Super-earth skimming habitable zone of red dwarf

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF NATURAL SCIENCES

 

IMAGE: THE GREEN REGION REPRESENTS THE HABITABLE ZONE WHERE LIQUID WATER CAN EXIST ON THE PLANETARY SURFACE. THE PLANETARY ORBIT IS SHOWN AS A BLUE LINE. ROSS 508 B SKIMS THE INNER EDGE OF THE HABITABLE ZONE (SOLID LINE), POSSIBLY CROSSING INTO THE HABITABLE ZONE FOR PART OF THE ORBIT (DASHED LINE). view more 

CREDIT: ASTROBIOLOGY CENTER

A super-Earth planet has been found near the habitable zone of a red dwarf star only 37 light-years from the Earth. This is the first discovery by a new instrument on the Subaru Telescope and offers a chance to investigate the possibility of life on planets around nearby stars. With such a successful first result, we can expect that the Subaru Telescope will discover more, potentially even better, candidates for habitable planets around red dwarfs.

Red dwarfs, stars smaller than the Sun, account for three-quarters of the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, and are abundant in the neighborhood around the Sun. As such, they are important targets in the search for nearby extra-solar planets and extraterrestrial life. But red dwarfs are cool and don’t emit much visible light compared to other types of stars, making it difficult to study them.

In the infrared wavelengths red dwarfs are brighter. So the Astrobiology Center in Japan developed an infrared observational instrument mounted on the Subaru Telescope to search for signs of planets around red dwarf stars. The instrument is called IRD for Infrared Doppler, the observational method used in this search.

The first fruits of this search are signs of a super-Earth four times the mass of the Earth circling the star Ross 508, located 37 light-years away in the constellation Serpens. This planet, Ross 508 b, has a year of only 11 Earth-days, and lies at the inner edge of the habitable zone around its host star. Interestingly, there are indications that the orbit is elliptical, which would mean that for part of the orbit the planet would be in the habitable zone, the region where conditions would be right for liquid water to exist on the surface of the planet. Whether or not there is actually water or life are questions of further study.

To have the very first planet discovered by this new method be so tantalizingly close to the habitable zone seems too good to be true and bodes well for future discoveries. Bun’ei Sato, a Professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the principal investigator in this search comments, “It has been 14 years since the start of IRD’s development. We have continued our development and research with the hope of finding a planet exactly like Ross 508 b.”

These results appeared as Harakawa et al. “A Super-Earth Orbiting Near the Inner Edge of the Habitable Zone around the M4.5-dwarf Ross 508” in Publication of the Astronomical Society of Japan on June 30, 2022.

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JOURNAL

Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan

DOI

10.1093/pasj/psac044 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

A super-Earth orbiting near the inner edge of the habitable zone around the M4.5 dwarf Ross 508

Job insecurity affects mental health

According to a study by the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country, job insecurity, understood from a multidimensional perspective, is associated with poor mental health

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY

A study conducted by the Opik group on Social Determinants of Health and Demographic Change has analysed the relationship between job insecurity, measured by dimensions and as a multidimensional index, and the mental health of wage-earning men and women in the Basque Country. “We believe that job insecurity needs to be addressed from this more multidimensional perspective; otherwise, you may leave out many things that could be job insecurity and which are not being analysed," said Erika Valero-Alzaga, one of the group’s researchers.

In order to address job insecurity from a multidimensional perspective and to understand the relative importance of each of its dimensions, the research was based on the EPRES job insecurity scale, which consists of six dimensions: impermanence, wages, disempowerment, vulnerability, rights and capacity to exercise rights. So each of the dimensions that comprise it was analysed separately, in order to identify those that potentially exert the greatest impact on health, based on a sample of the 2018 Basque Autonomous Community Health Survey.

According to the findings of this study, job insecurity is significantly associated with poor mental health in both men and women. “We saw that there were some dimensions that appear to exert a greater impact than others on mental health,” said Valero. Wage level among both sexes, or vulnerability among women appear to be significantly and independently related to a poorer mental health status. “Interestingly, one of the most striking features of the Spanish labour market is its impermanence. We can see that if we neutralise the effect of other variables, such as educational attainment or socioeconomic status, this variable per se does not seem to affect mental health,” said the UPV/EHU researcher. “This may be due to the fact that in some sectors with high temporary employment rates in our context, for example in part of the public sector, this situation is not always experienced coupled with a high degree of uncertainty about job continuity, which does not mean that efforts should not be made to stabilise workforces.”

Ensuring access to decent employment and adequate wage levels

Socio-economic and political transformations “have resulted in a significant deterioration in the quality of employment and a transfer of risks and insecurity from employers to workers. Moreover, job insecurity is not evenly distributed across the working population,” said Valero. Women tend to be in lower quality jobs, have fewer permanent contracts than men, have lower wage levels and are over-represented in part-time jobs. Similarly, job insecurity is more concentrated among young people and those with a lower socio-economic status. “Job insecurity has hugely significant negative effects on mental health, so considering the impact that work in general (paid work and domestic and care work) has on people's lives, it should be a priority at the policy level,” added Valero. “So far, the concern has been to end unemployment, as it has also been seen to exert a negative impact on health; but it is not only about ensuring access to employment, but also about ensuring access to decent employment and adequate wage levels.”

The researcher takes the view that, “the results of this study, based on a large, representative sample of the wage-earning population in the Basque Country, could help to identify the most unfavourable aspects of job insecurity for mental health and thus implement various socio-political measures to deal with them”. However, the researcher acknowledged that this is a cross-sectional study that “prevents us from establishing a causality principle between job insecurity and mental health”, and stressed the need to “promote further research to adapt and analyse the EPRES scale in self-employed workers, as well as in people who do not have an employment contract”.

Bibliographical reference

Erika Valero, Mireia Utzet, Unai Martín
¿Cómo afectan las distintas dimensiones de la precariedad laboral a la salud mental?
Gaceta Sanitaria
DOI: 10.1016/j.gaceta.2021.11.006

 

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JOURNAL

Gaceta Sanitaria

DOI

10.1016/j.gaceta.2021.11.006 

ARTICLE TITLE

¿Cómo afectan las distintas dimensiones de la precariedad laboral a la salud mental?

 New study used marine monitor radar system to monitor California marine protected areas

Findings suggest fishers cluster outside MPAs to potentially benefit from better fishing opportunities

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MAR COMMUNICATIONS

 

IMAGE: MARINE MONITOR (M2) RADAR SYSTEM MONITORED ACTIVITY NEAR THE PIEDRAS BLANCAS LIGHT STATION IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA. view more 

CREDIT: PROTECTEDSEAS

Palo Alto, CA—Aug. 2,, 2022—A new study found that boaters often cluster along the edges of marine protected areas (MPAs) off the coast of California. These new findings suggest that fishers are aware of the MPA boundaries and cluster just outside them to potentially benefit from better fishing opportunities by "fishing the line."  

The study, recently published in PLOS ONE, used the ProtectedSeas Marine Monitor (M2) autonomous data collection tool to continuously monitor vessel activity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for a year in the vicinity of five state-managed MPAs near San Diego, Santa Barbara and Cambria. The M2 systems, which combine marine radar with custom software, were deployed to record the movement of boats on the water, allowing researchers to measure boat activity continuously in and around MPAs for the first time. 

The network of M2 systems in California are managed by ProtectedSeas and site partners based at each location.

The researchers identified specific boat movements and found that overall, 40 percent more boating activity occurred in the vicinity of MPAs compared to the surrounding areas. A well-documented benefit of MPAs is the “spillover” of marine life from inside an MPA into the surrounding areas. 

"Most activity occurred at or beyond MPA edges, and not within the area itself,” said ProtectedSeas researcher Samantha Cope, the lead author of the study. “This suggests that boaters are aware of the MPA and that the areas are serving their purpose of creating safe refuges for ocean life regeneration. Fishers see a benefit from spending time near the area because MPAs are working.

The researchers found that boating activity clustered at MPA edges occurred at all five locations. Clustering intensified  at the southern California MPAs during both commercial and recreational spiny lobster seasons, a valuable fishery in the state. During the commercial spiny lobster season, clustering was 30 times greater also at the Campus Point State Marine Reserve near Santa Barbara.

"Conservation work needs to be driven by data, and M2 helps us understand trends in what's happening in MPAs," said study co-author Jess Morten, a researcher with the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation, a site partner with M2 in California.

MPAs in California primarily restrict fishing activities to conserve valued species and habitats. When fishing activity is concentrated at MPA edges, it suggests that fish may be more abundant closer to the MPA compared to elsewhere in the local area. Monitoring human activity can help managers evaluate both the ecological and community benefits of the MPA, detect patterns in boat activity and other human uses, and ensure MPA regulations are followed.

The M2 system provided researchers with an independent method for continuously documenting activity. "We specifically designed M2 to monitor important marine places at a cost that was realistic for local managers,” said M2 Product Manager and study co-author Brendan Tougher. "This research shows that M2 is an accessible and robust tool for monitoring MPAs."

The state's first MPA Decadal Management Review is currently underway to evaluate the existing network of MPAs. Investigating human activity near MPAs is important for evaluating the success of current ocean protections.

There are currently 18 active M2 systems globally, with six of them in California, and many deployed internationally in developing countries. 

"As a 'low-tech' solution for more efficient MPA monitoring, M2 is especially valuable for anyone with limited technical experience or resources since people can be quickly trained on how to use and interpret data from our systems," said Tougher.

Hot spots of activity occurred at MPA boundaries, and this activity was generally most common at mid-day and on weekends. There was less activity overall at the site in central California that monitored the Piedras Blancas State Marine Reserve and State Conservation Area, likely due to its remote location. But hot spots at MPA boundaries were still present.

# # #

The mission of ProtectedSeas is to provide open data and monitoring solutions to enhance awareness of and compliance with ocean protections. Learn more at: https://protectedseas.net/

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JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Coastal radar as a tool for continuous and fine-scale monitoring of vessel activities of interest in the vicinity of marine protected areas

Department of Energy announces $10 million for research on environmental systems science

Projects address the role of plant-mediated water redistribution, wildfires and floods, and fungal networks on environmental system processes

Grant and Award Announcement

DOE/US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $10 million in funding for 12 projects to universities, academic institutions, federal research labs, and nonprofits within the area of Environmental System Science (ESS) research. Grants will focus on studies intended to improve the understanding and representation of the impact of wildfires and floods on ecosystems and watersheds, as well the role of plant-mediated water redistribution and fungal networks in shaping ecosystem and watershed function. 

“The DOE invests in Earth system science by tightly coordinating field-based experimental research with system modeling,” said Gary Geernaert, DOE Acting Associate Director of Science for Biological and Environmental Research (BER). “This approach enables more rapid progress in scientific discovery and improves our ability to advance climate predictions for extreme environmental conditions.”

Current models lack appropriate representation of important interactions among physical, hydrological, biogeochemical, and ecological aspects of the Earth system. By coupling experiments, observations, and models, interdisciplinary teams of scientists will work to unravel these complex processes to improve understanding of the structure and function of watersheds and ecosystems across spatial and temporal scales. It is expected that the grants will advance critically needed observational and experimental research and model development aimed at improving the accuracy of today’s Earth and environmental system models and predictive capabilities.

Projects include research funded under three topical areas:

• Plant-Mediated Ecohydrology projects will investigate plant hydraulic redistribution and its influence on ecosystem/watershed function.
• Wildfire or Floods and System Processes projects will improve understanding and model representation of the impacts and responses of environmental processes following wildfires or floods.
• Fungal Network Shaping of System Function projects will investigate fungal-mediated plant-soil interactions in response to environmental factors or stresses.

The projects were selected by competitive peer review under the DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement for Environmental System Science sponsored by the BER program within the Department’s Office of Science.

Total funding is $10 million for projects lasting up to three years in duration, with $10 million in Fiscal Year 2022 dollars and outyear funding contingent on congressional appropriations. The list of projects and more information can be found here.

When particles move

A deep dive into the relationship between cohesion and erosion

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA BARBARA

 

IMAGE: THE POLYMER-COVERED SPHERICAL GLASS BEADS USED IN THE EXPERIMENTS. THE GRAINS AT THE TOP HAVE A VERY THIN COATING AND NO COHESION; THOSE AT THE BOTTOM HAVE A MUCH THICKER COATING AND ARE COHESIVE. view more 

CREDIT: UC SANTA BARBARA

Landslides are one striking example of erosion. When the bonds that hold particles of dirt and rock together are overwhelmed by a force — often in the form of water — sufficient to pull the rock and soil apart, that same force breaks the bonds with other rock and soil that hold them in place. Another type of erosion involves using a small air jet to remove dust from a surface. When the force of the turbulent air is strong enough to break the bonds that hold the individual dust particles, or grains, together and cause them to stick to the surface, that’s erosion, too.

In the pharmaceutical industry, cohesion/erosion dynamics are immensely important to successfully process powders to make medicines. They also play a key role in another, rather far-removed, example: landing a spacecraft on a surface, such as the moon. As the spacecraft lowers, the exhaust of its engines causes the granular material on the surface to erode and be transported. The displaced material forms a crater, which must be of the correct dimensions; too narrow or too deep, and it will cause the spacecraft to tip over.

We often encounter divided materials that are composed of small particles — think sand on the beach, soil, snow and dust — that can be affected by more than just frictional forces, sharing some additional cohesive forces with their neighbors. While cohesion acts only between a particle and its immediate neighbors, it also produces macroscopic effects; for instance, causing divided bits of material to aggregate and adding additional strength to the composite. Cohesion is what causes powders, such as flour, to clump and enables us to make castles on the beach by adding a small amount of water to dry sand.

Alban Sauret, an associate professor in the UC Santa Barbara Mechanical Engineering Department, is keenly interested in these processes. Published in the journal Physical Review Fluids, his group, including first-year Ph.D. student Ram Sharma and colleagues in France, present new research examining how cohesion between particles can influence the onset of erosion. Using a recently developed technique that allows them to control the cohesion between model grains and then running experiments in which they used a jet of air to displace the grains, they were able to gain a better understanding of cohesion, which holds particles together; erosion, which causes them to separate; and transport, which involves how far the displaced particles then travel.

The research offers an approach for quantifying how the magnitude of cohesion changes the amount of local stress needed to start erosion. This understanding could be used in civil engineering, say, to measure the strength and stability of soil in an area where construction is planned. But the researchers also hope that their model will provide empirical evidence for a physical theory of erosion that includes cohesion and is relevant to a broad range of applications, from removing dust from solar panels (dust can reduce energy production by as much as 40%) to landing rockets on other planets.

In the presence of external forces, such as from wind or water, the cohesion between particles can be overcome. The onset of erosion refers to the point at which the drag force, exerted by fluid or air, causes particles to lose contact with the granular bed, becoming separated both from each other as neighbors and from the surface to which they adhere. This captures our fairly elementary, current understanding of erosion: if local external forces on a particle are larger than the forces keeping it in place, it erodes — another way of saying that it is displaced.

As fluids or air apply larger stresses, such as by moving fast enough to become turbulent flows, they can cause greater erosion. An exceedingly broad range of turbulent-flow configurations acting on an equally broad range of materials lead to the erosion we see, at the macro level, in the forms of enormous canyons, worn down over eons by turbulent rivers, and gigantic sand dunes, shaped by turbulent air currents. Surprisingly, given that erosion drives the sediment cycle and constantly reshapes the surface of the Earth, the current understanding of erosional forces is not adequate to explain the rich variety of resulting landforms.

While erosion of non-cohesive grains can be predicted satisfactorily, the interplay between turbulent flows and erosion in the presence of inter-particle cohesion has not been well researched. But it deserves study, Sauret says, because “Cohesion is everywhere! If you are modeling something as simple as how to clean a surface, for instance, and your model does not correctly account for cohesion, you will likely end up taking a wrong approach — and still have a dirty surface.”

To control the cohesion between particles, the researchers applied a polymer coating to identical glass spheres (analog for particles) with a diameter of .8 millimeter. The thickness of the coating could be increased or decreased precisely to increase or decrease cohesion. The turbulent flow is modeled by a variable jet of air aimed at the granular bed.

The experiments enabled the team to determine a scaling law for the threshold at which erosion overcomes interparticle cohesion, regardless of the specifics of the system, such as particle size. By quantifying the relationship between these two forces, the research presents a technique that can be used to predict the erosion threshold for different sizes of grains.

The results of this study, says Sauret, can be most directly applied to the process of removing cohesive sediments, such as dust and snow, from surfaces such as solar panels.

CAPTION

The nozzle (top) creates a flow of turbulent air that interrupts cohesion between particles (below) and the surface, leading to erosion and transport of the particles.

CREDIT

UC Santa Barbara

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JOURNAL

Physical Review Fluids

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevFluids.7.074303 

ARTICLE TITLE

Erosion of cohesive grains by an impinging turbulent jet

Small daily portion of Jarlsberg cheese may help to stave off bone thinning

Not linked to higher harmful cholesterol either; effects specific to this type of cheese

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BMJ

A small (57 g) daily portion of Jarlsberg cheese may help to stave off bone thinning (osteopenia/osteoporosis) without boosting harmful low density cholesterol, suggest the results of a small comparative clinical trial, published in the open access journal BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health.

The effects seem to be specific to this type of cheese, the findings indicate.

Jarlsberg is a mild and semi-soft, nutty flavoured cheese made from cow's milk, with regular holes. It originates from Jarlsberg in eastern Norway.

Previous research indicates that it may help boost levels of osteocalcin, a hormone that is associated with strong bones and teeth, but it’s not clear if this effect is specific to Jarlsberg or any type of cheese.

In a bid to find out, the researchers studied 66 healthy women (average age 33; average BMI of 24) who were randomly allocated to adding either a daily 57 g portion of Jarlsberg (41) or 50 g of Camembert cheese (25) to their diet for 6 weeks. 

At the end of this period, the group eating Camembert was switched to Jarlsberg for another six weeks. 

Jarlsberg and Camembert have similar fat and protein contents, but unlike Camembert, Jarlsberg is rich in vitamin K2, also known as menaquinone (MK), of which there are several varieties.

The short-chained MK-4 is found in animal products such as liver. The long-chained MK-7, MK-8, MK-9 and MK-9(4H) originate from bacteria, and occur in certain fermented foods, such as cheese. Jarlsberg is particularly rich in both MK-9 and MK-9(4H).

Every six weeks blood samples were taken from all the participants to check for key proteins, osteocalcin, and a peptide (PINP) involved in bone turnover. Vitamin K2 and blood fat levels were also measured.

Blood sample analysis showed that the key biochemical markers of bone turnover, including osteocalcin, and vitamin K2 increased significantly after 6 weeks in the Jarlsberg group. 

Among those in the Camembert group, levels of PINP remained unchanged while those of the other biochemical markers fell slightly. But they increased significantly after switching to Jarlsberg. PINP levels also increased.

Blood fats increased slightly in both groups after 6 weeks. But levels of total cholesterol and LDL (harmful) cholesterol fell significantly in the Camembert group after they switched to Jarlsberg. 

Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c)---the amount of glucose stuck in red blood cells—fell significantly (by 3%) in the Jarlsberg group, while it rose sharply (by 2%) in those eating Camembert. But after switching to Jarlsberg HbA1c fell significantly in this group too.

Calcium and magnesium fell significantly in the Jarlsberg group but remained unchanged in the Camembert group. After switching cheese, calcium levels dropped in this group too, possibly reflecting increased uptake of these key minerals in bone formation, say the researchers. 

“Daily Jarlsberg cheese consumption has a positive effect on osteocalcin, other [markers of bone turnover], glycated haemoglobin and lipids,” write the researchers, concluding that the effects are specific to this cheese.

The bacteria (Proprionebacterium freudenreichii) in Jarlsberg that produces MK-9-(4H) also produces a substance called DHNA, which, experimental studies suggest, might combat bone thinning and increase bone tissue formation, and possibly explain the increase in osteocalcin, they add.

They go on to suggest that Jarlsberg cheese might therefore help to prevent osteopenia—the stage before osteoporosis—as well as metabolic diseases, such as diabetes, although further research would be needed to confirm this, they emphasise.

“This study shows that while calcium and vitamin D are known to be extremely important for bone health, there are other key factors at play, such as vitamin K2, which is perhaps not as well known,” comments Professor Sumantra Ray, Executive Director, NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health, which co-owns the journal. 

The study also highlights an important research issue, he adds. “Different methods of preparation mean there are key differences in the nutrient composition of cheese which has often been regarded as a homogenous food item in dietary research to date. This needs to be addressed in future studies.” 

But he cautions. “As this is a small study in young and healthy people designed to explore novel pathways linking diet and bone health, the results need to be interpreted with great caution as the study participants will not necessarily be representative of other groups. And it shouldn’t be taken as a recommendation to eat a particular type of cheese.” 

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JOURNAL

BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health

DOI

10.1135/bmjnph-2022-000424 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Effect on bone anabolic markers of daily cheese intake with and without vitamin K2: a randomised clinical trial

Men have high probability of outliving women, especially the married and degree educated

Between 25% and 50% of men have done so in all continents over past 200 years Sometimes large differences in life expectancy mask substantial overlap in lifespan

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BMJ

Men have a high probability of outliving women—especially those who are married and have a degree—reveals a statistical analysis spanning 200 years across all continents of the globe and published in the open access journal BMJ Open.

Between 25% and 50% of men have outlived women, challenging the received wisdom that men simply don’t live as long as women, say the researchers, who point out that sometimes large differences in life expectancy mask substantial overlap in lifespan between the sexes.

The female survival advantage has been observed over time across many different populations. But sex differences in survival are often identified by comparing life expectancy, which summarises the average length of life, rather than years lived, and this has been interpreted as ‘men do not live as long as women’, explain the researchers.

They wanted to quantify the probability that males outlive females over time and across populations; and to explore the impact of changes in life expectancy and variations in lifespan between the sexes. 

They used a particular statistical approach—the ‘outsurvival’ statistic—-to study sex differences in deaths in 199 populations from every continent over a period of 200 years. 

This statistic measures the probability that a person from a population with a high death rate will outlive someone from a population with a low death rate.

The researchers drew on life tables by sex and individual years for 41 countries from the Human Mortality Database, plus separate data for East and West Germany, and for the 4 countries of the UK. 

And they used abridged life tables from the World Population Prospects 2019. This provides sex-specific life tables for 199 countries by 5-year age groups and 5-year periods from 1950–54 to 2015–19. 

Finally, they compared the probability of men outliving women by education level and marital status, using national US statistics on deaths and population counts.

The data analysis showed that since 1850 the probability of males outliving females has, at all points in time and across all populations, varied between 25% and 50%, with only a few values above 50% in different countries at different times. 

These were Iceland in 1891; Jordan in 1950–54; Iran in 1950–64, Iraq in 1960–69; before 1985 in Bangladesh, India, and the Maldives; and between 1995 and 2010 in Bhutan.

In other words, the data show that between 1 and 2 (25%-50%) out of every 4 men have outlived women for the past 200 years, challenging the received wisdom that men simply don’t live as long as women, say the researchers. 

In developed countries, the probability of males outliving females fell until the 1970s, after which it gradually increased in all populations. The rise and fall in sex differences in life expectancy were mainly attributed to smoking and other behavioural differences.

The probability of males living longer than females is generally higher in low/middle-income countries, but this doesn’t necessarily mean greater gender equality in survival, note the researchers. 

They highlight South Asian countries, where values were above 50% for men in the 1950s and 1960s. The death rate for children under 5 in India was higher for girls than for boys and has remained higher for girls in recent years.

But fewer girls than boys above the age of 15 have died since the 1980s, ‘balancing out’ the disadvantage at younger ages, they explain. 

And certain external factors seem to have a key role. For example, between 2015 and 2019, the probability of males outliving females was 40% across the entire US population. 

But this statistic varied, depending on marital status and educational attainment: the probability of men outliving women was 39% for those who were married and 37% for those who weren’t. And it was 43% for those with a university degree and 39% for those without a high school diploma. 

What’s more, married men with a degree have an advantage over unmarried women educated only to high school level. Couples influence each other’s health, and this is particularly true for men, who benefit more than women from being in a stable relationship, point out the researchers.

“A blind interpretation of life expectancy differences can sometimes lead to a distorted perception of the actual inequalities [in lifespan],” they write. 

“Not all females outlive males, even if a majority do. But the minority that do not is not small. For example, a sex difference in life expectancy at birth of 10 years can be associated with a probability of males outliving females as high as 40%, indicating that 40% of males have a longer lifespan than that of a randomly paired female,” they explain. 

“Not all males have a disadvantage of 10 years, which is overlooked by solely making comparisons of life expectancy. However, a small number of males will live very short lives to result in that difference. For example, more baby boys die than baby girls in most countries,” they add.

The data nevertheless show that the death rate has fallen faster for women, overall, than for men under the age of 50, especially in the first half of the 20th century, largely as a result of improvements in infant and child deaths.

And men have not only maintained their survival disadvantage at younger ages, but at older ages too. They are more prone to accidents and homicides in their 20s and 30s, and they tend to smoke and drink more, leading to higher cancer prevalence and death in their 60s.

A more nuanced approach to sex differences in survival is needed, say the researchers. “Efforts in reducing lifespan inequalities must thus target diverse factors, causes and ages,” they conclude.

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JOURNAL

BMJ Open

DOI

10.1136/bmjopen-2021-059964 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Probability of males to outlive females: an international comparison from 1751 to 2020

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Aug-2022

Do winners cheat more? New research refutes previous high-profile study

New large-scale research led by the University of Leicester shows that winning does not cause people to cheat, in stark contrast to a previous high-profile study.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

New large-scale research led by the University of Leicester shows that winning does not cause people to cheat, in stark contrast to a previous high-profile study.

A 2016 paper1 by Israeli researchers reported a series of experiments, which claimed that winners of skill-based competitions are more likely to steal money in subsequent games of chance against different opponents, as opposed to losers or people who did not see themselves as winners or losers.

This highly-cited study of relatively small sample sizes proposed that competitive winning induces a sense of entitlement that encourages cheating.

But now, an expanded and enhanced study by researchers at the University of Leicester (UK) and the University of Southern California (USA), published today (Wednesday) in the journal Royal Society Open Science, has refuted the original findings.

The international team of researchers found that people with a strong sense of fairness cheat less – regardless of whether they had previously won or lost.

They examined the behaviour of 259 participants in a lab-based dice-rolling game – identical to the original study – and 275 participants undertaking a basic coin-tossing game in an additional online experiment. The results were then analysed using standard statistics plus a mathematical technique called structural equation modelling.

Researchers found that a small but significant amount of cheating occurred for the financial rewards on offer, just as in the original study. However, winning did not increase subsequent cheating or increase people’s sense of entitlement – and neither did losing.

Instead, the only factor investigated which could account for the small (but significant) amount of the cheating that occurred was low ‘inequality aversion’.

People with inequality aversion dislike unequal outcomes. Those with a strong sense of fairness tend to be inequality averse, and they avoid cheating because they view the practice as a form of unfairness.

Andrew Colman is a Professor of Psychology within the University of Leicester’s Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, and also served as lead author for the new study.

Professor Colman said:

“Cheating and general dishonesty are of growing concern in the light of academic dishonesty in the digital age, problems of tax avoidance and evasion by wealthy people in developed economies, and more generally effects of widening inequality in wealth and income on corruption and crime.

“We were surprised by the findings in the 2016 study, and that’s why we wanted to replicate it with substantial sample sizes. The original study’s small samples do not have the statistical power to generate firm conclusions.

“We were amazed when it turned out that neither winning nor losing had any effect on cheating although a significant amount of cheating occurred. We have at least provided scientifically sound data that give a clear answer to the question.”

‘Does competitive winning increase subsequent cheating?’ is published in Royal Society Open Science.

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JOURNAL

Royal Society Open Science

DOI

10.1098/rsos.202197 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Does competitive winning increase subsequent cheating?

Researchers reveal how an insect-eating plant uses rain energy to power its traps

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

 

IMAGE: GRAPHIC SHOWING MECHANISMS OF NEPENTHES GRACILIS view more 

CREDIT: ANNE-KRISTIN LENZ

Scientists at the University of Bristol have uncovered the deadly workings of a carnivorous plant.

In the steaming jungles of Borneo, plants have evolved innumerable tricks to help them survive and outcompete their neighbours. The Slender Pitcher Plant, Nepenthes gracilis, is amongst the most ingenious: its elaborate cup-shaped leaves are equipped with a canopy-like hanging lid that turns into a deadly springboard for ants when it is hit by a falling rain drop.

The findings, published today in Biology Letters, reveal for the first time, how the lethal spring works.

The team were surprised to find that, rather than bending in the lid itself or in the narrow constriction between pitcher cup and lid, the spring is located far down in the back of the tubular pitcher wall. The off-centre location at the rear of the tube has two effects.

First, it makes the spring direction-dependent and as a result, the lid moves easily down, but not up. When a rain drop hits, the lid is accelerated quickly downwards, flicking any insects sitting on its underside into the fluid-filled trap below. On the way up though, the increased resistance of the spring slows the lid down, so that it stops moving sooner and the trap is quickly ready to capture again.

Second, the off-centre spring prevents the lid from twisting or wobbling, thereby maximising the transmission of impact energy into downward movement.

Lead author Anne-Kristin Lenz of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences explained: “If you look at the pitcher shape you would assume that the deformation happens at the smallest cross section, which is the transition point from lid to pitcher tube, but in fact it also deforms further down at the back of the pitcher tube.

“Pitcher plant traps are lightweight, but sturdy. Nepenthes gracilis uses small changes in the trap shape to transmit impact energy with astounding efficiency. We can learn from these plants how to optimize structures geometrically, which could help to save material and weight, while still having a functional spring. The springboard trapping mechanism might even provide inspiration for designing new mechanical devices for harvesting energy from rain or hail.”

This clever use of geometry makes Nepenthes gracilis the only known plant to exploit an external energy source to achieve extremely fast movement – entirely free of metabolic costs.

CAPTION

The Slender Pitcher Plant known as Nepenthes gracilis

CREDIT

Dr Ulrike Bauer

  

CAPTION

The Slender Pitcher Plant known as Nepenthes gracilis

CREDIT

Dr Ulrike Bauer

Paper:

Pitcher geometry facilitates extrinsically powered 'springboard trapping' in carnivorous Nepenthes gracilis pitcher plants by Anne-Kristin Lenz and Ulrike Bauer in Biology Letters.

 

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JOURNAL

Biology Letters

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

‘Pitcher geometry facilitates extrinsically powered “springboard trapping” in carnivorous Nepenthes gracilis pitcher plants’