Eating small fish whole can prolong life expectancy, a Japanese study finds

NAGOYA UNIVERSITY

 

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EATING SMALL FISH WHOLE CAN PROLONG LIFE EXPECTANCY, A JAPANESE STUDY FINDS

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CREDIT: CHINATSU KASAHARA

A new study has found evidence linking the intake of small fish, eaten whole, with a reduced risk of all-cause and cancer mortality in Japanese women. Conducted by Dr. Chinatsu Kasahara, Associate Professor Takashi Tamura, and Professor Kenji Wakai at Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan, the study highlights the potential life-extending benefits of habitually eating small fish. The findings were published in the journal Public Health Nutrition. 

Japanese people habitually eat small fish, such as whitebait, Atlantic capelin, Japanese smelt, and small dried sardines. Importantly, it is common practice to consume small fish whole, including the head, bones, and organs, which are rich in micronutrients, such as calcium and vitamin A.  

“Previous studies have revealed the protective effect of fish intake on health outcomes, including mortality risks. However, few studies have focused on the effect of the intake of small fish specifically on health outcomes,” said the lead researcher, Dr. Kasahara. “I was interested in this topic because I have had the habit of eating small fish since childhood. I now feed my children these foods.” 

The research team investigated the association between the intake of small fish and mortality risk among Japanese people. The study included 80,802 participants (34,555 men and 46,247 women) aged 35 to 69 years nationwide in Japan. The participants' frequency of the intake of small fish was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire at baseline. The researchers followed them for an average of nine years. During the follow-up period, 2,482 deaths from people included in the study were recorded, with approximately 60% (1,495 deaths) of them being cancer related. 

One of the most striking findings of the study was the significant reduction in all-cause and cancer mortality among women who habitually eat small fish. Women who eat small fish 1-3 times a month, 1-2 times a week, or 3 times or more a week had 0.68, 0.72, and 0.69 times the risk of all-cause mortality, and 0.72, 0.71, and 0.64 times the risk of cancer mortality, compared to those who rarely eat small fish. 

After controlling for factors that can affect mortality risk, such as participants' age, smoking and alcohol consumption habits, BMI, and intake of various nutrients and foods, the researchers found that women in the study who eat small fish frequently were less likely to die from any cause. These findings suggest that incorporating small fish into their daily diet could be a simple but effective strategy to reduce the risk of mortality among women.  

The risk of all-cause and cancer mortality in men showed a similar trend to that in women, although it was not statistically significant. The reasons for the lack of significance in men remain unclear, but the researchers posit that the limited number of male subjects or other factors not measured in the study, such as the portion size of small fish, may also matter. According to the researchers, the difference in the cancer type causing cancer mortality among sexes may be related to a sex-specific association. 

Although acknowledging the need for additional research in other populations and a deeper understanding of the mechanisms involved, Dr. Kasahara is enthusiastic about the results. “While our findings were only among Japanese people, they should also be important for other nationalities,” she said. 

In fact, previous studies have highlighted affordable small fish as a potentially important source of nutrients, especially in developing countries that suffer from severe nutrient deficiency. This study adds to the growing body of evidence supporting the health benefits of dietary practices that include eating small fish. As Dr. Kasahara explained, “Small fish are easy for everyone to eat, and they can be consumed whole, including the head, bones, and organs. Nutrients and physiologically active substances unique to small fish could contribute to maintaining good health. The inverse relationship between the intake of small fish and the mortality risk in women underscores the importance of these nutrient-dense foods in people's diets.” 

 “The habit of eating small fish is usually limited to several coastal or maritime countries, such as Japan,” Associate Professor Tamura said. “However, we suspect that the intake of small fish anywhere may be revealed as a way to prolong life expectancy. Further evidence is necessary to elucidate the potential role of the intake of small fish in mortality risk.” 

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JOURNAL

Public Health Nutrition

DOI

10.1017/S1368980024000831 

 

A new weapon in the battle against antibiotic resistance: Temperature

UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN

 

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COLONIES OF THE BACTERIUM E. COLI GROWING ON AN AGAR PLATE CONTAINING CIPROFLOXACIN: THESE RESISTANT COLONIES ORIGINATE FROM MUTANTS. ON THE LEFT THE RESISTANT MUTANTS ORIGINATING FROM A POPULATION GROWN AT 37 °C (NORMAL BODY TEMPERATURE), ON THE RIGHT RESISTANT MUTANTS ORIGINATING FROM A POPULATION GROWN AT 40 °C (FEVER TEMPERATURE).

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CREDIT: ELEANOR SHERIDAN / UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN

Scientists from the University of Groningen (the Netherlands), together with colleagues from the University of Montpellier (France) and the University of Oldenburg (Germany), have tested how a fever could affect the development of antimicrobial resistance. In laboratory experiments, they found that a small increase in temperature from 37 to 40 degrees Celsius drastically changed the mutation frequency in E. coli bacteria, which facilitates the development of resistance. If these results can be replicated in human patients, fever control could be a new way to mitigate the emergence of antibiotic resistance. The results were published in the journal JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance.

Antimicrobial resistance of pathogens is a worldwide problem, and recognized by the WHO as one of the top global public health and development threats. There are two ways to fight this: by developing new drugs, or by preventing the development of resistance. ‘We know that temperature affects the mutation rate in bacteria’, explains Timo van Eldijk, co-first author of the paper. ‘What we wanted to find out was how the increase in temperature associated with fever influences the mutation rate towards antibiotic resistance.’

Three antibiotics

‘Most studies on resistance mutations were done by lowering the ambient temperature, and none, as far as we know, used a moderate increase above normal body temperature,’ Van Eldijk reports. Together with Master’s student Eleanor Sheridan, Van Eldijk cultured E. coli bacteria at 37 or 40 degrees Celsius, and subsequently exposed them to three different antibiotics to assess the effect. ‘Again, some previous human trials have looked at temperature and antibiotics, but in these studies the type of drug was not controlled.’ In their laboratory study, the team used three different antibiotics with different modes of action: ciprofloxacin, rifampicin, and ampicillin.

The results showed that for two of the drugs, ciprofloxacin and rifampicin, increased temperature led to an increase in the mutation rate towards resistance. However, the third drug, ampicillin, caused a decrease in the mutation rate towards resistance at fever temperatures. ‘To be certain of this result, we actually replicated the study with ampicillin in two different labs, at the University of Groningen and the University of Montpellier, and got the same result,’ says Van Eldijk.

Fever-suppressing drugs

The researchers hypothesized that a temperature dependence of the efficacy of ampicillin could explain this result, and confirmed this in an experiment. This explains why ampicillin resistance is less likely to arise at 40 degrees Celsius. ‘Our study shows that a very mild change in temperature can drastically change the mutation rate towards resistance to antimicrobials,’ concludes Van Eldijk. ‘This is interesting, as other parameters such as the growth rate do not seem to change.’

If the results are replicated in humans, this could open the way to tackling antimicrobial resistance by lowering the temperature with fever-suppressing drugs, or by giving patients with a fever antimicrobial drugs with higher efficacy at higher temperatures. The team concludes in the paper: ‘An optimized combination of antibiotics and fever suppression strategies may be a new weapon in the battle against antibiotic resistance.’

Reference: Timo J. B. Van Eldijk, Eleanor A. Sheridan, Guillaume Martin, Franz J. Weissing, Oscar P. Kuipers, G. Sander Van Doorn: Temperature dependence of the mutation rate towards antibiotic resistance/ JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance, 6 June 2024.

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JOURNAL

JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance

DOI

10.1093/jacamr/dlae085 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Temperature dependence of the mutation rate towards antibiotic resistance

 

Vitamin B6: New compound delays degradation

UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG

Vitamin B6 is important for brain metabolism. Accordingly, in various mental illnesses, a low vitamin B6 level is associated with impaired memory and learning abilities, with a depressive mood, and even with genuine depression. In older people, too little vitamin B6 is linked to memory loss and dementia.

Although some of these observations were made decades ago, the exact role of vitamin B6 in mental illness is still largely unclear. What is clear, however, is that an increased intake of vitamin B6 alone, for example in the form of dietary supplements, is insufficient to prevent or treat disorders of brain function.

Publication in eLife

A research team from Würzburg University Medicine has now discovered another way to increase vitamin B6 levels in cells more effectively: namely by specifically inhibiting its intracellular degradation. Antje Gohla, Professor of Biochemical Pharmacology at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), is responsible for this.

Other participants come from the Rudolf Virchow Center for Integrative and Translational Bioimaging at JMU, the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie-FMP Berlin and the Institute for Clinical Neurobiology at Würzburg University Hospital. The team has now published the results of their investigations in the scientific journal eLife.

Enzyme Blockade Improves Learning Ability

"We were already able to show in earlier studies that genetically switching off the vitamin B6-degrading enzyme pyridoxal phosphatase in mice improves the animals' spatial learning and memory capacity," explains Antje Gohla. In order to investigate whether such effects can also be achieved by pharmacological agents, the scientists have now looked for substances that bind and inhibit pyridoxal phosphatase.

With success: "In our experiments, we identified a natural substance that can inhibit pyridoxal phosphatase and thus slow down the degradation of vitamin B6," explains the pharmacologist. The working group was actually able to increase vitamin B6 levels in nerve cells that are involved in learning and memory processes. The name of this natural substance: 7,8-Dihydroxyflavone.

New Approach for Drug Therapy

7,8-Dihydroxyflavone has already been described in numerous other scientific papers as a molecule that can improve learning and memory processes in disease models for mental disorders. The new knowledge of its effect as an inhibitor of pyridoxal phosphatase now opens up new explanations for the effectiveness of this substance. This could improve the mechanistic understanding of mental disorders and represent a new drug approach for the treatment of brain disorders, the scientists write in their study.

The team also considers it a great success that 7,8-Dihydroxyflavone has been identified as an inhibitor of pyridoxal phosphatase for the first time - after all, this class of enzymes is considered to be particularly challenging for drug development.

A Long Way to a Drug

When will people benefit from this discovery? "It's too early to say," explains Marian Brenner, a first author of the study. However, there is much to suggest that it could be beneficial to use vitamin B6 in combination with inhibitors of pyridoxal phosphatase for various mental disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.

In a next step, Gohla and her team now want to develop improved substances that inhibit this enzyme precisely and highly effectively.  Such inhibitors could then be used to specifically test whether increasing cellular vitamin B6 levels is helpful in mental or neurodegenerative diseases.

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JOURNAL

eLife

DOI

10.7554/eLife.93094.3 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

7,8-Dihydroxyflavone is a direct inhibitor of human and murine pyridoxal phosphatase

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Jun-2024

COI STATEMENT

A.G. is a recipient of a research project grant from Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH. This project funding is independent of and has no overlap with the work described in this manuscript

 

An earthquake changed the course of the Ganges. Could it happen again?

A densely populated region could see cascading effects of shaking

Peer-Reviewed Publication

COLUMBIA CLIMATE SCHOOL

 

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THE LOWLANDS OF BANGLADESH ARE IN MANY PLACES AN ELABORATE MIXTURE OF LAND AND WATER THAT SOMETIMES CHANGE PLACES. 

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CREDIT: PHOTO BY STEVE GOODBRED

A major earthquake 2,500 years ago caused one of the largest rivers on Earth to abruptly change course, according to a new study. The previously undocumented quake rerouted the main channel of the Ganges River in what is now densely populated Bangladesh, which remains vulnerable to big quakes. The study was just published in the journal Nature Communications.

Scientists have documented many river-course changes, called avulsions, including some in response to earthquakes. However, “I don’t think we have ever seen such a big one anywhere,” said study coauthor Michael Steckler, a geophysicist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which is part of the Columbia Climate School. It could have easily inundated anyone and anything in the wrong place at the wrong time, he said.

Lead author Liz Chamberlain, an assistant professor at the Netherlands’ Wageningen University, said, “It was not previously confirmed that earthquakes could drive avulsion in deltas, especially for an immense river like the Ganges.”

The Ganges rises in the Himalayas and flows for some 1,600 miles, eventually combining with other major rivers including the Brahmaputra and the Meghna to form a labyrinth of waterways that empty into a wide stretch of the Bay of Bengal spanning Bangladesh and India. Together, they form the world’s second-largest river system as measured by discharge. (The Amazon is first.)

Like other rivers that run through major deltas, the Ganges periodically undergoes minor or major course changes without any help from earthquakes. Sediments washed from upstream settle and build up in the channel, until eventually the river bed grows subtly higher than the surrounding flood plain. At some point, the water breaks through and begins constructing a new path for itself. But this does not generally happen all at once—it may take successive floods over years or decades. An earthquake-related avulsion, on the other hand, can occur more or less instantaneously, said Steckler.

In satellite imagery, the authors of the new study spotted what they say was probably the former main channel of the river, some 100 kilometers south of the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. This is a low-lying area about 1.5 kilometers wide that can be found intermittently for some 100 kilometers more or less parallel to the current river course. Filled with mud, it frequently floods, and is used mainly for rice cultivation.

Chamberlain and other researchers were exploring this area in 2018 when they came across a freshly dug excavation for a pond that had not yet been filled with water. On one flank, they spotted distinct vertical dikes of light-colored sand cutting up through horizontal layers of mud. This is a well-known feature created by earthquakes: In such watery areas, sustained shaking can pressurize buried layers of sand and inject them upward through overlying mud. The result: literal sand volcanoes, which can erupt at the surface. Called seismites, here, they were 30 or 40 centimeters wide, cutting up through 3 or 4 meters of mud.

Further investigation showed the seismites were oriented in a systematic pattern, suggesting they were all created at the same time. Chemical analyses of sand grains and particles of mud showed that the eruptions and the abandonment and infilling of the channel both took place about 2,500 years ago. Furthermore, there was a similar site some 85 kilometers downstream in the old channel that had filled in with mud at the same time. The authors’ conclusion: This was a big, sudden avulsion triggered by an earthquake, estimated to be magnitude 7 or 8.

The quake could have had one of two possible sources, they say. One is a subduction zone to the south and east, where a huge plate of oceanic crust is shoving itself under Bangladesh, Myanmar and northeastern India. Or it could have come from giant splay faults at the foot of the Himalayas to the north, which are slowly rising because the Indian subcontinent is slowly colliding with the rest of Asia. A 2016 study led by Steckler shows that these zones are now building stress, and could produce earthquakes comparable to the one 2,500 years ago. The last one of this size occurred in 1762, producing a deadly tsunami that traveled up the river to Dhaka. Another may have occurred around 1140 CE.

The 2016 study estimates that a modern recurrence of such a quake could affect 140 million people. “Large earthquakes impact large areas and can have long-lasting economic, social and political effects,” said Syed Humayun Akhter, vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Open University and a coauthor on both studies.

The Ganges is not the only river facing such hazards. Others cradled in tectonically active deltas include China’s Yellow River; Myanmar’s Irrawaddy; the Klamath, San Joaquin and Santa Clara rivers, which flow off the U.S. West Coast; and the Jordan, spanning the borders of Syria, Jordan, the Palestinian West Bank and Israel.

Other coauthors of the new study are at the University of Cologne, Germany; the University of Dhaka; Bangladesh University of Professionals; Noakhali Science and Technology University, Bangladesh; and the University of Salzburg, Austria. The research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

A classic sign of a landscape disrupted by an earthquake: a vein of sand that has been pushed up through darker-colored sediments. 

CREDIT

Photo by Liz Chamberlain

More information: Columbia Climate School senior editor, science news kevin Krajick  kkrajick@climate.columbia.edu   +1 917-361-7766

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-024-47786-4 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Cascading hazards of a major Bengal basin earthquake and abrupt avulsion of the Ganges River

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Jun-2024

 

Estimating the energy of past earthquakes from brecciation in a fault zone

TOHOKU UNIVERSITY

 

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THE ICHINOKAWA MINE. AN OUTCROP ALONG THE RIVER RECORDS BRECCIATION BY EARTHQUAKES.

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CREDIT: NORIYOSHI TSUCHIYA

During a 2017 research field trip to the Ichinokawa Mine (Ehime prefecture), which is famous for beautiful, sword-shaped stibnite crystals, Noriyoshi Tsuchiya found something unexpected. Although most would be entranced by the glittering crystals, it was a sedimentary rock bundle called breccia that caught his eye.

"I could not stop thinking about the breccia," Tsuchiya (professor at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, and the Hachinohe National College of Technology) explains, "We visited the mine several times and discovered that the breccia records the traces of earthquakes and provides valuable evidence to estimate the energy of past earthquakes."

In the same way that the number of rings in a tree can tell us its age, the characteristics of rocks such as breccia can tell us about the history of a region. The Ichinokawa breccia are unique in that they can retain a record of the frequent seismic activity that occurs along the Median Tectonic Line (MTL). The MTL is a fault line that extends approximately 1000 kilometres along the southwest region of Japan. This makes the breccia formed in this area to be of particular interest to researchers.

In this study, Tsuchiya and their team assessed fragmented rocks both in the field and in the lab by extracting sections (slices so thin that they allow light to penetrate) from the collected rocks to observe under a microscope. The energy dissipated by the past earthquake was successfully estimated on the basis of statistical and fractal analyses of angular deformation and the powdery texture of rocks from a micro to macro scale.

It was found that the surface energy required to explain the naturally occurring distribution of fractured rocks was considerably greater (about 100 times greater) than the surface energy required from a single impact fracture experiment on a rock performed in the laboratory.

Many factors were assessed in order to calculate the energy and nature of the earthquake. For example, close observation of breccia revealed the formation of carbonates such as CaMg(CO3)2. Since the host rock that broke off did not contain any carbonates, it was deduced that this mineral must have formed after the formation of breccia. They concluded that the earthquake did not occur just once, but repeatedly, and that caused the fine particles to be crushed into even finer particles. Their findings suggest the Ichinokawa breccia were formed by 10-100 earthquakes with a moment magnitude (an index of seismic energy) estimated to be 5.8-8.3 Mw.

Further analysis revealed that the breccia had a very unique pattern of fragmentation (or pulverization). "Previous models designed to explain the earthquake history use a different theory, based primarily on hydrofracturing. However, we adopted a multi-disciplinary approach, so our analysis can be used to propose a new model that takes more factors into account" Tsuchiya adds.

This study, which was a collaboration with the National Institute of Technology and Hachinohe College, may redefine our understanding of the coseismic energy budget in this region.

These findings were published in Scientific Reports on May 27, 2024.

Photo of breccia with wide particle size distribution and in situ fragmentation.

sion of particle size distribution. 

The matrix component and dolomite composition (f) Relative abundance of the matrix. (a-c) The dolomite profile within the matrix shows the variation of Mg and Fe corresponding to five oscillatory zoning under backscattered image (BSE). A thin-section scan with a red-dashed square indicates the areas analyzed for a couple of analyses in this study. 

CREDIT

Noriyoshi Tsuchiya

JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-024-62838-x 

ARTICLE TITLE

Multiscale off-fault brecciation records coseismic energy budget of principal fault zone

 

Public acceptance of adoption and surrogacy methods currently prohibited in UK increases if one or both parents are infertile - study

UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

New research has found that the public is more accepting of adoption and surrogacy if one or both parents are infertile, even when applied to methods of adoption and surrogacy which are currently illegal in the UK.

The interdisciplinary research from the University of Birmingham and the University of Nottingham and published in The Journal of Bioethical Enquiry, has revealed that while the UK public is broadly supportive of all forms of adoption and surrogacy, no matter the circumstances this support increases significantly when one or both parents are infertile.

Dr Evelyn Svingen, Assistant Professor at the University of Birmingham, said: “Surrogacy and adoption are both family-making measures subject to extensive domestic and international regulation, and the UK is one country considering a legal overhaul with the Law Commission setting out its recommendations for reform surrounding surrogacy in March last year. Given the possible changes to the law, we wanted to understand the public attitudes to different forms of adoption and surrogacy.

“Our research found that both the family and fertility circumstances of a couple (that is, their fertility and whether they had children already) and the proposed form of adoption or surrogacy influenced participant attitudes.”

The study set out hypothetical scenarios where a heterosexual couple would like to have a child without going through pregnancy and childbirth. The hypothetical couple had four sets of circumstances:

1. Fertile with children.
2. Fertile without children.
3. One partner infertile.
4. Both partners infertile.

How the couple wanted to have a child was also split into four options:

1. Regular adoption.
2. Using a surrogate mother and sperm/egg from the intending father or mother.
3. Using a surrogate mother and donated sperm and egg (double donor surrogacy).
4. “Clear-cut” planned private adoption.

Currently planned private adoption and double donor surrogacy are legally prohibited in the UK.

1552 UK adults were then asked to what extent they agreed that the couple should be allowed to acquire a child in the proposed way. The researchers measured the variation in public support for different policies and the influence that family circumstances and fertility issues had on the participants' attitudes.

The results showed that in the hypothetical scenarios in which one or both partners in the couple were infertile, participants expressed overwhelming support for most types of adoption and surrogacy. This includes a planned private adoption scenario, in which the fictional couple asks another couple to conceive a child and hand it over to them to raise. In the scenarios where the couple had no fertility issues, support for any use of surrogacy decreased, as did support use of adoption, although by a smaller margin.

The lowest levels of support were shown for clear private adoption scenarios where a couple experiences no fertility issues. Still, even those scenarios received agreement from around half of the participants (47-50%), with the level of support increasing from 69-71% in case of fertility difficulties. Levels of moral agreement also increased for the double donor surrogacy scenario in the presence of infertility, 56-58% for fertile couples and 84-90% for infertile couples.

These results show that most of the public surveyed showed higher levels of support for any policy allowing a couple experiencing infertility to acquire a child, including in the case of the two policies that are prohibited by current U.K.

Dr Teresa Baron, Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham, concluded: “Our study found that the public expressed strong support for the current policy on surrogacy, with 63-65% of the public surveyed supporting the policy in cases of a fertile couple and 87-90% supporting the policy in cases of one of the parents being infertile. We also found that the level of support for any policy, including planned private adoption, currently illegal in the United Kingdom, significantly increases if at least one of the partners experiences fertility-related issues.

“These public attitudes may be something that policymakers want to consider when it comes to any changes in law; however, the law should not always and only seek to reflect public morality. Legal reform may sometimes play an important role in motivating public support for a policy.”

ENDS
​​​​​​

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JOURNAL

Journal of Bioethical Inquiry

DOI

10.1007/s11673-024-10343-1 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

 

Scope for action in the Anthropocene: Leopoldina Conference “Crossing Boundaries in Science” in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology

LEOPOLDINA

Changes to the Earth’s climate, the severe decline in biodiversity, and the intense use of land, water and natural resources show the extent of humanity’s impact on the Earth’s biological, geological and atmospheric processes. Experts are already referring to the Anthropocene, the human epoch. Understanding the complex causes and processes of the Anthropocene and identifying and implementing effective actions are crucial for mitigating the negative effects of these developments. At the Leopoldina’s “Crossing Boundaries in Science” conference, which will take place from Monday 24 June to Wednesday 26 June in Jena/Germany, international scientists will participate in interdisciplinary discussions on causes, consequences and solutions in the Anthropocene. The event is also the opening conference of the new Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology. Symposium “Crossing Boundaries 2024: The Anthropocene – Addressing its challenges for humanity – crossing the boundaries of science” Monday 24 June to Wednesday 26 June 2024 Dorint Hotel Esplanade Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Platz 4, 07743 Jena, Germany, and online Following the opening by Leopoldina President Professor (ETHZ) Dr Gerald Haug, the President of the Max Planck Society Professor Dr Patrick Cramer, Professor Dr Jürgen Renn, Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, and Professor Dr Thomas Lengauer, Emeritus Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Saarbrücken/Germany, the event will focus on humanity’s impact on the Earth system, as well as the question as to how limited knowledge on this subject is. Key figures in the Anthropocene and their scope of action will be introduced and discussed over the next days of the conference. Experts from the natural and social sciences and the humanities will speak about economic, political and social control mechanisms as well as the responsibility of the individual. Speakers will include marine researcher Professor Dr Antje Boetius, biologist Professor Dr Katrin Böhning-Gaese, historian Professor Dr Dipesh Chakrabarty (virtual), system ecologist Professor Dr Johan Rockström, climatologist Professor Dr Jochem Marotzke, chemist and Vice-President of the Leopoldina Professor Dr Robert Schlögl and physicist Professor Dr Ricarda Winkelmann, Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology. As part of the symposium, cultural historian Andrea Wulf will speak about the natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt in a public lecture on Monday evening. The English-language lecture “The Invention of Nature – Alexander von Humboldt’s New World” will begin at 7.30 p.m. at the Volkshaus Jena (Carl-Zeiss-Platz 15). The conference is the third event in the “Crossing Boundaries in Science” (CBiS) series by the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. The objective of the series is to discuss, at an early stage, the research areas which are particularly dependent on interdisciplinary cooperation. This event is open to all interested parties and will also be livestreamed. The conference will take place in English. The complete programme and all information about the livestream can be found at: https://www.leopoldina.org/en/events/event/event/3180/ Journalists who would like to attend should register by email at presse@leopoldina.org. The Leopoldina on X: www.twitter.com/leopoldina About the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina As the German National Academy of Sciences, the Leopoldina provides independent science-based policy advice on matters relevant to society. To this end, the Academy develops interdisciplinary statements based on scientific findings. In these publications, options for action are outlined; making decisions, however, is the responsibility of democratically legitimized politicians. The experts who prepare the statements work in a voluntary and unbiased manner. The Leopoldina represents the German scientific community in the international academy dialogue. This includes advising the annual summits of Heads of State and Government of the G7 and G20 countries. With around 1,700 members from more than 30 countries, the Leopoldina combines expertise from almost all research areas. Founded in 1652, it was appointed the National Academy of Sciences of Germany in 2008. The Leopoldina is committed to the common good.