It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, May 02, 2025
Global shortage of essential nutrient poses health concern
New study links omega-3 deficiency to rising overall health risks
CLEVELAND—Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are vital to human health, yet our bodies can’t produce enough of the nutrients naturally—they must be obtained from food or supplements.
But, partly due to environmental factors, there’s a global shortage of omega-3, according to new research from Case Western Reserve University.
That’s concerning because “this has serious and widespread health implications,” said Timothy Ciesielski, a research scientist in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at Case Western Reserve’s School of Medicine, who led the study.
“Our current food systems are not providing enough uncontaminated omega-3,” he said, “and our access is expected to decrease in the near future.”
Omega-3s, which, are mainly found in fish and plants, help cells in the body function, especially in the eyes and brain. The nutrients also provide the body with energy and support healthy cardiovascular and endocrine systems.
The team of researchers, led by Ciesiekski, discovered 85% of the world’s population doesn’t get enough omega-3 in their diets. The shortage is due in part to environmental factors—rising ocean temperatures, overfishing and pollution—which make it hard to access these important nutrients, they concluded.
The study, recently published in the journal AJPM Focus, suggests the production of omega-3-rich foods should be increased, while reducing the intake of harmful omega-6 fatty acids, which interfere with omega-3 in our bodies. Doing so can lower the risk of diseases related to chronic inflammation, such as heart disease, cancer, preterm birth and some mental-health issues, the researcher said.
What can be done?
Historically, humans consumed diets with balanced amounts of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. However, today’s industrialized diets contain about 20 times more omega-6s than omega-3s. This imbalance is concerning for maintaining good health.
Ciesielski and his team noted that about 15% of countries worldwide have managed to achieve sufficient omega-3 levels in their food, mainly due to ocean access—suggesting that protecting our oceans and managing fisheries sustainably could help.
“This isn’t just a healthcare issue; it’s a public health and environmental challenge,” Ciesielski said. “Everyone should have the right to uncontaminated omega-3s in their diet. These are important questions that require our collective attention and action.”
Road traffic accidents leading cause of pet cat deaths in the UK, Bristol Cats study finds
Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are the leading cause of death among UK pet cats who are 8 years old or younger, new research has found. This is the first UK-wide study to assess mortality and survival rates in pet cats to include those that do not attend vets or have insurance. The study, by the University of Bristol Veterinary School and Cats Protection, is published in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery.
With around 11 million pet cats in the UK and 26% of households owning one or more cats1, understanding the health of the cat population is important. However, little is known about their likely cause of death, as previous studies have used vet records to establish their cause of death.
The aim of the study was:
to provide a more complete picture of the cause of death among the pet cat population in the UK by using data from owner-completed questionnaires;
to establish all mortality and probability of dying.
Data was collected from ‘Bristol Cats’ study questionnaires - a longitudinal study of cat health, welfare and behaviour - owner communications and medical records for the cat’s first 8 years of life. Cause of death was categorised by organ-specific issues; disease or event and analysed by age and life stage.
From 2,444 cats recruited into the ‘Bristol Cats’ study, at least 362 had died before reaching nine years old. The study found the most common cause of death in cats up to 8-years-old was road traffic accident (RTA) at 45.6%. For 29 kittens, under 1- year-old, the most common causes was RTA (61.2%), feline infectious peritonitis (11.9%), and other trauma (7.5%).
The most common causes of mortality in young adult cats (1 to 6-years-old) was RTA (49.6%), non-specified (14.4%), kidney disease (6.5%), and heart disease (6.5%).
Cats aged up to two years had an annual probability of dying between 2.8–3.1%, which decreased between 2 and 3 years of age to 1.7%. The probability of dying gradually increased with age with the oldest age group (7 to 8 years) having a 3.6% probability of dying.
The research found RTAs is the leading cause of death in cats across all age groups studied. While kittens were more likely to die due to age-related infectious diseases, trauma and accidents, organ-specific issues such as kidney and heart diseases were likely causes of death in cats up to 8 years old.
Aimee Taylor, corresponding author from Langford Vets at the Bristol Vet School, said: “Our study is the first to include deaths that weren't recorded in medical records or insurance in pet cats up to 8 years old. We found age increases the chance of death, but there is a high mortality risk for cats up to 2-years-old, too. However, as our research only looked into pet cats up to 8-years-old, disease related causes of death may well overtake RTAs in older cats.”
Dr Emily Blackwell, Senior Lecturer, Director of Companion Animal Population Health and Principal Investigator of Bristol Cats, added: “Our research suggests an increased awareness and earlier detection of kidney and heart disease in young adult cats could delay or reduce death.
“Findings from the study could be used to raise awareness amongst owners of young adult cats, as well as develop better vet care strategies to improve the length and quality of life for the UK’s pet cats.”
The number of species increases unevenly from local ecosystems to continental scales. Such patterns are described through so-called Species-Area Relationships (SARs). The photo shows a tropical tree frog, probably Rhacophorus malabaricus
The number of species does not increase evenly when going from local ecosystems to continental scales – a phenomenon ecologists have recognised for decades. Now, an international team of scientists, including researchers from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), has developed a new theory to explain the three distinct phases typical of species distributions across scales. The theory, published in the journal Nature Communications, may be crucial for estimating how many species are lost when habitats are destroyed.
As one moves from a small area to the continental scale, the number of species increases. For example, a village pond might host only a handful of amphibian species, but as the scale expands to include rivers and marshes, more frogs, toads or salamanders appear, reaching several hundred or thousand species at the continental or intercontinental level.
Three-phase pattern of species distribution across scale
These patterns are known as Species-Area Relationships (SARs). Ecologists have long observed that SARs follow a characteristic three-phase pattern: In Phase One (local to regional), the number of species increases rapidly. In Phase Two (regional to continental), the increase slows down. Finally, in Phase Three (continental to intercontinental), the number of species accelerates once again.
Researchers have now developed a universal theory to explain these three-phase patterns and estimate the number of species at key transition points between the phases. “This is a major step forward in ecology,” says first author Dr Luís Borda-de-Água from the CIBIO research centre in Portugal. “We demonstrated that the individual geographical ranges of all species within the studied areas shape the typical species distribution patterns (SARs) we observe across the globe. By combining these distributions in a novel way, we developed a formula to estimate the number of species at the transitions between different phases.”
Conservation implications of new theory
Such estimates can be crucial for biodiversity conservation. For instance, identifying where the rate of new species appearances changes can help estimate how many species are lost when habitats are destroyed. Such figures form the basis of extinction rate calculations in international biodiversity reports.
To validate their theory, the researchers compared SARs based on observation data from various species groups, such as birds and amphibians, with their calculated estimates, utilising around 700 million observations from a single dataset for their analysis. The strong agreement between data and theory gives scientists great confidence in their approach.
The fascination of ecological theory
“Discovering fundamental principles in ecology is just as thrilling as breakthroughs in physics,” says senior author Prof Henrique Pereira from iDiv and MLU. “New findings like ours unveil hidden patterns that have been shaping life on Earth for millions of years. Just as physics deciphers the universe’s deepest mysteries, new ecological theory can reveal the fundamental forces shaping biodiversity on our amazing planet.”
Original publication: (iDiv researchers bolded) Borda-de-Água, L., Neves, M.M., Quoss, L., Hubbell, S.P., Dias, F.S., Pereira, H.M. (2025). Modelling the species-area relationship using extreme value theory. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59239-7
Many bird species have large ranges, often across continents. The individual geographical ranges of species shape the Species-Area Relationships (SARs) investigated in the new study. The photo shows gulls on the coast of Denmark
For the first time, Madrid will host Eurocrypt 2025, one of the world’s most prestigious events in the field of cryptography. Organized by the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR), the conference will take place from May 4 to 8 at the Riu Plaza España Hotel, with pre-conference activities scheduled for May 3 and 4 at the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Eurocrypt celebrates its 44th edition as the leading forum in Europe for cryptographic theory and applications. It is one of the most prestigious scientific conferences in the field worldwide, alongside Crypto in the United States. The event showcases the most significant and cutting-edge research results in cryptography, selected through a rigorous review process: this year, 624 papers were submitted, of which only 123 were accepted. This will be the third time the conference is held in Spain, following previous editions in Zaragoza (1996) and Barcelona (2007).
As part of the pre-conference activities taking place on March 3 and 4, twelve workshops will be held on topics such as post-quantum cryptography, blockchain, cryptographic tool validation, artificial intelligence, and privacy. The main event is expected to gather more than 650 national and international participants.
The IMDEA Software Institute, based in Madrid, plays a central role in the organization of the event, working alongside Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and Inversed Tech as part of the local organizing committee. The organizing team is led by Dario Fiore, Associate Research Professor at the IMDEA Software Institute and General Chair of Eurocrypt 2025, together with Ignacio Cascudo, Associate Research Professor at the same institute, and María Isabel González Vasco, Full Professor at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, who serve as Co-Chairs of the event.
IMDEA Software is also a Gold sponsor of the event, alongside renowned technology companies such as Apple, Google, and Huawei. Other sponsors supporting the event include Zama and Midnight in the Platinum category; GMV, CMAD, AWS, and TII in the Silver category; and HEAAN, NEC, NTT Research, PQShield, IBM, Ericsson and Orange in the Bronze category.
Another contribution from the institute will take place on Tuesday, May 6. IMDEA Software PhD student, Emanuele Giunta, together with Dario Catalano and Francesco Migliaro, will give a talk titled “Generic Anamorphic Encryption, Revisited: New Limitations and Constructions”.
For more information about the program, registration, and speakers, the official event website is available at: https://eurocrypt.iacr.org/2025/
IMDEA Software is one of the seven advanced research institutes of the Community of Madrid (Spain) that are part of the IMDEA ecosystem (Madrid Institutes for Advanced Studies). IMDEA Software focuses specifically on research in software science and technology, with the aim of developing methods and tools to build more secure, reliable, efficient, and correct software.
For more information, please visit the official website of the institute:
Scientists documented juvenile salmon traversing Washington coast waters between three watersheds on the Olympic Peninsula. Illustration shows the travels of two juvenile coho salmon and one juvenile steelhead between the drainages over periods of about 7 to 11 months. The numbers show the sequence of their movements. The arrows indicate their movements between rivers, with dashed lines noting their shifts back and forth.
The migrations that make up the well-known salmon life cycle have long been described as one way at a time. Juvenile salmon hatch and swim down rivers to the ocean, where they grow and mature before returning to the same river to spawn the next generation.
Turns out that many young salmon do things differently, according to new research by NOAA Fisheries, Tribal, and university scientists. The findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
They discovered that as many as 22 percent of juvenile salmon in California and Washington streams swam downriver to the ocean and then back up other rivers as many as 9 times. They reached rivers as far as 40 miles away along the coast. Instead of simply entering the ocean for good, they roam miles of coastline, moving between freshwater and saltwater and exploring rivers as they go, said Todd Bennett, a salmon scientist at NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center and coauthor of the new research.
Stretches of coast and their rivers form enormous salmon nurseries for the exploring juveniles, the scientists said. The researchers documented coho salmon, steelhead, and cutthroat trout using coastal rivers separated by salt water, and suspect other species may do the same.
“The landscapes are much more connected than we realized, and salmon take advantage of that,” said Stuart Munsch, also a research scientist at the Northwest Fisheries Service Center and lead author of the new research. “This provides a more complete and accurate picture of the habitat they are using, which helps us make informed decisions as to how to promote their recovery.”
Brief Forays and Longer Stays
Researchers first noticed fish that had been tagged with tiny microchips in one river swimming up different rivers many miles away. As they tracked more juveniles, the researchers found some entered unfamiliar rivers on brief forays, while others spent the whole winter in rivers beyond where they hatched. They documented traveling juveniles in streams on the Olympic Peninsula and in Northern California.
The capability to swim between unconnected rivers means that some juvenile salmon may even make temporary use of small streams with no spawning adults. The fish “form migratory pathways that are much more complex than is presently recognized and could access freshwater habitats where people do not expect them to be,” the scientists wrote.
The wide-ranging juvenile fish likely improve the resilience of their populations by locating new and better habitats they can rely on as conditions change. Along the way they may also school with salmon from other areas, picking up clues on where to find the best refuge and prey. Heavy rains subject many streams and rivers in the Pacific Northwest to flows that can go from a trickle to a raging torrent in a matter of hours. This can shift available habitat by moving or carrying away instream wood and gravel. By moving between streams, salmon may find more stable habitat that can greatly increase their chances of survival.
At the same time, though, moving between freshwater and saltwater may expose the fish to more predators. “They’re perfect food for lots of other species, so they are taking a risk but also finding some benefits as they go,” Bennett said.
“They’re searching for the best opportunities they can find,” Munsch said. “By moving around, they are also spreading the risk as some may find alternative habitats that better support them as conditions change.”
Scientists have long known that adult salmon returning upstream may sometimes stray into different rivers than where they hatched as juveniles. However, researchers said they need to monitor the fish further to tell if this may be related to the different rivers they might have explored as juveniles.
Some Salmon Roam Many Miles
In a series of streams on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, researchers documented almost 900 different juvenile coho salmon, steelhead, and trout moving between drainages. This included up to 22 percent of the juvenile fish they tagged and then later detected again, depending on the year and river where they were tagged. Most moved only between two different drainages. About 8 percent of the fish moved up to nine times among three different drainages with monitors to detect the tagged fish.
In Northern California, scientists documented 28 coho salmon moving between drainages. One of the fish swam from a tributary of Redwood Creek to a drainage feeding Humboldt Bay some 40 miles to the south. The scientists also reviewed other studies, finding evidence for similar movements of salmon species across three different continents. They hypothesize that this behavior is widespread.
The juvenile fish followed both well-traveled paths and lesser-used routes in and out of separate drainages over multiple years. The young salmon may disperse when streams become crowded, reducing competition between the fish and increasing their chances of survival.
The research may still underestimate how many fish move between drainages because they only included drainages with monitoring equipment. Other fish may move between unmonitored drainages where they might never be recognized, the researchers noted.
The findings suggest that salmon scientists and managers must be “willing to branch out from the normal and accepted paradigms you read in the textbooks,” Bennett said. “We wouldn’t know about this unless we happened to be looking. Even after so many scientists have studied salmon over many decades, they still figure out how to surprise us.”
Coho salmon smolts collected in a fish trap to assess local salmon populations in an Olympic Peninsula stream.
Detection system in East Twin River on the Olympic Peninsula west of Port Angeles that records tagged juvenile salmon that swim past. The system detected tagged juvenile fish that had hatched in other rivers before leaving to swim along the coast to other rivers. Photo by Karrie Hanson.
