Archaeologists discover elaborate 1,700-year-old grave of ‘barbarian’ who lived near Roman Empire’s frontier

Man, 60, likely belonged to Alemanni Germanic tribes that played a role in Rome’s downfall

Vishwam Sankaran

THE INDEPENDENT UK
Sept> 4, 2024


Archaeologists have unearthed the grave of a “barbarian” who died on the frontier of the Roman Empire in the fourth century AD.

The man, about 60 years old, was buried 1,700 years ago along with valuable goods such as pottery, glassware, and a small fine-tooth comb.

Researchers found the burial during the construction of homes at the village of Gerstetten, 65km east of Stuttgart in Germany.

The elaborately built grave was enclosed in a wooden chamber and was situated at a prominent, solitary location, they said.

Grave unearthed at Gerstetten village in Germany (Gizem Dakmaz)

The Romans called Germanic tribal people “barbarians”, literally meaning “people who speak differently”, a term they also used for non-Roman people living outside the empire’s territories.

Archaeologists said the man likely belonged to the Alemanni Germanic tribes that lived on the Upper Rhine river.

Germanic barbarians invaded the Western Roman Empire to the south towards the end of the fifth century, causing its downfall.

Archaeologists say it is rare to find graves from this time in the region (ArchaeoBW)

The period from the 4th to 8th centuries was a time of major socioeconomic and cultural transformation in Europe. But not much is known about it in the absence of reliable written accounts.

Researchers inspect a grave belonging to the Germanic Alemanni federation tribe (Gizem Dakmaz)

Archaeological studies of barbarian cemeteries provide valuable insights into this time, called the Migration Period, which laid the foundation of modern European society, but few early German graves have previously been discovered.


Most of the graves uncovered so far are in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg bordering France and Switzerland.

Ceramic vessels unearthed at site (Yvonne Mühleis)

Archeologists said finding more graves would shed further light on this epoch of history.

“The excavation on Bismarckstraße, where the burial was discovered, was completed a week after the tomb was discovered at the beginning of May,” the Stuttgart Regional Council said in a statement.

Small comb found in ‘barbarian’ grave (Yvonne Mühleis/Stuttgart Regional Council)

Two ceramic vessels found at the site have been restored by the State Office for Monument Preservation at the Stuttgart Regional Council.


A rib from the grave, sampled for carbon dating, confirmed that he died between 263 and 342 AD.

In Nepal, a humble edible fern is at heart of human-tiger conflict

Abhaya Raj Joshi
6 Sep 2024

In Kathmandu, fiddlehead ferns, also referred to as niuro locally, are highly prized, especially in the monsoon season when the markets first stock them.

Niuro is also a vital source of income for people in Nepal’s lowlands, especially those close to national parks like Chitwan and Bardiya, where the fern grows abundantly.

News reports of fatalities related to niuro collection frequently highlight the risks involved, as harvesters frequently put their lives in danger to collect more ferns for financial gain.

In order to lessen conflicts between people and wildlife, one piece of advice is to update community forest management plans to incorporate safer methods for gathering wild edibles like niuro and to look into sustainable livelihood options.

See All Key Ideas

KATHMANDU — Tightly coiled fern plants with a distinctive appearance emerge amid the sal tree undergrowth as the monsoon rains fall on Nepal’s fertile floodplains.

Due to its resemblance to the violin scroll, the plant is known as the “fiddle-head fern,” locally called niuro.

Soon, the fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) will travel to different parts of the nation, including Kathmandu, where it will be savored with staple rice and lentils.

Beneath this unassuming vegetable, however, is a tale of complex relationships between people and wildlife, survival and the harsh realities of tigerland life in Nepal.

Niuro is commonly pickled or boiled with potatoes. For the people of Kathmandu, once the market is overflowing with it, it’s just another vegetable. However, niuro is a means of subsistence for those residing in the Terai, particularly landless people who live close to national parks like Chitwan and Bardiya, as it can be sold for a good price and support families.

“It is a delicacy as well as a source of income for the people of the lowlands,” says Birendra Mahato, director at the Tharu Cultural Museum and Research Center in Sauraha, near Chitwan National Park. “People risk their lives to go into the jungle to fetch the plant.”

In protected areas such as Chitwan National Park, it is illegal to harvest this wild fern, found to have antibacterial, antiviral and antioxidant properties. Local harvesters are forced to play cat and mouse with both patrolling soldiers and wild animals like tigers and rhinos because they believe the tastiest niuro grows in these forbidden zones.

It takes courage to go into the jungles and gather niuro. One major threat comes from the dense underbrush, which is home to some of Nepal’s most dangerous predators. Particularly dangerous to anyone who ventures into their territory are tigers.

Rhinos in Chitwan National Park. Image by John Nabelek/OSU via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).

“The time of the day people look for niuro coincides with the tigers’ active period when they move around looking for prey,” explains Jhamak Karki, a former warden at Chitwan National Park. As illegal collectors want to avoid being spotted by security personnel, they have been found going into the jungle either early in the morning or after dusk.

“If a tiger sees a person bending down to cut the fern, it might mistake them for prey, even though humans aren’t its preferred food.”

The risks are increased in the monsoon season when tigers and other animals seek cover in the cooler, marshy parts of the jungle, which are ideal for niuro growth. This raises the possibility of fatal interactions.

Regretfully, these kinds of interactions happen frequently. Almost every monsoon season, news reports surface about tigers killing fern collectors. Aash Bahadur Bote, a 26-year-old man, perished on July 24, 2023, while looking for niuro. A 55-year-old woman in Chitwan suffered a similar fate in June 2022.

“Two years ago, a man died because he wanted more,” recalls Mahato. “He already had 90 bunches of niuro, but he wanted 10 more. The tiger killed him.”

Between 2019 and 2023, 38 people lost their lives in tiger attacks in Nepal. Conservationists claim that people entering known tiger habitats in search of fuel, wood and food — such as niuro — is the primary cause of these deaths.

These incidents highlight the risky nature of collecting niuro and the extreme measures people are willing to take. According to Nepali law, if someone enters a national park without authorization — for instance, to gather niuro — and dies, the government is not required to compensate the departed person’s family.

The financial rewards are undisputed, notwithstanding the dangers. A harvester can make 1,000-1,200 Nepali rupees (about $7.50-$9) in a single day, which is a substantial amount for many families in the area. “I utilize the funds to purchase necessities and send my son to school,” Kumari BK, a 50-year-old niuro collector who gathers the plants from community forests around Chitwan, told Onlinekhabar in 2023.

Fiddle-head fern is found to have antibacterial, antiviral and antioxidant properties. Image by Oskar Gran via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).

The risks connected to niuro collection highlight the need for safer and more environmentally friendly substitutes. In Nepal, a lot of conservation programs concentrate on giving livestock feed and cooking fuel, but they frequently ignore problems relating to wild edibles like niuro.

In order to address the conflict between humans and wildlife, researcher and conservationist Kanchan Thapa says he thinks wild edibles need to receive more attention. The fact that these plants exist in the wild gives them value. Cultivating them in controlled environments would be challenging, he says.

Revision of community forest management plans to incorporate guidelines for the safe gathering of wild edibles is one possible remedy. According to Karki, “The current plans are primarily focused on timber extraction and fodder.” However, they also need to talk about how safe it is for people to gather niuro. To prevent future deaths, this could involve taking steps like traveling in groups, designating precise times for collection and keeping an eye on tiger activity.

Thapa says more successful livelihood initiatives are required, ones that take into consideration the conditions of these communities. “We also need to look into sustainable substitutes for wild edibles that can promote livelihoods without endangering lives.”

Until such solutions are found, the humble niuro will continue to remain at the heart of human-tiger interactions in Nepal.

Banner image: Tightly coiled ferns of Matteuccia struthiopteris. Image by Marc-Lautenbacher via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Citation:

Singla, S., Rana, R., Kumar, S., Thakur, R., & Goyal, S. (2022). Matteuccia struthiopteris (L.) Todaro (fiddlehead fern): An updated review. Bulletin of the National Research Centre, 46(1). doi:10.1186/s42269-022-00822-z

 DO NOT LICK FINGERS WHEN TURNING PAGES


Arsenic and Old Books

Victorian era books had lots of stories about poisoning with arsenic. But some books could also dispense the poison.

Joe Schwarcz PhD | 5 Sep 2024

McGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL


I’ve long been intrigued by the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition in London. The magnificent building was constructed of 60,000 panes of glass, ten times as many as in the windows of the Empire State Building! There were exhibits from around the world that included the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond, a steam-powered printing press, an early prototype of a fax machine and a device that used leeches to predict the weather based on the idea that leeches in a jar of water would rise to the top when a storm was approaching. Then there was a fascinating display of vulcanized rubber by Charles Goodyear and demonstrations by Samuel Colt of his revolver. The Exhibition was championed by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband who was a great promoter of science. The Queen herself toured the exhibits some forty times along with six million other visitors who had the chance to relieve themselves in the first public toilets ever installed. They had to pay a penny for the privilege, not much compared with the entry fee of five shillings that effectively limited attendance to middle-class and aristocratic visitors.

The Exhibition made a huge profit with the funds being subsequently used to build the superb London Science Museum, the Royal Albert Hall and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Prince Albert planned for some of the money to be used for scholarships to encourage early-career scientists to carry out research. This program eventually came to fruition in 1891 with one of the first recipients being future Nobel Laureate Ernest Rutherford who was awarded the scholarship that allowed him to travel from New Zealand to study at the University of Cambridge. Rutherford then went on to establish a spectacular career in physics at McGill University before returning to England.

As much as I would like to read more about the history of the Crystal Palace, I would not pick up an original copy of John Tallis's “History and Description of the Crystal Palace and the Exhibition of the World's Industry in 1851.” Not without gloves anyway. The book, published in 1852, has a beautiful emerald green cloth cover and certainly would have invited thumbing through by Victorians. Some, however, would have paid an unexpected price. Burns and blisters caused by arsenic! But the story gets worse.

In 1775, Swedish pharmacist Carl Wilhelm Scheele had discovered that combining sodium carbonate with arsenious oxide and copper sulfate produces a green pigment, copper arsenite, that came to be known as “Scheele’s green.” It was used to colour wallpaper, textiles, book bindings, wax candles, toys and even candies. This turned out to be disastrous. Arsenic-containing dust particles from wallpaper could be inhaled, but even worse was poisoning by arsine gas (AsH3), dubbed the “green death.” The gas was produced when mold infected the wallpaper and metabolized the pigment. A tragic event underlined the danger of Scheele’s green in 1861 when a nineteen-year-old maid died as a result of dusting artificial flowers dyed with Scheele’s green.

Actually, by this time, Scheele’s green had mostly been replaced by “Paris green,” first formulated in 1814 by German paint manufacturers Wilhelm Sattler and Friedrich Russ who combined copper acetate with arsenic trioxide to yield copper acetoarsenite. They were trying to improve upon Scheele’s green which tended to turn black with age. Paris green wasn’t any better in that regard, but it was a more brilliant green and became popular with artists like Monet, Gaugin and van Gogh who used it extensively in the background for his 1888 self-portrait. Paris green was no less toxic than Scheele’s green, no surprise here since it also contained arsenic. Indeed, the chemical was toxic enough to be used to kill rats in the Paris sewers, which is how it acquired its name. It also became the world’s first chemical insecticide and was used to control termites and the tobacco budworm.

I know that even if I got the chance, I would not handle the Crystal Palace book without gloves, but there are undoubtedly book lovers who are unaware that a poison may be lurking in the beautiful bindings of the Victorian books they seek to acquire. The “Poison Boom Project” at the University of Delaware aims to educate people about the use of arsenic compounds in Victorian books and has put together a database of volumes that are suspected to be tainted with arsenic.

While learning about “toxic books” is captivating, it is a trivial issue when considering possible cases of arsenic poisoning. And we are not talking about deliberate arsenic poisoning either, such as was practiced by the Borgias, perhaps history’s most famous crime family, fond of eliminating enemies with arsenic during the Italian Renaissance. Neither of Giulia Toffana, the 17th century professional poisoner who was happy to provide arsenic-based “Aqua Toffana” to women who wished to dispense with their abusive husbands. The arsenic poisoning that we are talking about is one that affects people drinking water with naturally occurring arsenic leached from the soil. An estimated 140 million people around the world drink such arsenic tainted water. In Bangladesh alone, roughly 43,000 people a year die from arsenic related diseases.

One wonders how many of the visitors at the Crystal Palace Exhibition were wearing apparel dyed with arsenic, and how many of the displays featured posters that attracted the public with the stunning colour of Paris green.

@JoeSchwarcz

‘Remarkable’ fossils offer clues to perplexing pterosaur question

Did these winged giants soar or flap across prehistoric skies?


By Laura Baisas
Posted on Sep 6, 2024 


Pterosaur species Inabtanin alarabia flaps its winds, while Arambourgiania philadelphiae uses them to soar. Terryl Whitlatch

Among the many hot debates in paleontology is just how winged pterosaurs could fly. Some experts speculate that the largest among them may not have even been able to fly at all, similar to present day ostriches and similar dinosaurs.

Now, we are getting new clues into the different ways that pterosaurs got off the ground and into the sky, thanks to some well-preserved specimens. Two different large-bodied pterosaur species, including one that is new-to-science, indicate that some flew by flapping their wings, while others soared more like modern vultures. The findings are detailed in a study published September 6 in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

[Related: We still don’t know how animals evolved to fly.]

“Pterosaurs were the earliest and largest vertebrates to evolve powered flight, but they are the only major volant group that has gone extinct,” study co-author and University of Michigan paleontologist Kierstin Rosenbach said in a statement. “Attempts to-date to understand their flight mechanics have relied on aerodynamic principles and analogy with extant birds and bats.”
Hollow bones

The fossils were first uncovered in 2007 by study co-authors Jeff Wilson Mantilla of Michigan’s Museum of Paleontology and Iyad Zalmout from the Saudi Geological Survey. The “remarkable” specimens date back roughly 72 to 66 million years ago to the Late Cretaceous period.

Over time, they were three-dimensionally preserved within two different sites of what was once the nearshore environment on the margin of Afro-Arabia. This ancient landmass that included both Africa and the Arabian Peninsula that broke apart about 30 to 35 million years ago. Using high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scans, the team analyzed the internal structure of the wing bones.

Skeletal remains of Inabtanin alarabia, including cranial material (bottom of the image), one cervical vertebra (bottom center left) and a nearly complete wing (top). CREDIT: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

“Since pterosaur bones are hollow, they are very fragile and are more likely to be found flattened like a pancake, if they are preserved at all,” Rosenbach said. “With 3D preservation being so rare, we do not have a lot of information about what pterosaur bones look like on the inside, so I wanted to CT scan them.

According to Rosenbach, it was “entirely possible” that nothing was preserved inside the bones or that the scanners the team was using weren’t sensitive enough to differentiate fossil bone tissue from the other material that surrounded it. Fortunately, they were able to see the well-preserved internal wing structures.

[Related: Dinosaur Cove reveals a petite pterosaur species.]
Flapping vs. soaring

One of the collected specimens is of the giant pterosaur, Arambourgiania philadelphiae. The new analysis confirms its roughly 32-foot wingspan and gives the first details of its bone structure. The CT images showed that the interior of its humerus is hollow and has a series of ridges that spiral up and down the bone. This is similar to the interior wing bone of modern day vultures. Scientists believe that these spiral ridges resist the loads associated with soaring. When soaring, birds use sustained powered flight that requires launch and some maintenance flapping.

The other specimen was the newly discovered Inabtanin alarabia, with a roughly 6-foot wingspan. According to the team, Inabtanin is one of the most complete pterosaurs ever recovered from Afro-Arabia

.

The pterosaur species Inabtanin alarabia and Arambourgiania philadelphiae. 

CREDIT: Terryl Whitlatch.


The CT scans showed that its flight bones were built completely differently from that of Arambourgiania. The interior of Inabtanin’s flight bones were crisscrossed with struts that match those found in the wing bones of flapping birds alive today. This indicates that it was adapted to resist the bending loads in the bone associated with flapping flight. It was likely that Inabtanin flew this way, but may have also dabbled in other flight styles.

“The struts found in Inabtanin were cool to see, though not unusual,” said Rosenbach. “The ridges in Arambourgiania were completely unexpected, we weren’t sure what we were seeing at first! “Being able to see the full 3D model of Arambourgiania’s humerus lined with helical ridges was just so exciting.”
Was flapping the default?

The team called the discovery of diverse flight styles in differently-sized pterosaurs “exciting,” as it showcases how these animals might have lived. It also poses some questions, including how flight style is correlated with body size and which flight style is more common among pterosaurs.

“There is such limited information on the internal bone structure of pterosaurs across time, it is difficult to say with certainty which flight style came first,” said Rosenbach.

[Related: We were very wrong about birds.]

In flying vertebrate groups, such as birds and bats, flapping is the most common flight behavior. Birds that soar or glide, also require some wing flapping to get airborne and maintain flight

“This leads me to believe that flapping flight is the default condition, and that the behavior of soaring would perhaps evolve later if it were advantageous for the pterosaur population in a specific environment; in this case the open ocean,” said Rosenbach.

In future studies, scientists could continue to investigate the correlation between a pterosaur’s internal bone structure, their flight capacity, and behavior.

Laura Baisas

Staff writer

Laura is a science news writer, covering a wide variety of subjects, but she is particularly fascinated by all things aquatic, paleontology, nanotechnology,

Better than expected: World's first semi-submersible floating wind farm

By Joe Salas
September 05, 2024

One of three Windfloat Atlantic off-shore floating platforms
Windplus
VIEW GALLERY - 3 IMAGES


The WindFloat Atlantic project – the world's first semi-submersible floating offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Portugal with only three turbines – has exceeded expectations over the last four years of operation, generating a total of 320 GWh of electricity. That's enough to power about 25,000 homes each year.

Fully connected to the grid and commissioned in 2020, the wind farm is made up of three floating platforms with an 8.4-MW Vestas turbine on each. The semi-submerged platforms are anchored to the sea floor – 328 ft (100 m) below the surface – with chains to keep them from floating away and are connected to an electrical substation in Viana do Costelo, Portugal, via a 12.4-mile (20-km) cable.

In 2022, the project produced 78 GWh, while 2023 saw even better figures, making 80 GWh of electricity.

Vestas is known for making huge turbines with high power-generation capacities. The turbines used in the Windfloat Atlantic project have a diameter of 538 ft (164 m), with the blade tips whipping around as fast as 232 mph (373 km/h), kicking out a modest 66,000 volts DC. The nacelle alone weighs 375 tons (340 tonnes), making it the world's largest offshore wind turbine.


A closer look at the Windfloat Atlantic semi-submersible platform, with people for scale
Windplus

Semi-submersible floating wind farms offer the unique advantage of being able to be placed in waters that are too deep for traditional bottom-fixed turbines, which are only feasible for waters about 150-200 ft (50-60 m) deep. And as you get further from shore, winds tend to be stronger and more consistent, making the turbines more efficient at harnessing wind power than their land-based counterparts. Given the partially submerged, three-pronged nature of the platforms with active ballast systems, they are more stable in rougher seas, also upping their efficiency.

Windfloat Atlantic project semi-submersible platform compared to the Torre dos Clerigos tower, which stands at 246 ft (75 m) tall. Miniscule, compared to the 679 ft (207 m) turbine

Windplus

Between 2011 and 2016, the Windfloat Atlantic project put a 2-MW prototype out to sea where it generated electricity for five uninterrupted years, even having survived through extreme weather conditions like 69 mph (111 km/h) winds and 55-ft (17-m) waves unscathed, paving the way for its full-scale 25-MW installation.

In 2023, the Windfloat Atlantic survived a particularly bad storm with 86-mph (139-km/h) winds and 65-ft (20-m) waves, proving how robust the off-shore electricity-generating system is.

Source: Windfloat Atlantic

 Generative AI in Academia: Balancing Innovation with Ethics

By Muhammad OsamaReviewed by Joel ScanlonSep 5 2024

Could universities be compromising their ethical standards and academic integrity by adopting AI tools without fully addressing the potential risks and moral dilemmas?

Research Article: Generative Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Why the 'Banning Approach' to Student use is Sometimes Morally Justified. Image Credit: MMD Creative / Shutterstock

An article recently published in the journal Philosophy & Technology comprehensively explored the implications of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in higher education, highlighting debates on their responsible use in academic settings. The author, Karl de Fine Licht of Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, examined the benefits and drawbacks of integrating generative AI tools, such as chat generative pre-trained transformer (ChatGPT), Gemini, and GitHub Copilot, into university curricula, with a focus on the broader ethical implications, such as student privacy and environmental impact, and emphasized the importance of a balanced, philosophically-grounded approach to AI adoption.

Background

Generative AI tools have transformed interactions with technology by enabling machines to learn from large amounts of data and generate human-like text, code, images, and other content. These tools have rapidly gained popularity due to their potential to assist with research, writing, programming, and problem-solving.

In higher education, they can potentially improve student learning outcomes and enhance academic productivity. However, their use has raised concerns about academic integrity, bias, cost, digital divides, and overreliance on technology. These concerns underscore the need for research on the impact of generative AI on academic integrity, student learning, and the evolving role of educators.

About the Research

The paper presents a detailed analysis of the ethical considerations and practical challenges of using generative AI tools in higher education. The authors used a bottom-up approach to philosophical inquiry, employing reflective equilibrium to balance specific cases with broader ethical principles. They argued that universities could justifiably ban generative AI tools under certain conditions: (a) collective support from faculty, students, and administration after a fair process and (b) limited resources. This argument is grounded in the moral responsibility of universities to avoid participating in processes that may be ethically questionable, such as those that harm the environment or compromise student privacy.

The study highlighted the risks and benefits of these tools and advocated for a "banning approach" in cases where universities lack resources and ethical concerns arise. It emphasized that banning these tools is not just about control but about maintaining academic integrity and upholding the values of higher education.

Key Findings

This work identified several key concerns about the unrestricted use of generative AI tools in higher education. One major ethical concern is the potential for these tools to foster dependency, where students may rely excessively on AI, leading to a degradation of critical thinking skills. It argued that these tools could lead to an overreliance on technology, weaken students' critical thinking skills, and promote superficial engagement with learning materials.

The study also noted the risk of educational inequality, where students with access to advanced AI tools might outperform peers who lack such resources. Additionally, the authors highlighted the significant environmental impact of generative AI, particularly the high energy consumption needed to train large language models (LLMs), and argued that universities have a moral obligation to consider these impacts.

The high energy consumption of training large language models poses a significant environmental impact, raising questions about the sustainability of widespread AI use in education.

Furthermore, the research acknowledged the potential benefits of generative AI, such as improved learning outcomes and increased productivity. However, it argued these benefits are often overstated and may not outweigh the risks. The paper emphasizes the importance of understanding the broader ethical implications, including the risk of contributing to morally adverse processes, such as data exploitation by AI companies.

While AI tools can be helpful for specific tasks, they can also diminish the quality of student work when overused, as students may rely on AI-generated content without fully understanding the underlying concepts. This reliance can hinder the development of critical thinking skills and the ability to analyze information and synthesize complex ideas.

Applications

The research has important implications for policy and guideline development regarding the use of generative AI tools in higher education. The researchers support a balanced approach that considers both these technologies' potential benefits and risks. They argue that universities should engage in ongoing ethical reflection, taking into account the dynamic nature of real-world problems and the evolving role of AI in society. They suggest that universities focus on creating educational resources and training programs for faculty to ensure the responsible and effective integration of AI tools into the curriculum.

Conclusion

In summary, the study critically examined the implications of generative AI tools in higher education, outlining the potential risks and benefits. While recognizing the potential advantages, the authors argued that, under certain conditions, universities are justified in banning students' use of generative AI tools due to significant ethical concerns, including environmental impact and data privacy. The paper emphasized the need for educators to recognize these tools' biases and limitations and to develop strategies that align with the ethical values of higher education.

Their findings have significant implications for developing boundaries for AI use in higher education and highlight the need for ongoing research into the impact of these technologies on academic integrity, student learning, and the role of educators. Ultimately, the authors call for a more cautious and ethically informed approach to AI integration, prioritizing students' well-being and educational institutions' moral responsibilities.

Journal reference:

• de Fine Licht, K. Generative Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Why the 'Banning Approach' to Student use is Sometimes Morally Justified. Philos. Technol. 37, 113 (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s13347-024-00799-9, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-024-00799-9
• 
  
• 

Written by

Muhammad Osama

Muhammad Osama is a full-time data analytics consultant and freelance technical writer based in Delhi, India. He specializes in transforming complex technical concepts into accessible content. He has a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering with specialization in AI & Robotics from Galgotias University, India, and he has extensive experience in technical content writing, data science and analytics, and artificial intelligence.

AUSTRALIA

The government says more people need to use AI. Here’s why that’s wrong

THE CONVERSATION
Published: September 5, 2024 

The Australian government this week released voluntary artificial intelligence (AI) safety standards, alongside a proposals paper calling for greater regulation of the use of the fast-growing technology in high-risk situations.

The take-home message from federal Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic, was:


We need more people to use AI and to do that we need to build trust.

But why exactly do people need to trust this technology? And why exactly do more people need to use it?

AI systems are trained on incomprehensibly large data sets using advanced mathematics most people don’t understand. They produce results we have no way of verifying. Even flagship, state-of-the-art systems produce output riddled with errors.

ChatGPT appears to be growing less accurate over time. Even at its best it can’t tell you what letters are in the word “strawberry”. Meanwhile, Google’s Gemini chatbot has recommended putting glue on pizza, among other comical failures.

Given all this, public distrust of AI seems entirely reasonable. The case for using more of it seems quite weak – and also potentially dangerous.

Federal Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic wants more people to use AI. Mick Tsikas/AAP

AI risks

Much has been made of the “existential threat” of AI, and how it will lead to job losses. The harms AI presents range from the overt – such as autonomous vehicles that hit pedestrians – to the more subtle, such as AI recruitment systems that demonstrate bias against women or AI legal system tools with a bias against people of colour.

Other harms include fraud from deepfakes of coworkers and of loved ones.

Never mind that the federal government’s own recent reporting showed humans are more effective, efficient and productive than AI.

But if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Technology adoption still falls into this familiar trope. AI is not always the best tool for the job. But when faced with an exciting new technology, we often use it without considering if we should.

Instead of encouraging more people to use AI, we should all learn what is a good, and not good, use of AI.
Is it the technology we need to trust – or the government?

Just what does the Australian government get from more people using AI?

One of the largest risks is the leaking of private data. These tools are collecting our private information, our intellectual property and our thoughts on a scale we have never before seen.

Much of this data, in the case of ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Otter.ai and other AI models, is not processed onshore in Australia.

These companies preach transparency, privacy and security. But it is often hard to uncover if your data is used for training their newer models, how they secure it, or what other organisations or governments have access to that data.


Recently, federal Minister for Government Services, Bill Shorten, presented the government’s proposed Trust Exchange program, which raised concerns about the collection of even more data about Australian citizens. In his speech to the National Press Club, Shorten openly noted the support from large technology companies, including Google.

If data about Australians was to be collated across different technology platforms, including AI, we could see widespread mass surveillance.

But even more worryingly, we have observed the power of technology to influence politics and behaviour.

Automation bias is the terminology we use for the tendency for users to believe the technology is “smarter” then they are. Too much trust in AI poses even more risk to Australians – by encouraging more use of technology without adequate education, we could be subjecting our population to a comprehensive system of automated surveillance and control.

And although you might be able to escape this system, it would undermine social trust and cohesion and influence people without them knowing.

These factors are even more reason to regulate the use of AI, as the Australian government is now looking to do. But doing so does not have to be accompanied by a forceful encouragement to also use it.

Let’s dial down the blind hype

The topic of AI regulation is important.

The International Organisation for Standardisation has established a standard on the use and management of AI systems. Its implementation in Australia would lead to better, more well-reasoned and regulated use of AI.

This standard and others are the foundation of the government’s proposed Voluntary AI Safety standard.

What was problematic in this week’s announcement from the federal government was not the call for greater regulation, but the blind hyping of AI use.

Let’s focus on protecting Australians – not on mandating their need to use, and trust, AI.

Author

Erica Mealy
Lecturer in Computer Science, University of the Sunshine Coast

Disclosure statement
Erica Mealy is a member of the Board of Directors of not-for-profit digital rights organisation Electronic Frontiers Australia. She is is also member of the Australian Computer Society, the Australian Information Security Association, and the International Association for Public participation (IAP2).

New dementia research highlights deprivation as major reason Māori and Pacific people more at risk

By Melissa Nightingale
Senior Reporter, NZ Herald - Wellington·NZ Herald·
5 Sep, 2024 


People in the most deprived areas are 60% more at risk of developing dementia
Māori and Pacific people have a higher prevalence of dementia, which researchers say is not due to ethnicity, but disadvantage
Only half of Māori and Pacific dementia sufferers receive diagnoses, often at late disease stages

People living in New Zealand’s most deprived areas are 60% more at risk of developing dementia than those in the least deprived areas - and Māori and Pacific people are taking the brunt of the risk.

New research from the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland shows social disadvantage is a factor fuelling the country’s soaring rates of dementia.

The findings indicate Māori and Pacific people are not at more risk of dementia due to their ethnicity as such, but because they are overrepresented in areas of deprivation.

Risk factors for dementia 'cluster around social deprivation'. Photo / 123RF

These figures are exacerbated by poor rates of diagnoses for these groups, and a lack of tailored support for patients and their whānau.

“I think, at every step of the health system, Māori and Pacific people are drawing the short straw,” said Dr Etuini Ma’u, who co-authored the study with Sarah Cullum and Gary Cheung.

He said this new research shifted the blame away from ethnicity alone, but the way Kiwis and the Government look at dementia needed to change.

“One of the issues is that you look at some of the risk factors for dementia and you say ‘this is personal responsibility, these are behaviours and lifestyles that people have chosen to engage in’,” he said.

“I think we need to shift the entire focus and say ‘these are risk factors that cluster around social deprivation’.”


The Lancet Commission Report 2024 found there are 14 risk factors which, if eliminated completely, would prevent or delay 45% of dementia cases worldwide. The risk factors are:

Early life
Less education

Mid life
Hearing loss
High LDL cholesterol
Depression
Traumatic brain injury
Physical inactivity
Diabetes
Smoking
Hypertension
Obesity
Excessive alcohol

Later life
Social isolation
Air pollution
Visual loss

Ma’u said most of these factors could be connected to poverty, noting a recent study showed, for example, there were about seven times more vape shops in the most socioeconomically deprived areas in New Zealand. He said in Auckland social-deprived areas were closer to main roads and motorways, which contributed to poor air quality.

“We are being let down by a system that continues to foster inequities,” he said.

Despite having a higher prevalence of dementia, only half of Māori and Pacific people with the condition receive a diagnosis, and more than half of these people only get diagnosed once they are at a moderate to severe stage of their disease.

This meant there were families and communities caring for people with dementia without any access to funded supports.

“Even those who get a diagnosis, we know that many of them don’t even use the supports that are on offer.”

This was because the supports were not tailored to the communities that needed them.

Focusing on a “whole of Government” move to addressing dementia, rather than putting so much of the onus on an individual’s behaviours, meant policies could be put in place tackling the food, tobacco and alcohol industries that people in deprived areas were more strongly targeted by.

Forty per cent of Māori and Pacific people live in the lowest two deciles in New Zealand, and these groups were also between 45% and 80% more at risk of developing dementia than Pākehā.

“We know the number of people living with dementia in NZ is expected to double in the next 20 years and triple in the same period for Māori and Pacific peoples,” Ma’u said.

“We know the 14 risk factors for the disease as outlined in the recently-released Lancet Commission Report and we know good policy can change that trajectory.”

Recent estimates indicate reducing 12 of the 14 risk factors in NZ by just 10% could result in 3000 fewer people with dementia, Ma’u said.

“Most risk factors build up across a lifetime. It is their incremental and cumulative damage to the brain that eventually leads to dementia. This shows the importance of promoting brain health in early life and midlife, even when the immediate dementia risk is deemed to be low.”

Other possible changes to areas of social deprivation included more green spaces and cycleways, creating facilities people were encouraged to use that could increase healthy habits.

“I think we can do a lot to prevent dementia. I think we really need to relook at the way we’re targeting it and I think we really need to be looking at these much more broad population level legislations and policies that increase our ability to live a healthy lifestyle.”

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.

Hitchhiking cane toads travelling to Southern Australia pose threat to biosecurity

by Elsie Adamo and Selina Green
ABC Rural



Hitchhiking cane toads have been spotted in regional areas as well as major cities. (ABC News: Mitchell Denman Woolnough)

In short:

A cane toad recently hitchhiked into Adelaide and was spotted in a city park.

While not traditionally suited to a southern climate, climate change could contribute to populations establishing in new areas.

What's next?

Work is being done to help prepare for any future outbreaks.

Southerners are being asked to keep an eye out for hitchhiking cane toads before they get a chance to establish new populations.

The call comes after a cane toad was captured last week near a university campus in the centre of Adelaide.

The invasive species is unfortunately a common sight further north in Queensland but not so common in southern Australia.

So how do cane toads end up in Adelaide? They hitch a ride.
Spotting a toad down south

South Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regions senior biosecurity officer Kate Fielder said about 40 cane toad sightings were reported in the state each year.

Cane toads have been transported across the country in trucks, cars and even luggage. (Supplied: Cathy Zwick)

Of those, two to three are found to be real cane toads.

"Most of the time they are cane toads that have hitched a ride from interstate or overseas," Ms Fielder said.

"Thankfully we do have a lot of vigilant members of the public here and they are always keeping an eye out.

"We know cane toads are one of the worst pests in Australia and we certainly don't want them to get here."
Preparing for an outbreak

Even though there are no established cane toad populations in South Australia, work is being done to prepare for any potential incursions or outbreaks which may occur in the future.

"We've got traps which draw in cane toads using vocalisation," Ms Fielder said.


"And we are looking to get into the use of AI [artificial intelligence] to detect cane toads vocalisation in the wild.

"So a little monitor will sit out in the wild and alert us if it hears a cane toad."


Cane toads were introduced into Australia in the 1930s. (ABC Kimberley: Ted O'Connor)

Invasive Species Council conservation and biosecurity analyst, Lyall Grieve, said he was not surprised cane toads were found in South Australia.

"They're extremely good at hitchhiking," he said.

"It only takes a few of them to start a population."

While the species did not naturally do well in the South Australian climate, he said they were still a threat.
The 'waterless barrier' that could stop cane toads invading the Pilbara

Photo shows A cane toad on a rock lit by a flash, in the background a pink sky and a boab tree silhouette

A bevy of small mammals and lizards could find themselves on the endangered species list if cane toads got into the Pilbara. A bold plan could prevent the biodiversity disaster.

"With climate change we're getting some warmer winters, we're getting warmer temperatures, we're getting extreme weather events like flooding," Mr Grieve said.

"All of those things will lead to a situation where cane toads could actually establish further south."

He said while the risk of established populations in South Australia was not immediate, one female could lay two clutches of up to 35,000 eggs a year so no chances could be taken.

"We don't want people to be to be worried or to be afraid that they're suddenly going to be overwhelmed by cane toads," Mr Grieve said.

"They're very good survivors, they're very good at rapidly filling an environment and over competing all the native frogs and reptiles.


"It really wouldn't take long, maybe a couple of years to establish a reproducing population."

Identifying cane toads

Anyone who believes they have spotted a cane toad should contact the Australian Pest Alert Hotline and not attempt to kill any the animal themselves.

Cane toads were introduced to control pest beetles in Queensland's sugar cane crops. (ABC News: Alex Hyman)

"In other parts of Australia there's been a lot of sad cases of misidentification," Mr Grieve said.

"Well-meaning people think they're found a terrible pest … unfortunately there's a lot of native frogs that do look a bit similar."

 Harnessing bacteriophages as targeted treatments for drug-resistant bacteria

Sep 5 2024

As antibiotic resistance becomes an increasingly serious threat to our health, the scientific and medical communities are searching for new medicines to fight infections. Researchers at Gladstone Institutes have just moved closer to that goal with a novel technique for harnessing the power of bacteriophages.

Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are viruses that naturally take over and kill bacteria. Thousands of phages exist, but using them as treatments to fight specific bacteria has so far proven to be challenging. To optimize phage therapy and make it scalable to human disease, scientists need ways to engineer phages into efficient bacteria-killing machines. This would also offer an alternative way to treat bacterial infections that are resistant to standard antibiotics.

Now, Gladstone scientists have developed a technology that lets them edit the genomes of phages in a streamlined and highly effective way, giving them the ability to engineer new phages and study how the viruses can be used to target specific bacteria.

"Ultimately, if we want to use phages to save the lives of people with infections that are resistant to multiple drugs, we need a way to make and test lots of phage variants to find the best ones," says Gladstone Associate Investigator Seth Shipman, PhD, the lead author of a study published in Nature Biotechnology. "This new technique lets us successfully and rapidly introduce different edits to the phage genome so we can create numerous variants."

The new approach relies on molecules called retrons, which originate from bacterial immune systems and act like DNA-production factories inside bacterial cells. Shipman's team has found ways to program retrons so they make copies of a desired DNA sequence. When phages infect a bacterial colony containing retrons, using the technique described in the team's new study, the phages integrate the retron-produced DNA sequences into their own genomes.

The enemy of your enemy

Unlike antibiotics, which broadly kill many types of bacteria at once, phages are highly specific for individual strains of bacteria. As rates of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections rise-;with an estimated 2.8 million such infections in the United States each year-;researchers are increasingly looking at the potential of phage therapy as an alternative to combat these infections.

"They say that the enemy of your enemy is your friend," says Shipman, who is also an associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at UCSF, as well as a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator. "Our enemies are these pathogenic bacteria, and their enemies are phages."

Already, phages have been successfully used in the clinic to treat a small number of patients with life-threatening antibiotic-resistant infections, but developing the therapies has been complex, time-consuming, and difficult to replicate at scale. Doctors must screen collections of naturally-occurring phages to test whether any could work against the specific bacteria isolated from an individual patient.

Shipman's group wanted to find a way to modify phage genomes to create larger collections of phages that can be screened for therapeutic use, as well as to collect data on what makes some phages more effective or what makes them more or less specific to bacterial targets.

"As the natural predators of bacteria, phages play an important role in shaping microbial communities," says Chloe Fishman, a former research associate at Gladstone and co-first author of the new study, now pursuing her graduate degree at Rockefeller University. "It's important to have tools to modify their genomes in order to better study them. It's also important if we want to engineer them so that we can shape microbial communities to our benefit-;to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria, for example."

Continuous phage editing

To precisely engineer phage genomes, the scientists turned to retrons. In recent years, Shipman and his group pioneered the development and use of retrons to edit the DNA of human cells, yeast, and other organisms.

Shipman and his colleagues began by creating retrons that produce DNA sequences specifically designed to edit invading phages-;a system the team dubbed "recombitrons." Then, they put those retrons into colonies of bacteria. Finally, they let phages infect the bacterial colonies. As the phages infected bacteria after bacteria, they continuously acquired and integrated the new DNA from the recombitrons, editing their own genome as they went along.

The research team showed that the longer they let phages infect a recombitron-containing bacterial colony, the greater the number of phage genomes were edited. Moreover, the researchers could program different bacteria within the colony with different recombitrons, and the phages would acquire multiple edits as they infected the colony.

As a phage is bouncing from bacterium to bacterium, it picks up different edits. Making multiple edits in phages is something that was previously incredibly hard to do; so much so that, most of the time, scientists simply didn't do it. Now, you basically throw some phages into these cultures, wait a while, and get your multiple-edited phages."

Seth Shipman, PhD, lead author

A platform to screen phages

If scientists already knew exactly what edits they wanted to make to a given phage to optimize its therapeutic potential, the new platform would let them easily and effectively carry out those edits. However, before researchers can predict the consequence of a genetic change, they first need to better understand what makes phages work and how variations to their genomes impact their effectiveness. The recombitron system helps makes progress here, too.

If multiple recombitrons are put into a bacterial colony, and phages are allowed to infect the colony for only a short time, different phages will acquire different combinations of edits. Such diverse collections of phages could then be compared.

"Scientists now have a way to edit multiple genes at once if they want to study how these genes interact or introduce modifications that could make the phage a more potent bacterial killer," says Kate Crawford, a graduate student in the Shipman lab and co-first author of the new study.

Shipman's team is working on increasing the number of different recombitrons that can be put into a single bacterial colony-;and then passed along to phages. They expect that eventually, millions of combinations of edits could be introduced to phages to make huge screening libraries.

"We want to scale this high enough, with enough phage variants, that we can start to predict which phage variants will work against what bacterial infections," says Shipman.

Source:

Gladstone Institutes

Journal reference:

Fishman, C. B., et al. (2024). Continuous multiplexed phage genome editing using recombitrons. Nature Biotechnology. doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02370-5.