Alcohol-related deaths in the US more than double from 1999 to 2020

Researchers explore overall trends as well as by age, gender, race and region

Florida Atlantic University

 

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The sharpest spike occurred among 25–34-year-olds (nearly fourfold), while individuals aged 55–64 had the highest rates. Men consistently had higher rates but women saw the largest proportional rise, with deaths increasing 2.5 times.

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Credit: Florida Atlantic University

In the United States and globally, alcohol consumption is a major cause of preventable death and disability and increases liver disease, mental health disorders and accidents.

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine explored U.S. trends in alcohol-related deaths from 1999 to 2020 overall as well as by age, gender, race and region, using the publicly available U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER).

Results of the clinical research study, published in The American Journal of Medicine, reveal that alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. have surged dramatically in the last two decades, with the mortality rate nearly doubling from 10.7 per 100,000 in 1999 to 21.6 per 100,000 in 2020. The total number of alcohol-related deaths soared from 19,356 to 48,870, a dramatic twofold increase. Every age group has suffered increases, with the most alarming spike – nearly fourfold – in those aged 25 to 34.

The 85 and older age group saw a possible but nonsignificant increase. Additionally, individuals aged 55-64 had both the steepest rise in mortality and the highest absolute rates in both 1999 and 2020. Both men and women experienced significant increases in alcohol-related deaths, but men had the highest rates in both years and saw the steepest increase overall. Women, however, saw the largest proportional rise, with deaths increasing from 4.8 per 100,000 in 1999 to 12 in 2020.

Deaths in women increased two-and-a-half times, while Asian and Pacific Islander communities experienced the steepest rise of 2.4 times. Regionally, the Midwest experienced the greatest jump, with an increase of 2.5 times in alcohol-related mortality, followed by the Northeast, West and South.

 “Our study found significant gender differences in alcohol-related mortality. While men had higher overall death rates, women experienced a larger relative increase, which may reflect changing social norms and the alcohol industry’s increased targeting of women through marketing campaigns,” said Panagiota “Yiota” Kitsantas, Ph.D., senior and corresponding author and professor and chair of the Department of Population Health and Social Medicine, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine. “As alcohol consumption among women has grown, so have the associated risks. Women appear to be more vulnerable to alcohol’s harmful effects due, possibly, to differences in body composition and metabolism, leading to higher blood alcohol concentrations. Moreover, mental health issues like depression and anxiety, already more common in women, can be worsened by alcohol use.”

Findings from the study highlight significant clinical and public health challenges that may benefit from targeted interventions. Risk factors such as obesity, diabetes and liver damage complicate these challenges, accelerating alcohol-related mortality. Gender, demographic and regional differences should also guide health care strategies.

“Addressing these factors through tailored interventions could help combat the growing U.S. alcohol mortality epidemic,” said Kitsantas.

Additionally, findings from the study generate testable hypotheses for future research, which combined with further basic studies, will enable more informed clinical decisions and public health policies. In the meantime, the data suggest actionable solutions for health care providers and public health officials at all levels.

“Health care providers should recognize that heavy alcohol use is a leading risk factor for total mortality and cardiovascular disease, especially heart attacks and stroke,” said Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., FACPM, co-author, the first Sir Richard Doll Professor of Medicine and Preventive Medicine in the departments of medicine and population health and social medicine, and senior academic advisor, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine. “To mitigate these risks, screening for alcohol use in primary care settings is essential. Coexisting conditions like overweight and obesity can accelerate liver damage, which may in turn lead to earlier onset of cirrhosis and liver cancer. The U.S. has the highest rates of overweight and obesity in the world and low levels of daily physical activity. The deleterious interaction of these factors may contribute to the observed trends in alcohol-related mortality, particularly in younger adults.”

Alcohol consumption varies significantly by region worldwide and in the U.S. According to 2019 data, Latvia had the highest annual per capita consumption at 13.2 liters, followed by France at 12.2 and the U.S. at 10. Descriptive data on mortality reveal complex links between alcohol use and premature deaths. Latvia, for example, leads in alcohol consumption and ranks third in total deaths, while France, despite high alcohol consumption, has low cardiovascular mortality but high rates of cirrhosis and liver cancer. In contrast, Russian men have high alcohol consumption and an elevated rate of cardiovascular mortality. These patterns illustrate the complex interrelationships of alcohol consumption, premature death and disease, regardless of the beverage type.

“Both globally and in the U.S., high levels of alcohol consumption are closely linked to premature deaths and disability,” said Hennekens. “The difference between consuming small amounts of alcohol daily and larger amounts could be the difference between preventing and causing premature death. One immediate effect of alcohol is liver damage, and in the U.S., the rising rates of obesity and diabetes also contribute to early liver damage.”

The authors say health care providers should be aware that in the U.S. as well as most populations throughout the world, individuals who consume large amounts of alcohol tend to have the highest risks of mortality as well as deaths from cardiovascular disease, which are predominantly due to heart attacks and stroke.

Co-authors are Alexandra Matarazzo, first author and a second-year FAU medical student; John Dunn, a second-year FAU medical student; Katerina Benson, a third-year premedical student at FAU; Yanna Willett, a third-year premedical student at Virginia Tech; Robert S. Levine, M.D., FACPM, an affiliate professor of family medicine, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine; and Maria C. Mejia, M.D., a professor, Department of Population Health and Social Medicine, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine.

- FAU -

About the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine:

FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine is one of approximately 157 accredited medical schools in the U.S. The college was launched in 2010, when the Florida Board of Governors made a landmark decision authorizing FAU to award the M.D. degree. After receiving approval from the Florida legislature and the governor, it became the 134th allopathic medical school in North America. With more than 70 full and part-time faculty and more than 1,300 affiliate faculty, the college matriculates 64 medical students each year and has been nationally recognized for its innovative curriculum. To further FAU’s commitment to increase much needed medical residency positions in Palm Beach County and to ensure that the region will continue to have an adequate and well-trained physician workforce, the FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Consortium for Graduate Medical Education (GME) was formed in fall 2011 with five leading hospitals in Palm Beach County. The Consortium currently has five Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited residencies including internal medicine, surgery, emergency medicine, psychiatry, and neurology.

 

About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses located along the southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the University has doubled its research expenditures and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates. Through the coexistence of access and excellence, FAU embodies an innovative model where traditional achievement gaps vanish. FAU is designated a Hispanic-serving institution, ranked as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report and a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.

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Journal

The American Journal of Medicine

DOI

10.1016/j.amjmed.2024.10.024 

Method of Research

Meta-analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

ew Clinical and Public Health Challenges: Increasing Trends in United States Alcohol Related Mortality

Article Publication Date

15-Nov-2024

 

This year’s dazzling aurora produced a spectacular display… of citizen science

Research Organization of Information and Systems

 

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a) Aurora photos taken from Aomori, b) from Hokkaido, c) from Chubu, and d) from Tohoku, Japan

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Credit: a) 🄫KAGAYA b) ~d) @Courtesy of a citizen scientists

Citizen scientists in Japan enabled researchers to learn why May 2024’s aurora appeared a magenta color over the country. This effort in extending research beyond academies and laboratories has greater consequence for humanity than explaining pretty lights

Around the world, the historic geomagnetic superstorm of late spring 2024 inspired millions of non-scientists around the world—many armed with highly sensitive smartphone cameras—to take a fantastic, unprecedented number of images of the aurora it produced.

In Japan, this widespread popular uptake of what is now quite advanced imaging technology (even if it is kept in everyone’s pocket) proved to be a tremendous boon for atmospheric physicists and other scientists specializing in “space weather.” It allowed them to discover why the Northern Lights over Japan appeared as a mysterious magenta color this time instead of the typical red that is observed when aurorae are visible over that country.

The researchers describe both their findings and what could be a model for the organization of future “citizen-science” operations in the journal Scientific Reports on October 28.

In early May this year, one of the most extreme geomagnetic storms in the history of recording such events hit the Earth’s atmosphere. This great ‘storm’ in space, composed of ionized particles, is what produces the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, in the northern hemisphere and the aurora australis, or Southern Lights, in the southern hemisphere.

This time, however, the storm was so strong—the ninth most severe storm in the 110-year history of Japan’s Kakioka Magnetic Observatory, one of the oldest geomagnetic stations in the world—that the polar lights could be photographed at much lower latitudes than normal.

In Japan, space weather researchers took advantage of ordinary people taking pictures of the aurora with their smartphones to organize one of the densest citizen science observation efforts anywhere, despite being a low-latitude country where the aurora was somewhat fainter than in places like Canada or northern Europe.

The different colors of an aurora come from the emission of light from different atoms and molecules in the atmosphere when they are bombarded by the particles from space. The dramatic green hue seen in many photographs of the polar lights comes of atomic oxygen (single atoms of oxygen rather than molecular oxygen, or two oxygen atoms bound together) at the lower altitudes within the atmosphere that are visible to people. (The human eye is also just very sensitive to this color). At even lower altitudes, where atomic oxygen is less common, blue is more visible, and this comes from the greater presence of nitrogen.

At the very highest altitudes in the atmosphere, however, there is a lower concentration of atoms of any kind. The fewer collisions there result in a perception by humans of the excited atomic oxygen atoms as the color red. This is why the upper parts of the aurora curtains can appear as green fading into a scarlet hue.

At low latitudes as in Japan, normally there is no green at all, only red because only the upper part of the aurora can be seen above the horizon.

“Yet this time, weirdly, the images revealed a very clear and dominant magenta hue to the aurora ‘curtains’ over Japan, not red,” said Ryuho Kataoka, the lead author of the study and a specialist in extreme space weather.

To solve the mystery, the researchers quickly took to social media to encourage people to observe and report their sightings of the auroras, as well as to input data into a questionnaire asking about observation locations, time, elevation angles and other details, allowing researchers to analyze the auroras' characteristics in unprecedented detail.

The effort resulted in an impressive 775 grassroots submissions, which the researchers then combined with satellite observations and advanced modeling techniques to explore the conditions that had led to the magenta aurora.

The elevation data from these citizen scientists proved to be particularly useful. The researchers used elevation angles to calculate the position of the aurora over time, and found that it was often a surprisingly high altitude of roughly 1000 km above sea level—which should thus drive a red appearance. But on top of this, the time and season of year meant the atmosphere was more “preheated” ahead of the aurora, in turn driving an upwelling of ionized molecular nitrogen—what is usually responsible for a blue hue.

“Blue plus red makes us see magenta,” added Professor Kataoka. “And the magenta was made all the more visible and vibrant by the sheer volume of solar activity, even though, ironically, the preheating would also have worked to reduce the peak brightness of the aurora.”

Better understanding of magnetic storms goes beyond explaining why humans see the pretty colors of aurorae; these storms can have profound, negative impacts on satellite operations, GPS systems, power grids and even the safety of passengers and crews aboard high-altitude flights.

And so ahead of the next magnetic storm, the researchers want to take an even more coordinated approach to citizen science and spread their efforts further afield. This particular study was limited to Japan and used only the Japanese language, representing something of a proof of concept.

But by using automated translation of their questionnaires and social media posts into local languages around the world, the researchers feel that they will be able to produce a global replication of this effort, with the ultimate aim of analyzing different phases of magnetic storms, to better protect humanity from the dangers posed by extreme space weather.

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About National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR)
The NIPR engages in comprehensive research via observation stations in Arctic and Antarctica. As a member of the Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), the NIPR provides researchers throughout Japan with infrastructure support for Arctic and Antarctic observations, plans and implements Japan's Antarctic observation projects, and conducts Arctic researches of various scientific fields such as the atmosphere, ice sheets, the ecosystem, the upper atmosphere, the aurora and the Earth's magnetic field. In addition to the research projects, the NIPR also organizes the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition and manages samples and data obtained during such expeditions and projects. As a core institution in researches of the polar regions, the NIPR also offers graduate students with a global perspective on originality through its doctoral program. For more information about the NIPR, please visit: https://www.nipr.ac.jp/english/

About the Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS)
ROIS is a parent organization of four national institutes (National Institute of Polar Research, National Institute of Informatics, the Institute of Statistical Mathematics and National Institute of Genetics) and the Joint Support-Center for Data Science Research. It is ROIS's mission to promote integrated, cutting-edge research that goes beyond the barriers of these institutions, in addition to facilitating their research activities, as members of inter-university research institutes.

The distribution of 179 auroral observations over Japan during the 11 May 2024 magnetic storm

Credit

🄫 National Institute of Polar Research

Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-024-75184-9 

Article Title

Extended magenta aurora as revealed by citizen science

The women and stress behind rural farming in America

Study highlights unique challenges of farming while raising a family, managing household

University of Georgia

If you’re like most Americans, you probably don’t give too much thought to where your food comes from. And you likely pay even less attention to the people who supply it.

But recent research from the University of Georgia suggests the unique stresses from farm life may be taking a toll on one of the pillars of the families that make your dinners possible: the women who keep farming families running.

“If we don’t control our food sources, we don’t control our health and safety,” said Anna Scheyett, lead author of the study and a professor in UGA’s School of Social Work. “It’s a matter of national security that farmers survive in the United States. And one of the big factors in helping farms survive is women.”

Women vital in farming, on and off the agricultural field

The researchers held six focus group sessions with more than two dozen women married to farmers in rural Georgia.

Women are vital in farming, Scheyett said. Many women are farmers themselves while others work the farm alongside their spouse. But much of their work is “invisible,” sometimes even to the women themselves. That’s a theme that emerged among the women in the groups.

They often take care of everything but the farm, managing housework, yardwork and child care. One participant even described herself as being, in a sense, a single parent, saying, “If it has to do with our kids or my household … that is 100% on me.”

Because farming is uncertain and one bad frost can spell disaster for the season’s crops, two-thirds of the women in the study also work full time outside the home. This provides more financial stability and health care coverage for the families, but it also increases the mental load the women carry.

On top of their careers and role handling all the non-farming tasks, over half of the women in the study also managed the books for their families’ farms, a unique source of stress for many of them.

“He doesn’t look at the bank account … as far as looking at it on paper, what we have coming in and what we have going out, I carry that burden,” one woman said.

Many also work on the farm as well. But they often discounted their own contributions to farm work, saying things like they “only” managed hay or that their husband was “the primary farmer.”

Managing emotions, coping with stress gets tough for female farm wives

The women described feeling like they had to be the “bright spot in everyone’s day,” saying it was up to them to manage their husbands’ emotions when things got rough and the farmers got grumpy.

“Any time they’re under stress, boy, you’re going to get the brunt of it,” said one participant.

They lead an isolated and often lonely life, the women agreed.

“What a lot of people don’t realize is as a farmer’s wife … you can’t get off at 5 o’clock and go and hang out with your friends like ‘normal’ … because it’s a full-time, seven day a week deal,” one participant said.

“It is really easy to get sad,” said another.

Minimizing difficulties, finding joy and pride to thrive in farm life

The women often minimized the difficulties they experience, describing their farm work as simple and their husbands’ as “the real work.” And they also minimized the negative emotions they absorbed from their spouses.

“I don’t think that they mean it” and I just “tune it out” were common refrains from the women in the focus groups.

A positive repeatedly stated by women was the pride they felt in farm life and how it gave them real joy to see their children raised on a farm. One wife noted how lucky she felt because “we live right here in the midst of it all, so there’s no life like it” while others talked about how “it’s a great way to raise kids.”

"These are powerful, resilient women … They are passionate about farming and farm life.” —Anna Scheyett, School of Social Work

“These are powerful, resilient women,” Scheyett said. “The title of the paper — ‘A great life if you can stand it’ — is a quote from one of the women.

“They are passionate about farming and farm life, proud of what their families are doing, proud of their kids, proud of how hard their husbands are working and how hard they’re all working.”

And they don’t want your pity, the researchers said. The participants universally agreed that raising their families on a farm was a uniquely challenging but rewarding experience, and they wouldn’t change that.

Thank farming families

Still, a little recognition of their contribution to securing the U.S. food supply could go a long way, the researchers said.

“I’d love to see a campaign thanking farmers and their families for their service to the country,” Scheyett said. “They put their bodies on the line every day so we can eat and live. The least we could do is say ‘thank you.’”

Using Extension services to connect the women to lessen their feelings of isolation could also improve quality of life among this population.

Another obstacle is child care. Rural child care is hard to find and often extremely expensive when you do find it. Policies increasing access to quality and affordable care “would give the women a little bit of breathing space,” Scheyett said.

“I ultimately would hope that people can move beyond whatever stereotypes they have about farming and families who farm,” Scheyett said. “If we don’t support these families, we’re in big trouble as a country because we won’t be able to generate our food.”

Published by the Journal of Rural Mental Health, the study was co-authored by Andrea Garcia and Ian Marburger, of UGA’s School of Social Work, and Stephanie Hollifield and Andrea Scarrow, of UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

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Journal

Rural Mental Health

DOI

10.1037/rmh0000264 

Article Title

“A great life, if you can stand it”: Stress and farm women.

Article Publication Date

18-Nov-2024

 

New program aims to BRIDGE gap in solar

Installation training focuses on Native American women

Business Announcement

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories

 

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Native American women get hands-on training to install photovoltaic panels as part of a collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories. Native American women are significantly underrepresented in the solar installation industry – making up less than half a percent.

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Credit: Photo courtesy of Red Cloud Renewable

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Native American women nationwide are getting a special opportunity. They’re receiving hands-on training in photovoltaic panel installation, with the goal to equip them to set up residential and community systems on tribal land.

Sandra Begay, an engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, and a member of the Navajo Nation, serves as one of four mentors in this initiative.

The training is part of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between Sandia and Red Cloud Renewable, a nonprofit in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, dedicated to helping tribal members and communities achieve energy independence.

The Bridging Renewable Industry Divides in Gender Equality, or BRIDGE, Program offers an immersive five-week in-person training that includes hands-on photovoltaic installation.

Begay met with the first cohort in South Dakota in August.

“Five weeks is a long time to be away from home,” Begay said. “I provided encouragement and reminded the women that they made the right choice to participate in this program. We also used the time to reflect on what they learned.”

The training covers the components of photovoltaic systems and their correct and safe installation.

Begay also helped the women understand the energy landscape in tribal communities.

“There are more than 20,000 homes on the Navajo Nation and some rural homes on the Hopi reservation that don’t have electricity. These are off-grid homes,” Begay said, adding that many homes rely on diesel generators. “We’re looking at a clean energy future. We want to move away from those types of fuels and look at clean energy sources such as solar.”

Begay said the Navajo Nation and Mountain Ute in Colorado are establishing large-scale photovoltaic plants.

“This program will provide participants with new employment opportunities and a better understanding of where we’re headed with clean energy,” Begay said.

Red Cloud Renewable will assist women with resume writing, interview preparation, networking and job placement.

Begay, who has dedicated her more than 30-year career to establishing renewable energy sources in Native American communities, plans to stay in contact with participants.

“I am making a long-term commitment to the women in the BRIDGE Program,” Begay said. “I will share any job openings I see with them and support them in their job searches.”

Fifteen Native American women participated in a photovoltaic training installation program at the Red Cloud Renewable Center in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Sandia National Laboratories’ Sandra Begay provided some of the training as part of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement.

Credit

Photo courtesy of Red Cloud Renewabl

Teamwork for the future

Begay said that one non-technical aspect emphasized in the training is the importance of teamwork in photovoltaic installation.

“Photovoltaic installation happens with a team of people. How do you work through that group dynamic? How do you work with each other as a team? Those questions are underemphasized in the work we do. They’re going to rely on each other when installing photovoltaic systems,” she said.

Alicia Hayden, communications manager for Red Cloud Renewable, said she got a sense of joy seeing the women work together.

“What stood out to me was the incredible camaraderie among the women,” Hayden said. “They were genuinely supportive of each other and grateful to be participating in this program alongside women who share similar backgrounds.”

The Department of Energy Solar Energy Technology Office is funding the project over the next couple of years, with plans to train two additional cohorts, totaling about 45 women.

“These women will be equipped to take on installer jobs within their own reservations, bringing valuable skills and opportunities for sustainable development to their people,” Hayden said.

Native American women are significantly underrepresented in the solar installation field, making up just 0.05% of the industry, according to Red Cloud Renewable.

Begay believes the BRIDGE Program is a step in the right direction to change that.

“It’s very gratifying both professionally and personally to see where we can help women who are underrepresented in the workforce, let alone in a unique technology like photovoltaic installation,” Begay said. “We’re seeding ideas for the women that they would never have thought of doing. I think that’s what’s unique.”

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Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. Sandia Labs has major research and development responsibilities in nuclear deterrence, global security, defense, energy technologies and economic competitiveness, with main facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Livermore, California.

 

USF research explores volcanic caves, advancing the search for life on Mars

Given that Martian lava tubes are similarly shielded and likely contain sulfate-rich minerals, they may also hold signs of past microbial life, giving us clues about potential life beyond Earth

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of South Florida

 

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Organic-rich sulfate deposits can be seen in a lava tube from Lanzarote, Spain.

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Credit: Bogdan Onac

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• Volcanic rock in the lava tubes created a protective environment that helped shield the minerals and organic compounds from weathering, ultimately preserving the minerals as records of past ecosystems.
• Given that Martian lava tubes are similarly shielded and likely contain sulfate-rich minerals, they may also hold signs of past microbial life, giving us clues about potential life beyond Earth.

TAMPA, Fla. (Nov. 18, 2024) – Through the intricate study of lava tubes -- caves formed following volcanic eruptions when lava cools down -- an international team of researchers has uncovered clues about Earth’s ancient environments that could be significant in the search for life on Mars.

Bogdan P. Onac, professor in the USF School of Geosciences, collaborated with researchers from Portugal, Spain and Italy to shed light on how lava tubes may serve as valuable analogs for Martian caves and the search for extraterrestrial life.

On the Spanish island of Lanzarote, just west of North Africa, the team explored six lava tubes to gather mineral deposits. Some of the tubes are so large, they are used to host underground concerts.

“While the lava tubes on Lanzarote were discovered several years ago, we are the first to complete such a detailed study of minerals and microorganisms,” Onac said.

In the study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, Onac and the team used a range of advanced molecular, isotopic and mineralogical techniques to examine the deposits and create a comprehensive understanding of the minerals they held. They learned the volcanic rock in the lava tubes created a protective environment that helped shield the minerals and organic compounds from weathering, ultimately preserving the minerals as records of past ecosystems.

The team found preserved biosignatures, including calcium and sodium sulfates. This discovery indicates microbial activity and microorganisms, such as bacteria, were once active in the caves.

“This study adds to our understanding of geological and environmental changes on Earth and highlights lava tubes as potential refuges for microbial life, holding significant implications for astrobiology, particularly in identifying biosignatures on Mars and other celestial bodies,” Onac said.

Given that Martian lava tubes are similarly shielded and likely contain sulfate-rich minerals, they may also hold signs of past microbial life, giving us clues about potential life beyond Earth. The findings may significantly impact the way scientists approach planetary exploration, particularly for upcoming missions aimed at studying the habitability of Mars.

The team will publish several additional studies on these lava tubes in the coming months and they are also planning to examine newly formed lava tubes in Iceland.

The concert hall in Jameos del Agua, part of the La Corona lava tube system in Lanzarote, Spain.

Corresponding author Ana Z. Miller collects samples for microbiological investigations. Patches of colonies can be seen all over the lava tube.

Close up view of gypsum crusts in a lava tube in Lanzarote, Spain.

Massive accumulations of gypsum and other sulfates in the La Corona lava tube system in Lanzarote, Spain.

Sulfate deposits in the La Corona lava tube system in Lanzarote, Spain.

White microbial-like colonies can be seen on the lava tube substrate.

Credit

Bogdan Onac

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About the University of South Florida

The University of South Florida, a high-impact research university dedicated to student success and committed to community engagement, generates an annual economic impact of more than $6 billion. Across campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and USF Health, USF serves approximately 50,000 students who represent nearly 150 different countries. U.S. News & World Report has ranked USF as one of the nation’s top 50 public universities for six consecutive years and, for the second straight year, as the best value university in Florida. In 2023, USF became the first public university in Florida in nearly 40 years to be invited to join the Association of American Universities, a group of the leading 3% of universities in the United States and Canada. With an all-time high of $692 million in research funding in 2023 and a ranking as a top 15 public university for producing new U.S. patents, USF is a leader in solving global problems and improving lives. USF is a member of the American Athletic Conference. Learn more at  www.usf.edu.

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Journal

Nature Communications

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Decoding organic compounds in lava tube sulfates to understand potential biomarkers in the Martian subsurface

 

Bee alert: Pesticides pose a real threat to over 70% of wild bees

Reforms needed to ensure the protection of all pollinator species, our food systems and biodiversity as a whole

University of Ottawa

 

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“We found that larger bumble bee queens, typically more likely to survive winter and establish successful colonies, were paradoxically more vulnerable to pesticide exposure”

Sabrina Rondeau

— NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biology at uOttawa

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Credit: University of Ottawa

A new study reveals alarming risks that pesticides pose to ground-nesting bees, which are crucial for pollination and food production. As agriculture increasingly relies on pesticides to protect crops, the unintended consequences for these essential pollinators are becoming clearer.

Led by Sabrina Rondeau, an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biology at the University of Ottawa, the research highlights the urgent need to reassess pesticide safety standards to protect these essential pollinators.

The study reveals that current pesticide risk assessments, which primarily use honeybees as test subjects, fail to account for the unique vulnerabilities of wild bees that nest in soil. "Our findings show that over 70% of wild bee species, which are crucial for pollinating our food crops, face significant risks from pesticide residues in soil - a threat current regulations overlook," says Dr. Rondeau.

The study's key discoveries include:

1. Bumble bee queens may be attracted to pesticide-contaminated soils, increasing their exposure during critical overwintering periods.
2. Exposure to certain pesticides in soil, particularly cyantraniliprole, reduce survival and reproductive success in bumble bee queens, potentially impacting future generations.
3. For squash bees, exposure to combinations of insecticides and fungicides disrupts behavior and lowers offspring production, signaling potential population declines.

"We found that larger bumble bee queens, typically more likely to survive winter and establish successful colonies, were paradoxically more vulnerable to pesticide exposure," Dr. Rondeau explains. "This could have cascading effects on bumble bee populations."

The research employed a combination of field and laboratory studies, starting with quantifying pesticide residues at suitable hibernation sites for bumble bee queens on Ontario farms. These field exposure estimates informed subsequent studies on the impact of such exposure on hibernating bumble bee queens and the hoary squash bee, a solitary ground-nesting species.

"Our work demonstrates that protecting wild pollinators requires a fundamental rethinking of how we assess pesticide safety," Dr. Rondeau concludes. "It's crucial for safeguarding both our food systems and biodiversity."

This research underscores the need for comprehensive reforms in pesticide regulations to ensure the protection of all pollinator species, particularly those nesting in agricultural soils.

For more information, read the study, titled “Digging below the surface: Hidden risks for ground-nesting bees”, published in the journal Science.

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Journal

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.adt8998 

Method of Research

Case study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Digging below the surface: Hidden risks for ground-nesting bees

Article Publication Date

14-Nov-2024