It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
The “Great Dying” – Rapid Warming Contributed to Abrupt Collapse of Forest-Mire Ecosystems
Outcrop photos are taken T.D. Frank and are from Frazer Beach, New South Wales, Australia. The end Permian extinction and disappearance of Glossopteris flora occurs at the top of the coal (black layer). Credit: T.D. Frank
Rapid Warming and Monsoonal Intensification Contributed to the Abrupt Collapse of Forest-Mire (Glossopteris) Ecosystems in the High Southern Latitudes
The Paleozoic era culminated 251.9 million years ago in the most severe mass extinction recorded in the geologic record. Known as the “great dying,” this event saw the loss of up to 96% of all marine species and around 70% of terrestrial species, including plants and insects.
The consensus view of scientists is that volcanic activity at the end of the Permian period, associated with the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province, emitted massive quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere over a short time interval. This caused a spike in global temperatures and a cascade of other deleterious environmental effects.
Glossopteris leaves. Credit: Photo by co-author Chris Mays
An international team of researchers from the United States, Sweden, and Australia studied sedimentary deposits in eastern Australia, which span the extinction event and provide a record of changing conditions along a coastal margin that was located in the high latitudes of the southern hemisphere. Here, the extinction event is evident as the abrupt disappearance of Glossopteris forest-mire ecosystems that had flourished in the region for millions of years. Data collected from eight sites in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia were combined with the results of climate models to assess the nature and pace of climate change before, during, and after the extinction event.
Results show that Glossopteris forest-mire ecosystems thrived through the final stages of the Permian period, a time when the climate in the region was gradually warming and becoming increasingly seasonal. The collapse of these lush environments was abrupt, coinciding with a rapid spike in temperatures recorded throughout the region. The post-extinction climate was 10–14°C warmer, and landscapes were no longer persistently wet, but results point to overall higher but more seasonal precipitation consistent with an intensification of a monsoonal climate regime in the high southern latitudes.
Because many areas of the globe experienced abrupt aridification in the wake of the “great dying,” results suggest that high-southern latitudes may have served as important refugia for moisture-loving terrestrial groups.
The rate of present-day global warming rivals that experienced during the “great dying,” but its signature varies regionally, with some areas of the planet experiencing rapid change while other areas remain relatively unaffected. The future effects of climate change on ecosystems will likely be severe. Thus, understanding global patterns of environmental change at the end of the Paleozoic can provide important insights as we navigate rapid climate change today.
Outcrop photos are taken T.D. Frank and are from Frazer Beach, New South Wales, Australia. The end Permian extinction and disappearance of Glossopteris flora occurs at the top of the coal (black layer). Credit: T.D. Frank
Reference: “Pace, magnitude, and nature of terrestrial climate change through the end-Permian extinction in southeastern Gondwana” by T.D. Frank; C.R. Fielding; A.M.E. Winguth; K. Savatic; A. Tevyaw; C. Winguth; S. McLoughlin; V. Vajda; C. Mays; R. Nicoll; M. Bocking and J.L. Crowley, 19 May 2021, Geology. DOI: 10.1130/G48795.1
New Species of Ancient Shark Discovered
By UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA JUNE 12, 2021
In a new study, an international team led by Sebastian Stumpf from the University of Vienna describes a fossil skeleton of an ancient shark, which is assigned to a new, previously unknown genus and species.
This rare fossil find comes from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation in England, a series of sedimentary rocks that was formed in a shallow, tropical-subtropical sea during the Upper Jurassic, about 150 million years ago. The fossil shark skeleton was found more than 20 years ago on the southern coast of England and is now held in the Etches Collection. Additional fossil shark specimens from it will be investigated in the years to come.
Due to their life-long tooth replacement shark teeth are among the most common vertebrate finds encountered in the fossil record. The low preservation potential of their poorly mineralized cartilaginous skeletons, on the other hand, prevents fossilization of completely preserved specimens in most cases.
The new study published in the journal PeerJ and led by Sebastian Stumpf from the University of Vienna now presents the fossil skeleton of a new ancient shark from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of England, a fossiliferous rock sequence that was formed during the Late Jurassic in a shallow, tropical-subtropical sea.
The new shark fossil, which is about 150 million years old, is assigned to a previously unknown genus and species of hybodontiform sharks named Durnonovariaodus maiseyi. This extremely rare fossil find was made almost 20 years ago on the southern coast of England and is now held and curated in the Etches Collection, which houses one of the most scientifically significant fossil collections in England.
Hybodontiform sharks are one of the most species-rich groups of extinct sharks and represent the closest relatives to modern sharks. They first appeared during the latest Devonian, about 361 million years ago, and went extinct together with dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous, about 66 million years ago. The new genus and species Durnonovariaodus maiseyi differs from all other previously described hybodontiform sharks, including those that are characterized by having similarly shaped teeth. “Durnonovariaodus maiseyi represents an important source of information for better understanding the diversity of sharks in the past as well as for new interpretations of the evolution of hybodontiform sharks, whose relationships are still poorly understood, even after more than 150 years of research,” says Stumpf.
The scientific importance of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation is underlined by additional, but still undescribed hybodontiform shark skeletons, which are also held in the Etches Collection. The research of fossil sharks from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of England, which will be continued in the years to come, will certainly contain further surprises to be yet discovered.
Reference: “Durnonovariaodus maiseyi gen. et sp. nov., a new hybodontiform shark-like chondrichthyan from the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay Formation of England” by Sebastian Stumpf1, Steve Etches2, Charlie J. Underwood3, Jürgen Kriwet1 , 11 May 2021, PeerJ. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.11362
Malicious content exploits pathways between platforms to thrive online, subvert moderation
New research demonstrates how stopping the spread of harmful content will require inter-platform action
IMAGE: MALICIOUS COVID-19 CONTENT (E.G. ANTI-ASIAN HATE) EXPLOITS PATHWAYS BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS TO SPREAD ONLINE. view more
CREDIT: NEIL JOHNSON/GW
WASHINGTON (June 15, 2021)--Malicious COVID-19 online content -- including racist content, disinformation and misinformation -- thrives and spreads online by bypassing the moderation efforts of individual social media platforms, according to new research published in the journal Scientific Reports. By mapping online hate clusters across six major social media platforms, researchers at the George Washington University show how malicious content exploits pathways between platforms, highlighting the need for social media companies to rethink and adjust their content moderation policies.
Led by Neil Johnson, a professor of physics at GW, the research team set out to understand how and why malicious content thrives so well online despite significant moderation efforts, and how it can be stopped. The team used a combination of machine learning and network data science to investigate how online hate communities sharpened COVID-19 as a weapon and used current events to draw in new followers.
"Until now, slowing the spread of malicious content online has been like playing a game of whack-a-mole, because a map of the online hate multiverse did not exist," Johnson, who is also a researcher at the GW Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics, said. "You cannot win a battle if you don't have a map of the battlefield. In our study, we laid out a first-of-its-kind map of this battlefield. Whether you're looking at traditional hate topics, such as anti-Semitism or anti-Asian racism surrounding COVID-19, the battlefield map is the same. And it is this map of links within and between platforms that is the missing piece in understanding how we can slow or stop the spread of online hate content."
The researchers began by mapping how hate clusters interconnect to spread their narratives across social media platforms. Focusing on six platforms -- Facebook, VKontakte, Instagram, Gab, Telegram and 4Chan -- the team started with a given hate cluster and looked outward to find a second cluster that was strongly connected to the original. They found the strongest connections were VKontakte into Telegram (40.83% of cross-platform connections), Telegram into 4Chan (11.09%), and Gab into 4Chan (10.90%).
The researchers then turned their attention to identifying malicious content related to COVID-19. They found that the coherence of COVID-19 discussion increased rapidly in the early phases of the pandemic, with hate clusters forming narratives and cohering around COVID-19 topics and misinformation. To subvert moderation efforts by social media platforms, groups sending hate messages used several adaptation strategies in order to regroup on other platforms and/or reenter a platform, the researchers found. For example, clusters frequently change their names to avoid detection by moderators' algorithms, such as vaccine to va$$ine. Similarly, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ clusters simply add strings of 1's or A's before their name.
"Because the number of independent social media platforms is growing, these hate-generating clusters are very likely to strengthen and expand their interconnections via new links, and will likely exploit new platforms which lie beyond the reach of the U.S. and other Western nations' jurisdictions." Johnson said. "The chances of getting all social media platforms globally to work together to solve this are very slim. However, our mathematical analysis identifies strategies that platforms can use as a group to effectively slow or block online hate content."
Based on their findings, the team suggests several ways for social media platforms to slow the spread of malicious content:
Artificially lengthen the pathways that malicious content needs to take between clusters, increasing the chances of its detection by moderators and delaying the spread of time-sensitive material such as weaponized COVID-19 misinformation and violent content.
Control the size of an online hate cluster's support base by placing a cap on the size of clusters.
Introduce non-malicious, mainstream content in order to effectively dilute a cluster's focus.
"Our study demonstrates a similarity between the spread of online hate and the spread of a virus," Yonatan Lupu, an associate professor of political science at GW and co-author on the paper, said. "Individual social media platforms have had difficulty controlling the spread of online hate, which mirrors the difficulty individual countries around the world have had in stopping the spread of the COVID-19 virus."
Going forward, Johnson and his team are already using their map and its mathematical modeling to analyze other forms of malicious content -- including the weaponization of COVID-19 vaccines in which certain countries are attempting to manipulate mainstream sentiment for nationalistic gains. They are also examining the extent to which single actors, including foreign governments, may play a more influential or controlling role in this space than others.
#
Snails carrying the world's smallest computer help solve mass extinction survivor mystery
Study yields new insights into the survival of a native snail important to Tahitian culture and ecology and to biologists studying evolution
More than 50 species of tree snail in the South Pacific Society Islands were wiped out following the introduction of an alien predatory snail in the 1970s, but the white-shelled Partula hyalina survived.
Now, thanks to a collaboration between University of Michigan biologists and engineers with the world's smallest computer, scientists understand why: P. hyalina can tolerate more sunlight than its predator, so it was able to persist in sunlit forest edge habitats.
"We were able to get data that nobody had been able to obtain," said David Blaauw, the Kensall D. Wise Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. "And that's because we had a tiny computing system that was small enough to stick on a snail."
The Michigan Micro Mote (M3), considered the world's smallest complete computer, was announced in 2014 by a team Blaauw co-led. This was its first field application.
"The sensing computers are helping us understand how to protect endemic species on islands," said Cindy Bick, who received a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from U-M in 2018. "If we are able to map and protect these habitats through appropriate conservation measures, we can figure out ways to ensure the survival of the species."
P. hyalina is important culturally for Polynesians because of its unique color, making it attractive for use in shell leis and jewelry. Tree snails also play a vital role in island forest ecosystems, as the dominant group of native grazers.
How Society Island snails were wiped out
The giant African land snail was introduced to the Society Islands, including Tahiti, to cultivate as a food source, but it became a major pest. To control its population, agricultural scientists introduced the rosy wolf snail in 1974. But unfortunately, most of the 61 known species of native Society Islands tree snails were easy prey for the rosy wolf. P. hyalina is one of only five survivors in the wild. Called the "Darwin finches of the snail world" for their island-bound diversity, the loss of so many Partula species is a blow to biologists studying evolution.
"The endemic tree snails had never encountered a predator like the alien rosy wolf snail before it's deliberate introduction. It can climb trees and very quickly drove most of the valley populations to local extinction," said Diarmaid Ó Foighil, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and curator of the U-M Museum of Zoology.
In 2015, Ó Foighil and Bick hypothesized that P. hyalina's distinctive white shell might give it an important advantage in forest edge habitats, by reflecting rather than absorbing light radiation levels that would be deadly to its darker-shelled predator. To test their idea, they needed to be able to track the light exposure levels P. hyalina and rosy wolf snails experienced in a typical day.
Field work in Tahiti shows P. hyalina can take 10x more light
Bick and Ó Foighil wanted to attach light sensors to the snails, but a system made using commercially available chips would have been too big. Bick found news of a smart sensor system that was just 2x5x2 mm, and the developers were at her own institution. But could it be altered to sense light?
"It was important to understand what the biologists were thinking and what they needed," said Inhee Lee, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Pittsburgh who received a Ph.D. from U-M electrical and computer engineering in 2014. Lee adapted the M3 for the study.
The first step was to figure out how to measure the light intensity of the snails' habitats. At the time, the team had just added an energy harvester to the M3 system to recharge the battery using tiny solar cells. Lee realized he could measure the light level continuously by measuring the speed at which the battery was charging.
After testing enabled by local Michigan snails, 50 M3s made it to Tahiti in 2017. Bick and Lee joined forces with Trevor Coote, a well-known conservation field biologist and specialist on the French Polynesian snails.
The team glued the sensors directly to the rosy wolf snails, but P. hyalina is a protected species and required an indirect approach. They are nocturnal, typically sleeping during the day while attached underneath leaves. Using magnets, the team placed M3s both on the tops and undersides of leaves harboring the resting P. hyalina. At the end of each day, Lee wirelessly downloaded the data from each of the M3s.
During the noon hour, the P. hyalina habitat received on average 10 times more sunlight than the rosy wolf snails. The researchers suspect that the rosy wolf doesn't venture far enough into the forest edge to catch P. hyalina, even under cover of darkness, because they wouldn't be able to escape to shade before the sun became too hot.
"The M3 really opens up the window of what we can do with invertebrate behavioral ecology and we're just at the foothills of those possibilities," Ó Foighil said.
###
This project has already facilitated a subsequent collaboration between engineering and ecology and evolutionary biology tracking monarch butterflies.
The article in the journal Communications Biology is titled, "Millimeter-sized smart sensors reveal that a solar refuge protects tree snail Partula hyalina from extirpation."
The project was supported by U-M's MCubed program, created to stimulate and support innovative research among interdisciplinary teams. Additional funding was provided by the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and by National Science Foundation and Arm Ltd. funding to the Blaauw lab.
Solving a Mass Extinction Survivor Mystery With Help From Snails Carrying the World’s Smallest Computer
A rosy wolf snail marked and equipped with a Michigan Micro Mote computer system in the Fautaua-Iti Valley site in Tahiti. Credit: Inhee Lee
Study yields new insights into the survival of a native snail important to Tahitian culture and ecology and to biologists studying evolution.
More than 50 species of tree snail in the South Pacific Society Islands were wiped out following the introduction of an alien predatory snail in the 1970s, but the white-shelled Partula hyalina survived.
Now, thanks to a collaboration between University of Michigan biologists and engineers with the world’s smallest computer, scientists understand why: P. hyalina can tolerate more sunlight than its predator, so it was able to persist in sunlit forest edge habitats.
“We were able to get data that nobody had been able to obtain,” said David Blaauw, the Kensall D. Wise Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. “And that’s because we had a tiny computing system that was small enough to stick on a snail.”
The Michigan Micro Mote (M3), considered the world’s smallest complete computer, was announced in 2014 by a team Blaauw co-led. This was its first field application.
A Partula hyalina snail resting on a wild red ginger leaf next to a Michigan Micro Mote computer system in a forest edge habitat in Tahiti. Credit: Inhee Lee
“The sensing computers are helping us understand how to protect endemic species on islands,” said Cindy Bick, who received a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from U-M in 2018. “If we are able to map and protect these habitats through appropriate conservation measures, we can figure out ways to ensure the survival of the species.”
P. hyalina is important culturally for Polynesians because of its unique color, making it attractive for use in shell leis and jewelry. Tree snails also play a vital role in island forest ecosystems, as the dominant group of native grazers.
How Society Island snails were wiped out
The giant African land snail was introduced to the Society Islands, including Tahiti, to cultivate as a food source, but it became a major pest. To control its population, agricultural scientists introduced the rosy wolf snail in 1974. But unfortunately, most of the 61 known species of native Society Islands tree snails were easy prey for the rosy wolf. P. hyalina is one of only five survivors in the wild. Called the “Darwin finches of the snail world” for their island-bound diversity, the loss of so many Partula species is a blow to biologists studying evolution.
“The endemic tree snails had never encountered a predator like the alien rosy wolf snail before it’s deliberate introduction. It can climb trees and very quickly drove most of the valley populations to local extinction,” said Diarmaid Ó Foighil, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and curator of the U-M Museum of Zoology.
Inhee Lee, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh and alum of Michigan Engineering, attaches a Michigan Micro Mote computer system to a leaf harboring a Partula hyalina snail. Credit: Cindy Bick
In 2015, Ó Foighil and Bick hypothesized that P. hyalina‘s distinctive white shell might give it an important advantage in forest edge habitats, by reflecting rather than absorbing light radiation levels that would be deadly to its darker-shelled predator. To test their idea, they needed to be able to track the light exposure levels P. hyalina and rosy wolf snails experienced in a typical day.
Field work in Tahiti shows P. hyalina can take 10x more light
Bick and Ó Foighil wanted to attach light sensors to the snails, but a system made using commercially available chips would have been too big. Bick found news of a smart sensor system that was just 2x5x2 mm, and the developers were at her own institution. But could it be altered to sense light?
“It was important to understand what the biologists were thinking and what they needed,” said Inhee Lee, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Pittsburgh who received a Ph.D. from U-M electrical and computer engineering in 2014. Lee adapted the M3 for the study.
The Fautaua-lti Valley site in Tahiti where this research was conducted includes an open trail through the rainforest. The predator rosy wolf snail was located and tracked on both sides of the trail. Credit: Cindy Bick
The first step was to figure out how to measure the light intensity of the snails’ habitats. At the time, the team had just added an energy harvester to the M3 system to recharge the battery using tiny solar cells. Lee realized he could measure the light level continuously by measuring the speed at which the battery was charging.
After testing enabled by local Michigan snails, 50 M3s made it to Tahiti in 2017. Bick and Lee joined forces with Trevor Coote, a well-known conservation field biologist and specialist on the French Polynesian snails.
The team glued the sensors directly to the rosy wolf snails, but P. hyalina is a protected species and required an indirect approach. They are nocturnal, typically sleeping during the day while attached underneath leaves. Using magnets, the team placed M3s both on the tops and undersides of leaves harboring the resting P. hyalina. At the end of each day, Lee wirelessly downloaded the data from each of the M3s.
Cindy Bick checks the flora in the Tipaerui-lli Valley site in Tahiti, an edge forest habitat where the Partula hyalina snails survive. Credit: Trevor Coote
During the noon hour, the P. hyalina habitat received on average 10 times more sunlight than the rosy wolf snails. The researchers suspect that the rosy wolf doesn’t venture far enough into the forest edge to catch P. hyalina, even under cover of darkness, because they wouldn’t be able to escape to shade before the sun became too hot.
“The M3 really opens up the window of what we can do with invertebrate behavioral ecology and we’re just at the foothills of those possibilities,” Ó Foighil said.
Reference: “Millimeter-sized smart sensors reveal that a solar refuge protects tree snail Partula hyalina from extirpation” 15 June 2021, Communications Biology. DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02124-y
This project has already facilitated a subsequent collaboration between engineering and ecology and evolutionary biology tracking monarch butterflies.
The article in the journal Communications Biology is titled, “Millimeter-sized smart sensors reveal that a solar refuge protects tree snail Partula hyalina from extirpation.”
The project was supported by U-M’s MCubed program, created to stimulate and support innovative research among interdisciplinary teams. Additional funding was provided by the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and by National Science Foundation and Arm Ltd. funding to the Blaauw lab.
IMAGE: CANTILS, SO NAMED FOR THEIR CANTILEVER FUNCTION OF SUPPORTING THE FLOWER-BEARING STALK, ARE NEWLY REPORTED PLANT STRUCTURES THAT DEVELOP IN WILD-TYPE ARABIDOPSIS AS A CONSEQUENCE OF DELAYED FLOWERING UNDER SHORT-DAY... view more
CREDIT: TIMOTHY GOOKIN
For many, the Thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) is little more than a roadside weed, but this plant has a long history with scientists trying to understand how plants grow and develop. Arabidopsis was first scientifically described as early as the 16th century and the first genetic mutant was identified in the 1800s. Since the 1940s, Arabidopsis has increased in popularity within the scientific community, which continues to use it as a model system to explore plant genetics, development and physiology to this day.
One might expect that after decades of scientific scrutiny the structure of Arabidopsis had been fully documented, but a new study from scientists from The Pennsylvania State University, USA, has revealed that this humble plant still has some surprises. The researchers describe a previously unreported structure called the 'cantil', which connects to the stem at one end and hangs in the air to hold up the flower-bearing stalk, similar to the function of a cantilever in structural engineering.
"I first observed the cantils in 2008," said Dr Timothy Gookin, a postdoctoral researcher working in the group of Professor Sarah Assmann. "I initially didn't trust any of the results; I thought it must be an artefact of genetic contamination, perhaps combined with environmental contamination of the water, soil, fertilizer or even the building air supply."
How have cantils eluded scientists for so long? First, cantils are rare; they only develop under certain conditions that cause the plant to delay flowering, such as short day lengths, and cantils only form at the precise point at which the plant begins to flower. In addition, as Dr Gookin discovered, some popular Arabidopsis strains have genetic mutations that make them incapable of producing cantils at all.
Nonetheless, Dr Gookin set about the gargantuan task of proving that cantils are a naturally occurring structure and not an artefact of mutation or contamination - an effort that took more than a decade. "It took over 12 years of experimentation to really get a grasp on what we were seeing and to understand how cantils were regulated. This study required the growth of 3,782 plants to full maturity and the manual inspection of over 20,000 flower-bearing stalks in 34 unique plant lines," explained Dr Gookin. "I finally deemed the cantils a natural phenomenon after identifying them in wild-type (non-mutant) plants from different sources, which were growing in independent locations and diverse conditions."
During his extensive research, Dr Gookin identified a number of mutant plants in which cantils appear more frequently, revealing some of the genetic factors that control cantil development. The discovery of cantils is not only a lesson in the virtues of perseverance, but their development also provides important clues for understanding the conditional growth of plant structures in response to their environment. "One speculative interpretation is that the cantil represents a highly repressed ancestral linkage between different types of flowering plant architectures; the multiple layers of genetic and environmental factors that regulate cantil development are certainly quite striking," said Dr Gookin.
###
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Timothy Gookin is a postdoctoral researcher, and Sarah Assmann is the Waller Professor of Biology at Pennsylvania State University. Timothy Gookin is the lead corresponding author of the article.
REFERENCE: Gookin, T. E. and Assmann, S. M. (2021). Cantil: a previously unreported organ in wild-type Arabidopsis regulated by FT, ERECTA and heterotrimeric G proteins. Development, 148, dev195545. doi:10.1242/dev.195545
IMAGE: RESEARCHERS FOUND HIGH FLUORINE LEVELS--INDICATING PROBABLE PRESENCE OF PFAS--IN ABOUT HALF OF MAKEUP TESTED. view more
CREDIT: GREEN SCIENCE POLICY INSTITUTE
Makeup wearers may be absorbing and ingesting potentially toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), according to a new study published today in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. The researchers found high fluorine levels--indicating the probable presence of PFAS--in most waterproof mascara, liquid lipsticks, and foundations tested. Some of the products with the highest fluorine levels underwent further analysis and were all confirmed to contain at least four PFAS of concern. The majority of products with high fluorine, including those confirmed to have PFAS, had no PFAS listed on the label.
"Lipstick wearers may inadvertently eat several pounds of lipstick in their lifetimes," said Graham Peaslee, senior author of the study and professor of physics at the University of Notre Dame. "But unlike food, chemicals in lipstick and other makeup and personal care products are almost entirely unregulated in the U.S. and Canada. As a result, millions of people are unknowingly wearing PFAS and other harmful chemicals on their faces and bodies daily."
Some PFAS have been associated with a wide range of serious health harms, from cancer to obesity to more severe COVID-19 outcomes, and they contaminate the drinking water of millions. Only a small fraction of the many thousands of PFAS have been tested for toxicity, but all PFAS are either extremely persistent in the environment or break down into extremely persistent PFAS.
In addition to PFAS being ingested from lip products, PFAS in cosmetics may be absorbed through the skin and tear ducts. On top of these direct exposure routes, PFAS can make their way into our drinking water, air, and food during the manufacture of makeup and after it's washed down the drain.
The research team screened 231 cosmetic products purchased in the U.S. and Canada for fluorine. More than three-quarters of waterproof mascara, nearly two-thirds of foundations and liquid lipsticks, and more than half of eye and lip products had high fluorine concentrations.
All 29 products selected for targeted analysis contained detectable levels of at least four specific PFAS. This included PFAS that break down into other PFAS that are known to be highly toxic and environmentally harmful. Fluorotelomer methacrylates were also detected, indicating the breakdown of side-chain fluoropolymers which are marketed as a more "environmentally friendly" alternatives to individual PFAS.
Many of the products with PFAS were advertised as "wear-resistant" or "long-lasting." Importantly, almost none of the products studied with targeted analysis had any PFAS listed on their ingredient labels. This makes it impossible for consumers to avoid PFAS-containing cosmetics by reading labels.
"PFAS are not necessary for makeup. Given their large potential for harm, I believe they should not be used in any personal care products," said Arlene Blum, a co-author and executive director of the Green Science Policy Institute. "It's past time to get the entire class of PFAS out of cosmetics and keep these harmful chemicals out of our bodies."
###
Eco-friendly smart farms based on nutrient solution recirculation
UV sterilization and microbial stability analysis used to recycle nutrient solution; proposed method minimizes the use fertilizers and water by hydroponic farms
IMAGE: THE INTEGRATED MODEL DESCRIPTION. view more
CREDIT: KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY(KIST)
The development of new urban agriculture technologies, such as vertical and smart farms, has accelerated rapidly in recent years. These technologies are based on hydroponic cultivation in which plants are grown using nutrient-rich solutions rather than soil. Approximately 20-30% of the nutrient solutions used during hydroponic cultivation are discharged without being absorbed by the crops, and because most farmers in South Korea do not treat the discharged solutions, hydroponic farms contribute significantly to environmental pollution.
This problem can be reduced if hydroponic farms use a recirculating hydroponic cultivation method that reuses the nutrient solutions after sterilizing them with ultraviolet (UV) light, instead of discharging them. However, two main issues complicate the implantation of such recirculation systems. First, the potential for diseases and nutrient imbalances to develop owing to microbial growth in the recycled nutrient solutions must be eliminated. Second, the initial investment required to set up a recirculating hydroponic cultivation system is often prohibitive, costing hundreds of millions of Korean won per hectare.
However, a new study conducted by researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)proposes a method that can stably manage the microbial population in recirculating hydroponic cultivation systems. The research team, led by Drs. Ju Young Lee and Tae In Ahn of the Smart Farm Research Center, KIST Gangneung Institute of Natural Products, conducted an integrated analysis of the microbial growth characteristics by constructing a model that simulates the flow of water and nutrients, and the inflow, growth, and discharge of microorganisms in recirculating and non-circulating hydroponic cultivation systems. Their simulations revealed that the microbial population in recirculating hydroponic cultivation systems can be controlled by adjusting the UV output and the water supply. On the contrary, in non-circulating hydroponic cultivation, the microbial population fluctuates considerably depending on the amount of water used, increasingly sharply if there is too little water.
High cost has restricted the use of UV sterilization systems in hydroponic farming in Korea And prompted the research team to develop their own UV sterilization system, with further studies underway to commercialize this system as an economical alternative to imported systems.
The results of the study have already received strong interest: the rights to the operation and management software technology for recirculating hydroponic cultivation has been acquired by Dooinbiotech Co., Ltd. for an advance fee of 80 million won (8.5% of the operating revenue), while an agreement is in place with Shinhan A-Tec Co., Ltd. for the advanced recirculating hydroponic cultivation technology for an advance fee of 200 million won (1.5% of the operating revenue). Commercializing the recirculating hydroponic cultivation system is expected to reduce fertilizer costs by approximately 30~40%, which equates to 30 million won per year based on a 1-hectare farm.
Commenting on the envisaged impacts of the study, Dr. Ju Young Lee said, "The developed system makes the transition to eco-friendly recirculating hydroponic cultivation systems an affordable option for many more farmers." Dr. Tae In Ahn added, "We are also developing software and operation manuals to guide farmers in managing the nutrient balance in the solutions to increase the number of farms using the recirculating hydroponic cultivation system."
###
The study was supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture, and Forestry) and the Innovative Smart Farm Technology Development Program of Multi-agency Package. The research results are published in the latest issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production (IF: 7.24, ranked in the top 6.9% by JCR), a highly respected international journal in the field of environmental science.
IMAGE: FLINDERS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR ALAN WIGG, HEAD OF HEPATOLOGY AND LIVER TRANSPLANT MEDICINE UNIT AT THE SOUTHERN ADELAIDE LOCAL HEALTH NETWORK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. view more
CREDIT: FLINDERS UNIVERSITY
Rising numbers of liver cancer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities has led experts at Flinders University to call for more programs, including mobile liver clinics and ultrasound in rural and remote Australia.
The Australian study just published in international Lancet journal EClinicalMedicine reveals the survival difference was largely accounted for by factors other than Indigenous status - including rurality, comorbidity burden and lack of curative therapy.
The study of liver cancer, or Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), included 229 Indigenous and 3587 non-Indigenous HCC cases in South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
"The major finding was important differences in cofactors for HCC between Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients, with Indigenous patients more frequently having multiple cofactors for HCC such as hepatitis B, diabetes and alcohol misuse," says Flinders University Professor Alan Wigg, who led the investigation.
While cancer care is difficult to deliver to remote Australia, he says HCC is preventable with surveillance.
"What is needed is a culturally appropriate model of care that in rural communities that screens for liver disease and identifies at risk patients," says Professor Wigg, who also is Head of Hepatology and Liver Transplant Medicine Unit at the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network in South Australia.
"At-risk patients need regular six-monthly high-quality liver ultrasound surveillance, which supports a model of care involving mobile liver clinics using fibro-scans and liver ultrasound."
This latest research confirms both the incidence and mortality are about 2.6 fold higher in Indigenous compared to non-Indigenous Australians.
Liver disease and HCC is the sixth most common cause of death and HCC is the second most common cause of cancer death in Indigenous Australians.
Other important associations with HCC in Indigenous Australians included a higher comorbidity burden, lower socioeconomic status, younger age at onset, higher proportion of females and poorer five-year survival rates.
"Our study shows the majority of HCC cases in Indigenous Australians occurred in patients living outside of metropolitan areas, to help address the problem of liver disease and HCC and to design effective interventions to reduce the morbidity and mortality from these diseases," says co-author Professor Patricia Valery, who leads the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute's Cancer and Chronic Disease research group.
"This suggests that lower access to care may be contributing to poorer survival in these patients.
"The study findings highlight that there is still more work to do on interventions to reduce Indigenous mortality from liver disease and HCC," she says.
###
The paper, Hepatocellular carcinoma among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia (2021) by AJ Wigg, SK Narayana, G Hartel, L Medlin, G Pratt, EE Powell, P Clark, J Davies, K Campbell, M Toombs, M Larkin and PC Valery, has been published in The Lancet journal, EClinicalMedicine DOI: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100919
