Revamped MIT Climate Portal aims to inform and empower the public

by Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A graphic from the revamped MIT Climate Portal illustrates the section of the website on What Can Be Done About Climate Change? Credit: Rick Pinchera

Stepping up its ongoing efforts to inform and empower the public on the issue of climate change, MIT today announced a dramatic overhaul of the MIT Climate Portal, climate.mit.edu, which provides timely, science-based information about the causes and consequences of climate change—and what can be done to address it.

"From vast wildfires to an unusually active hurricane season, we are already getting a glimpse of what our climate-changed future looks like," says Maria T. Zuber, MIT's vice president for research. "With this website, we aim to communicate in rigorous but accessible ways what the science tells us: Yes, human-caused climate change is an urgent, serious problem; and yes, we can do something about it. Addressing climate change is an institutional priority, and this kind of public engagement is one way we hope to accelerate solutions."

Survey research shows that increasing numbers of people, both in the United States and around the world, are concerned about climate change. But in the U.S., research also shows that members of the public rarely hear about or discuss the issue. Researchers at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication have suggested that there might exist a climate change "spiral of silence," in which "even people who care about the issue shy away from discussing it because they so infrequently hear other people talking about it."

MIT's efforts at public engagement on climate change are intended to help break this "spiral"—encouraging people to discuss climate change while also providing them with resources to discuss it in a way informed by the latest science and research. These engagement efforts are part of a commitment the Institute made in its 2015 Plan for Action on Climate Change "to offer the public a trusted source of climate change information, to engage leaders and citizens in the effort for solutions, and to use MIT's expertise in online education to dramatically expand our reach."

"We often talk about reaching people whom we call the 'climate curious' –— people who want to learn more about what climate change means for them and their communities and, of course, what they can do about it," says John Fernández, the director of the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative and a professor in the Department of Architecture. "Our goal is for this website to become a dependable resource for people across the U.S. and all over the world, so that they can have effective conversations about the urgency of the climate problem and our ability, even now, to reduce the grave risks it presents."

A graphic from the revamped MIT Climate Portal illustrating the section of the website on What We Know About Climate Change? Credit: Rick Pinchera

Managed by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, the MIT Climate Portal features a range of content, including a comprehensive climate change primer and climate-related news from all corners of the Institute. New features launched today include brief "explainers," written by faculty and scientists at MIT, that provide high-level overviews of important topics like wildfires, carbon pricing, renewable energy, and ocean acidification. Also new to the website is an "Ask MIT Climate" feature, where members of the public can get answers to their own questions about climate change. (If you have a question about climate change that you would like the MIT Climate Portal to answer, email climate@mit.edu.)


The site also offers a clearinghouse of everything climate-related happening at MIT, from events to course offerings, to keep interested students, alumni, parents, faculty, and staff members up to date. Just as importantly, it creates a digital meeting place for members of the MIT community to share their latest work on climate change. Faculty, students, and staff across the Institute for years have made significant contributions to improving public understanding of and engagement with climate change, with tools like the climate simulators created by the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative; the Climate CoLab platform; and a number of public events, contests, and educational materials. The site will make these resources accessible in one place.

In addition to the MIT Climate Portal, MIT had previously launched two other digital resources for the public: an online, Webby Award-winning interactive primer on climate change, and a podcast series, TILclimate (short for "Today I Learned: Climate"). Both of these resources are accessible through the portal.

By enlisting MIT students in editorial aspects of the new website, the project is also proving to be a valuable hands-on educational tool. For example, for the "Ask MIT Climate" feature, students take questions about climate change submitted by users and then, under the guidance of MIT faculty members, research the answers and write responses.

"We see this as a powerful learning opportunity, a way for MIT students to strengthen their content knowledge about climate change, energy, and sustainability, but also to improve their ability to effectively communicate complex science and engineering topics to diverse audiences, a critical skill that will serve them well after they leave MIT," says Fernández.

The new website is not static: New content will be developed and added over time, and all departments, labs, and centers at MIT that work on climate change are invited to contribute to it. Members of the MIT community who want to learn more about getting involved, or who have ideas for subjects to cover, are encouraged to contact the Climate Portal team.


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More information: MIT Climate Portal: climate.mit.edu/

Provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Danish King enshrined in his own clothes, but appeared with his brothers' when examined

by Birgitte Svennevig, University of Southern Denmark

The motif is birds, probably peacocks, flanking a stylized tree or cross. It consists of several silk pieces sewn together. One piece, 30x40 cm, covers the front of the pillow and about a third of the back, while the rest consists of strips about 5 cm wide, cut off without regard to the pattern. The colors are golden and two light blue shades. Credit: Nationalmuseet/The National Museum of Denmark

The cathedral in Odense, Denmark, has for nine centuries held the relics of the Danish King St. Canute the Holy and his brother Benedikt. They were both murdered here in AD 1086, and just a few years later, in AD 1100, King Canute was sanctified.


The history of the relics has been that of turmoil at times, varying from initial worship of the Catholic believers to being walled up and hidden after the protestant reformation in AD 1536.

Since the 19th century the brothers' wooden shrines have been on display in the cathedral as heritage objects of national importance.

How old are the silks?

The shrines of Canute and Benedikt have long been a puzzle in Danish history. They both contain several well-preserved textiles of silk and linen and the question is: How old are the textiles and what is their historical context?

Now, researchers have examined some of the textiles in the two shrines. They conclude that King Canute's shrine no longer holds the precious silk textiles placed in it at his enshrinement.

Instead it is likely that the textiles from his brother's shrine at some point were moved to King Canute's shrine.

According to historical sources, both brothers were covered in valuable textiles when enshrined. Sources have described how Canute's shrine in AD 1536 was lined with beautiful and rare silk.

Decades later, both shrines were walled up in the cathedral, placed vertically so that the bones and textiles lay in a heap at the bottom of each shrine, and hereafter there are no reportings of the precious textiles in King Canute's shrine when it was re-examined in AD 1694 and AD 1833.

The Eagle Silk blanket was originally 195-230 cm wide, but today the remains measure 110 cm high and 133 cm wide. It is woven as samite, a fine weaving technique developed in Sasanid Persia (AD 226-661). The original colors were dark blue, dyed with woad and indigo, and red, dyed with madder and sappanwood. Credit: Nationalmuseet/The National Museum of Denmark

"It is tempting to suggest that the king's precious textiles have been stolen at some point after AD 1582, says professor and an expert in archaeometry," says Kaare Lund Rasmussen from University of Southern Denmark.

When the two shrines were removed from their walled up hiding places and prepared to be put on display in 1874, researchers at the time were puzzled by the absence of valuable textiles in King Canute's shrine—his brother Benedikt had the more valuable textiles—and they declared themselves unable to judge in which of the shrines the found fabrics belonged.

They decided to move the best textiles from Benedikt's shrine to King Canute's shrine, so that he could be presented with the most beautiful, most precious textiles when on display under a glass lid. Professor Kaare Lund Rasmussen and colleagues have performed chemical analysis of the textiles in both shrines and conclude that they are of the same age, and that their age fit with AD 1086, when the two brothers were enshrined.

Birds and eagle motif

"Together with historical sources this convinces us that today, King Canute lies in his shrine with what is actually his brother's burial textiles, says," professor Kaare Lund Rasmussen.

Among the textiles, intended for Benedikt but later placed with Canute, are a pillow with birds and a textile called the Eagle Silk.

"They are exquisite and beautiful, but King Canute's textiles must have been even more exquisite," says Kaare Lund Rasmussen.

According to senior researchers at the Danish National Museum, Ulla Kjær and Poul Grinder-Hansen, the luxurious silks may have been sent from South Italy to the shrines in Denmark by King Canute's widow, Edel, possibly brought home by Canute's half-brother, King Erik I, Ejegod.

At the time of Canute's canonization and enshrinement, silk weaving in Europe was not yet established outside the boundaries of the Byzantine Empire and silk was both a precious and much-coveted import article.

Explore further  How textiles undergo fossilization via mineralization

Provided by University of Southern Denmark

Spider home invasion season: why the media may be to blame for your arachnophobia

by Mike Jeffries, The Conversation

Credit: LukasPich/Shutterstock

Spiders have an unfortunate media presence. No number of studies emphasising their ecological value or the potential of their silks to inspire wonder materials can overcome the negative press. The more emotive and sensational the coverage, the more likely it is to travel.

Although the proportion of spider species capable of giving humans a bad bite is very small, and no known deaths have occurred in recent decades, we retain a fear. We tend to exaggerate the risk from spider bites, even in countries with no indigenous dangerous spiders, such as the UK. There is always the apocryphal arachnid lurking under the toilet seat, or panic over false widow spiders whose infestations have closed schools.

With the arrival of autumn comes lurid news stories of amorous house spiders "the size of your hand" invading homes to find somewhere warm and dry to mate and die. It happens every year, but the media's insistence on turning this small arachnid's breeding season into an annual spectacle could be doing more than selling papers. A new study from Italy suggests it could be stoking arachnophobia where it may otherwise not have existed.

House spiders 'the size of your hand' invading UK homes looking for love https://t.co/qDmkpDFZXI— The Independent (@Independent) September 4, 2020

A web of lies

Mediterranean recluse spiders have a (perhaps unwarranted) bad reputation in Italy. Credit: Antonio Serrano/Wikipedia

The researchers scoured the digital archives of Italian newspapers, looking for the use of "bite", "spider" and "sting" (not that spiders do sting, but don't let that spoil a good story) in stories published during the last ten years about four spider species thought of as dangerous: the yellow sac spider, the Mediterranean black widow, the Mediterranean recluse and the false wolf spider.

They found 314 media reports of spider encounters in Italy between 2010 and 2020—the majority being Mediterranean black widows or recluses. The reach of each article was measured by the number of shares on social media, along with any errors such as species misidentification or incorrect medical advice. The team counted the use of certain words, such as "devil, "terror" or "panic", to rate how each story sensationalised the encounter.

They found that media reports of spider attacks have increased in recent years, especially for the Mediterranean recluse. The rise coincided with a single report of loxoscelism – the deep ulcerations and necrosis of skin resulting from a spider bite—in Europe, and an Italian murder mystery novel in which the venom of the Mediterranean recluse is the murder weapon.

The spider species in the loxoscelism case was never definitively identified, but newspaper coverage of the Mediterranean recluse spiked nonetheless after the case was reported. Both the mysterious bite and the murder novel featured often in the increasing number of newspaper reports about these spiders. The press had found a compelling narrative to weave between a rare medical event and a well-timed work of fiction. Suddenly, recluse spiders weren't so reclusive.

Stories that shared more recent and startling encounters travelled further. This isn't surprising, the viral spread of content is greater if it provokes intense delight, fear or anxiety. But the emotional contagion, as the team put it, helps drive up the perceived risk from spider attack, creating unreasonable hostility towards arachnids.

Jumping spiders to the rescue

Spiders are often overlooked in conservation, despite controlling insect pests on farms and having important roles in food webs as both predators and prey. It won't help if their media profile is largely driven by overhyped stories about "devilish" attacks and life-threatening venom. The researchers go so far as to accuse some journalists of sensationalising their stories at the expense of blameless wildlife.

Spiders are easy targets for scaremongering, but there are ways to improve their reputation. After all, some lovable spiders are cherished in popular culture. I defy anyone to watch Charlotte's Web without sobbing.

Natural history documentaries seem to have seized on a candidate for improving the public image of spiders. If you see a cute spider feature on TV, it's almost always a jumping spider. Furry, not so long-legged and with a large pair of eyes, it's as if they're designed to dispel the idea that all spiders are sinister.

Incidentally, I'm a jumping spider, according to a BBC children's service quiz that reveals what kind of spider you are.

On the whole, spiders in films terrorise small American towns, but seldom trouble Italy. Nonetheless, Italian spiders suffering at the hands of hype enjoy some revenge in 2014's Arachnicide. A "truly joyous" spectacle of "bad Italian cinema", reads one review.

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Recluse or not? Scientists use Twitter to tackle spider questions

Provided by The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Spooky spiderweb found in Missouri looks big enough to 'catch' a human, social media users say

By Lauren M. Johnson, CNN

A Missouri Department of Conservation employee snapped a photograph of a huge spiderweb, and the department's social media followers couldn't help but comment on its spooky appearance.

© Missouri Department of Conservation/Facebook A Missouri Department of Conservation employee photographed a large orb weaver spiderweb while out on a trail near Springfield.

Media specialist Francis Skalicky shot the photo on a trail near Springfield recently, according to the department, which posted the image on its Facebook page on Wednesday.

The intricate, circular web was constructed between two trees, and the photo's perspective makes it look massive.

The web was made by an orb weaver spider, an arachnid known for its intricate web designs. They are large in size -- approximately a half-inch for females -- and are usually hairy or furry, according to the department's website. The spiders help to control the population of flies and other annoying bugs, but that's not the first thing that comes to mind.

Facebook users commented on how appropriate it was to see an orb web of this size in October, and one even mentioned it was "the kind that literally 'catch' people if they walk through them at night."

Others made their feelings on the spider known, while appreciating its beautiful work. Several comments mentioned finding a new place to live, while many joked that the photo should have had a disclaimer for those terrified of spiders.

But others found beauty in the spiderweb, with one user saying it reminded her a lace doily. Another user said it was reincarnation at work: "Christo has returned as an orbweaver spider!" referring to the conceptual artist who passed away earlier this year.

While these spiders are quite common, it definitely gets Halloween fans in the mood for the season.

The world's southernmost tree grows in one of the windiest places on Earth, but climate change is shifting those winds

by Brian Buma, The Conversation

The world's southernmost tree grows in one of the windiest places on Earth – but climate change is shifting those winds

On Isla Hornos, Magellan’s beech trees grow in wind-protected nooks and crannies. Credit: Andres Holz, CC BY-ND

In 2019, my research team and I found the world's southernmost tree on an island at the edge of South America. The diminutive tree is 42 years old, stretches several meters along the ground but is only half a meter, or about a foot and a half, tall. In some other place, this tree would grow tall and upright, but here, incredible winds warp and constrain the tree both in height and in where it grows. And due to climate change, those winds are changing.

Standing on the southern side of that wind-battered tree means all trees in the world are to your north, with nothing behind you but some grasses, ocean and Antarctica. Isla Hornos, also known as Cape Horn, supports a small population of Nothofagus betuloides – the Magellan's beech or coigüe. Wind is omnipresent. Cape Horn is one of the windiest places on the planet, and during the expedition, our team faced hurricane-force winds of 75 mph for days at a time.

This wind appears to be the main constraint for arboreal life on the island—trees are found only in sheltered locations behind cliffs and hills. While the area hasn't warmed dramatically, climate change is intensifying the westerly winds that rake the region. Evidence from the nearby Falkland Islands also indicates that the wind direction is shifting too. Because of this, forests on Cape Horn that were previously growing in sheltered areas are now exposed to wind. We found long stretches of dead trees along the edges of the small forests, suggesting that shifting winds caused by climate change may be killing off trees even as new sheltered areas emerge.

Credit: The Conversation

Species must either migrate, adapt or die in response to climate change. By monitoring the geographic edges of where a species lives—like the southernmost tree our team found—scientists can get a handle on the migration ability of various species. This is important for prioritizing conservation plans or when considering more extreme measures, like assisted migration, to help species keep pace with climate change.

Wind has received relatively little attention in regards to setting the limits of species, but it is quite important on mountains, oceanic islands and, as we now know, the overall global extent of trees. Changes in temperature and precipitation are often discussed as worries on a changing planet, but in places like Isla Hornos, climate change's effect on wind matters just as much.

Additionally, this area is relatively pristine—we didn't find a single invasive species, and there has been little human presence in the island, ever. As the climate changes, documenting this location so that scientists can know what is there and how it is changing is critical for future conservation.

Isla Hornos is remote, inhospitable and nearly untouched by humanity. Credit: Brian Buma, CC BY-ND

IslaThe researchers stand tall over the shrunken tree in the foreground during a rare break from the relentless, often hurricane-force winds. Credit: Andres Holz, CC BY-ND

Researchers still know relatively little about the southernmost forests of the world. While there is evidence that the winds have changed, the specific cause of death for forests can be determined only with long-term research.

Further, there are only short climatic records from the island. Even basic information—like the length of the growing season—is still unknown. Repeat studies will need to be done if scientists really want to learn how life is changing in this remote but globally significant locale.

Revisiting this landscape to set up long-term research is important given the unique nature of this global signpost—the world's southernmost tree. More than that, however, I hope this expedition can rally people to study range edges around their own homes.

Together with National Geographic, ESRI and iNaturalist, on Sept. 26, I launched an interactive exploration challenge called The Edges of (All) Life exploration project. Anybody can look up the edges of species ranges in their own neighborhood and go searching for an individual that will push those boundaries out farther. I may have found the world's southernmost tree, but you could find the northernmost dogwood, the northernmost Douglas fir or the southernmost maidenhair fern. No matter where you live, there is likely a unique edge nearby, and finding these ranges is critically important for the conservation of that particular species.


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Study: Populations of widely spread tree species respond differently to climate change

Provided by The Conversation

Research links soil nitrogen levels to corn yield and nitrogen losses

by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

What exactly is the relationship between soil nitrogen, corn yield, and nitrogen loss? Most farmers would be forgiven for assuming a straightforward linear relationship: more nitrogen, more grain yield, and maybe, more loss. That's the assumption many nitrogen management models are based on, but it turns out there's very little published science to back up that assumption.

In a recent paper leveraging a multi-year dataset from 11 experimental plots and on-farm trials around the state, University of Illinois scientists definitively established the relationship between soil nitrogen at different growth stages and corn yield. The results provide more precise ways to manage nitrogen for grain yield while lowering nitrogen losses.

"Technology nowadays moves very fast. There's a lot of modeling tools out there to help growers match nitrogen to crop needs, but very little published data showing the relationship," says Giovani Preza-Fontes, doctoral researcher in the Department of Crop Sciences at Illinois and lead author on the paper. "Our work shows soil nitrogen explains the majority (46-61%) of the variation in grain yield. It is a good predictor."

This information could complement crop modeling efforts, but it should also help farmers feel more confident in their nitrogen management decisions at critical moments.

"When we get a lot of rain, people often guess that some nitrogen was lost from the soil, and may be inclined to put more on. We did this study to try to show how much the crop needs to have in the soil at different stages of growth," says Emerson Nafziger, emeritus professor in crop sciences and co-author on the study.

Researchers applied nitrogen at different rates, times, and forms, then measured the amount of soil mineral nitrogen (SMN) to see how much nitrogen was available to the plant over time. They measured SMN several times during the first half of the growing season, beginning when corn was about a foot tall and ending as the crop approached pollination.

Interestingly, they found the amount of SMN needed to maximize grain yield changed over time as the crop developed.

"In early June, with plants about a foot tall, we found that corn needed more nitrogen in the soil than it needed later. Ten to 14 days later, the SMN level needed for best yields had dropped by about one-third, and it stayed at that level for two more sampling periods, into early July. That's probably our most surprising finding," Nafziger says. "It's some of the first data that's been published on how soil nitrogen actually changes."

"We know the plant's taking up its nitrogen most rapidly during that period, and the fact that soil nitrogen isn't changing very much shows that the nitrogen is coming from soil organic matter through the process of mineralization. Mineralization is a microbial process favored by the same conditions that favor rapid crop growth, so it's at its maximum rate during this period," he adds.

In other words, adding more nitrogen during rapid growth may end up causing an excess of soil nitrogen that could lead to losses.

To better estimate potential losses, the researchers calculated a simple nitrogen balance (input as nitrogen fertilizer minus output, removed in grain) for each site and year.

"We confirmed there's a tradeoff between productivity and environmental impact. We found a 22% yield increase when SMN increased from deficient to optimal levels, but adding enough nitrogen also increased the probability of environmental nitrogen losses," Preza-Fontes says. "It's important to not only focus on increasing productivity when developing new tools for nitrogen management. We also need to account for potential nitrogen losses to meet sustainability goals in the region."

The article, "Relationship of in-season soil nitrogen concentration with corn yield and potential nitrogen losses," is published in the Soil Science Society of America Journal.


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Soil carbon and nitrogen mineralization after the initial flush of CO2
More information: Giovani Preza‐Fontes et al. Relationship of in‐season soil nitrogen concentration with corn yield and potential nitrogen losses, Soil Science Society of America Journal (2020). DOI: 10.1002/saj2.20117

Journal information: Soil Science Society of America Journal

Provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

A brutal war and rivers poisoned with every rainfall: How one mine destroyed an island

This week, 156 people from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea, petitioned the Australian government to investigate Rio Tinto over a copper mine that devastated their homeland.

by Matthew G. Allen, The Conversation

Locals living downstream of the abandoned mine pan for gold in mine waste. Credit: Matthew Allen, Author provided

In 1988, disputes around the notorious Panguna mine sparked a lengthy civil war in Bougainville, leading to the deaths of up to 20,000 people. The war is long over and the mine has been closed for 30 years, but its brutal legacy continues.

When I conducted research in Bougainville in 2015, I estimated the deposit of the mine's waste rock (tailings) downstream from the mine to be at least a kilometer wide at its greatest point. Local residents informed me it was tens of meters deep in places.

I spent several nights in a large two-story house built entirely from a single tree dragged out of the tailings—dragged upright, with a tractor. Every new rainfall brought more tailings downstream and changed the course of the waterways, making life especially challenging for the hundreds of people who eke out a precarious existence panning the tailings for remnants of gold.

The petition has brought the plight of these communities back into the media, but calls for Rio Tinto to clean up its mess have been made for decades. Let's examine what led to the ongoing crisis.

Triggering a civil war

The Panguna mine was developed in the 1960s, when PNG was still an Australian colony, and operated between 1972 and 1989. It was, at the time, one of the world's largest copper and gold mines.

It was operated by Bougainville Copper Limited, a subsidiary of what is now Rio Tinto, until 2016 when Rio handed its shares to the governments of Bougainville and PNG.

When a large-scale mining project reaches the end of its commercial life, a comprehensive mine closure and rehabilitation plan is usually put in place.

But Bougainville Copper simply abandoned the site in the face of a landowner rebellion. This was largely triggered by the mine's environmental and social impacts, including disputes over the sharing of its economic benefits and the impacts of those benefits on predominantly cashless societies.


Following PNG security forces' heavy-handed intervention—allegedly under strong political pressure from Bougainville Copper—the rebellion quickly escalated into a full-blown separatist conflict that eventually engulfed all parts of the province.

By the time the hostilities ended in 1997, thousands of Bougainvilleans had lost their lives, including from an air and sea blockade the PNG military had imposed, which prevented essential medical supplies reaching the island.

The mine's gigantic footprint

The Panguna mine's footprint was gigantic, stretching across the full breadth of the central part of the island.

The disposal of hundreds of millions of tons of tailings into the Kawerong-Jaba river system created enormous problems.

Rivers and streams became filled with silt and significantly widened. Water flows were blocked in many places, creating large areas of swampland and disrupting the livelihoods of hundreds of people in communities downstream of the mine. These communities used the rivers for drinking water and the adjacent lands for subsistence food gardening.

Several villages had to be relocated to make way for the mining operations, with around 200 households resettled between 1969 and 1989.

In the absence of any sort of mine closure or "mothballing" arrangements, the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the Panguna mine have only been compounded.

Since the end of mining activities 30 years ago, tailings have continued to move down the rivers and the waterways have never been treated for suspected chemical contamination.

Long-suffering communities

The 156 complainants live in communities around and downstream of the mine. Many are from the long-suffering village of Dapera.

In 1975, the people of Dapera were relocated to make way for mining activities. Today, it's in the immediate vicinity of the abandoned mine pit. As one woman from Dapera told me in 2015: "I have traveled all over Bougainville, and I can say that they [in Dapera] are the poorest of the poor."

They, and others, sent the complaint to the Australian OECD National Contact Point after lodging it with Melbourne's Human Rights Law Center.

The complainants say by not ensuring its operations didn't infringe on the local people's human rights, Rio Tinto breached OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises.

The Conversation contacted Rio Tinto for comment. A spokesperson said: "We believe the 2016 arrangement provided a platform for the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and PNG to work together on future options for the resource with all stakeholders."

While it is our belief that from 1990 to 2016 no Rio Tinto personnel had access to the mine site due to on-going security concerns, we are aware of the deterioration of mining infrastructure at the site and surrounding areas, and claims of resulting adverse environmental and social, including human rights, impacts.

We are ready to enter into discussions with the communities that have filed the complaint, along with other relevant parties such as BCL and the governments of ABG and PNG.

A long time coming

This week's petition comes after a long succession of calls for Rio Tinto to be held to account for the Panguna mine's legacies and the resulting conflict.

A recent example is when, after Rio Tinto divested from Bougainville Copper in 2016, former Bougainville President John Momis said Rio must take full responsibility for an environmental clean-up.

And in an unsuccessful class action, launched by Bougainvilleans in the United States in 2000, Rio was accused of collaborating with the PNG state to commit human rights abuses during the conflict and was also sued for environmental damages. The case ultimately foundered on jurisdictional grounds.

Taking social responsibility

This highlights the enormous challenges in seeking redress from mining companies for their operations in foreign jurisdictions, and, in this case, for "historical" impacts.

The colonial-era approach to mining when Panguna was developed in the 1960s stands in stark contrast to the corporate social responsibility paradigm supposedly governing the global mining industry today.

Indeed, Panguna—along with the socially and environmentally disastrous Ok Tedi mine in the western highlands of PNG—are widely credited with forcing the industry to reassess its "social license to operate."

It's clear the time has come for Rio to finally take responsibility for cleaning up the mess on Bougainville.


Explore further

Mining pollution limits access to clean water in Papua New Guinea

Provided by The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Police use of excessive force influences core beliefs of civilians, study shows

by University of Kansas

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

With the city of Louisville still reeling from a grand jury's recent findings about Breonna Taylor's shooting, the ongoing debate about the limits of excessive force continues to divide the nation.

But unlike in the past, when such stories were often quickly forgotten, the pervasive role of citizen video evidence and subsequent coverage by the press has transformed the public response.

"These tragic events are having an impact on the broader public," said Kevin Mullinix, assistant professor of political science at the University of Kansas. "Many people aren't just reading about them and moving on with their day. We're finding it's actually changing people's beliefs."

His new article, "The Feedback Effects of Controversial Police Use of Force," appears in the September edition of Political Behavior.

Co-written by Toby Bolsen, Georgia State University, and Robert Norris, George Mason University, the article finds that such actions against minority civilians increase support for body cameras, influence beliefs about excessive force and alter attitudes toward law enforcement.

Mullinix's team studied nearly 3,000 participants who were randomly assigned to receive (or not receive) a text-based news article, video or both involving a real-world case of police harming a minority civilian. One of these resulted in a non-lethal injury and the other in a death.

"You can find people who seemingly have complete confidence in police, but seeing these stories gets them to think, 'Maybe we do need body cameras,'" he said.

Mullinix, an expert in public opinion and public policy, was most surprised by how viewers reacted to the news articles compared to the videos.

"The text-based stories proved almost as powerful as the videos in a lot of circumstances," he said.

"Certainly, we observed stronger emotional responses to the videos. Reading a story might not make you quite as angry as watching the George Floyd video—you can't help but have an emotional reaction when you see that. But the text-based stories proved almost as powerful as the videos in shifting attitudes toward police. This suggests that even text-based journalism can still be pretty potent."


Mullinix became interested in researching this topic after discussions arose with his students about the choking death of Eric Garner ("I can't breathe") and shooting of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man in South Carolina whose death was disputed when a video later surfaced contradicting the official police report.

"I talked about them in my classes, but I hadn't considered studying what their effects were for a few years," Mullinix said. "The most powerful for me was the Walter Scott tragedy. It was horrifying. It brought me to tears."

The professor explains the Taylor case specifically fits in with his research involving the consequences of a police killing.

"We find that reading news stories or watching the videos focused on police use of force lowers people's confidence that officers will receive the appropriate consequences. When there aren't criminal charges filed, I would only expect these types of beliefs to become even stronger," he said.

Mullinix notes that his team didn't undertake this research to destroy trust in law enforcement. Rather, he's hoping to understand the overall effects the events have on American society.

He also presumes the police want to see the results of his research.

"A lot of law enforcement are interested in these kinds of findings because they've been worried about a crisis of legitimacy for years," he said. "They know these stories are out there, and they're worried what they're doing for the public sentiment. What we're finding here substantiates their concerns."

This work piggybacks off Mullinix's previous studies focusing on wrongful convictions and racial disparities in the justice system and traffic stops.

"Across all of my research, I'm constantly trying to understand what types of information and communication impact people's attitudes and support for policy reform," he said. "This fits into my broader research of trying to figure out when persuasion does and does not occur."

While unjustified police shootings and subsequent protests to them are unlikely to be solved overnight, Mullinix hopes these tragedies prove a catalyst for evidence-based policy reform and legitimate change.

"This should definitely raise a serious discussion about policing. We should not just dismiss such events as outliers," he said. "Hopefully, it prompts real discussions about what kind of reforms we can implement to make sure these types of things don't happen anymore."


Explore further 

Most people don't change their views after seeing racial disparities in police statistics
More information: Kevin J. Mullinix et al. The Feedback Effects of Controversial Police Use of Force, Political Behavior (2020).

DOI: 10.1007/s11109-020-09646-x

Journal information: Political Behavior

Provided by University of Kansas

Five COVID customs that emerged during lockdown

by Sophie Parkes-Nield, The Conversation

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

For many people, the word "folklore" is synonymous with the past: beliefs at odds with contemporary society; myth and legend, even magic.

It is true that folklore helps us learn about our ancestors and their lives. As we continue to mark Armistice Day with a two-minute silence, we understand the momentousness of the end of the first world war. In some parts of England, the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 is still celebrated as Oak Apple Day.

But it's not all about the past. In response to Taylor Swift's new album (also entitled "folklore"), the American Folklore Society created a resource to demonstrate just how contemporary folklore is. It says that, despite its dusty connotations, folklore is the knowledge of the people "displayed through expressive culture."

I have been tracking how people are expressing beliefs and values using folkloric practices today. It seems that during these dark times they are being used to visibly brighten our communities. Many of us will have perpetuated these customs simply for something to do—particularly families desperate for ideas to occupy children.

So here are five folkloric customs that could come to define this age in the future.

1. Window displays

Writing in the latest newsletter from The Folklore Society, lecturer in history and folklore, Ceri Houlbrook observed that "ritual deposits are placed in private spaces but for public consumption, and symbols are adopted, such as the rainbow, to express hope and support." For many of us, spotting window displays during our limited exercise became a rite in itself.

The rainbow has long been used as a symbol of hope and unity. The child-created window displays are thought to have originated in Italy – the first European country to experience tough lockdown measures. Accompanied by messages of gratitude towards the NHS, these displays demonstrated children's ability to contribute to the wider pandemic conversation.


2. Scarecrows

Community scarecrow festivals are common in the UK and the idea was borrowed for domestic lockdown displays. Photographer of British folklore, Sara Hannant, says scarecrows are "guardians of the harvest."

In lockdown, the scarecrow was often seen dressed up as a key worker in tribute. But their position is not always positive and they can sometimes frighten humans as well as birds. Some of the scarier scarecrows seen during lockdown were, in fact, effigies created to pillory politicians.


3. Painted pebbles, stone snakes

Another pre-COVID custom, the hiding and seeking of painted pebbles to amuse children and to forge connections in the community, also became an integral part of community folklore. Passing on knowledge—anonymously and creatively—was made possible through messages of reassurance painted on pebbles and displayed outside homes, at community focal points or hidden for others to find.

Stones have long had pandemic connotations. The "Boundary Stone" for example was where isolated villagers in Eyam, Derbyshire, left money and received food during the 1665 plague.

During lockdown, pebble painters also created stone snakes. Some were created organically by leaving pebbles in a line to encourage others to add theirs. But others were more organized, such as the long "COVID snake" created at Pavilion Gardens in Buxton, Derbyshire.

4. Kerbside gifts

Painted pebbles were not the only lockdown gifts. With more time at home and in the neighborhood, residents took the opportunity to weed out unwanted belongings and, with charity shops and recycling centers closed, left freebies for passers-by. Some made the clear-out more appealing and fun. In one street in Nottingham (pictured above) a resident wrapped up the books, CDs and DVDs she was giving away to treat her neighbors to a lucky dip.

Small tokens or notes of inspiration were also left as inspiring gifts for passers-by in some parts of the UK. For example, in Mapperley, Nottingham, quotes were pinned to trees in an attempt to spread positivity. These displays supplied crowd-sourced distractions while providing reassurance and solidarity for both purveyor and reader.

5. Doorstep noise

The Guardian deemed Clap for Carers the "unBritish ritual" due to its loud, proud demonstration being uncharacteristic for famously reserved Brits. But for 10 weeks, 8pm on Thursdays was a raucous affair with people applauding keyworkers on their doorsteps. In some neighborhoods, this was augmented by fireworks, car horns, pots and pans and—in some cases—a prompt for socially distanced community celebration.

Residents of Belper, Derbyshire, took the noise-making further, turning out at 6.30pm each lockdown evening to moo for two minutes. Begun by Jasper Ward to "fight lockdown loneliness and boredom," the moo has been replicated across the world. Like Clap for Carers, there are plans for an annual commemoration beginning in 2021. Weekly doorstep racket-making, it seemed, became a cathartic method to remind ourselves of the people beyond our four walls.

As lockdown curtailed social interactions, these COVID customs enabled people to make connections and demonstrate meaning. A rainbow in a window can be both a child's delightful creation and a signal of hope. Participation in Clap for Carers a statement of solidarity and a simple acknowledgement of thanks.

Folklore researcher at the Elphinstone Institute, Nicolas Le Bigre, who is documenting COVID customs as part of "Lockdown Lore" says it is too early to say whether these communal acts will re-emerge in other periods of global crisis, or whether they will retire, becoming symbols of the time. But he added: "I can at least smile at the wealth of creativity that has come my way." And that has been a comfort to us all.

The V&A, Museums Sheffield and the Center for Contemporary Legend at Sheffield Hallam University are collecting COVID customs for future analysis of what they say about this turbulent period.

Explore further

How social distancing during a pandemic affects the elderly in rural South Africa
Provided by The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

We discovered a missing gene fragment that's shedding new light on how males develop

October 2, 2020 by Peter Koopman

Credit: Shutterstock

It's one of the most important genes in biology: Sry, the gene that makes males male. Development of the sexes is a crucial step in sexual reproduction and is essential for the survival of almost all animal species.

Today in the journal Science, my international collaborators and I report the surprise discovery of an entirely new part of the Sry gene in mice—a part we had no idea existed.

I co-discovered Sry in 1990. It is the gene on the Y (male) chromosome that leads to the development of male characteristics in mice, humans and most other mammals. Since then, Sry has been the subject of intense study worldwide because of its fundamental role in mammalian biology.

We have come to understand, in some detail, how Sry acts to trigger a cascade of gene activity that results in the formation of testes, instead of ovaries, in the embryo. Testes then stimulate the formation of other male characteristics.

But it's clear we don't have all the answers just yet. Our results published today take us one step further in the right direction.

Hidden in plain sight

For 30 years, we have understood the Sry gene is made up of one exon, a segment of a gene used to code for amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. This can be compared to a computer file consisting of one contiguous block of data on a hard disk.

Our newest research reveals there's actually a second exon in mouse Sry. This is like finding a whole new separate block of previously hidden data.

The mouse genome, like the human genome, has been extensively characterized due to the availability of advanced DNA sequencing and related technologies. Researchers commonly assume all the genes and all the parts of the genes have already been discovered.

But earlier this year, scientists in Japan uncovered what looked like a new piece of the Sry gene in mice. New sequencing approaches revealed what appeared to be two versions of Sry: a short, single-exon form and a longer, two-exon form. They called this two-exon version "Sry-T."

They collaborated with my group at the University of Queensland and removed the new exon using CRISPR, a gene editing tool that lets researchers alter DNA precisely. Together we discovered this prevented Sry from functioning: XY mice (which would normally develop as males) developed as females instead.

Conversely, adding Sry-T to fertilized XX mouse eggs (which would normally develop as females) resulted in males.

On the left, an XY mouse lacking Sry-T that developed as female. On the right, an XX mouse carrying the Sry-T gene that developed as male. Credit: Makoto Tachibana, Osaka University, Author provided

Implications for human sex determination

Importantly, although human Sry does not have the added exon, our discovery may reveal new functions that might be shared between mouse and human Sry.

The DNA sequence of the new exon in Sry-T may point us towards discovering some of the genes and proteins that interact with Sry, something that has been elusive up till now.

And interactions we find in mice may also occur in humans. Studying what human Sry interacts with may help explain some cases of differences in human sex development, otherwise known as "intersex" development. This is a common but poorly understood group of mostly genetic conditions that arise in humans.

Currently, we don't know the genetics behind a large proportion of intersex conditions. This is partly because we don't yet know all the genes involved in the human sex development pathway.

Towards a better understanding of male sex development

Scientifically, this discovery is a bit like discovering a new cell type in the body, or a new asteroid in the Kuiper belt. As with many scientific discoveries, it challenges what we thought we knew and raises many questions.

What is the function of the new exon in Sry-T?

Currently, we only have part of the answer. It turns out the first exon of Sry, the one we already knew about, contains "instability sequences" at its end. These are sequences that cause proteins to fray and degrade.

An important function of the newly discovered second exon is to mask the instability sequences, seal the end of the Sry protein and prevent it from degrading. In other words, this second exon is crucial to the development of male babies.

What's more, this protection mechanism represents an unusual and intriguing evolutionary mechanism that has acted to help stop vulnerable Y-chromosome genes from literally falling apart.

But it's early days yet. The challenge now is to understand whether there are more functions hidden within the newly discovered exon.

If so, this information may provide some of the missing links that have stood in the way of our full understanding of how Sry works at a molecular level and of how males and females come to be.

More information: The mouse Sry locus harbors a cryptic exon that is essential for male sex determination, Science 02 Oct 2020: Vol. 370, Issue 6512, pp. 121-124

DOI: 10.1126/science.abb6430 , science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6512/121

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.This story is part of Science X Dialog, where researchers can report findings from their published research articles. Visit this page for information about ScienceX Dialog and how to participate.