Saturday, February 06, 2021

Nehandertals' gut microbiota and the bacteria helping our health

UNIVERSITÀ DI BOLOGNA

IMAGE: THE RESEARCH GROUP ANALYSED THE ANCIENT DNA EXTRACTED FROM 50,000 YEARS OLD SEDIMENTARY FAECES (THE OLDEST SAMPLE OF FAECAL MATERIAL AVAILABLE TO DATE). THE SAMPLES WERE COLLECTED IN EL SALT... view more
CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA

Neanderthals' gut microbiota already included some beneficial micro-organisms that are also found in our own intestine. An international research group led by the University of Bologna achieved this result by extracting and analysing ancient DNA from 50,000-year-old faecal sediments sampled at the archaeological site of El Salt, near Alicante (Spain).

Published in Communication Biology, their paper puts forward the hypothesis of the existence of ancestral components of human microbiota that have been living in the human gastrointestinal tract since before the separation between the Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals that occurred more than 700,000 years ago.

"These results allow us to understand which components of the human gut microbiota are essential for our health, as they are integral elements of our biology also from an evolutionary point of view" explains Marco Candela, the professor of the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology of the University of Bologna, who coordinated the study. "Nowadays there is a progressive reduction of our microbiota diversity due to the context of our modern life: this research group's findings could guide us in devising diet- and lifestyle-tailored solutions to counteract this phenomenon".

THE ISSUES OF THE "MODERN" MICROBIOTA

The gut microbiota is the collection of trillions of symbiont micro-organisms that populate our gastrointestinal tract. It represents an essential component of our biology and carries out important functions in our bodies, such as regulating our metabolism and immune system and protecting us from pathogenic micro-organisms.

Recent studies have shown how some features of modernity - such as the consumption of processed food, drug use, life in hyper-sanitized environments - lead to a critical reduction of biodiversity in the gut microbiota. This depletion is mainly due to the loss of a set of microorganisms referred to as "old friends".

"The process of depletion of the gut microbiota in modern western urban populations could represent a significant wake-up call," says Simone Rampelli, who is a researcher at the University of Bologna and first author of the study. "This depletion process would become particularly alarming if it involved the loss of those microbiota components that are crucial to our physiology".

Indeed, there are some alarming signs. For example, in the West, we are witnessing a dramatic increase in cases of chronic inflammatory diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer.

HOW THE "ANCIENT" MICROBIOTA CAN HELP

How can we identify the components of the gut microbiota that are more important for our health? And how can we protect them with targeted solutions? This was the starting point behind the idea of identifying the ancestral traits of our microbiota - i.e. the core of the human gut microbiota, which has remained consistent throughout our evolutionary history. Technology nowadays allows to successfully rise to this challenge thanks to a new scientific field, paleomicrobiology, which studies ancient microorganisms from archaeological remains through DNA sequencing.

The research group analysed ancient DNA samples collected in El Salt (Spain), a site where many Neanderthals lived. To be more precise, they analysed the ancient DNA extracted from 50,000 years old sedimentary faeces (the oldest sample of faecal material available to date). In this way, they managed to piece together the composition of the micro-organisms populating the intestine of Neanderthals. By comparing the composition of the Neanderthals' microbiota to ours, many similarities aroused.

"Through the analysis of ancient DNA, we were able to isolate a core of microorganisms shared with modern Homo sapiens", explains Silvia Turroni, researcher at the University of Bologna and first author of the study. "This finding allows us to state that these ancient micro-organisms populated the intestine of our species before the separation between Sapiens and Neanderthals, which occurred about 700,000 years ago".

SAFEGUARDING THE MICROBIOTA

These ancestral components of the human gut microbiota include many well-known bacteria (among which Blautia, Dorea, Roseburia, Ruminococcus and Faecalibacterium) that are fundamental to our health. Indeed, by producing short-chain fatty acids from dietary fibre, these bacteria regulate our metabolic and immune balance. There is also the Bifidobacterium: a microorganism playing a key role in regulating our immune defences, especially in early childhood. Finally, in the Neanderthal gut microbiota, researchers identified some of those "old friends". This confirms the researchers' hypotheses about the ancestral nature of these components and their recent depletion in the human gut microbiota due to our modern life context.

"In the current modernization scenario, in which there is a progressive reduction of microbiota diversity, this information could guide integrated diet- and lifestyle-tailored strategies to safeguard the micro-organisms that are fundamental to our health", concludes Candela. "To this end, promoting lifestyles that are sustainable for our gut microbiota is of the utmost importance, as it will help maintain the configurations that are compatible with our biology".

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THE AUTHORS OF THE STUDY

The study titled "Components of a Neanderthal gut microbiome recovered from fecal sediments from El Salt" was published in Communication Biology. The University of Bologna participated in this study thanks to Marco Candela, Simone Rampelli, Silvia Turroni and Elena Biagi from the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology; Annalisa Astolfi from the Interdepartmental Center for Cancer Research "Giorgio Prodi"; Patrizia Brigidi from the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences; and Stefano Benazzi from the Department of Cultural Heritage.

Moreover, this study saw the participation of researchers from the Universidad de La Laguna (Spain), from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) as well as the University of Oklahoma (USA) and Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (Austria).

FARMWORKERS TAN

Grape consumption may protect against UV damage to skin

New study finds grapes increased resistance to sunburn and reduced markers of UV damage

CALIFORNIA TABLE GRAPE COMMISSION

Research News

Fresno, CA - A recent human study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that consuming grapes protected against ultraviolet (UV) skin damage.1 Study subjects showed increased resistance to sunburn and a reduction in markers of UV damage at the cellular level. 2 Natural components found in grapes known as polyphenols are thought to be responsible for these beneficial effects.

The study, conducted at the University of Alabama, Birmingham and led by principal investigator Craig Elmets, M.D., investigated the impact of consuming whole grape powder - equivalent to 2.25 cups of grapes per day - for 14 days against photodamage from UV light. Subjects' skin response to UV light was measured before and after consuming grapes for two weeks by determining the threshold dose of UV radiation that induced visible reddening after 24 hours - the Minimal Erythema Dose (MED). Grape consumption was protective; more UV exposure was required to cause sunburn following grape consumption, with MED increasing on average by 74.8%.3 Analysis of skin biopsies showed that the grape diet was associated with decreased DNA damage, fewer deaths of skin cells, and a reduction in inflammatory markers that if left unchecked, together can impair skin function and can potentially lead to skin cancer. 4

It is estimated that 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer by the age of 70. 5 Most skin cancer cases are associated with exposure to UV radiation from the sun: about 90% of nonmelanoma skin cancers and 86% of melanomas, respectively. Additionally, an estimated 90% of skin aging is caused by the sun.

"We saw a significant photoprotective effect with grape consumption and we were able to identify molecular pathways by which that benefit occurs - through repair of DNA damage and downregulation of proinflammatory pathways," said Dr. Elmets. "Grapes may act as an edible sunscreen, offering an additional layer of protection in addition to topical sunscreen products."

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1 Oak, A.S.W., Shafi, R., Elsayed, M., Bae, S., Saag, L., Wang, C.L., & Elmets, C.A. (2021). Dietary table grape protects against UV photodamage in humans: 1. clinical evaluation. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2021.01.035.

2 Oak, A.S.W., Shafi, R., Elsayed, M., Mishra, B., Bae, S., Barnes, S., Slominksi, A.T., Wilson, L.S., Athar, M., & Elmets, C.A. (2021). Dietary table grape protects against UV photodamage in humans: 2. molecular evaluation. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2021.01.036.

3 Oak, A.S.W., Shafi, R., ... & Elmets, C.A. (2021). Dietary table grape protects against UV photodamage in humans: 1. clinical evaluation. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2021.01.035.

4 Oak, A.S.W., Shafi, R., ...& Elmets, C.A. (2021). Dietary table grape protects against UV photodamage in humans: 2. molecular evaluation. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2021.01.036.

5 Skin Cancer Facts and Statistics. Skin Cancer Foundation website https://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/skin-cancer-facts/ Accessed January 26, 2021.

Vegan diet better for weight loss and cholesterol control than Mediterranean diet

PHYSICIANS COMMITTEE FOR RESPONSIBLE MEDICINE

Research News

A vegan diet is more effective for weight loss than a Mediterranean diet, according to a groundbreaking new study that compared the diets head to head. The randomized crossover trial, which was published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, found that a low-fat vegan diet has better outcomes for weight, body composition, insulin sensitivity, and cholesterol levels, compared with a Mediterranean diet.

The study randomly assigned participants--who were overweight and had no history of diabetes--to a vegan diet or a Mediterranean diet in a 1:1 ratio. For 16 weeks, half of the participants started with a low-fat vegan diet that eliminated animal products and focused on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. The other half started with the Mediterranean diet, which followed the PREDIMED protocol, which focuses on fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, low-fat dairy, and extra virgin olive oil, while limiting or avoiding red meat and saturated fats. Neither group had a calorie limit, and participants did not change exercise or medication routines, unless directed by their personal doctors. As part of the crossover design, participants then went back to their baseline diets for a four-week washout period before switching to the opposite group for an additional 16 weeks.

The study found that within 16 weeks on each diet:

Participants lost an average of 6 kilograms (or about 13 pounds) on the vegan diet, compared with no mean change on the Mediterranean diet.
Participants lost 3.4 kg (about 7.5 pounds) more fat mass on the vegan diet.
Participants saw a greater reduction in visceral fat by 315 cm3 on the vegan diet.
The vegan diet decreased total and LDL cholesterol levels by 18.7 mg/dL and 15.3 mg/dL, respectively, while there were no significant cholesterol changes on the Mediterranean diet.
Blood pressure decreased on both diets, but more on the Mediterranean diet (6.0 mm Hg, compared to 3.2 mmHg on the vegan diet).

"Previous studies have suggested that both Mediterranean and vegan diets improve body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors, but until now, their relative efficacy had not been compared in a randomized trial," says study author Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD, director of clinical research for the Physicians Committee. "We decided to test the diets head to head and found that a vegan diet is more effective for both improving health markers and boosting weight loss."

The authors note that the vegan diet likely led to weight loss, because it was associated with a reduction in calorie intake, increase in fiber intake, decrease in fat consumption, and decrease in saturated fat consumption.

"While many people think of the Mediterranean diet as one of the best ways to lose weight, the diet actually crashed and burned when we put it to the test," says study author Neal Barnard, MD, president of the Physicians Committee. "In a randomized, controlled trial, the Mediterranean diet caused no weight loss at all. The problem seems to be the inclusion of fatty fish, dairy products, and oils. In contrast, a low-fat vegan diet caused significant and consistent weight loss."

"If your goal is to lose weight or get healthy in 2021, choosing a plant-based diet is a great way to achieve your resolution," adds Dr. Kahleova.

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For a copy of the study or an interview with a study author, please contact Laura Anderson at landerson@pcrm.org or 202-527-7396.

Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a nonprofit organization tat promotes preventive medicine, conducts clinical research, and encourages higher standards for ethics and effectiveness in education and resear

FOOD TRUCK POTENTIAL

'Runway Roadkill' rapidly increasing at airports across the world, UCC study finds

Study hopes to aid aviation authorities worldwide to protect wildlife and prevent costly damage.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK

Research News

IMAGE: AN INFOGRAPHIC OUTLINING DATA FROM THE STUDY "RUNWAY ROADKILL: A GLOBAL REVIEW OF MAMMAL STRIKES WITH AIRCRAFT ". view more
CREDIT: SAMANTHA BALL UCC

- Study identifies incidences at airports in 47 countries across the globe.

- 'Runway Roadkill' increasing by up to 68% annually and has caused damage that has cost in excess of $103 million in the United States alone over a 30 year period.

- It is hoped study could pave way for international efforts to protect wildlife and reduce costly aircraft damage.

From giraffes to the world's smallest mammals, the world's wildlife is being increasingly struck by aircraft, a global study finds.

Airports from Sydney to London and the USA to Germany were examined by researchers who found that incidences of mammal strikes with aircraft - so-called 'runway roadkill' - are increasing significantly year-on-year, are costing aviation authorities millions per annum, but are under-reported internationally.

The international study led by University College Cork (UCC) researcher Samantha Ball, found that 'runway roadkill' has been increasing by up to 68% annually and have caused damage that has cost in excess of $103 million in the United States alone over a 30 year period.

The global review of mammal strikes with aircraft, is funded by the Irish Research Council and the Dublin Airport Authority and is published in Mammal Review.

It is hoped the findings of the study may aid aviation authorities worldwide to increase mitigation measures to protect wildlife and prevent costly damage.

Ms Ball of UCC's School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences said mammals are incredibly diverse and those involved in strike events are no exception.

"As we identified 47 countries which have reported strikes with mammals, the species involved ranged from some of the world's smallest mammals, such as voles, all the way up to the mighty giraffe and included mammals of all sizes in between. As strike events can affect everything from passenger safety, airline economics and local conservation, understanding the species composition and ecology of the local fauna at an airfield is paramount for effective strike mitigation," she said.

However, most aircraft strikes involve birds, meaning there has been comparatively little research to date on collisions with mammals.

The airport environment can provide productive habitat for wildlife due to expanses of semi-natural grasslands, creating favourable ecological habitats, often in heavily urbanised areas.

Airport operators have a legal obligation to reduce wildlife hazard at airfields. It is therefore important for airports to understand the relative risk associated with each species, in order to prioritise and implement effective Wildlife Hazard Management Plans (WHMP).

By analysing published information and mammal strike data from national aviation authorities in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, researchers found that bats accounted for the greatest proportion of strikes in Australia; rabbits and dog-like carnivores in Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom; and bats and deer in the United States. Average mammal strikes per year ranged from 1.2 to 38.7 across the countries analysed, for every million aircraft movements.

Researchers identified:

- Around 40 strikes a year with coyotes

- Around 60 strikes with skunks.

- Around 100 strikes a year with fruit bats in Australia

- Over 100 strikes annually in recent years with leporids (rabbits and hares) in only three countries in Europe (France, Germany, UK).

They also found that:

- Dusk was identified as having the highest strike rate per hour for Australia and the USA and night conferred the greatest risk in Canada and Germany.

- In the USA, it is estimated that mammal strikes are five times more likely to cause damage to aircraft than bird strikes.

- Under-reporting of strikes is recognised on both an international and national level: estimates suggest that only 5-47% of wildlife strikes are reported to aviation authorities, and the reporting of strike events remains voluntary in many countries.

The researchers argue that the ecological and behavioural traits of mammal populations in proximity to and inhabiting airports need to be understood and integrated into WHMPs if effective management policies are to be developed and implemented.

"Therefore, mitigation measures developed in the USA for the specific fauna of North America may not be effective for high-risk species in other parts of the world. As air travel is a global industry, increased research efforts targeted at high risk mammal families outside the USA would benefit not only the national aviation authorities responsible for the research, but also international authorities and airline operators. A more thorough understanding of the ecology of mammal groups inhabiting and using airfields is required to maximise the efficacy of any mitigation measures," their paper argues.

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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mam.12241

Pandemic caused 'staggering' economic, human impact in developing counties, research says

Falling incomes, smaller meals, educational setbacks among consequences

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - BERKELEY

Research News

Berkeley -- The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year led to a devastating loss of jobs and income across the global south, threatening hundreds of millions of people with hunger and lost savings and raising an array of risks for children, according to new research co-authored at the University of California, Berkeley.

The research, to be published Friday Feb. 5, 2021, in the journal Science Advances, found "staggering" income losses after the pandemic emerged last year, with a median 70% of households across nine countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America reporting financial losses. By April last year, roughly 50% or more of those surveyed in several countries were forced to eat smaller meals or skip meals altogether, a number that reached 87% for rural households in the West African country of Sierra Leone.

"In the early months of the pandemic, the economic downturn in low- and middle-income countries was almost certainly worse than any other recent global economic crisis that we know of, whether the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, the Great Recession that started in 2008, or the more recent Ebola crisis," said UC Berkeley economist Edward Miguel, a co-author of the study. "The economic costs were just severe, absolutely severe."

The pandemic has produced some hopeful innovations, including a partnership between the government of Togo in West Africa and UC Berkeley's Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) on a system to provide relief payments via digital networks.

But such gains are, so far, isolated.

The new study -- the first of its kind globally -- reports that after two decades of growth in many low- and middle-income countries, the economic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic threatens profound long-term impact: Reduced childhood nutrition could have health consequences later in life. Closed schools may lead to delayed development for some students, while others may simply drop out. When families use their savings to eat, rather than invest in fertilizer or farm improvements, crop yields can decline.

"Such effects can slow economic development in a country or a region, which can lead to political instability, diminished growth or migration," said Miguel, a co-director at CEGA.

A troubling picture of life during the pandemic

The study was launched in spring 2020, as China, Europe and the U.S. led global efforts to check spread of the virus through ambitious lockdowns of business, schools and transit. Three independent research teams, including CEGA, joined to conduct surveys in the countries where they already worked.

Between April and early July 2020, they connected with 30,000 households, including over 100,000 people, in nine countries with a combined population of 500 million: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Sierra Leone in Africa; Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines in Asia; and Colombia in South America. The surveys were conducted by telephone.

Reports early in the pandemic suggested that developing countries might be less vulnerable because their populations are so much younger than those in Europe and North America.

But the research teams found that, within weeks after governments imposed lockdowns and other measures to control the virus's spread, the pandemic was having a pervasive economic impact:

Income fell broadly. In Colombia, 87% of respondents nationwide reported lost income in the early phase of the pandemic. Such losses were reported by more than 80% of people nationwide in Rwanda and Ghana.

People struggled to find food. In the Philippines, 77% of respondents nationwide said they faced difficulty purchasing food because stores were closed, transport was shut down or food supplies were inadequate. Similar reports came from 68% of Colombians and 64% of respondents in Sierra Leone; rates were similar for some communities within other countries.

Food insecurity rose sharply. While the impact was worst in rural Sierra Leone, other communities were hard hit: In Bangladesh, 69% of landless agricultural households reported that they were forced to eat less, along with 48% of households in rural Kenya.

Children faced increased risk. With schools closed, the risk of educational setbacks rose. Many respondents reported delaying health care, including prenatal care and vaccinations. Some communities reported rising levels of domestic violence.

"The combination of a lengthy period of undernutrition, closed schools, and limited health care may be particularly damaging in the long run for children from poorer households who do not have alternative resources," the authors wrote.

Miguel's recent research has focused on economic conditions for poor people in Kenya, and he said people there scrambled to cope with the crisis.

"People moved in with relatives," he said. "People moved back to their home areas in rural places where there was food. Other people were just relying on the generosity of friends and relatives and co-workers to get by. When you're living on only a couple of dollars a day, and you don't get that money, it's a desperate situation."

Wealthier countries are also gripped by crisis, but co-author Susan Athey, an economist at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, said they're better able to cope.

"COVID-19 and its economic shock present a stark threat to residents of low- and middle-income countries -- where most of the world's population resides -- which lack the social safety nets that exist in rich countries," Athey said. "The evidence we've collected shows dire economic consequences ... which, if left unchecked, could thrust millions of vulnerable households into poverty."

A model of positive, high-impact international partnership

In fact, Miguel said, governments everywhere have struggled to address the health and economic dimensions of the pandemic. In both rich and poor nations, he said, governments have used the pandemic as a reason to crack down on political opponents.

But the crisis has also produced hopeful engagements. The CEGA initiative to support Togolese leaders in developing a system for digital relief payments could be a model for international partnerships.

Under that project, CEGA co-Director Joshua Blumenstock has worked closely with top government officials in Togo to develop an advanced data-driven system for identifying people in need and delivering financial aid. The system uses new computational technologies, with data from satellite imagery, mobile phones and traditional surveys to identify people or communities in economic distress.

CEGA and the GiveDirectly aid organization have just won a $1.2 million grant under the data.org Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge to allow further work on the project.

Already, "over 550,000 Togolese individuals have received cash transfers of roughly $20 a month," said Lauren Russell, CEGA director of operations. "The grant should allow for the project to be scaled and evaluated even further, with the hope that the methods might be well-suited for adoption by other low- and middle-income countries."

Global crises require global solutions

Still, Miguel said the disparities between rich and poor nations have been "disheartening." In North America and Europe, nations may be struggling with vaccination plans, but vaccines have barely arrived in most low-income countries, he said.

"We will not recover in the rich countries until the whole world gets the vaccine and until the crisis is dealt with globally," he said. "As long as there's active pandemic in parts of the world that's affecting travel and tourism and trade, our economy and our society is going to suffer. If we can spread the wealth in terms of pandemic relief assistance and vaccine distribution, we're all going to get out of this hole faster."

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US counties with more social capital have fewer COVID-19 infections and deaths

PLOS

Research News

IMAGE: CORRELATION BETWEEN COVID-19 CASES & SOCIAL CAPITAL view more
CREDIT: CHRISTIAN FELIX (CC-BY 4.0, HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

US counties with more social capital have fewer COVID-19 infections and deaths - perhaps because these communities have greater concern for the health of others.

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Article Title: "How social capital helps communities weather the COVID-19 pandemic"

Funding: This research was supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research [CIHR, FRN-170368; PI: Cary Wu].

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0245135

Gap between the 'haves' and 'have nots' widened by the COVID pandemic, an IU study found

INDIANA UNIVERSITY

Research News

A new study by Indiana University found women, younger individuals, those with lower levels of formal education, and people of color are being hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, found that Black adults were three times as likely as whites to report food insecurity, being laid off, or being unemployed during the pandemic. Additionally, residents without a college degree were twice as likely to report food insecurity (compared to those with some college) while those not completing high school are four times as likely to report it, compared to those with a bachelor's degree.

These patterns persisted even after taking into account employment status and financial hardship before the pandemic, suggesting that the gap between the "haves" and "have nots" is being widened by the crisis.

The study found that younger adults and women were also more likely to report economic hardships.

"It is clear that the pandemic has had an extraordinary impact on the economic security of individuals who were already vulnerable and among disadvantaged groups," said Bernice Pescosolido, a distinguished professor of sociology at IU and co-author of the study. "This work demonstrates the need for strategically deployed relief efforts and longer-term policy reforms to challenge the perennial and unequal impact of disasters."

Researchers utilized the Person to Person Health Interview Study (P2P) - a statewide representative, face-to-face survey - to interview nearly 1,000 Indiana residents before (October 2018-March 2020) and during the initial stay at home order in (March-May 2020). Their goal was to determine differences in experiences of economic hardship among historically advantaged and disadvantaged groups following the COVID-19 lockdown. The authors measured four self-reported indicators of economic precarity: housing insecurity, food insecurity, general financial insecurity, and unemployment or job loss.

Previous research has shown national and global crises tend to disproportionally impact those who were already struggling financially, and it takes more vulnerable communities significantly longer to recover from disasters.

These previous findings are in line with the IU study, which shows Indiana residents already concerned with their housing, food and finances reported greater concerns with these economic hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Providing basic resources to all Americans, such as generous unemployment benefits, paid family leave, affordable federal housing and universal preschool will help communities better weather crisis," said Brea Perry, professor of sociology at IU and co-author of the study. "We need to rethink how we intervene in disasters and also strengthen our social safety net for everyone."

Perry and her team have plans to follow up after the pandemic to understand the long-term impact that COVID-19 has had on individuals and their families. While the impact may not be fully understood at this time, she said we do know that rebuilding public health and other social structures will not only assist disadvantaged groups in times of need, it will also help society at large.

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ANOTHER AMAZING FIND IN THE MUSEUM STORAGE ROOM

Horse remains reveal new insights into how Native peoples raised horses

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER

Research News

**IMAGE: STUDY COAUTHOR ISAAC HART OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH COMPARES A HEALTHY TALUS BONE FROM THE LEHI HORSE WITH ONE HEAVILY IMPACTED BY ARTHRITIS. view more**
**CREDIT: WILLIAM TAYLOR**

A new analysis of a horse previously believed to be from the Ice Age shows that the animal actually died just a few hundred years ago--and was raised, ridden and cared for by Native peoples. The study sheds light on the early relationships between horses and their guardians in the Americas.

The findings, published today in the journal American Antiquity, are the latest in the saga of the "Lehi horse."

In 2018, a Utah couple was doing landscaping in their backyard near the city of Provo when they unearthed something surprising: an almost complete skeleton of a horse about the size of a Shetland pony. Scientists and the media took note. Preliminary data suggested that the horse might be more than 10,000 years old.

"It was found in the ground in these geologic deposits from the Pleistocene--the last Ice Age," said William Taylor, lead author of the new research and a curator of archaeology at the CU Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Based on a detailed study of the horse's bones and DNA, however, Taylor and his colleagues concluded that it wasn't an Ice Age mammal at all. Instead, the animal was a domesticated horse that had likely belonged to Ute or Shoshone communities before Europeans had a permanent presence in the region.

But Taylor is far from disappointed. He said the animal reveals valuable information about how Indigenous groups in the West looked after their horses.

"This study demonstrates a very sophisticated relationship between Indigenous peoples and horses," said Taylor, also an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology. "It also tells us that there might be a lot more important clues to the human-horse story contained in the horse bones that are out there in libraries and museum collections."

CAPTION

Researchers conduct 3D digitization of bones from the Lehi horse in order to identify skeletal features linked with horseback riding.

CREDIT

William Taylor

Written in bone

Taylor leads an effort funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, called "Horses and Human Societies in the American West." And he's something akin to a forensic scientist--except he studies the remains of ancient animals, from horses to reindeer. He said that researchers can learn a lot by collecting the clues hidden in bones.

"The skeleton that you or I have is a chronicle of what we've done in our lives," Taylor said. "If I were to keel over right now, and you looked at my skeleton, you'd see that I was right-handed or that I spend most of my hours at a computer."

When Taylor first laid eyes on the Lehi horse in 2018, he was immediately skeptical that it was an Ice Age fossil. Ancient horses first evolved in North America and were common during the Pleistocene, he said, going extinct at about the same time as many other large mammals like mammoths. This horse, however, showed characteristic fractures in the vertebrae along its back.

"That was an eyebrow raiser," Taylor said.

He explained that such fractures often occur when a human body bangs repeatedly into a horse's spine during riding--they rarely show up in wild animals, and are often most pronounced in horses ridden without a frame saddle. So he and his colleagues decided to dig deeper.

DNA analyses by coauthors at the University of Toulouse in France revealed that the Lehi horse was a roughly 12-year-old female belonging to the species Equus caballus (today's domestic horse). Radiocarbon dating showed that it had died sometime after the late 17th century. The horse also seemed to be suffering from arthritis in several of its limbs.

"The life of a domestic horse can be a hard one, and it leaves a lot of impacts on the skeleton," Taylor said.

He added that scientists originally believed that the horse was so ancient in part because of its location deep in the sands along the edge of Utah Lake: Its caretakers appear to have dug a hole and intentionally buried the animal after it died, making it look initially as if it had come from Ice Age sediments.

And despite the animal's injuries, which would have probably made the Lehi horse lame, people had continued to care for the mare--possibly because they were breeding her with stallions in their herd.

Hidden history

For Carlton Shield Chief Gover, a coauthor of the new study, the research is another example of the buried history of Indigenous groups and horses.

He explained that most researchers have tended to view this relationship through a European lens: Spaniards brought the animals to the Americas on boats, and white settlers shaped how Native peoples interacted with them.

But that view glosses over just how uniquely Indigenous the horse became in the Americas after those first introductions.

"There was a lot going on that Europeans didn't see," said Shield Chief Gover, a graduate student at CU Boulder and a tribal citizen of the Pawnee Nation. "There was a 200-year period where populations in the Great Plains and the West were adapting their cultures to the horse."

For many Plains groups, horses quickly changed nearly every aspect of life.

"There was more raiding and fewer battles," Shield Chief Gover said. "Horses became deeply integrated into Plains cultures, and changed the way people moved, traded hunted and more."

He and Taylor hope that their research will, alongside Indigenous oral traditions, help to shed light on those stories. Taylor, for his part, suspects that the Lehi horse may not be the only set of remains mistakenly shelved with Ice Age animals in museum collections around the country.

"I think there are a lot more out there like this," he said.

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Pilot project underway to recover previously unrecyclable agricultural plastics

A pilot project to manage the growing problem of agricultural plastic across Northern Ontario is under way. Almost 520 tonnes of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) is generated each year in Northern Ontario. LLDPE includes bale and silage wrap and accounts for an estimated 70 percent of plastic waste generated by farms in Northern Ontario. Manitoulin, Algoma, Temiskaming and Rainy River districts generate higher levels of the LLDPE plastic that is the focus of this project.

The pilot will use on-farm compactors to create dense, four feet square bales, thus reducing transportation and storage space while creating a product for recycling (composite lumber products) and resource recovery (energy). Compacted bales are a more manageable and environmentally sound option than current practices of burying, burning or dumping loose plastic in the landfill.

Agriculture in Northern Ontario is a key economic driver, according to a report prepared by Stephanie Vanthof, member services representative with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA). The sector supports over 12,000 jobs and contributes more than $587 million in GDP to the provincial economy. Northern farm cash receipts increased from $182 million in 2006 to $206 million in 2017. However, these activities are estimated to generate over 819 tons of recoverable agricultural plastic waste annually, with an expected increase to 941 tons by 2022.

Agricultural plastics don’t yet fall under producer responsibility legislation, said Ms. Vanthof. She does anticipate some regulation in the future but notes there are currently limited options. Some townships still pick up agricultural plastic curbside. “Farmers roll it up and leave it with their garbage to be picked up but that’s very infrequent. Some landfills still take agricultural plastic, and burning and burying are the other two options. They’re not encouraged but they are a necessity. Some farmers might put their plastic in a pile to deal with at the end of the year; often this plastic ends up blowing into their neighbours’ yards.”

Unfortunately, there aren’t really any viable alternatives. “Some farmers store the hay in a different way instead of making hay bales but for a lot of farmers the plastic is a necessity for keeping their hay at the right moisture level, maintaining the right quality and longevity. There is some research being done but we’re years away from that becoming a viable market solution.”

In the Temiskaming area there are many farmers growing corn and soybeans under plastic. People drive by, see a lot of plastic strips and start asking questions, she said. That plastic does biodegrade but people are also asking more and more questions about wrapped hay bales. “It’s not great optically if we don’t have any solutions. People will start to put pressure on us and we’ll end up in a corner we can’t easily get out of.”

Farmers want to tell a better story, she said, and this project has been years in the making. The idea has been on the radar since 2014. In 2017, they gathered data and in 2018, began to build the pilot. The funding request was approved in early 2020, allowing for a soft launch in April/May 2020. Two farmers had started even earlier, in 2019; currently there are about 20 compactors in use with between 90 and 100 tonnes collected and ready to be shipped.

Farmers that are already proactive and environmentally conscious are excited about the project, she said. Others are waiting to see how it works and will join once they see it moving smoothly. “There will always be a number of farmers that, unless we pick up the bales for them or pay them to participate, they’re not going to do anything different than what they’re doing now.”

One Manitoulin Island farmer has signed up to participate. He hasn’t yet received a compactor but Ms. Vanthof expects that once other farmers see it, “they might jump onboard, or there might be an opportunity to work with the township to do some communal compacting.” A shared compactor would help small farms or farms that only use a small amount of plastic. The Expositor was unable to speak with the Island participant at this time.

One partner recycler makes composite lumber from the plastic. The challenge, according to Ms. Vanthof, is they are more particular in the type of plastic they collect as well as the cleanliness of the plastic. She is hoping to find end users that require farmers to shake and dry the plastic but not to wash it. “We can’t do these things that a lot of recyclers require. Some of the end users that are making other composite products are starting to come up with more flexible technologies, which is great for agricultural plastic. BBL Energy Inc., located in Johnstown in eastern Ontario, is our primary partner and will convert the otherwise unrecyclable plastics into energy.”

Transportation remains a huge challenge. Shipping bales from Northwestern Ontario all the way to eastern Ontario will likely wipe out any environmental gains. “It’s not an ideal solution,” she noted. “It’s just the solution we have right now. We are dealing with great distances, even just the distances between farms. We need to understand this, and the costs.”

That’s where BBL comes in. BBL is not a waste management company, Ms. Vanthof said. “They want to get this technology across North America. They will use this a proof of concept and build business cases from it, so that maybe the City of Sudbury, or other Northern Ontario location, would want to have a modular system that could take all plastic, not just agricultural plastic. That’s what BBL is doing and what we’re doing is finding the numbers around just collecting and shipping the plastic and whether this is a viable model. We might find that this doesn’t work at all. We don’t know.”

Data gathered during the pilot will provide a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t for recovering the plastic. Ms. Vanthof worries that the sector will be required to recover the plastic with little thought given to challenges both on farm but also in Northern Ontario. “We could create a model based on this, keeping the needs of the farmers in mind. Once the pilot is done and we have a true understanding of costs and logistics, we hope to be able to continue to have the farmers recover the plastic. It’ll be great to move the plastic off farm and make something usable from it.”

The three-year pilot project is a collaboration between the northern caucus of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance. The only direct cost of participation is the purchase of a $900 compactor, which will be delivered to a central location in the region. One compactor holds approximately 500 hay bales worth of plastic. The most important thing is to make a good bale, Ms. Vanthof said. Each compacted bale should contain a single stream of plastic. An annual or semi-annual collection will be organized for the district. Bales are tracked and are traceable back to a specific compactor.

For more information or to participate in the project, contact the OFA’s Stephanie Vanthof at stephanie.vanthof@ofa.on.ca.

Lori Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Exposito

DR FRANKENSTEIN WAS RIGHT!
Diamonds need an electric zap to crystallize deep inside the Earth
SO WAS SHELLY

Before diamonds can begin growing deep underground in Earth's mantle, they need a little zap from an electric field, a new study finds.

© Provided by Live Science a cascade of diamonds

In lab-based experiments, scientists mimicked conditions in the mantle — the layer just beneath Earth's crust — and found that diamonds grew only when exposed to an electric field, even a weak one of about 1 volt, according to the study, which was published online Jan. 20 in the journal Science Advances.

"Our results clearly show that electric fields should be considered as an important additional factor that influences the crystallization of diamonds," study lead researcher Yuri Palyanov, a diamond specialist at the V.S. Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and at Novosibirsk State University, said in a statement.

Diamonds are made of carbon atoms aligned in a particular crystal structure. They form more than 90 miles (150 kilometers) under Earth's surface, where pressures reach several gigapascals and temperatures can soar upward of 2,732 degrees Fahrenheit (1,500 degrees Celsius). But many factors behind the "birth" of this gem — prized for its polished beauty and extreme hardness — are a mystery; so a team of Russian and German scientists looked at one factor in particular: underground electric fields.

The researchers gathered the starting ingredients needed to make a diamond — carbonate and carbonate-silicate powders that are similar to carbonate-rich melts abundant in the mantle. They put these powders in an artificial mantle in their lab and subjected them to pressures of up to 7.5 gigapascals and temperatures of up to 2,912 F (1,600 C), and electrode-powered electric fields ranging from 0.4 to 1 volt. After varying periods lasting up to 40 hours, diamonds (and their softer carbon-based cousin, graphite) formed, but only when the researchers set up an electric field of about 1 volt — which is weaker than most household batteries.

Moreover, the diamonds and graphite formed only at the cathode, or the negative part of the electric field. This spot provides electrons to jumpstart a chemical process — mainly, so that certain carbon-oxygen compounds in the carbonates can undergo a series of reactions to become carbon dioxide and, eventually, the carbon atoms that can form a diamond.

The synthetic diamonds were small, with diameters no larger than 0.007 inches (200 micrometers, or one-fifth of a millimeter), but they were surprisingly similar to natural diamonds — both have an octahedral shape and tiny amounts of other elements and compounds, including a relatively high nitrogen content and silicate-carbonate inclusions, also known as diamond "birthmarks" or imperfections, the researchers said.

These experiments suggest that local electrical fields play a pivotal role in diamond formation in Earth's mantle, the researchers said. This local voltage is likely created by rock melts and fluids in the mantle that have high electrical conductivity, but it's unclear how strong these electrical fields are, Chemistry World reported.

"Our approach is of interest for the development of new methods for producing diamonds and other carbon materials with special properties," Palyanov said in another statement.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Horse remains reveal new insights into how Native peoples raised horses

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