Australia’s platypus under threat from climate change

The platypus has disappeared from as much as 40 percent of its historical range due to changes wrought by humans.

Scientists say the platypus is being pushed towards extinction as a result of climate change 

[File: Mick Tsikas/Reuters]
20 Jan 2020

Prolonged drought and other effects of climate change are pushing the duck-billed platypus, one of Australia’s most unique species, towards extinction, scientists warned in a study published Monday.

The furry river-dwelling mammal has already disappeared from as much as 40 percent of its historical range on the east coast of Australia due to drought, land clearing, pollution and the construction of dams, the researchers said.

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Scientists from the University of New South Wales’ Centre for Ecosystem Science say if the current threats persist, platypus numbers will fall a further 47-66 percent over the next 50 years.

If projections about worsening climate change are taken into account, the numbers of the egg-laying mammal could plummet up to 73 percent by 2070, they wrote.

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“These dangers further expose the platypus to even worse local extinctions, with no capacity to repopulate areas,” said Gilad Bino, lead author of the study.

Experts say as many as one billion animals may have died in the massive bushfires that took hold of Australia’s tinder-dry bush in September, tearing through vast swaths of the country’s more-populated southeast and destroying crucial animal habitats.

In work published towards the end of last year, Australian scientists found that 100 of Australia’s endemic species had gone extinct since Europeans arrived on the continent.
Extinctions to accelerate

The first extinction likely took place within 10 years of colonisation, they said in their findings which were published in the scientific journal Biological Conservation. At least three extinctions took place in the last decade.

A pig-footed bandicoot, one of 100 species that are known to have become extinct since Europeans landed in Australia [Supplied/Al Jazeera]

They found that the introduction of predators like foxes and cats, as well as environmentally significant events like drought and fire, had harmed indigenous species, with climate change emerging as a factor more recently.

John Woinarski of the Threatened Species Recovery Hub at Charles Darwin University’s Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods and the report’s lead author, told Al Jazeera the rate of extinction in Australia was the highest of any continent in the world and “highly likely” to accelerate.

Recalling a species of skink he had once held in his hands and was now extinct, Woinarski said the loss of any species was devastating.

“To have held an animal or plant that has gone extinct in your lifetime, it affects your soul,” he told Al Jazeera. “Extinctions are part of us. They aren’t remote entities. They are real things that had life and vitality and that has been extinguished.”

The platypus is listed as “near threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the UNSW scientists said the damage caused by years of minimal rainfall and high temperatures had worsened its prospects.
‘Urgent need’

The scientists said there was an “urgent need” for a national risk assessment to determine if the platypus should be recognised as “vulnerable” and to lay out conservation steps “to minimise any risk of extinction”.

‘It affects your soul’ says scientist John Woinarski of species extinctions, recalling the time he held the Christmas Island forest skink (above), which became extinct in the last decade [Hal Cogger/Al Jazeera]

The study is the first across all platypus habitat zones to establish a so-called “metapopulation” model while also projecting the impacts of climate change on the species going forward.

The survey estimated the total platypus population had fallen by 50 percent since European settlement in 1788.

An earlier study published in November 2018 estimated the population had fallen by 30 percent over that period, to around 200,000.

“Under predicted climate change, the losses forecast were far greater because of increases in extreme drought frequencies and duration, such as the current dry spell,” Bino said of the latest report.

The platypus, which along with four species of echidna are the only mammals that lay eggs, has a tail like a beaver, otter-like feet and a venomous spur on its hind leg.

How Earth's oddest mammal got to be so bizarre

FACULTY OF SCIENCE - UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

Research News

 

Often considered the world's oddest mammal, Australia's beaver-like, duck-billed platypus exhibits an array of bizarre characteristics: it lays eggs instead of giving birth to live babies, sweats milk, has venomous spurs and is even equipped with 10 sex chromosomes. Now, an international team of researchers led by University of Copenhagen has conducted a unique mapping of the platypus genome and found answers regarding the origins of a few of its stranger features.

It lays eggs, but nurses, it is toothless, has a venomous spur, has webbed feet, fur that glows and has 10 sex chromosomes. Ever since Europeans discovered the platypus in Australia during the late 1700's, the quirky, duck-billed, semiaquatic creature has baffled scientific researchers.

Modern day researchers are still trying to understand how the platypus -- often considered to be the world's oddest mammal -- got to be so unique. Their understandings have now advanced, to a great degree. For the first time, an international team of researchers, led by University of Copenhagen biologists, has mapped a complete platypus genome. The study is published in the scientific journal, Nature.

"The complete genome has provided us with the answers to how a few of the platypus' bizarre features emerged. At the same time, decoding the genome for platypus is important for improving our understanding of how other mammals evolved -- including us humans. It holds the key as to why we and other eutheria mammals evolved to become animals that give birth to live young instead of egg-laying animals," explains Professor Guojie Zhang of the Department of Biology.

The platypus belongs to an ancient group of mammals -- monotremes -- which existed millions of years prior to the emergence of any modern-day mammal.

"Indeed, the platypus belongs to the Mammalia class. But genetically, it is a mixture of mammals, birds and reptiles. It has preserved many of its ancestors' original features -- which probably contribute to its success in adapting to the environment they live in," says Professor Zhang.

Lays eggs, sweats milk and has no teeth

One of the platypus' most unusual characteristics is that, while it lays eggs, it also has mammary glands used to feed its babies, not through nipples, but by milk -- which is sweat from its body.

During our own evolution, we humans lost all three so-called vitellogenin genes, each of which is important for the production of egg yolks. Chickens on the other hand, continue to have all three. The study demonstrates that platypuses still carry one of these three vitellogenin genes, despite having lost the other two roughly 130 million years ago. The platypus continues to lay eggs by virtue of this one remaining gene. This is probably because it is not as dependent on creating yolk proteins as birds and reptiles are, as platypuses produce milk for their young.

In all other mammals, vitellogenin genes have been replaced with casein genes, which are responsible for our ability to produce casein protein, a major component in mammalian milk. The new research demonstrates that the platypus carries casein genes as well, and that the composition of their milk is thereby quite similar to that of cows, humans and other mammals.

"It informs us that milk production in all extant mammal species has been developed through the same set of genes derived from a common ancestor which lived more than 170 million years ago -- alongside the early dinosaurs in the Jurassic period," says Guojie Zhang.

Another trait that makes the platypus so unique is that, unlike the vast majority of mammals, it is toothless. Although this monotremes' nearest ancestors were toothed, the modern platypus is equipped with two horn plates that are used to mash food. The study reveals that the platypus lost its teeth roughly 120 million years ago, when four of the eight genes responsible for tooth development disappeared.

Only animal with 10 sex chromosomes

Yet another platypus oddity investigated by the researchers was how their sex is determined. Both humans and every other mammal on Earth have two sex chromosomes that determine sex - the X and Y chromosome system in which XX is female and XY is male. The monotremes, however, including our duck-billed friends from Down Under, have 10 sex chromosomes, with five Y and five X chromosomes.

Thanks to the near-complete chromosomal level genomes, researchers can now suggest that these 10 sex chromosomes in the ancestors of the monotremes were organized in a ring form which was later broken away into many small pieces of X and Y chromosomes. At the same time, the genome mapping reveals that the majority of monotreme sex chromosomes have more in common with chickens than with humans. But what it shows, is an evolutionary link between mammals and birds.

PLATYPUS FACTS

• The platypus is endemic to eastern Australia and Tasmania. It is a protected species and classified by the IUCN as near-threatened.

• Among the reasons why platypuses are considered mammals: they have mammary glands, grow hair and have three bones in their middle ears. Each trait helps to define a mammal.

• The platypus belongs to the mammalian order monotreme, so named because monotremes use a singular opening for urination, defecation and sexual reproduction.

• The animal is an excellent swimmer and spends much of its time hunting for insects and shellfish in rivers.

• Its distinctive beak is filled with electrical sensors which are used to locate prey in muddy river beds.

• The male platypus has a venomous spur behind each of its hind legs. The venom is poisonous enough to kill a dog and is deployed when males fight for territory.

• Another 2020 study demonstrated that platypus fur is fluorescent. The animal's brown fur reflects a blue-green color when placed under UV light. (source: https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2020-0027)

ABOUT THE STUDY

• Advanced gene sequencing technology that combines numerous cutting-edge methods has allowed the research team to map a near-complete genome at the chromosomal level from both the platypus and its cousin, the echidna-- the only two currently living types of monotreme animals. The gene data fills in 90 percent of the gaps in previous genetic mappings. Over 96% of the genome sequences are placed in the chromosomes now.

• The researchers have compared the monotreme genes and genomes from chickens, humans, rats, Tasmanian devils and lizards.

• In addition to Yang Zhou (lead author) and Guojie Zhang of the University of Copenhagen, the research was carried out by, among others: Linda Shearwin-Whyatt of The University of Adelaide (Australia) and Jing Li of Zhejiang University (China). A complete list of the authors can be found in the research article.

• The study has just been published in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature.

New research finds ginger counters certain autoimmune diseases in mice

The main bioactive compound of ginger root lowers autoantibody production and helps halt disease progression in mice with antiphospholipid syndrome and lupus

MICHIGAN MEDICINE - UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Research News

 

Naturopathic medicine, or herbal medicine, is all the rage, especially among young people. But how much of this is supported by science?

Ginger is known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects, making it a popular herbal supplement to treat inflammatory diseases.

And according to a Michigan Medicine led study published in JCI Insight, the main bioactive compound of ginger root, 6-gingerol, is therapeutic in countering the mechanism that fuels certain autoimmune diseases in mice. Researchers specifically looked at lupus, a disease which attacks the body's own immune system, and its often associated condition antiphospholipid syndrome, which causes blood clots, since both cause widespread inflammation and damage organs overtime.

In mice with either antiphospholipid syndrome or lupus, 6-gingerol prevented neutrophil extracellular trap release, which is triggered by the autoantibodies that these diseases produce.

"Neutrophil extracellular traps, or NETs, come from white blood cells called neutrophils," says lead author Ramadan Ali, Ph.D. "These sticky spider-web like structures are formed when autoantibodies interact with receptors on the neutrophil's surface."

According to Ali, these webs play an important role in the pathogenesis of lupus and antiphospholipid syndrome where they trigger autoantibody formation and contribute to blood vessel clotting and damage.

The study question was, "will the anti-inflammatory properties of ginger extend to neutrophils, and specifically, can this natural medicine stop neutrophils from making NETs that contribute to disease progression?"

"This pre-clinical study in mice offers a surprising and exciting, 'yes'," Ali says.

Ali discovered that after giving 6-gingerol, the mice had lower levels of NETs. Their tendency to make clots was also drastically reduced and 6-gingerol appeared to inhibit neutrophil enzymes called phosphodiesterases, which in turn reduced neutrophil activation.

But the most surprising find of all was that the mice, regardless of whether they had antiphospholipid syndrome or lupus, had reduced autoantibodies suggesting the inflammatory cycle, autoantibodies stimulating NETs which stimulate more autoantibodies, was broken.

Next steps and potential implications

"Through my years of medical training I wasn't taught much about supplements, but it's something that so many patients ask me about," says study author and rheumatologist Jason Knight, M.D. "When Ramadan brought the concept to me, I was enthusiastic to pursue it in my lab, as I knew it would matter to them. Sometimes our patients give us really good ideas!"

Although the study was done in mouse models, Ali and Knight think the preclinical data, showing that 6-gingerol has anti-neutrophil properties that may protect against autoimmune disease progression, encourages clinical trial development.

"As for basically all treatments in our field, one size does not fit all. But, I wonder if there is a subgroup of autoimmune patients with hyperactive neutrophils who might benefit from increased intake of 6-gingerol," Knight says. "It will be important to study neutrophils before and after treatment so we can determine the subgroup most likely to see benefit."

The bioactive compound can't be the primary therapy for someone with active antiphospholipid syndrome or lupus, but the team is interested to see if the natural supplement may help those at high risk for disease development.

"Those that have autoantibodies, but don't have activated disease, may benefit from this treatment if 6-gingerol proves to be a protective agent in humans as it does in mice," Ali says, who's passionate about natural medicine research for rheumatic diseases.

"Patients with active disease take blood thinners, but what if there was also a natural supplement that helped reduce the amount of clots they produce? And what if we could decrease their autoantibodies?"

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Other study authors include Alex A. Gandhi, MS, Lipeng Dai, Ph.D., Julia K. Weiner, Shanea K. Estes, M.L.I, Srilakshmi Yalavarthi, MS, Kelsey Gockman and Duxin Sun, Ph.D.

Paper Cited: "Anti-neutrophil properties of natural gingerols in models of lupus," JCI Insight. DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.138385

Researchers turn coal powder into graphite in microwave oven

UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING

Research News

 

IMAGE: IN A MICROWAVE OVEN, SPARKS ARE GENERATED INSIDE A GLASS VIAL CONTAINING COAL POWDER AND COPPER FOIL AS PART OF AN EXPERIMENT BY UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING RESEARCHERS. THEY SUCCESSFULLY CONVERTED... view more 

CREDIT: CHRIS MASI

Using copper foil, glass containers and a conventional household microwave oven, University of Wyoming researchers have demonstrated that pulverized coal powder can be converted into higher-value nano-graphite.

The discovery is another step forward in the effort to find alternative uses for Wyoming's Powder River Basin coal, at a time when demand for coal to generate electricity is declining due to concerns about climate change.

In a paper published in the journal Nano-Structures & Nano-Objects, the UW researchers report that they created an environment in a microwave oven to successfully convert raw coal powder into nano-graphite, which is used as a lubricant and in items ranging from fire extinguishers to lithium ion batteries. This "one-step method with metal-assisted microwave treatment" is a new approach that could represent a simple and relatively inexpensive coal-conversion technology.

"This method provides a new route to convert abundant carbon sources to high-value materials with ecological and economic benefits," wrote the research team, led by Associate Professor TeYu Chien, in UW's Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Others involved in the project were Professor Jinke Tang, in the Department of Physics and Astronomy; Associate Professor Brian Leonard, in the Department of Chemistry; Professor Maohong Fan, in the Department of Petroleum Engineering and the School of Energy Resources; graduate students Rabindra Dulal, of Nepal, Joann Hilman, of Laramie, Wyo., Chris Masi, of Syracuse, N.Y., and Teneil Schumacher, of Buffalo, Wyo.; and postdoctoral researchers Gaurab Rimal, of Nepal, and Bang Xu, of China.

While previous research has shown that microwaves can be used to reduce the moisture content of coal and remove sulfur and other minerals, most such methods require specific chemical pretreatment of the coal. In their experiment, the UW researchers simply ground raw Powder River Basin coal into powder.

That powder was then placed on copper foil and sealed in glass containers with a gas mixture of argon and hydrogen, before being placed in a microwave oven. A conventional microwave oven was chosen because of convenience and because it provided the desired levels of radiation.

"By cutting the copper foil into a fork shape, the sparks were induced by the microwave radiation, generating an extremely high temperature of more than 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit within a few seconds," says Masi, lead author of the paper. "This is why you shouldn't place a metal fork inside a microwave oven."

The sparks caused by the microwaves generated the high temperatures necessary to transform the coal powder into polycrystalline graphite, with the copper foil and hydrogen gas also contributing to the process.

While the experiment included microwave durations ranging from 3 to 45 minutes, the optimal duration was found to be 15 minutes.

The researchers say this new method of coal conversion could be refined and performed at a larger scale to yield both a higher quality and quantity of nano-graphite materials.

"Finite graphite reserves and environmental concerns for the graphite extraction procedures make this method of converting coal to graphite a great alternative source of graphite production," the scientists wrote.

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'Sniffing out' fruity thiols in hoppy beers

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

Research News

 

Hoppy beers such as pale ales are becoming increasingly popular. One reason is their pleasant fruity aroma that partially stems from compounds called thiols. Brewers have been looking for an accurate way to track thiols in beer, but current methods typically are not sensitive enough or require use of potentially harmful substances. Now, researchers in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry present an automated, solvent-less process to assess thiols at very low concentrations.

Thiols, along with other compounds such as terpenes and esters, contribute to the enjoyable odors in "hop-forward" beer styles. Although very small amounts of thiols are present in beer, a little bit of these compounds goes a long way toward achieving a hoppy flavor and fruity aroma. Brewers would like more information about these volatile substances, but it's challenging to accurately detect such small quantities. Previous studies have reported complex, multi-step methods for thiol analysis in beer, but the approaches could not measure all of the thiols brewers want to know about, and some processes used harmful mercury-containing compounds. Thiols also contribute to wine aromas, and researchers have used coated polymers that they can put into the air above the beverage to convert aerosolized wine thiols to more easily measureable compounds. The downside is that this method is not sensitive enough to measure the trace concentrations in beer. To develop a more robust analysis, Nils Rettberg and colleagues wanted to modify previous methods and come up with a safer, faster and more sensitive approach.

In initial experiments to develop the new process, the team modified the sample preparation method used in wine analyses to convert aerosolized thiols to compounds with higher analytical sensitivity. Then, they tweaked and applied a tandem mass spectrometry approach to maximally detect and measure the resulting compounds. Finally, the team tested their new method on 13 commercially available beers from multiple countries made with hop varieties expected to have high thiol content. The distribution of thiols within the selected beers was consistent with prior studies. Surprisingly, the team could only detect one of the three expected thiols in a beer with real grapefruit added, suggesting that the fruit itself likely contributed scent compounds other than thiols. The researchers say the method meets the requirements to detect thiols in beer, while also processing samples in a safer, simpler and quicker manner.

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The authors acknowledge funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

The abstract that accompanies this paper is available here.

In changing oceans, sea stars may be 'drowning'

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Research News

ITHACA, N.Y. - For more than seven years, a mysterious wasting disease has nearly killed off sea star populations around the world. Some of these species stand at the brink of extinction.

New Cornell University-led research suggests that starfish, victims of sea star wasting disease (SSWD), may actually be in respiratory distress - literally "drowning" in their own environment - as elevated microbial activity derived from nearby organic matter and warm ocean temperatures rob the creatures of their ability to breathe.

"As humans, we breathe, we ventilate, we bring air into our lungs and we exhale," said Ian Hewson, professor of microbiology at Cornell University. "Sea stars diffuse oxygen over their outer surface through little structures called papulae, or skin gills. If there is not enough oxygen surrounding the papulae, the starfish can't breathe."

The research, "Evidence That Microorganisms at the Animal-Water Interface Drive Sea Star Wasting Disease," was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.

According to Hewson, ocean conditions lead to the production of unusual amounts of organic material, which he said prompts bacteria to thrive. As bacteria consume the organic matter, they deplete the oxygen in the water - creating a low-oxygen micro-environment that surrounds starfish and leads to deflation, discoloration, puffiness, and limb twisting or curling.

"It's a cascade of problems that starts with changes in the environment," Hewson said, explaining that most of the organic matter comes from microscopic algae exudation (a discharge), zooplankton excretion and egestion, and from decaying animal carcasses. This stimulates a group of bacteria called copiotrophs, which survive on carbon and rapidly consume organic matter, he said.

The copiotrophs respire, he said, so while absorbing the organic matter, they deplete oxygen in the sea star's watery space.

"It's organic matter concentrations in the water," he said. "If you have a dead and rotting starfish next to starfish that are healthy, all of that dead one's organic matter drifts and fuels the bacteria, creating a hypoxic environment. It looks like disease is being transmitted."

Hewson said that while more scientific work must be done, "This reframes the discussion about marine disease ecology, which has focused on pathogenic disease," he said. "We should now include microorganisms that don't directly cause the pathology, since they may hold a key to affecting sea star health."

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The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Geological Survey.

SO MUCH FOR SEX ED IN SCHOOL

USA

Young adults say porn is their most helpful source of information about how to have sex

BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Research News

 

Young adults ages 18-24 years old in the U.S. say that porn is their most helpful source of information about how to have sex, according to a new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researcher published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.

In the nationally representative survey, a quarter of young adults said porn was their most helpful source of information about how to have sex. Slightly less than a quarter said sexual partners were the most helpful source, and fewer pointed to friends, parents, media, or healthcare professionals. However, female respondents were much more likely than male respondents to report that their partners were the most helpful source of information about how to have sex. Heterosexual men were most likely to say that porn was their most helpful source of information about how to have sex.

"The evidence suggests that young adults, and in particular heterosexual men, undervalue talking to their partners about what is pleasurable--too many of them may believe that it's possible to be 'good at sex' independent of any feedback from a particular sex partner, which is a belief they may be getting from pornography," says study lead author Dr. Emily Rothman, professor of community health sciences at BUSPH.

Rothman and colleagues at Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington used data from the Indiana University-based 2015 National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, and analyzed responses from 357 young adults (18-24 years old) and 324 adolescents (14-17 years old) who said that they had gotten helpful information about how to have sex. (Nearly as many young adults and adolescents in the survey reported that they hadn't gotten any helpful information.)

Among 14-17-year-old adolescents, parents were the leading source of information, followed by friends. Only 8% of the adolescents said porn was the most helpful source of information. However, among adolescents who had never had a helpful conversation with parents about sex, media (23.4%) and sexual partners (12.8%) were their primary sources of information. Like their older peers, boys were also more likely than girls to report that porn was their most helpful source of information about how to have sex.

"The good news is that, when parents have conversations with their teenage children about sex, we think that their children are listening and are less likely to see porn as a good source of information," Rothman says.

"The bad news is that young adults are misunderstanding what porn is there for. Most free, online pornography is there for entertainment and to make money for the creators. It isn't there to teach you what you are supposed to do when you are having sex."

From a public health perspective, Rothman says it is worrisome that a sizable percentage of young adults consider porn a helpful source of information about how to have sex. "Comprehensive sex education that teaches what I think of as 'sexual social skills,' or interpersonal communication about sex, is needed and important, and research that helps us determine how to teach young people how to have fulfilling, safer, consensual sex is crucial."

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About the Boston University School of Public Health

Founded in 1976, the Boston University School of Public Health is one of the top five ranked private schools of public health in the world. It offers master's- and doctoral-level education in public health. The faculty in six departments conduct policy-changing public health research around the world, with the mission of improving the health of populations--especially the disadvantaged, underserved, and vulnerable--locally and globally.

GREEN CAPITALI$M

Businesses stand to benefit from sustainable restructuring

The switch can improve company competitiveness, research shows

NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Research News

 

The Earth is populated by an increasing number of  people who demand more and more products, which is simply not viable in the long run. Our planet does not have unlimited resources. Emissions are harming the environment in various ways.

More companies thus need to switch to more sustainable production, sometimes due to pressure from consumers, but often resulting from new rules imposed by the authorities.

But this kind of change can't ever pay off - or can it?

A new study by a research group from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has reviewed 100 articles on how sustainably oriented innovation affects companies' competitiveness.

"The majority of the studies find that sustainable innovation has a positive effect on company competitiveness," says PhD candidate Fanny Hermundsdottir in the academic group for Strategy and Business Development in the Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management.

Sixty-four of the 100 articles concluded that sustainable innovation has a positive effect.

Twenty-nine of the articles showed mixed results - negative, positive and neutral.

Five of the articles offered no conclusion.

Two of the articles found negative effects.

The new NTNU study includes the results of many different studies, which use several distinct methods to measure sustainability and profitability. The answer is largely the same across the board: innovation and sustainability often pay off.

But innovation and development cost money and people. How are these results possible?

Hermundsdottir says the positive effects are not wishful thinking. "Innovation often results in increased value creation, reduced costs and other benefits," she says. "The sustainable shift opens up countless new business opportunities that companies can benefit from tremendously."

Arild Aspelund, a professor in NTNU's Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management, says the number of customers who are willing to pay extra for sustainability is growing. "We're seeing this in the corporate market where sustainability is now usually a purchasing criterion that reduces the one-sided focus on price," he says.

The article reviews 188 different connections between sustainable innovation and value creation. Of these, 120 have positive effects. Only 14 are negative.

"Sure, we can discuss the validity of the finding that sustainability is profitable. However, this study shows that a lot of empirical research suggests just that. If we consider the opposite hypothesis, that sustainability only entails increased costs, then we find very little empirical research out there to support that claim," Aspelund says.

New thinking can lead to raw materials being used more efficiently, for example. At the same time, it can lead to the company using less energy, petroleum and water, or using smaller land areas to produce the same amount of products.

A thorough review of production processes can in any case lead to more cost-effective methods. Maybe the company can use other more environmentally friendly - or even recycled - materials, or it figures out how to use less packaging.

The changes, along with the new status as a more environmentally friendly company, can also open up new markets among environmentally conscious customers.

Aspelund points out that more and more consumers are willing to pay extra for sustainable products and services.

"This value is especially prevalent among young consumers, and is spreading really quickly. So in that sense, the results aren't surprising," he says.

In addition to the fact that innovation quite simply can be profitable in the long run, companies may not have any other choice when the authorities impose new requirements on them, such as for cleaning or recycling. Then be ahead of the competition might be the profitable option.

"Traditionally, companies have seen restructuring towards sustainability as a financial burden. But our findings indicate that this traditional view isn't true. So the question is no longer whether sustainable innovation pays off, but rather how innovation can take place in the best possible way," says Hermundsdottir.

Admittedly, results will differ a lot from company to company, which the background material also indicates. National, market, industrial and business factors have a major impact on the results. The connections are also very complicated, and what works for some will not necessarily work for others.

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Reference: Fanny Hermundsdottir, Arild Aspelund. Sustainability innovations and firm competitiveness: A review. Journal of Cleaner Production. Available online 19 October 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124715

Biden names Orthodox woman to senior National Security Council position

Anne Neuberger has worked at the National Security Agency for more than a decade and helped found the U.S. Cyber Command.

Anne Neuberger. Credit: National Security Agency.

(January 8, 2021 / JNS) U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to appoint Anne Neuberger, an Orthodox Jewish woman, to serve in a newly created cybersecurity position on the U.S. National Security Council.

The expected pick was first reported by Politico on Wednesday. The Biden transition team and the National Security Agency declined to comment to the outlet about Neuberger’s expected appointment.

Neuberger has lead the NSA’s Cybersecurity Directorate since 2019, being one of the highest-ranking women at the NSA since Ann Caracristi, who served as deputy director of the agency during the early 1980s.

She has worked at the NSA for more than a decade and helped found the U.S. Cyber Command, where she was chief risk officer and headed the agency’s security initiative during the 2018 midterm elections.
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Neuberger, who lives in Baltimore, is from the heavily Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park, N.Y., where she went to Bais Yaakov Jewish day school for girls.
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Neuberger graduated from Touro College in New York and Columbia University business school. She was also in the White House Fellows program

Ayatollah still can tweet? Trump supporters point fingers at Iran’s leader… just as he runs into trouble with platform too

9 Jan, 2021 11:24
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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Bemoaning Donald Trump’s Twitter ban, many of the US president’s supporters and other proponents of free speech have pointed fingers at messages from Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accusing the platform of double standards.

The US president was booted from the social media site for good on Friday, as Twitter embarked on a massive purge in the aftermath of the Capitol Hill debacle.

The platform said it decided to lock Trump’s account “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” while blocking many of his supporters, including such high-profile figures as former National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn and lawyer Sidney Powell, without providing any official reasoning at all.

The purge has prompted a new wave of accusations against Twitter of indulging in double standards. Many critics picked the US’ – and Trump’s – bogeyman of choice, Iran, to prove their point, targeting the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Many argued that Khamenei’s rhetoric perfectly fits into the “incitement of violence” pretext, accusing the ayatollah of repeatedly threatening the US and Israel on the platform.

Some even bothered to dig up some examples of said rhetoric, which they deemed to be offensive enough to get Khamenei into trouble.

Quite ironically, as the finger-pointing continued, Khamenei did indeed get into trouble with the platform – not for being anti-American or anti-Israel, but rather for delving into the treacherous and highly thought-policed coronavirus topic.

Khamenei’s messages announcing Iran’s ban on the US- and UK-made vaccines – an extract from his televised speech – have been removed overnight from his multiple official accounts run in different languages.

“Importing vaccines made in the US or the UK is prohibited. They’re completely untrustworthy. It’s not unlikely they would want to contaminate other nations,” Khamenei’s now-removed message on his English-language account reportedly read. “Given our experience with France’s HIV-tainted blood supplies, French vaccines aren’t trustworthy either.”

His allegation of a plot to “contaminate” the other nations has apparently triggered Twitter’s assault on Khamenei, as such a statement goes against the platform’s recently updated rules. Twitter has strictly limited the possibility to question the coronavirus narrative and effectiveness of the vaccines, namely to post messages “used to intentionally cause harm to or control populations, including statements about vaccines that invoke a deliberate conspiracy.” Violators of this rule get their accounts locked until they take down the offending message.