New USGS report shows high levels of arsenic and uranium in some wells

Connecticut public health officials urge private well owners to test water quality

THE CATO INSTITUTE TYPES ARGUE THAT PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF LAND OR ECOLOGICAL NICHE'S IS MORE RESPONSIVE TO ISSUES LIKE THIS 

DESPITE THE EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY

US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Research News

 

IMAGE: KENT FALLS STATE PARK IN KENT, CONNECTICUT. GROUNDWATER FROM THIS AREA SUPPLIES NEARBY PRIVATE WATER WELLS. view more 

CREDIT: TIZIANA SHEA, CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH

A new U.S. Geological Survey study provides an updated, statewide estimate of high levels of naturally occurring arsenic and uranium in private well water across Connecticut. This research builds on a USGS report published in 2017, with the new study including additional groundwater samples and focusing on previously underrepresented areas.

The research, undertaken in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Public Health, projects that approximately 3.9% of private wells across Connecticut contain water with arsenic at concentrations higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contaminant level for public drinking-water supplies. This research also projects that 4.7% of private wells in the state have uranium concentrations higher than the EPA's standards.

CT DPH officials urge all private well owners to have their water tested for possible arsenic and uranium.

Arsenic and uranium are naturally occurring metals in bedrock around the world. Sometimes wells drilled into bedrock aquifers can produce water containing arsenic or uranium. Unless wells are tested, there's no way to confirm the presence or absence of these contaminants.

According to the CT DPH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, EPA and other health experts, there are potential health risks when concentrations of arsenic and uranium in groundwater used for drinking are higher than established human-health standards. Arsenic exposure has been related to increased cancer risk, low birth weight, decreased child intellectual development, immune system suppression and other adverse health outcomes. Ingestion of uranium, such as through drinking water, has been associated with kidney disease.

Data from this study can be used to better estimate the number of people potentially affected by high concentrations of naturally occurring arsenic and uranium in water from private wells.

An estimated 23% of Connecticut residents have private wells for their water supply. During the study, the CT DPH, with help from its state laboratory and local health officials, collected and analyzed water samples from more than 2,000 private wells throughout the state. Where high levels of arsenic or uranium were detected, state and local health officials worked with participating residents to inform and assist them with remedial measures to protect their water supply.

"This report provides essential tools to citizens, health officials, well drillers, government officials and others for better protecting their communities and the environment," said Eliza Gross, USGS physical scientist and lead author of the study. "The previous USGS study published in 2017 identified some areas where there were high contaminant levels, and we now have a more complete statewide assessment."

"Even though we know there are areas across our state that have higher concentrations than others, any private well in Connecticut has the potential to have elevated arsenic or uranium," said Ryan Tetreault, CT DPH Private Well Program supervisor. "Private well owners should have their well water tested at least once for these contaminants."

The CT DPH recommends that if tested well water has arsenic at a level greater than federal and state standards, an alternate source of water should be used or a treatment system should be installed. Also, if uranium in well water is at a concentration greater than the EPA standard of 30 micrograms per liter, the water should be treated to remove the uranium.

To ensure accuracy in the assessment, researchers separated Connecticut into grid cells for what's called a "spatially weighted analysis": a process that ensures areas with clusters of samples aren't overrepresented in a statewide estimate.

The USGS also found that certain bedrock types are more likely than others to yield high concentrations of arsenic and uranium in groundwater.

"While bedrock geology is not always predictive of higher or lower concentrations of arsenic or uranium in groundwater, knowing that certain geologic settings have a high likelihood can help inform decisions, such as drilling new wells, planning for development or deciding whether to conduct additional water-quality testing," said Gross. "This insight on geologic settings can also be applied to research in other states.

  CAPTION

The colors on this map identify the estimated percentage of private wells in Connecticut with water containing uranium concentrations greater than 30 micrograms per liter, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contaminant level for uranium in drinking water supplies. These percentages were determined based on an analysis of water samples from more than 2,000 private wells in the state as well as underlying geology, with bedrock types indicative uranium concentrations in groundwater. The green symbols identify uranium concentrations in water from sampled wells. White areas on the map, representing 2.3% of the state, indicate geologic units from which no uranium samples are available. Well locations are approximate.

CREDIT

USGS

CAPTION

The colors on this map identify the estimated percentage of private wells in Connecticut with water containing arsenic concentrations greater than 10 micrograms per liter, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contaminant level for arsenic in drinking water supplies. These percentages were determined based on an analysis of water samples from more than 2,000 private wells in the state as well as underlying geology, with bedrock types indicative of arsenic concentrations in groundwater. The black symbols identify arsenic concentrations in water from sampled wells. White areas on the map, representing 1.9% of the state, indicate geologic units from which no arsenic samples are available. Well locations are approximate.

CREDIT

USGS

According to the CT DPH, routine testing for private well water does not usually include testing for arsenic and uranium; it is up to private well owners to have their well water additionally tested for these contaminants. The CT DPH also encourages new homebuyers to ask for such testing when purchasing a home with a private well. Under Connecticut law, the local director of health has the authority to require testing for arsenic and uranium in water from newly drilled wells if they have reason to believe there is a problem in their town.

State officials recommend that homeowners with private wells contact an environmental lab approved to test water. A listing of environmental labs approved to test drinking water can be found at https://portal.ct.gov/DPH/Environmental-Health/Environmental-Laboratory-Certification/Environmental-Laboratory-Certification. If testing finds high levels of arsenic, more information about follow-up testing and treatment for arsenic is available at https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/Departments-and-Agencies/DPH/dph/environmental_health/private_wells/Publications/ArsenicPrivateWellWater21.pdf. If testing finds high levels of uranium, more information about treatment is available at https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/Departments-and-Agencies/DPH/dph/environmental_health/private_wells/2018-Downloads/050818-uranium_in_well_water_September_2016.pdf.

Read the full study titled, Arsenic and Uranium Occurrence in Private Wells in Connecticut, 2013-18--A Spatially Weighted and Bedrock Geology Assessment, at https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20201111.

Learn more about USGS arsenic research in New England at https://www.usgs.gov/centers/new-england-water/science-topics/arsenic-0.

More information about private well testing in Connecticut can be obtained from the DPH Private Well Program website at https://portal.ct.gov/dph/Environmental-Health/Private-Well-Water-Program/Private-Wells#48151. The DPH also has a website with resources on how to make private well water safer at https://testyourwell.ct.gov/. For related questions, contact the DPH Private Well Program at dph.privatewellprogram@ct.gov or (860) 509-8401.

For health-related questions, contact the DPH Environmental & Occupational Health Assessment Program at dph.eoha@ct.gov or (860) 509-7740. Their website is mailto:DPH%20Environmental%20&%20Occupational%20Health%20Assessment%20Program.

 OF COURSE THEY DID ROFLMAO

Researchers find a connection between Trump's tweets and the exchange rate of the rouble

NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

Research News

 

Tweets about Russia by Donald Trump during his presidency caused short but noticeable depreciations of the rouble. Meanwhile, the introduction of new sanctions, upon which the president did not comment, had no such effect. This was the finding of a group of researchers, which included Elena Fedorova, Professor of the Faculty of Economic Sciences of HSE University. The group published their findings in in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

With the growing influence of social media, officials, politicians, and entrepreneurs increasingly express their positions on various issues directly (for example, using Facebook or Twitter), and their messages serve as an independent source of financial and business information. When global political and economic processes depend on the decisions of this person (as in the case of the President of the United States), their social media posts can even affect indicators such as oil prices or the rouble exchange rate. Researchers have already examined the impact of Trump's tweets on the stock market.

To see if there is a connection between the former US president's tweets and the exchange rate of the Russian currency, researchers collected 5,548 of Trump's tweets posted from October 2016 to August 2018. Of these, the authors chose those that mentioned Russia, Moscow, the Kremlin, sanctions, the rouble, and other key words. For the remaining 296 tweets, they rated the tonality of the text (neutral, positive, or negative; those falling in the latter category were the most frequent).

'To assess the tonality of the English-language tweets, we used five already proven dictionaries, and as part of a textual analysis project group with undergraduate and graduate students, we are working on a toolkit for assessing economic and financial texts in Russian. So, I think there will be similar studies on the Russian market,' said Elena Fedorova, article co-author and professor of economics at HSE University.

Using mathematical methods, the authors of the study assessed the impact on the rouble exchange rate of several control variables reflecting oil prices; Central Bank policy; the intensity of sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union, and other states; and the attention of the media to relations between Russia and Western countries. These were considered beyond the period of the tweets to make sure that the rouble exchange rate was in fact responding specifically to the tweets, and not these other factors.

The researchers found that of the two 'political' variables (tweets and the degree of sanctions), only the tweets affected the exchange rate. The authors of the work highlighted several episodes when, after Trump tweeted anti-Russia statements, the rouble exchange rate dropped and the drop lasted for several days. The researchers note that all these episodes coincide with the announcement of new sanctions. However, in cases where sanctions were introduced, but Trump did not comment on them on Twitter, the rouble did not fall.

Calculations of both Russian and foreign researchers show that if sanctions affect the Russian economy, they do so to a much lesser extent than fluctuations in oil prices. New research confirms this conclusion and additionally shows that the emotional reaction to the sanctions of various players affects the exchange rate more than the restrictions themselves. Based on the results of the analysis, the authors suggest that the way market participants assess the severity of the new sanctions and their consequences for the Russian economy is rather strongly influenced by the president's tweets and the reaction of the press.

'Our research, on the one hand, draws upon the contemporary field of behavioural finance. On the other hand, it partially touches upon the philosophical theories of Marxism-Leninism about the role of personality in history (which people of my generation studied both in school and college). Who would have thought more than a hundred years ago that now, with the development of technology for assessing the textual tonality, it would be possible to quantify the impact of statements made by important politicians on the financial and economic market!' said Elena Fedorova.

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Elena Fedorova co-authored the study with Svetlana Ledyaeva (Aalto University School of Business, Finland).

How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted peoples' interactions with nature?

WILEY

Research News

 

IMAGE: THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE GLOBAL RESPONSE TO IT HAVE CHANGED MANY OF THE INTERACTIONS THAT HUMANS HAVE WITH NATURE, ACCORDING TO A NEW ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN PEOPLE AND NATURE.... view more 

CREDIT: DR. SOGA

The COVID-19 pandemic and the global response to it have changed many of the interactions that humans have with nature, in both positive and negative ways. A perspective article published in People and Nature considers these changes, discusses the potential long-term consequences, and provides recommendations for further research.

The authors of the article note that the pandemic constitutes a 'global natural experiment' in human-nature interactions that, without seeking to downplay or ignore its tragic consequences, provides a rare opportunity to produce in-depth knowledge about these interactions and to help establish actions that can have positive effects for both humans and nature.

"Although undeniably tragic, the COVID-19 pandemic may offer an invaluable opportunity to explore an appropriate future relationship between people and nature," said lead author Masashi Soga, PhD, of the University of Tokyo.

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Organic composts may help farmers prevent foodborne disease outbreaks

WILEY

Research News

 

IMAGE: A NEW ANALYSIS OF A 27-YEAR EXPERIMENT COMPARING ORGANIC AND CONVENTIONAL SOIL MANAGEMENT INDICATES THAT ANIMAL-BASED COMPOSTS DO NOT PROMOTE PATHOGEN SURVIVAL AND MAY EVEN PROMOTE BACTERIAL COMMUNITIES THAT SUPPRESS... view more 

CREDIT: DR. DEVARAJAN

Foodborne disease outbreaks linked to the consumption of fresh produce have caused farmers to re-evaluate their practices. A recent analysis of a 27-year experiment comparing organic and conventional soil management indicates that animal-based composts do not promote pathogen survival and may even promote bacterial communities that suppress pathogens.

The study, which is published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, comes following other research documenting a higher prevalence of foodborne pathogens in fields fertilized with raw animal manure compared with conventional fertilizers.

"Our findings suggest that abandoning animal-based composts should be reconsidered, both because of the known benefits of composts for soil health and because it may be possible to apply amendments so that food-safety risks are mitigated rather than exacerbated," said lead author Naresh Devarajan, PhD, of the University of California, 

 BACTERIOPHAGES A DISCOVERY OF SOVIET SCIENCE

The incredible bacterial 'homing missiles' that scientists want to harness

A Berkeley Lab-led team is digging into the bizarre bacteria-produced nanomachines that could fast-track microbiome science

DOE/LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY

Research News

 

IMAGE: AN ILLUSTRATION OF TAILOCINS, AND THEIR ALTRUISTIC ACTION PAINTED BY AUTHOR VIVEK MUTALIK'S DAUGHTER, ANTARA. view more 

CREDIT: ANTARA MUTALIK

Imagine there are arrows that are lethal when fired on your enemies yet harmless if they fall on your friends. It's easy to see how these would be an amazing advantage in warfare, if they were real. However, something just like these arrows does indeed exist, and they are used in warfare ... just on a different scale.

These weapons are called tailocins, and the reality is almost stranger than fiction.

"Tailocins are extremely strong protein nanomachines made by bacteria," explained Vivek Mutalik, a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) who studies tailocins and phages, the bacteria-infecting viruses that tailocins appear to be remnants of. "They look like phages but they don't have the capsid, which is the 'head' of the phage that contains the viral DNA and replication machinery. So, they're like a spring-powered needle that goes and sits on the target cell, then appears to poke all the way through the cell membrane making a hole to the cytoplasm, so the cell loses its ions and contents and collapses."

A wide variety of bacteria are capable of producing tailocins, and seem to do so under stress conditions. Because the tailocins are only lethal to specific strains - so specific, in fact, that they have earned the nickname "bacterial homing missiles" - tailocins appear to be a tool used by bacteria to compete with their rivals. Due to their similarity with phages, scientists believe that the tailocins are produced by DNA that was originally inserted into bacterial genomes during viral infections (viruses give their hosts instructions to make more of themselves), and over evolutionary time, the bacteria discarded the parts of the phage DNA that weren't beneficial but kept the parts that could be co-opted for their own benefit.

But, unlike most abilities that are selected through evolution, tailocins do not save the individual. According to Mutalik, bacteria are killed if they produce tailocins, just as they would be if they were infected by true phage virus, because the pointed nanomachines erupt through the membrane to exit the producing cell much like replicated viral particles. But once released, the tailocins only target certain strains, sparing the other cells of the host lineage.

"They benefit kin but the individual is sacrificed, which is a type of altruistic behavior. But we don't yet understand how this phenomenon happens in nature," said Mutalik. Scientists also don't know precisely how the stabbing needle plunger of the tailocin functions.

These topics, and tailocins as a whole, are an area of hot research due to the many possible applications. Mutalik and his colleagues in Berkeley Lab's Biosciences Area along with collaborators at UC Berkeley are interested in harnessing tailocins to better study microbiomes. Other groups are keen to use tailocins as an alternative to traditional antibiotics -which indiscriminately wipe out beneficial strains alongside the bad and are increasingly ineffective due to the evolution of drug-resistance traits.

In their most recent paper, the collaborative Berkeley team explored the genetic basis and physical mechanisms governing how tailocins attack specific strains, and looked at genetic similarities and differences between tailocin producers and their target strains.

After examining 12 strains of soil bacteria known to use tailocins, the biologists found evidence that differences in the lipopolysaccharides - fat- and sugar-based molecules - attached to the outer membranes could determine whether or not a strain is targeted by a particular tailocin.

"The bacteria we studied live in a challenging, resource-poor environment, so we're interested to see how they might be using tailocins to fight for survival," said Adam Arkin, co-lead author and a senior faculty scientist in the Biosciences Area and technical co-manager of the Ecosystems and Networks Integrated with Genes and Molecular Assemblies (ENIGMA) Scientific Focus Area. Arkin noted that although scientists can easily induce bacteria to produce tailocins in the lab (and can easily insert the genes into culturable strains for mass production, which will be handy if we want to make tailocins into medicines) there are still a lot of unanswered questions about how bacteria deploy tailocins in their natural environment, as well as how - and why - particular strains are targeted with an assassin's precision.

"Once we understand the targeting mechanisms, we can start using these tailocins ourselves," Arkin added. "The potential for medicine is obviously huge, but it would also be incredible for the kind of science we do, which is studying how environmental microbes interact and the roles of these interactions in important ecological processes, like carbon sequestration and nitrogen processing."

Currently, it's very difficult to figure out what each microbe in a community is doing, as scientists can't easily add and subtract strains and observe the outcome. With properly harnessed tailocins, these experiments could be done easily.

Mutalik, Arkin, and their colleagues are also conducting follow-up studies aiming to reveal tailocins' mechanisms of action. They plan to use the advanced imaging facilities at Berkeley Lab to take atomic-level snapshots of the entire process, from the moment the tailocin binds to the target cell all the way to cell deflation. Essentially, they'll be filming frames of a microscopic slasher movie.

###

This work is part of the ENIGMA Scientific Focus Area, a multi-institutional consortium led by Berkeley Lab focused on advancing our understanding of microbial biology and the impact of microbial communities on their ecosystems. ENIGMA is supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Science.

Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest scientific challenges are best addressed by teams, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and its scientists have been recognized with 14 Nobel Prizes. Today, Berkeley Lab researchers develop sustainable energy and environmental solutions, create useful new materials, advance the frontiers of computing, and probe the mysteries of life, matter, and the universe. Scientists from around the world rely on the Lab's facilities for their own discovery science. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory, managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

 

South Korea data helps create framework to identify COVID-19 vulnerable areas worldwide

TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER

Research News

 

IMAGE: TTUHSC'S YOONJUNG LEE, PHARM.D., PH.D., JOINED A GROUP OF RESEARCHERS WHO DEVELOPED A FRAMEWORK TO IDENTIFY POCKETS OF COVID-19-VULNERABLE POPULATIONS THROUGH THE USE OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS.... view more 

CREDIT: TTUHSC

Though the U.S. and South Korea recorded their first official COVID-19 case on the same day, January 20, 2020, there were notable differences in how each country would ultimately address what has become the world's most severe pandemic since 1918.

Yoonjung Lee, Pharm.D., Ph.D., a pharmacy preceptor and pharmaceutical sciences researcher at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy, said she was surprised at how South Korea effectively managed the pandemic without the business shutdowns and lockdowns that occurred in China, the U.S. and many European countries.

"I am amazed at how the Korean government had prompt and effective public health interventions to not only address COVID-19, but also to address COVID-19-vulnerable populations simultaneously," Lee said. "That could be why the incidences of COVID-19 cases drastically decreased toward the late phase of our study."

The study Lee referred to is one that she and a group of researchers recently conducted to develop a methodological framework for identifying pockets of COVID-19-vulnerable populations through the use of socioeconomic status (SES) and epidemiological determinants. They then applied data taken from South Korea's response to COVID-19 to operationalize and demonstrate the value of the framework.

Other members of the research team included Principal Investigator David O. Carpenter, M.D., and primary author Bayarmagnai Weinstein, M.D., MPH, from the University of Albany; Alan R da Silva, Ph.D., (University of Brasília); Dimitrios E. Kouzoukas, Ph.D., (Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital); Tanima Bose, Ph.D., (Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich); Gwang-Jin Kim, Ph.D., (University of Freiburg-Germany); Paola A. Correa, Ph.D., (Howard Hughes Medical Institute); Santhi Pondugula, Ph.D., (University of Florida); and Jihoo Kim, M.S., (Hanyang University-Seoul).

Their study, "Precision Mapping of COVID-19 Vulnerable Locales by Epidemiological and Socioeconomic Risk Factors, Developed Using South Korean Data," was published Jan. 12 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

In previous research conducted during and after more recent, and less severe pandemics such as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), swine flu (H1N1) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), investigators had defined a gap in how these illnesses were detected and treated among differing populations. Those populations considered to be socioeconomically disadvantaged seemed to bear the brunt of the diseases while those populations considered to be more affluent and educated were significantly less affected.

Because of these earlier studies, Lee said the research team believed there was the potential to reduce the outbreak of COVID-19 by utilizing targeted interventions. However, those earlier studies focused solely on socioeconomic handpicked by their investigators. More recent studies also had provided COVID-19 risk factors but none had identified COVID-19-vulnerable locales associated with SES and epidemiological factors specific enough to the virus.

"Indeed, the previous studies used SES variables based on researchers' preferences, irrespective of their COVID-19 relevance. Consequently, the SES measures across these studies were incomparable, limiting their usefulness," she added.

Lee said her group's COVID-19 study identified and used seven specific socioeconomic and epidemiologic factors: health care access, health behavior, crowding, area morbidity, education, difficulty to social distancing and population mobility.

To ensure they captured information about the study population's socioeconomic and population health that was as complete as possible, Lee said the team applied Coleman's Foundations of Social Theory, which combines the observed social actions of individuals with the rational concept of economists that contends individuals acts independently of one another and for their own self-interest.

"Coleman's Social Theory guided us to collect data in each of three fundamental domains -- material, human and social capitals -- that concertedly characterize each geographic unit's SES and area-health status in the study," Lee explained.

Lee said the team further filtered the study's variables by utilizing Blumenshine's conceptual mechanistic framework, which describes the potential causes of disparities in the U.S. during an influenza or respiratory infection pandemic. It attributes those disparities to varying levels of exposure to the virus, differences in susceptibility to the disease and distinct variations in access to health care.

"That directed us to causally relevant variables to COVID-19, as they determine the likelihood of being exposed to the virus agent, of contracting the disease upon exposure and of receiving timely and effective treatment after the disease has developed," Lee said.

Integrating Coleman's Foundations of Social Theory and Blumenshine's mechanistic framework helped the research team formulate a universal SES definition and select SES indicators that were mechanistically and casually relevant to COVID-19 health outcomes. The development of this methodological framework made this research unique because it allowed the team to identify COVID-19-vulnerable locales through their associated SES and epidemiological determinants.

"Through this approach, we could have universal SES variables with acceptable generalizability and methodological capacity," Lee said. "Consequently, this helped make our study's regression model stronger and more accurate by using SES variables that were relevant to COVID-19."

Lee said the significance of the research is that it provides a methodological framework and precision mapping method that is globally replicable for COVID-19 and future pandemics because it provides robust SES measurements based on the established theories for reducing bias from arbitrary data selections. In fact, she contended, the novelty of the work speaks to the integrity of the study's design and the statistical methodology of the research.

"Firstly, the combined use of global and spatial statistical methods increased the accuracy as global models verified the geographical model," Lee said. "Secondly, we collaborated in this study with Alan da Silva, who developed the negative binomial extension of the geographically weighted regression. His application of this method eliminated the tool's erroneous use while also optimizing the model to study the data. Lastly, our study showed the progression of the COVID-19 epidemic over three consecutive time-periods, which was a novel approach at the time of the study."

In using the South Korea data, the study showed the risk of COVID-19 increased with higher area morbidity, risky health behaviors, crowding and population mobility. Other factors that influenced risk included education, lower social distancing and the ability to access health. Yet, Lee said, falling COVID-19 risks and spatial shifts over three consecutive time periods (early-phase, middle-phase and late-phase) reflected effective public health interventions in South Korea.

"This finding can be different if other data is used, though the South Korean data, based on our knowledge, was the most detailed and publicly available data with open access, which was the reason why we used South Korean data in our study," Lee said. "Therefore, as depicted in our study, it is crucial to identify COVID-19-vulnerable locales associated with SES and COVID-19 specific epidemiological factors and then to target prompt and effective public health interventions toward these locales for effective pandemic control."

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Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsibl

Development of a large CO2 conversion system, a core carbon neutrality technology

Features a high-performance, sea urchin-shaped nano copper catalyst electrode which provides a high selectivity for CO2 conversion; the realization of an electrochemical CO2 conversion stack system has laid the groundwork for commercialization

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Research News

 

IMAGE: ENLARGED SCHEMATIC OF THE CU-KOH ELECTRODE. view more 

CREDIT: KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY(KIST)

Studies on electrochemical CO2 conversion systems which can be used to obtain useful chemicals through conventional petrochemical processes while eliminating CO2, without polluting the environment, are essential for creating a carbon-neutral society. While significant progress has been made through a number of relevant studies, thus far, they have only been laboratory-scale in size. In fact, there are still many roadblocks to industrial application, such as the scaling up and development of suitable catalysts and electrodes.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), announced that a research team of Clean Energy Research Center, led by Dr. Hyung-Suk Oh, Dr. Yoon-Jung Hwang, and Dr. Woong-Hui Lee, has developed a sea urchin-shaped nano copper catalyst for a high-efficiency electrochemical CO2 conversion system that yields ethylene and ethanol, as well as a related system for mass production of the catalyst.

The urchin-shaped catalyst developed by the research team at KIST is capable of producing large quantities of ethylene, a petroleum-based substance used to manufacture various everyday products, including plastics, synthetic rubber, and construction materials. The catalyst features an array of irregularly-shaped needles and is similar in appearance to a sea urchin. This unique design enables increased catalytic activity by way of the sharp needle tips. Use of this catalyst conferred higher selective ethylene production at a lower voltage than conventional copper catalysts, improving the yield of ethylene by over 50%. Moreover, the establishment of a mass production system through the stacking of multiple layers of CO2 conversion cells confirms the potential for commercialization of the catalyst.

The research team performed various real-time (in-situ/operando) analyses to observe the chemical properties of the catalyst during reactions. Their results confirmed that carbon dioxide conversion efficiency increased as a result of the higher copper hydroxide and copper oxide content due to the alkaline substances which had been added to the team's catalyst. Based on their findings, it was identified that increasing the proportion of copper hydroxide and copper oxide during reactions is key to increasing the efficiency of ethylene production, which presented direction for designing the catalyst in future studies.

Dr. Hyung-Suk Oh of KIST stated that "this study has enabled us to significantly enhance the performance and scale of electrochemical CO2 conversion systems through the development of a sea urchin-shaped nano copper catalyst with added alkaline substances for large surface area conversion applications, which also presented direction for future research and development." He also mentioned that "the findings of this study are expected to make a substantial contribution to the commercialization of an electrochemical carbon dioxide conversion system."

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The study was conducted as part of KIST's key project and Next-Generation Carbon Resources Project supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT). The findings of this study were published in the latest issue of the international journal "Nano Energy."

CAPTION

Schematic illustration of a three-cell stack with a zero-gap configuration. The humidified CO2 (99.999%) at 80? and 1M KOH solution flowed parallel to the cathode and anode, respectively.

CREDIT

Korea Institute of Science and Technology(KIST)

Heavy water tastes sweet

INSTITUTE OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY OF THE CZECH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (IOCB PRAGUE)

Research News

 

IMAGE: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BEHAVIOR OF THE TRANSMEMBRANE PART OF THE HUMAN SWEET TASTE RECEPTOR IN H2O VS D2O BASE ON ANALYSIS OF THREE INDEPENDENT MICROSECOND TRAJECTORIES. view more 

CREDIT: CARMELO TEMPRA / IOCB PRAGUE

Ordinary pure water has no distinct taste, but how about heavy water - does it taste sweet, as anecdotal evidence going back to 1930s may have indicated? And if yes - why, when D2O is chemically practically identical to H2O, of which it is a stable naturally-occurring isotope? These questions arose shortly after heavy water was isolated almost 100 years ago, but they had not been satisfactorily answered until now. Now, researchers Pavel Jungwirth and Phil Mason with students Carmelo Tempra and Victor Cruces Chamorro at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IOCB Prague), together with the group of Masha Niv at the Hebrew University and Maik Behrens at the Technical University of Munich, found answers to these questions using molecular dynamics simulations, cell-based experiments, mouse models, and human subjects. In their research article published in Communications Biology, they show conclusively that, unlike ordinary water, heavy water tastes sweet to humans but not to mice, with this effect being mediated by the human sweet taste receptor.

Heavy water (D2O) differs from normal water (H2O) by an H-D isotopic substitution only, and as such, should not be chemically distinct. Leaving aside a trivial 10% change in density due to the doubled mass of D compared to H, differences in properties of D2O vs H2O, such as pH or melting and boiling points, are indeed very small. These differences are solely due to nuclear quantum effects, namely, changes in zero-point vibrations, which lead to a slightly stronger hydrogen bonding in D2O than in H2O.

"Despite the fact that the two isotopes are nominally chemically identical, we have shown conclusively that humans can distinguish by taste (which is based on chemical sensing) between H2O and D2O, with the latter having a distinct sweet taste," commented Pavel Jungwirth on the principal result of their study. In their work, the authors complement taste experiments on human subjects with tests on mice and on HEK 293T cells transfected with the human sweet taste receptor TAS1R2/TAS1R3, and with molecular modelling. The results consistently point to the fact that the sweet taste of heavy water is mediated in humans by the TAS1R2/TAS1R3 receptor. Future studies should be able to elucidate the precise sites and mechanisms of action, as well as the reason why D2O activates TAS1R2/TAS1R3 in particular, resulting in a sweet (but not other) taste.

While clearly not a practical sweetener, heavy water provides a glimpse into the wide-open chemical space of sweet molecules. Since heavy water has been used in medical procedures, the finding that it can elicit responses of the sweet taste receptor, which is located not only on the tongue but also in other tissues of the human body, represents an important information for clinicians and their patients. Moreover, due to wide application of D2O in chemical structure determination, chemists will benefit from being aware of the present observations.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that 86 years ago, Science published a short letter by H. C. Urey, Nobelist for the discovery of deuterium (H. C. Urey & G. Failla, Science, 81, 273, 1935. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.81.2098.273-a), stating authoritatively that D2O is undistinguishable from H2O by taste, which had a strong albeit misleading effect on the ongoing discussion about the subject.

"Our study thus resolves an old controversy concerning the sweet taste of heavy water using state-of-the-art experimental and computer modelling approaches, demonstrating that a small nuclear quantum effect can have a pronounced influence on such a basic biological function as taste recognition," concludes Pavel Jungwirth.

CAPTION

Artist's view of heavy water eliciting sweet taste in humans.

CREDIT

Graphic design: Tomáš Bello? / IOCB Prague

Original paper: Sweet taste of heavy water. Natalie Ben Abu, Philip E. Mason, Hadar Klein, Nitzan Dubovski, Yaron Ben Shoshan-Galeczki, Einav Malach, Veronika Pra�ienková, Lenka Maletínská, Carmelo Tempra, Victor Cruces Chamorro, Josef Cvačka, Maik Behrens, Masha Y. Niv and Pavel Jungwirth. Communications Biology 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-01964-y

Professor Pavel Jungwirth, DSc. (born 1966, Prague) is a Czech physical chemist, educator, and popularizer of science. He studied physics in Prague at Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, where he specialized in chemical physics. He did his PhD work in computational chemistry at the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences under the guidance of Professor R. Zahradník. He has spent several years abroad as a postdoc and later as a visiting professor, primarily at the University of California, Irvine, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Currently, Pavel Jungwirth heads a research team at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (https://jungwirth.group.uochb.cz) holding the position of Distinguished Chair. He is also an external member of the Department of Chemical Physics and Optics at the Charles University Faculty of Mathematics and Physics.

Pavel Jungwirth has published more than 300 original papers in international journals, including Science, Nature Chemistry, and PNAS, with over 15,000 citations. He is an executive editor of the Journal of Physical Chemistry, which is published by the American Chemical Society. He is also the president of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic, and has received numerous awards, among them the Spiers Memorial Prize of the British Royal Society of Chemistry, the Jaroslav Heyrovský Honorary Medal for Merit in the Chemical Sciences from the Czech Academy of Sciences, and the Humboldt Research Award. Pavel Jungwirth's popular-science contributions regularly appear on the pages of the weekly Respekt, and he is a frequent Czech Radio and TV guest.

The Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences / IOCB Prague (https://www.uochb.cz/) is a leading internationally recognized scientific institution whose primary mission is the pursuit of basic research in chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, organic and materials chemistry, chemistry of natural substances, biochemistry and molecular biology, physical chemistry, theoretical chemistry, and analytical chemistry. An integral part of the IOCB Prague's mission is the implementation of the results of basic research in practice. Emphasis on interdisciplinary research gives rise to a wide range of applications in medicine, pharmacy, and other fields.

CAPTION

Prof. Pavel Jungwirth, IOCB Prague

CREDIT

Tomáš Bello? / IOCB Prague