttila, Associate Professor in Forest Health and Earth Observation, a team of researchers conducted dendrometer measurements of 26 bark beetle-infested and 31 healthy spruce trees between 2020 and 2022. The trees studied were from two different sites in Southern Finland, all of them of approximately the same age.
A dendrometer is an instrument used to measure the diameter of tree stems. In this study, dendrometers were used to measure stem diameters at micrometre-level precision every 15 minutes.
The researchers wanted to compare stem diameter variation between healthy trees and those infested by bark beetles. There is natural diurnal variation in stem diameter: during the day, trees transpire more water and are thinner. At night, they are thicker due to retaining more water.
“We wanted to capture this diurnal variation because it is important for trees. Tree growth mainly occurs at night when more water is available,” Junttila notes.
The researchers found that tree growth slows down once bark beetles infest the tree, i.e., long before growth stops, and the tree dies. Infested trees showed sharp drops in diameter as they began to dry out.
The European spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) is a bark beetle that primarily causes damage to spruce trees. While the European bark beetle is an important part of the ecosystem and contributes to biodiversity, it can cause significant damage in monoculture spruce forests. Due to the recent hot and dry summers, this has been particularly visible in Central Europe and Sweden. In Finland, warmer temperatures have expanded the European bark beetle’s habitat, accelerated their reproduction, and consequently increased forest damage caused by bark beetles.
Since commercial spruce plantations are abundant in Central and Northern Europe researching, monitoring and understanding the behaviour of the European spruce bark beetle is crucial as, climate change progresses.
“However, there was plenty of variation between individual trees. This may be influenced by the number of bark beetles living in the tree, or by the amount of other stress the tree experiences,” Junttila concludes.
Led by Associate Professor Junttila, the Global Ecosystem Health Observatory, GEHO, at the University of Eastern Finland is developing advanced remote sensing methods for the detection and monitoring of bark beetles and other forest damages. According to Junttila, the study shows that remote sensing methods alone aren’t enough to detect the effects of bark beetles on trees sufficiently early on for pre-emptive actions.
“On-site monitoring is needed as well, supported by research exploring which areas are particularly susceptible to bark beetles,” Junttila says.
The study was published in Trees, Forests and People.
Journal
Trees Forests and People
Article Title
Influence of bark beetle infestation on stem diameter dynamics
Beyond the burn: Harvesting dead wood to reduce wildfires and store carbon
Study explores role of dead wood harvesting in wildfire management and carbon sequestration in western US
Credit: Asha Paudel, Ph.D., Florida Atlantic University
A century of fire suppression, combined with global warming and drought, has led to increasingly destructive wildfires in the Western United States. Forest managers use tools like prescribed burns, thinning, mastication, and piling and burning to reduce fuel – live and dead trees, needles and leaves, and downed branches – that can feed intense wildfires. These methods aim to lower fuel levels, reduce crown density, and protect fire-resistant trees, fostering healthier, more resilient forests.
However, prescribed burning efforts haven’t kept up with the rapid buildup of surface fuel, creating a “fire deficit” – the gap between the amount of fuel that has accumulated, and the fire management efforts needed to reduce it – and raises the risk of severe wildfires.
Prescribed fires in the Western U.S. are an essential tool for managing forests and reducing wildfire risks, but they also come with significant social and environmental consequences. These controlled burns can escape and become wildfires, degrade air quality, reduce visibility and pose serious health risks, particularly respiratory illnesses. In the Pacific Northwest, emissions from prescribed fires have been linked to hundreds of deaths, thousands of respiratory problems, and significant workday losses due to poor air quality.
In addition, human activities like deforestation and logging, as well as pests, drought and large high-severity wildfires, diminish forests’ ability to absorb and store carbon, which is essential for reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere. Effective wildfire management is key to reducing risks, lowering carbon emissions, and enhancing carbon storage to combat global warming.
For thousands of years, Indigenous Peoples in the Western U.S. played a vital role in forest and fire management, shaping ecosystems through practices like controlled low-severity burns and the collection of non-timber forest products for firewood, shelter, cultural items and tools. These traditions inform modern forest management techniques, (e.g., prescribed burning and piling and burning), but the physical harvesting of dead wood without combustion is now being explored as a way to both reduce wildfire risks and carbon emissions.
Researchers from Florida Atlantic University investigated how removing dead wood could reduce wildfire risks and enhance carbon storage in the Sierra Nevada. The study focused on the effects of physical harvesting – removing specific sizes of dead and downed branches and trees – on wildfire behavior and carbon emissions. Researchers also examined which forest management strategies, particularly those involving combinations of fuel treatments, are most effective in reducing wildfire risks, enhancing carbon storage, and promoting long-term forest resilience.
The team simulated the effects of eight different forest management treatments to see how they affect wildfire risks. Along with a “control” scenario that only included wildfire, the treatments included thinning, physical removal of surface fuel, and prescribed burning, either alone or in combination.
The study, published in the Journal of Environmental Management, found that combining physical harvesting with thinning significantly reduced risks like tree mortality and crown fires, while lowering carbon emissions and offering carbon sequestration through products like biochar, charcoal created by heating organic material in a low-oxygen environment, used to store carbon and improve soil.
“In our increasingly warming world with frequent dangerous fire weather, more people and structures at risk in the wildland-urban interface, health risks from exposure to smoke, and need to enhance carbon sequestration to mitigate global warming, scientists need to examine effective alternative management actions,” said Scott H. Markwith, Ph.D., co-author and a professor in the Department of Geosciences, within FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. “By combining physical harvesting with thinning – removing smaller or fire-vulnerable trees – evidence from this research suggests we can help restore healthy, resilient forests. This approach, paired with transforming wood into carbon-storing products rather than burning it, could reduce wildfire severity and smoke and carbon emissions, while also generating carbon credits.”
Findings from the study offer important insights for forest management strategies that reduce wildfire risks, lower carbon emissions and boost forest carbon storage.
“Over time, repeated fuel reduction treatments, such as prescribed burns, can emit more carbon than a single wildfire in an untreated forest,” said Rabindra Parajuli, Ph.D., lead author and doctoral graduate from the FAU Department of Geosciences under Markwith’s supervision, and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Georgia. “However, by harvesting dead wood and converting it into biochar – a stable form of carbon – emissions can be reduced. This process not only mitigates health impacts but also increases carbon sequestration, helping to offset the effects of climate change while promoting healthier forest ecosystems.”
Long-term research, including simulation modeling and field experiments, will play a crucial role in evaluating the effectiveness of this approach over time, with repeated treatments and across various forest types. This research will be especially valuable in exploring its potential for restoring historic wildfire regimes, contributing to the health and resilience of forests in the Western U.S.
Asha Paudel, Ph.D., a doctoral graduate from the FAU Department of Geosciences, was the third study co-author and also a former advisee of Markwith.
- FAU -
About Florida Atlantic University: Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, Florida Atlantic serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses located along the Southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the University has doubled its research expenditures and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates. Through the coexistence of access and excellence, Florida Atlantic embodies an innovative model where traditional achievement gaps vanish. Florida Atlantic is designated as a Hispanic-serving institution, ranked as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report, and holds the designation of “R1: Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production” by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Florida Atlantic shares this status with less than 5% of the nearly 4,000 universities in the United States. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
Asha Paudel, Ph.D., (right) uses the rangefinder/hypsometer to survey fields in the Sierra Nevada.
Researchers surveying fields in the Sierra Nevada.
Fire is an element that has always been present in Mediterranean ecosystems. Thus, once the direct impacts caused by fires have been overcome, to a greater or lesser extent, in the medium or long term, there is a recovery of forest mass, and life re-emerges.
To what extent does this regeneration occur? How long does it take? What effects does it have on the structure and composition of the vegetation? Answering these questions was the aim of a new study carried out by the Forestry Engineering Department at the University of Cordoba, in which the post-fire dynamics of vegetation in an area of the Sierra Morena mountain rage were analyzed in order to better understand the resilience of ecosystems in the face of different fire recurrence and severity scenarios.
According to the study's principal investigator, Macarena Ortega, the work focused on a non-reforested area affected by two overlapping forest fires in the last 30 years. In this way, through photographic interpretations and field inventories, areas that have burned twice (in 1988 and 2016), areas in which fire has struck only once, and, finally, areas not affected by fires (reference or control areas) were analyzed. Looking at the past of these events, analyzing their evolution over time, and making comparisons between all these scenarios is precisely what allowed the research team to draw conclusions about how vegetation recovers over time.
A scientific basis for prescribed burns
One of the study's main conclusions is that recurrent fires of moderate severity reduce the brush that grows under trees without compromising their regeneration. In the words of another of the researchers who participated in the study, Juan Ramón Molina, "this is further evidence of the utility of prescribed burns, which are, ultimately, moderate-intensity fires, as a scrub management strategy to restore ecosystems and prevent forest disasters." In fact, according to the study, those areas featuring dense woodland and undergrowth and that have only suffered moderate-intensity fires, exhibit full recoveries after 30 years (compared to the control area), almost as if the fire had never occurred.
When woods become overgrown with brush
According to the results of the study, the real problem for woodlands arises when fires occur on a severe and recurrent basis. This was the case in Pino Piñonero, in the area studied; exhibiting recovery after the first fire, the regeneration of the area’s trees was completely thwarted when a second fire struck, as, after severe and recurrent fires woodlands tend to give way to systems in which brush almost completely prevails.
"It would be foolish to plan post-fire restoration without understanding how the ecosystem evolves naturally," adds researcher Macarena Ortega. In this way, the work could serve as a guide to forest restoration strategies and their risks.
The study was carried out by the UCO's Forest Fire Laboratory (LABIF) and the academic institution's Forest Engineering Department, in collaboration with researcher Larissa Yocom, attached to the Forest Resources Department at Utah State University (USA).
Anemonefish, sometimes called clownfish, have been popular attractions in aquariums ever since Disney’s animated film Finding Nemo arrived in cinemas in 2003. Living symbiotically with sea anemones that shelter them from predators, the fish drive away organisms that nibble at their hosts. Anemonefish have also shown they will provide their hosts with the food given to them by humans, but does this happen in the wild?
An Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Science team led by PhD student Yuya Kobayashi and Professor Satoshi Awata found evidence of this feeding behavior during field experiments. They saw Clark’s anemonefish actively provisioning food to bubble-tip anemones, such as by attaching a clam they cannot eat to the tentacles of their hosts. For smaller food, the fish had their fill first before feeding the sea anemones.
“We also confirmed that feeding the anemonefish directly increases the growth rate of the sea anemones,” stated PhD student Kobayashi. “It is known that in other anemonefish species, the number of eggs laid increases when the hosts are larger. For anemonefish, which cannot leave their sea anemone, feeding their hosts is extremely important and will ultimately benefit themselves.”
Professor Awata added, “We believe that correctly understanding animal behavior will not only lead to the development of ecology, biology, and other fields of research, but will also provide appropriate methods for the protection and conservation of animals that are on the verge of extinction.”
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About OMU
Established in Osaka as one of the largest public universities in Japan, Osaka Metropolitan University is committed to shaping the future of society through “Convergence of Knowledge” and the promotion of world-class research. For more research news, visit https://www.omu.ac.jp/en/ and follow us on social media: X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.
