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)
CREDIT: STEPHANIE HUWILER & SILVIA HOFER / ETH ZURICH
Sleep is a vital aspect of human life, with deep sleep being particularly crucial for overall health. The brain recovers during this sleep stage, and the rest of the body seems to regenerate then as well.
Recently, researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich have shown that increased deep sleep is of particular benefit to the cardiovascular system: targeted stimulation with brief tones during deep sleep causes the heart – in particular the left ventricle – to contract and relax more vigorously. As a result, it pumps blood into the circulatory system and draws it out again more efficiently. The left ventricle supplies most organs, the extremities, and the brain with oxygen-rich arterial blood.
When the heart contracts, the left ventricle is squeezed and wrung out like a wet sponge. The more immediate and more powerful this wringing action, the more blood enters the circulation and the less remains in the heart. This increases blood flow, which has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system.
An interdisciplinary team of heart specialists led by Christian Schmied, Senior Consultant for Cardiology at the University Hospital Zurich, used echocardiography (cardiac ultrasound examinations) to demonstrate that the left ventricle undergoes more intense deformation after nocturnal stimulation. This is the first time anyone has shown that an increase in brain waves during deep sleep (slow waves) improves cardiac function. The corresponding study was recently published in the European Heart Journal.
“We were expecting that stimulation with tones during deep sleep would impact the cardiovascular system. But the fact that this effect was so clearly measurable after just one night of stimulation surprised us,” explains project leader and sleep expert Caroline Lustenberger, SNSF Ambizione Fellow at the Neural Control of Movement Lab at ETH Zurich.
Heart specialist Schmied is also delighted: “We clearly saw that both the heart’s pumping force and its relaxation were greater after nights with stimulation compared to nights without stimulation.” Both factors are an excellent measure of cardiovascular system function.
Stimulation with pink noise
The study involved 18 healthy men aged 30 to 57, who spent three non-consecutive nights in the sleep laboratory. On two nights, the researchers stimulated the subjects with sounds; on one night, they did not.
While the subjects slept, the scientists continuously measured their brain activity, blood pressure and heart activity. They coupled their measurements to a computer system that analysed the incoming data.
As soon as the readings indicated that the subject had fallen into deep sleep, the computer played a series of very brief tones at certain frequencies, called pink noise, which sound like static. Ten seconds of such tones were followed by 10 seconds of silence, and then the same procedure could be repeated. A feedback mechanism ensured that the noise was played at the right time and – depending on the brain wave pattern – stopped again.
This experimental setup allowed the researchers to directly monitor whether the sound simulation enhanced deep sleep and whether it influenced the subjects’ heart rate and blood pressure. “During stimulation, we clearly see an increase in slow waves, as well as a response from the cardiovascular system that is reminiscent of cardiovascular pulsation,” says lead author Stephanie Huwiler, describing the direct effects during sleep.
The next morning, the heart specialists examined the subjects’ cardiac function using echocardiography (ultrasound).
Significant results despite small group
“Despite the relatively small group of subjects, the results are significant. We were also able to reproduce the results on two separate nights, which in statistical terms makes them very strong,” Lustenberger says.
A small group size is typical for laboratory sleep studies, she adds, because they require a lot of resources. In addition, the researchers deliberately selected only men. This is because they are more homogeneous as a group of subjects than women in a comparable age bracket, whose menstrual cycle or menopause has a major effect on their sleep. “When all you’ve got to work with is one night a week for three weeks, the effects of the menstrual cycle will play a role in women. These effects might have masked the stimulation effect in this sort of initial study,” Lustenberger explains.
She emphasizes, however, that future studies should definitely include women, as gender differences in sleep and cardiovascular health are becoming increasingly apparent and have profound implications for primary healthcare.
Practical future benefits
This study is of great interest not only to cardiologists but to athletes as well. “Especially in preventive medicine, but also in competitive sport, this kind of deep sleep stimulation system might enable improved cardiac function in the future – and possibly ensure faster and better recovery after intense workouts,” says Huwiler, who presented the initial results of the study at the Zurich Symposium for Sports Cardiology in March 2023. Lustenberger adds: “The treatment of cardiovascular diseases may be enhanced with this or similar stimulation methods. However, it’s crucial to first investigate whether patients can benefit from this kind of deep sleep stimulation method as well.”
The researchers are now looking for further, more powerful stimulation methods to positively impact the cardiovascular system. To this end, Huwiler is applying to Innosuisse for a Bridge Proof of Concept grant and for an ETH Pioneer Fellowship grant. In addition, she is in the process of setting up a start-up called EARDREAM together with Lustenberger, Simon Baur, and Rafael Polanía to further develop the findings and transfer them into practice.
For the first time ever, researchers have attempted to map the supply chain of cigarettes, from farm to factory, in a new study published today [Thursday 5 October] in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.
The research, from experts at the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath, suggests that the global reach of major tobacco brands and their subsidiaries, including growers and manufacturers, has a direct impact on the degree to which the industry interferes with public health policies in specific countries.
Through analysis of the Tobacco Supply Chains Database with the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, the researchers found that countries where a higher number of transnational tobacco leaf company (TTLC) conducted tobacco farming via subsidiaries had weaker tobacco control measures.
For example, Indonesia and the United States, two countries that host a high number of TTLCs farming subsidiaries have high levels of political interference. These countries have not adopted the WHO’s international treaty for tobacco control, the WHO FCTC and they have weak enforcement, or weak bans, of tobacco advertising.
Conversely, countries such as Brunei and New Zealand, which the paper highlights have no TTLCs growing or manufacturing tobacco products, and comparatively low levels of tobacco industry interference.
In total, the study highlights 47 countries with TTLC subsidiaries carrying out agricultural activities (growing tobacco), 51 primary processing (processing tobacco leaves), and 74 secondary processing (manufacturing tobacco products).
The global nature of their operations gives these companies significant political power, the researchers argue. For example, it offers TTLCs a credible threat to leave a country if the government were to increase taxes.
Lead researcher Dr Rosemary Hiscock explained: “With this study we hope to draw attention to the trade-offs involved in hosting tobacco supply chain activities while also garnering support for governments and public health leaders particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). These countries have been found to be especially vulnerable to tobacco industry interference due to a lack of resources and political will.
“Understanding how and where tobacco industries operate can help to bolster public health measures. For example, we know that comprehensive advertising bans reduce smoking uptake and increase quitting; advertising bans have been described as a cost-effective best buy and a cornerstone of tobacco control policy – yet we know such measures are often opposed in countries where the industry is also dominant.”
The researchers suggest that high-income countries and international bodies should pay close attention to the public health consequences of business activity in LMICs. They hope that by shining a light on this issue, governments can better understand the implications of supply chain activities on public health.
Co-author, Dr Michael Bloomfield from the University's Centre for Development Studies added: “Ultimately by drawing attention to the reach of tobacco companies around the world, and their activities through subsidiaries, we hope policymakers are better equipped to respond to challenges put forward which can divert from life-saving public policies to reduce smoking and save lives.”
Hiscock and colleagues also call for TTLCs to regularly provide detailed, accessible and up-to-date information about their local supply chain activities. They hope the new research can boost international monitoring of tobacco industry activities and public health measures.
To access the latest paper 'Hosting the Tobacco Industry Supply Chain and Political Interference' via the journal journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research see https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntad178.
The study is authored by Rosemary Hiscock, Hala Alaouie, Britta K Matthes, John Mehegan and Michael J Bloomfield.
Hosting the Tobacco Industry Supply Chain and Political Interference
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
14-Sep-2023
COI STATEMENT
The authors have no interests to declare. Data Availability The supply chains data collated are publicly available from the Tobacco Supply Chains Database.23 The TIII, country income group, MPOWER, World governance indicators and Comtrade exports are publicly available to download.24–28
Researchers design a national testing facility to simulate tornadoes, downbursts and gusts; Experiments will help them engineer buildings that can stand up to extreme winds
AS PART OF HIS WORK TO ENGINEER BUILDINGS THAT CAN STAND UP TO WINDSTORMS, IOWA STATE'S PARTHA SARKAR SURVEYED THE DAMAGE LEFT BY THE EF5 TORNADO THAT HIT PARKERSBURG IN MAY 2008.
AMES, Iowa – The foundation of a house remains, the basement ripped open and exposed, with the rest of the house blown away. A brick-veneered bank building partially caved in. A collapsed high school gym. Gravestones knocked over. Debris piercing a building.
Partha Sarkar kept hitting next, scrolling through the photo evidence of the destruction he gathered and assessed the day after an EF5 tornado ripped through Parkersburg on May 25, 2008.
Then Sarkar, professor and interim chair of aerospace engineering at Iowa State University, opened a photo showing a house located on the edge of the tornado’s path. It was damaged, but still standing, shingles gone, but the roof structure mostly intact. Sarkar’s engineering studies, based on small-scale models of structures tested in wind tunnels, are designed to produce more of that – structures that stand up to extreme windstorms, protecting lives and property.
Now those studies, spanning his entire academic career, are getting a major upgrade – and the potential for acquiring a better and more powerful wind simulator.
Sarkar and a research team he’s leading have just won a four-year, $14 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to design and plan a National Testing Facility for Enhancing Wind Resiliency of Infrastructure in Tornado-Downburst-Gust Front Events, or NEWRITE.
If it’s built, the facility would allow testing at large-scales (a full-scale house or 1:10 scale models of buildings with large footprints such as retail buildings, shopping malls or hospitals) and high wind speeds (86-225 mph for EF1 to EF5 tornadoes, 100-125 mph for downbursts, 80-100 mph for gust fronts) in simulated windstorms.
“Being able to test structures at much larger scales, in extreme winds produced in these windstorms, will bring us closer to understanding reality and help engineers to improve the wind resilience of structures,” Sarkar said.
The grant will also support replacing Iowa State’s Tornado/Microburst Simulator that was completed in 2005. The existing simulator, housed in Howe Hall, is capable of 80 mph winds and a tornado-like vortex that’s 3.7 feet in diameter. The new simulator will be about a 1/20th-scale model of the full-scale NEWRITE and about the same size as the existing facility (18 feet in diameter) but will have the capacity to generate 225 mph tornado-like winds.
Researchers will also model and produce a “digital twin” of the full-scale and 1/20th-scale NEWRITE simulators to help them design the proposed facility.
Sarkar said the project is all about simulating tornadoes and other types of localized, non-synoptic windstorms, measuring the wind loads they exert on homes and other structures and engineering improvements that reduce structural damage.
“NEWRITE will be designed to be a state-of-the-art research and testing platform to mitigate the impacts of (localized windstorm) hazards on the built environment and significantly reduce fatalities and economic losses,” the researchers wrote.
Sarkar will lead the project team. Other project co-leaders are Alice Alipour, an associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at Iowa State; Anupam Sharma, an associate professor of aerospace engineering at Iowa State; Guirong (Grace) Yan, an associate professor of structural engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla; and Delong Zuo, a professor of civil, environmental and construction engineering at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
Other senior researchers (see sidebar) are from Iowa State, Clemson University in South Carolina; Northeastern University in Boston; the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville; the University of Florida in Gainesville; the University of Washington in Seattle; and the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
This design grant does not commit the NSF to supporting construction of the full-scale NEWRITE facility. If there is future support, Sarkar said it is likely to be built at Iowa State. He estimates the national testing facility would require a five-story building that could cover the square footage of four football fields. The facility would also require 5 to 10 megawatts of electricity.
In addition to NEWRITE, the NSF also awarded grants to three other research infrastructure projects: design of a laser laboratory at the University of Rochester in New York; an ocean observatory for earthquake activity at the University of Washington; and a cybersecurity institute at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
The four projects “exemplify the most novel, innovative infrastructure being designed and built in our country to advance the best ideas and train the highly skilled talent in science and engineering for our future,” said Sethuraman Panchanathan, director of the NSF. “By investing in the most innovative infrastructure, NSF aims to strengthen opportunities for all Americans and advance the frontiers of science and technology.”
– 30 –
The NEWRITE Team
In addition to Iowa State’s Partha Sarkar, the leader of the proposed national testing facility, the project team includes:
Iowa State University – Alice Alipour, Bill Gallus, Paul Kremer, Anupam Sharma and Sri Sritharan
Clemson University – Nigel Kaye
Missouri University of Science and Technology – Guirong (Grace) Yan
Northeastern University – Luca Caracoglia
Texas Tech University – Delong Zuo
University of Arkansas – R. Panneer Selvam
University of Florida – David Prevatt
University of Washington – Dorothy Reed
University of Wisconsin – Leigh Orf
Satellite swarm to provide ‘missing link’ between space weather and space debris
The European Space Agency (ESA) has funded a new mission concept involving a “swarm” of satellites to address the growing threat of space debris. The news comes as just this week the US government issued its first ever fine to a company for leaving sp
THE ROARS (REVEALING ORBITAL AND ATMOSPHERIC RESPONSES TO SOLAR ACTIVITY) MISSION CONCEPT INVOLVES EIGHT SATELLITES SPREAD ACROSS LOW EARTH ORBIT CARRYING A COMPREHENSIVE SUITE OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTALS DESIGNED TO MEASURE ATMOSPHERIC VARIABILITY, THE DRIVERS BEHIND THIS, AND THE EFFECTS ON SATELLITE ORBITS (CREDIT OPENCOSMOS/UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK).
The European Space Agency (ESA) has funded a new mission concept involving a “swarm” of satellites to address the growing threat of space debris. The news comes as just this week the US government issued its first ever fine to a company for leaving space junk orbiting the Earth.
Space debris poses a huge problem for global communication systems and space exploration efforts. Over 50,000 pieces of orbital debris are actively tracked by the Space Surveillance Network, while over 170 million smaller pieces that cannot be tracked, also pose catastrophic collision risks. Though tiny, these items of space junk, often from colliding decommissioned rockets, can have as much energy as grenades and bullets and can tear through spacecraft causing extensive damage.
This poses lethal dangers to astronauts and drives up satellite launch costs through thick shielding requirements (additional mass), increasingly common avoidance manoeuvres (programmed when a collision risk is identified via space surveillance) and insurance premiums. Space debris also presents a barrier for emerging space-faring nations who cannot afford these expensive mitigation strategies.
Now, The University of Warwick-led project, ‘Revealing the Orbital and Atmospheric Responses to Solar activity’ (ROARS), aims to tackle the problem with a “swarm” of satellites. The new research concept is being announced today – during World Space Week (4-10 October).
The concept of using a satellite “swarm” is that by distributing scientific instruments across multiple smaller inter-linked spacecraft, a “swarm” will possess observational capabilities far in excess of a standard, large satellite.
The mission idea has led to a 26 institution-strong consortium from across nine countries, with a core team leading the study from Universities of Warwick, Birmingham, Northumbria, Bath, UCL, Stuttgart, Imperial and Calgary, alongside industrial partner, OpenCosmos, the Space Research Institute in Austria, and Southwest Research Institute in the USA.
The team are examining how the swarm of small satellites known as CubeSats, these ones about the size of a microwave, can fly in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), just 500 km above the Earth, a region home to exponentially growing satellite mega-constellations. They hope the swarm can provide a “missing” set of measurements necessary to accurately predict and prevent satellite and debris collisions.
The multiple satellites feature a dizzying array of new technologies. These include the latest atmospheric and magnetic field sensors, state-of-the art global navigation satellite systems (including GPS) and inter-satellite laser communications. A further integral mission component is ground radar, laser and optical observations, including from University of Warwick’s SuperWASP observatory on La Palma, Canary Islands.
The team will investigate how satellite drag from the Earth’s upper atmosphere; a force on near-Earth orbiting satellites, is modulated by solar activity and space weather. When solar storms interact with the Earth’s magnetic field – they are responsible for the impressive Northern and Southern Lights (Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis), but they can also heat our upper atmosphere and play havoc with spacecraft trajectories.
In February 2022, 40 Starlink satellites were lost, due to the effects of successive solar storms which caused a large atmospheric expansion and increased atmospheric drag, and ultimately caused the satellites to burn up in the upper atmosphere.
Dr Ravindra Desai, of University of Warwick’s Centre for Fusion, Space & Astrophysics and Principal Investigator of the mission, said: “This mission concept seeks to comprehensively understand how space weather deposits energy into our upper atmosphere, and how this threatens the satellites we increasingly depend upon for our day-to-day lives.
“We hope this will provide a step change in our ability to safely use our space environment and enables ESA’s Terrae Novae vision to provide Low Earth Orbit as a safe haven for further exploration of the moon and Mars.”
The research is led through the University of Warwick’s cross-departmental Centre for Space Domain Awareness (CSDA). The CSDA has been established to tackle issues relating to the safety and sustainability of satellites, including: the timely acquisition of precise datasets to detect, track and/or characterise objects in orbit; the fusion of physical and human-based information for improved object tracking; the modelling and prediction of space weather, and quantification of associated risk.
Professor Don Pollacco, of University of Warwick’s Astronomy and Astrophysics Cluster, added: “In 2009, a hypervelocity collision between an active Iridium satellite and defunct Kosmo satellite created thousands of additional pieces of debris. Satellites are currently being launched at an exponentially increasing rate and resultant orbital congestion means that it is a matter of when, not if, another major collision will occur.
“It is important that we act now before it is too late, and many orbits become unusable”.
A further important factor in the swarm design is the ability for collision avoidance manoeuvres and safe deorbit within five years at the end of life. This is important so that the swarm itself doesn’t contribute to the very problem it is trying to address.
ESA released the £86 million (€100 million) campaign for Innovative Mission Concepts Enabled by Swarms of CubeSats at the start of this year and received 74 submissions, from which seven were competitively selected for Phase 0 funding to develop their concepts towards a flight opportunity.
The University of Warwick team draws upon expertise across the Physics, Statistics and Engineering departments. It has strong synergies with Warwick University’s satellite engineering team (WUSAT), a long-standing Warwick programme that has enabled students to design, test and fly their own CubeSats, including on a high-altitude balloon and sounding rocket to the edge of space.
Notes to Editors
Media contact
University of Warwick press office contact:
Annie Slinn 07876876934
Communications Officer | Press & Media Relations | University of Warwick Email: annie.slinn@warwick.ac.uk
Images
The ROARS (Revealing Orbital and Atmospheric Responses to Solar activity) mission concept involves eight satellites spread across Low Earth Orbit carrying a comprehensive suite of scientific instrumentals designed to measure atmospheric variability, the drivers behind this, and the effects on satellite orbits (Credit OpenCosmos/University of Warwick).
The copyright to be indicated is: ESA/ID&Sense/ONiRiXEL, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Notes to Editors
University of Warwick press office contact:
Annie Slinn
Communications Officer | Press & Media Relations | University of Warwick Email: annie.slinn@warwick.ac.uk Phone: 07876876934
ESA disclaimer: The view expressed in this publication can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has funded a new mission concept involving a “swarm” of satellites to address the growing threat of space debris. The news comes as just this week the US government issued its first ever fine to a company for leaving space junk orbiting the Earth.
Space debris poses a huge problem for global communication systems and space exploration efforts. Over 50,000 pieces of orbital debris are actively tracked by the Space Surveillance Network, while over 170 million smaller pieces that cannot be tracked, also pose catastrophic collision risks. Though tiny, these items of space junk, often from colliding decommissioned rockets, can have as much energy as grenades and bullets and can tear through spacecraft causing extensive damage.
This poses lethal dangers to astronauts and drives up satellite launch costs through thick shielding requirements (additional mass), increasingly common avoidance manoeuvres (programmed when a collision risk is identified via space surveillance) and insurance premiums. Space debris also presents a barrier for emerging space-faring nations who cannot afford these expensive mitigation strategies.
Now, The University of Warwick-led project, ‘Revealing the Orbital and Atmospheric Responses to Solar activity’ (ROARS), aims to tackle the problem with a “swarm” of satellites. The new research concept is being announced today – during World Space Week (4-10 October).
The concept of using a satellite “swarm” is that by distributing scientific instruments across multiple smaller inter-linked spacecraft, a “swarm” will possess observational capabilities far in excess of a standard, large satellite.
The mission idea has led to a 26 institution-strong consortium from across nine countries, with a core team leading the study from Universities of Warwick, Birmingham, Northumbria, Bath, UCL, Stuttgart, Imperial and Calgary, alongside industrial partner, OpenCosmos, the Space Research Institute in Austria, and Southwest Research Institute in the USA.
The team are examining how the swarm of small satellites known as CubeSats, these ones about the size of a microwave, can fly in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), just 500 km above the Earth, a region home to exponentially growing satellite mega-constellations. They hope the swarm can provide a “missing” set of measurements necessary to accurately predict and prevent satellite and debris collisions.
The multiple satellites feature a dizzying array of new technologies. These include the latest atmospheric and magnetic field sensors, state-of-the art global navigation satellite systems (including GPS) and inter-satellite laser communications. A further integral mission component is ground radar, laser and optical observations, including from University of Warwick’s SuperWASP observatory on La Palma, Canary Islands.
The team will investigate how satellite drag from the Earth’s upper atmosphere; a force on near-Earth orbiting satellites, is modulated by solar activity and space weather. When solar storms interact with the Earth’s magnetic field – they are responsible for the impressive Northern and Southern Lights (Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis), but they can also heat our upper atmosphere and play havoc with spacecraft trajectories.
In February 2022, 40 Starlink satellites were lost, due to the effects of successive solar storms which caused a large atmospheric expansion and increased atmospheric drag, and ultimately caused the satellites to burn up in the upper atmosphere.
Dr Ravindra Desai, of University of Warwick’s Centre for Fusion, Space & Astrophysics and Principal Investigator of the mission, said: “This mission concept seeks to comprehensively understand how space weather deposits energy into our upper atmosphere, and how this threatens the satellites we increasingly depend upon for our day-to-day lives.
“We hope this will provide a step change in our ability to safely use our space environment and enables ESA’s Terrae Novae vision to provide Low Earth Orbit as a safe haven for further exploration of the moon and Mars.”
The research is led through the University of Warwick’s cross-departmental Centre for Space Domain Awareness (CSDA). The CSDA has been established to tackle issues relating to the safety and sustainability of satellites, including: the timely acquisition of precise datasets to detect, track and/or characterise objects in orbit; the fusion of physical and human-based information for improved object tracking; the modelling and prediction of space weather, and quantification of associated risk.
Professor Don Pollacco, of University of Warwick’s Astronomy and Astrophysics Cluster, added: “In 2009, a hypervelocity collision between an active Iridium satellite and defunct Kosmo satellite created thousands of additional pieces of debris. Satellites are currently being launched at an exponentially increasing rate and resultant orbital congestion means that it is a matter of when, not if, another major collision will occur.
“It is important that we act now before it is too late, and many orbits become unusable”.
A further important factor in the swarm design is the ability for collision avoidance manoeuvres and safe deorbit within five years at the end of life. This is important so that the swarm itself doesn’t contribute to the very problem it is trying to address.
ESA released the £86 million (€100 million) campaign for Innovative Mission Concepts Enabled by Swarms of CubeSats at the start of this year and received 74 submissions, from which seven were competitively selected for Phase 0 funding to develop their concepts towards a flight opportunity.
The University of Warwick team draws upon expertise across the Physics, Statistics and Engineering departments. It has strong synergies with Warwick University’s satellite engineering team (WUSAT), a long-standing Warwick programme that has enabled students to design, test and fly their own CubeSats, including on a high-altitude balloon and sounding rocket to the edge of space.
Notes to Editors
Media contact
University of Warwick press office contact:
Annie Slinn 07876876934
Communications Officer | Press & Media Relations | University of Warwick Email: annie.slinn@warwick.ac.uk
Images
The ROARS (Revealing Orbital and Atmospheric Responses to Solar activity) mission concept involves eight satellites spread across Low Earth Orbit carrying a comprehensive suite of scientific instrumentals designed to measure atmospheric variability, the drivers behind this, and the effects on satellite orbits (Credit OpenCosmos/University of Warwick).
Young female chess players often face gender bias both in the male-dominated chess world and among parents and mentors who believe girls have less potential to succeed in chess than boys, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.
“It’s disheartening to see young female players’ potential downgraded, even by the people who are closest to them, like their parents and coaches,” said lead researcher Sophie Arnold, a doctoral student at New York University.
The study, which was published online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, presents what the researchers say is the first large-scale evidence of gender bias against young female chess players. The study included participants from a U.S. Chess Federation mailing list, comprising 286 parents and mentors of 654 children. Ninety percent of the adults were men, and 81% of the children were boys, mirroring the gender disparities in the chess world.
In response to an online survey, the parents and mentors said they thought girls’ highest potential chess rating was lower than boys’ ratings, especially if they believed that brilliance was required to succeed in chess. Mentors, but not parents, who endorsed this brilliance belief also were more likely to say that female mentees were more likely to drop out of chess because of low ability.
The chess world has always been dominated by men. In 2020, only 14% of all U.S. Chess Federation players were girls or women. More than 100 high-ranking female chess players and coaches recently signed an open letter about “sexist and sexual violence” perpetrated in the chess world, deeming it “one of the main reasons why women and young girls, especially in their teens, stop playing chess.”
“Gender bias also may prevent girls from even starting to play chess competitively if their own parents and mentors aren’t convinced that they will succeed,” Arnold said.
In the study, parents, but not mentors, believed girls had a less supportive chess environment than boys. Nevertheless, neither parents nor mentors believed girls were more likely to drop out of chess because of an unsupportive environment.
The study did not include enough mothers and female mentors to determine if their views differed from those of fathers and male mentors. The findings also may not reflect the opinions of the general public because the participants were already involved in competitive chess and had extensive interactions with the players they were rating which usually reduces bias.
There has been a huge resurgence of interest in chess by girls and boys across the United States. While some strides have been made to address gender bias in the chess world, more work needs to be done, Arnold said.
“Continued structural support for all female players is needed to improve girls’ and women’s experiences in chess,” Arnold said. “Our research also suggests that bias can come even from those closest to girls.”
Article: “Checking Gender Bias: Parents and Mentors Perceive Less Chess Potential in Girls,” Sophie Arnold, BA, Wei Ji Ma, PhD, and Andrei Cimpian, PhD, New York University, April H. Bailey, PhD, University of New Hampshire, and Jennifer Shahade, Woman Grandmaster, International Chess Federation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, published online Oct. 5, 2023.
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA’s membership includes over 146,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication
“The Queen’s Gambit” miniseries portrayed the life of a fictional chess prodigy, Beth Harmon, who is continuously underestimated in male-dominated competitions. A team of New York University psychology researchers has now found some “real-life” evidence of what Harmon faced as a younger player: Parents and coaches of youth chess players peg the highest potential rating of girl players to be lower than that of boy players.
Moreover, the study’s authors, who included Jennifer Shahade, a two-time US Women’s Chess champion, found that coaches who think “brilliance” is required to succeed in chess also believe that their female mentees would be more likely to stop playing the game due to lack of ability than their male mentees would. But, at the same time, coaches and parents don’t think girls encounter a less supportive environment than do boys—or that girls might be more likely to stop playing as a result.
“While it is inspiring to see a fictional woman winning in a space dominated by men, real-world women remain underrepresented in chess,” says Sophie Arnold, an NYU doctoral student and the lead author of the paper, which appears in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. “This study identifies one contributing reason as to why: Parents and coaches are biased against the female youth players in their own lives.”
“It is striking that even the parents and coaches who have a vested interest in girls’ success hold biases against them and may also have some blind spots about the barriers to girls’ success,” adds Andrei Cimpian, a professor in NYU’s Department of Psychology and the paper’s senior author.
“These beliefs are likely to be harmful both to girls who already play chess and to those who could want to: Would you be interested in participating in an activity where your potential is downgraded by your parents and by your coaches before you have even started?” says NYU alumna Shahade, author of Chess Queens and Play Like a Girl!, who was involved in the study design.
In the US Chess Federation (“US Chess”), only 13% of players are women, raising questions about what drives the gender disparity. Previous studies have largely focused on potential deficits in chess ability among girls, which overlooks the role of adult leadership.
“This line of scholarship can make the overrepresentation of men in chess seem like it’s a ‘girls and women problem’ rather than a ‘chess problem,’ ” says Arnold.
In the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General work, by contrast, the researchers considered how the important people in girls’ lives—coaches and parents—may be biased against them when assessing their potential, even at a young age, and how these perceptions may help explain the huge gender gap in who plays chess.
To do so, the team interviewed nearly 300 parents and mentors—90% of whom were men—who were recruited through the US Chess Federation. In the survey, they reported their evaluations of and investment in approximately 650 youth players. In addition, parents and coaches were asked if they thought aptitude in chess requires brilliance—a measure Cimpian and his colleagues have used in the past to detect stereotyping and gender bias in academic fields.
The researchers found bias against girls across multiple measures. Parents and coaches thought that female youth players’ highest potential ratings were on average lower than those of male players—a bias that was exacerbated among parents and mentors who believed that success in chess requires brilliance. (The researchers note that the sample of mothers and female coaches was too small to analyze separately—a reflection of women’s underrepresentation in chess more generally.)
Notably, these coaches and parents didn’t recognize that their own presumptions may function as a barrier to girls succeeding in the game. Specifically, coaches who thought brilliance was required to succeed in chess also thought their female mentees would be more likely to stop playing chess due to a lack of ability than their male mentees. And, in fact, parents and coaches did not believe that girls—relative to boys—encounter a less supportive environment in chess and might stop playing chess as a result.
However, not all news was bad. For example, the researchers found no bias in the amount of resources—such as time and money—coaches and parents reported being willing to invest in female relative to male youth players.
“This study provides the first large-scale investigation of bias against young female players and holds implications for the role of parents and mentors in science and technology—areas that, like chess, are culturally associated with intellectual ability and exhibit substantial gender imbalances,” notes Arnold.
The paper’s other authors were April Bailey, an NYU postdoctoral researcher at the time of the study and now an assistant professor of psychology at the University of New Hampshire, and Weiji Ma, a professor in NYU’s Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science who has previously examined gender bias in chess.
