Mapping important infrastructure could aid emergency response after hurricanes

American Chemical Society

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This map, which shows the thousands of facilities in Western North Carolina that were potentially flooded by Hurricane Helene, helped public health officials distribute disaster relief during the storm’s aftermath.

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Credit: Adapted from Environmental Science & Technology Letters 2025, DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.5c00503

In the fall of 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in the southeastern U.S., later downgrading to a tropical storm causing strong winds, flooding and major destruction throughout Appalachia. Now, researchers and public health officials in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters provide a debrief about how their mapping of key locations, including private wells, septic systems and service facilities, helped distribute disaster relief in North Carolina — a part of Appalachia hit particularly hard by the hurricane.

“Hurricane Helene brought unprecedented destruction to Western NC,” says Larry Michael, a co-author of the study and the State Environmental Health Director and Section Chief, NCDHHS NC Division of Public Health. “Access to real-time impact data was critical — it allowed our team to prioritize needs and make smarter, faster decisions to keep people safe and ensure their health and well-being.”

The speed of emergency response after natural disasters is critical for saving lives and infrastructure. And local, state and federal agencies that provide immediate support decide where and when aid should be distributed. For rural locations, public health officials help to disinfect well water and repair wells and septic systems. But to focus their relief efforts, they need to know where these structures are located and whether they have been impacted during a disaster. So, for the past decade, Kelsey Pieper and an interdisciplinary team of researchers and public health officials have been developing a user-friendly mapping system that provides county- and regional-level information on private wells that provide drinking water. After Hurricane Helene impacted Western North Carolina, sometimes referred to as WNC, the team shared the mapping system in an online portal, giving agencies near real-time information on potential flooding impacts.

Initially, the mapping system focused on the locations of private wells in 25 WNC counties. And with feedback from local health officials, it was expanded to include septic systems and other important community locations such as restaurants, gas stations, schools and fire stations. The team’s mapping estimated that after one day of unprecedented precipitation from Hurricane Helene (by September 28, 2024), flooding impacted:

• Almost one-quarter of the 359,000 private wells that were within 110 yards (100 meters) of flooded areas.
• More than a quarter of the 34,000 businesses and 500 fire stations that were within 110 yards (100 meters) of flooded areas.
• Up to 1,100 restaurants, the highest number among service facilities, followed by gas stations and grocery stores.

In the days and weeks after the disaster, the team’s online portal was viewed by hundreds of users. Although outdated datasets could have introduced some uncertainty, the mapping system’s focus on private wells, septic infrastructure, and food and service facilities provided actionable information not available elsewhere during the initial emergency response. The researchers say that these types of products need to be developed ahead of disasters so that health department staff can respond with the appropriate services for their communities.

The authors acknowledge funding from the NASA Water Resources Program, the NASA Precipitation Measurement Mission, the NASA Surface Water and Ocean Topography Mission, and a U.S. National Science Foundation Strengthening American Infrastructure grant.

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is committed to improving all lives through the transforming power of chemistry. Its mission is to advance scientific knowledge, empower a global community and champion scientific integrity, and its vision is a world built on science. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, e-books and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

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Journal

Environmental Science & Technology Letters

DOI

10.1021/acs.estlett.5c00503 

Article Title

“Responding after Hurricane Helene: Rapidly Estimating Impacts to Environmental Health Services in North Carolina”

 

Study finds cities with proactive, risk-tolerant governing styles most likely to have ambitious climate strategies

Research develops concept of 'transformative governance capacity,' or how able cities are to evolve in terms of climate resiliency

University of Kansas

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LAWRENCE — A new study led by two researchers with the School of Public Affairs & Administration at the University of Kansas finds that cities with proactive, learning-oriented and risk-tolerant governance styles are significantly more likely to implement ambitious climate resilience strategies.

The peer-reviewed article in the journal Climate Policy, titled “Do cities with greater transformative governance capacity pursue more ambitious policies? Examining U.S. cities through the lens of climate resiliency,” analyzes survey data from 386 U.S. cities and introduces the concept of transformative governance capacity, or TGC, a behavioral framework emphasizing learning, proactivity and risk acceptance as key drivers of innovative local climate action.

The findings show that cities with higher TGC are significantly more likely to participate in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Community Rating System, a voluntary program that incentivizes advanced flood risk mitigation beyond federal minimums. These cities not only join the program at higher rates but also achieve higher CRS scores — an indication that they implement more ambitious policies, defined in the study as efforts that exceed baseline regulatory requirements and proactively address long-term risks. This suggests that TGC is a strong predictor of local policy ambition.

S. Mohsen Fatemi, doctoral candidate, and Rachel Krause, professor of public affairs & administration, co-led the research as part of a larger effort funded by the National Science Foundation, with contributions from scholars at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Twente in the Netherlands.

The work highlights the behavioral dimensions of governance — how cities learn, plan ahead and manage risk — as critical levers for driving more effective climate policy. Understanding those qualities allows better support of local governments responding to complex environmental challenges.

“The overall project was motivated, first and foremost, by the observation that climate change, and the disasters it is fueling, are challenging the effectiveness and sufficiency of business-as-usual response. At this point, incremental improvements and policy responses may not be enough. We argue that a degree of ‘transformation’ is necessary to ensure well-being, especially in urban areas where people and problems are concentrated,” Krause said. 

“Importantly, transformation is not a static achievement or end goal, and a main objective of the overall project was to theorize and operationalize the idea of transformative governance capacity in a way that reflects that and actually measure it for a large number of cities,” she said. “A second idea that motivated the project is the fact that despite how we often talk about it, ‘cities’ don't make decisions; people do. And they do so as part of a professional relational network.”

The study provides one of the first empirical validations of TGC and its role in advancing ambitious climate adaptation at the local level. The findings suggest that cities’ ability to adopt transformative policies is not determined solely by resources or size, but also by their internal culture and leadership approach.

Fatemi, whose dissertation research centers on energy justice and public utility decision-making, said that the study offers practical insights for building more resilient cities.

“In an era of mounting climate risks and policy uncertainty, cities that can learn, experiment and act boldly are better positioned to protect their communities and lead meaningful change,” Fatemi said. “Unlike traditional capacity measures focused on funding or staffing, TGC highlights the behavioral traits — such as learning, proactivity and risk acceptance — that enable cities to adopt ambitious policies. For policymakers, this means that cultivating TGC can unlock innovation, strengthen local resilience and empower cities to lead transformative change even amid political or financial constraints.”

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Journal

Climate Policy

DOI

10.1080/14693062.2025.2512453 

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Do cities with greater transformative governance capacity pursue more ambitious policies? Examining U.S. cities through the lens of climate resiliency

Study finds political instability, environmental conditions, and social inequality accelerate aging

New study redefines healthy aging as an environmental, social, and political phenomenon, and calls on public health strategies to expand beyond lifestyle prescriptions to address structural inequalities and governance deficits

Trinity College Dublin

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A groundbreaking international study of 161,981 participants across 40 countries published in Nature Medicine today, [Monday , 14th July 2025] reveals that air pollution, social inequality, and weak democratic institutions substantially accelerate aging. The collaborative study involves leading researchers from the Global Brain Health Institute in Trinity College Dublin.

The research introduces a global exposome framework (the study of how environmental exposures-physical, social, political- influence health and disease) and its impact on bio-behavioral age gaps (BBAGs), a novel measure of accelerated aging. BBAGs are the difference between a person’s actual age and the age-predicted from their health, cognition, education, functionality, and risk factors like cardiometabolic health or sensory impairments. 

This study—led by a multinational team from Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America—analysed environmental, social, and political factors and their impact on brain aging using advanced artificial intelligence and epidemiological modeling. The results show that where you live—your exposome—can age you several years faster, increasing the risk for cognitive and functional decline.

“Our biological age reflects the world we live in. Exposure to toxic air, political instability, and inequality, of course, affect society, but also shapes our health. We need to stop thinking of brain health as a purely individual responsibility and consider a more ecological and neurosyndemic framework”. says Agustin Ibanez, corresponding author of the study and Atlantic Fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) at Trinity College Dublin and Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat).  

NEW METRICS FOR A COMPLEX WORLD

The findings land at a critical time: with democracy in retreat across the globe, air pollution reaching crisis levels, and wealth gaps widening, these data present the first evidence that combined structural exposures beyond individual lifestyle are deeply embedded in our aging process. In an age of rising populism, environmental degradation, and global displacement, understanding how environments age our brains is a scientific, political, ethical, and health imperative.

Dr. Hernan Hernandez, Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat) and first author of the study, said: 

“This is not a metaphor: environmental and political conditions leave measurable fingerprints across 40 countries, revealing a clear gradient of accelerated aging from Africa to Latin America, Asia, and Europe.”

MAJOR FINDINGS

Using computational tools, researchers developed the biobehavioral age gap (BBAG), a biological marker that compares predicted age to chronological age. 

The BBAGs closely matched people’s actual ages, but many showed delayed or accelerated aging beyond expectations. Then the researchers used these gaps to examine patterns across different world regions and the types of exposures that might speed up aging. Europe had the healthiest aging in comparison with other regions, while Egypt and South Africa showed the fastest aging. People in Asia and Latin America were in the middle. Within Europe, eastern and southern countries showed more rapid aging. Globally, faster aging was strongly linked to lower national income levels.

Several types of exposures were linked to faster aging: physical factors such as poor air quality; social factors, including economic inequality, gender inequality, and migration; sociopolitical factors, such as lack of political representation, limited party freedom, restricted voting rights, unfair elections, and weak democracies.Importantly, higher BBAGs were associated with real-world consequences: they predicted future declines in both cognitive abilities and daily functioning. People with larger age gaps were likelier to show significant losses in these areas over time.

Sandra Baez, co-corresponding author and Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at GBHI, Trinity College, said: 

“Whether a person ages in a healthy or accelerated way is shaped not only by individual choices or biology, but also by their physical, social, and political environments—and these effects vary widely between countries.” 

A WAKE-UP CALL FOR POLICY AND PREVENTION

This study redefines healthy aging as an environmental, social, and political phenomenon. Public health strategies must expand beyond lifestyle prescriptions to address structural inequalities and governance deficits.

Hernando Santamaria-Garcia, co-first author and an Atlantic Fellow at GBHI, University of California, San Francisco, said: 

“Governments, international organizations, and public health leaders must urgently act to reshape environments, from reducing air pollution to strengthening democratic institutions.” 

To promote healthy aging and reduce dementia risk worldwide, we must intervene upstream, where inequality is produced, where politics shape lives, and where environments silently erode healthy aging.

READ: When the embargo (as above) lifts, you can read the full paper: ‘The exposome of healthy and accelerated aging across 40 countries’ published in Nature Medicine, at the following link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03808-2. A read-only PDF version is available before then by request.

Ends

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Journal

Nature Medicine

DOI

10.1038/s41591-025-03808-2 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

The exposome of healthy and accelerated aging across 40 countries

Article Publication Date

14-Jul-2025

 

Kindness counts—even to a five-day-old baby

University of British Columbia

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They’ve barely opened their eyes, but newborn babies already seem to prefer nice behaviours.

New research reveals that infants just five days old can tell the difference between two distinct forms of prosocial and antisocial behaviour—and they prefer the prosocial. This suggests that some parts of how humans understand and evaluate the social world may be built into the brain from birth.

“These babies have almost no experience with the social world, and yet they’re already picking up on friendly versus unfriendly interactions, on helping versus hindering. That could be telling us something really important about human nature,” said Dr. Kiley Hamlin, a professor in the department of psychology at the University of British Columbia who co-led the study with Dr. Alessandra Geraci, assistant professor in the department of educational sciences at the University of Catania (Italy). Luca Surian (University of Trento) and Lucia Gabriella Tina (ARNAS Garibaldi Hospital) were their co-authors.

Watching for acts of kindness

Researchers showed a total of 90 newborns sets of simple animated videos. In one, a ball struggled to climb a hill. Another ball helped push it up. In a second video, playing right next to the first, the second ball pushed the climber down the hill, preventing it from reaching the top. Infants’ eyes lingered longer on the helping scenario.

In another set of videos, one ball moved toward another as if trying to get close or say hello. In the other video, the ball moved away, like it was avoiding the other. Again, the newborns spent more time watching the friendly, approaching action.

To make sure the babies weren’t just reacting to movement, researchers showed control videos where balls were simply in motion with no implied social interaction. Babies didn’t show a preference for one video or the other.

“This tells us that babies aren’t just reacting to distinct patterns of motion,” Dr. Hamlin said. “They seem to be responding to the social meaning behind those motions.”

But can newborns even see well enough for this? Newborns have a reputation for poor vision, which Dr. Hamlin said is commonly misunderstood.

“Newborns don’t see well far away, but they can see pretty well up close—and motion captures their attention,” she said. “Our animations were presented right in front of babies’ faces, in high contrast, with simple motions that repeated over and over. That’s exactly the kind of thing newborns are good at detecting.”

A built-in social sense

This study builds on earlier work by Dr. Hamlin and others showing that older infants—around six to 10 months—prefer helpful characters. But this is the first demonstration in days-old babies, suggesting that these preferences aren’t learned.

“Five-day-old babies are asleep a lot of the time, and likely haven’t observed prosocial or antisocial behaviour. Even if they had, their poor distance vision means they probably couldn’t process the event unless it happened immediately in front of their face. Yet they still prefer to watch prosocial interactions over antisocial ones,” Dr. Hamlin said. “That makes it very unlikely they’ve learned this entirely from experience.”

What it means

These findings, published in Nature Communications, add weight to the idea that humans may be born with a basic sense of social goodness. That doesn’t mean babies are born knowing right from wrong in the way adults do—but the roots of social evaluation, and even moral understanding, may begin with these basic social preferences.

“There’s been a lot of debate about whether morality is learned or innate,” said Hamlin. “This study doesn’t settle that debate, but it certainly pushes the needle toward the idea that some parts of our moral sense are built in.”

Even before they can smile, speak or sit up, babies are already watching the world—and most are rooting for the good guys.

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-025-61517-3 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Human newborns spontaneously attend to prosocial interactions

Feeling more extroverted? Study finds you may have learned how to handle daily stress better

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Michigan State University

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EAST LANSING, Mich. – A new study led by Michigan State University found that as people get better at handling stress on a daily basis, they also become more extroverted, agreeable and open to new experiences over a nearly 20-year period. Likewise, the worse they manage daily stressors, the more introverted, unfriendly and closed off from new experiences they become.

The study, published in Psychology and Aging, is the largest and longest study to look at how managing stress on a daily basis may translate to personality.

The study involved over 2,000 people who completed daily diaries three times over an 18-year period (from midlife into older adulthood). Each time, participants reported on their personality traits, various types of stressors, and their emotional experiences for eight days. Researchers then employed a sophisticated statistical analysis to link how people dealt with daily stress to how their personality changed over those 20 years.

“Previous research has shown that your personality predicts how well you deal with daily stressors. The cool thing about this study is that, as you got better at handling stressors on a daily basis, you also became more extroverted, agreeable and open to new experiences over time. These improvements trickled up to affect how your personality changed over time,” said William Chopik, lead author of the study and associate professor in the MSU Department of Psychology.

“What that also means is that, if you got worse at managing daily stressors, you became more introverted, less agreeable/nice, and more closed off from new experiences over time.”

The researchers hope that people see this as a useful way to think about themselves and how they deal with stress.

“This study has the potential to give people a little bit of hope — if they’re able to find ways to regulate their emotions, that might accumulate and translate to changing their personalities. Being more extroverted, agreeable and open to new experiences all correlate with greater happiness,” said Chopik. “I’m hoping that people see that the decisions they make on a daily basis and how they frame them can potentially make them happier and maybe even change their personalities.”

Read on MSUToday.

By Shelly DeJong

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Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for 170 years. One of the world’s leading public research universities, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery to make a better, safer, healthier world for all while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 400 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.

For generations, Spartans have been changing the world through research. Federal funding helps power many of the discoveries that improve lives and keep America at the forefront of innovation and competitiveness. From lifesaving cancer treatments to solutions that advance technology, agriculture, energy and more, MSU researchers work every day to shape a better future for the people of Michigan and beyond. Learn more about MSU’s research impact powered by partnership with the federal government.

For MSU news on the web, go to MSUToday or x.com/MSUnews.

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Journal

Psychology and Aging

DOI

10.1037/pag0000912 

Article Title

Interrelations between daily stress processes and Big Five personality trait changes over 20 years.

Early antibiotics alter immune function in infants

Study finds exposure disrupts immune memory, but a gut-derived molecule could help restore it

 News Release 14-Jul-2025

University of Rochester Medical Center

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A new study led by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) found that early-life exposure to antibiotics can impair an infant's developing immune system, and that a naturally occurring metabolite may hold the key to reversing that damage. 

Published in Cell, the study uncovered how antibiotic exposure during pregnancy and infancy may permanently weaken the immune system's ability to fight respiratory infections like the flu. By analyzing both mouse models and human infant lung tissue, the researchers discovered that early antibiotics disrupt the gut microbiome's ability to produce inosine, a molecule that serves as an important signal for developing immune cells. 

By supplementing inosine in mice, however, the researchers were able to correct the immune system issues caused by antibiotics. The finding opens the door to potential therapeutic strategies to bolster immune memory in vulnerable infants. 

"Think of inosine as a molecular messenger," said senior author Hitesh Deshmukh, MD, PhD, chief of the Division of Neonatology at UR Medicine Golisano Children’s Hospital (GCH). "It travels from the gut to developing immune cells, telling them how to mature properly and prepare for future infections." 

The project was part of a long-term R35-funded NIH initiative — which are distributed to experienced investigators to study long-term projects — to investigate how early-life exposures shape lifelong disease risk, including asthma and chronic lung disease.  

"We know that antibiotics can be lifesaving for infants, but they also disrupt the microbiome during a critical window of immune development," said Deshmukh. "Our study identifies one way that disruption affects lung immunity, and more importantly, a way to potentially fix it." 

The disruption ultimately affects the formation of tissue-resident memory T cells, a specialized population of immune cells that reside in the lungs and provide long-term protection against viral infections. Without these cells, infants may remain vulnerable to severe respiratory illness well into adulthood. 

"We've discovered that the gut microbiome acts as a teacher for the developing immune system," Deshmukh explained. "When antibiotics disrupt this natural education process, it's like removing key chapters from a textbook: the immune system never learns crucial lessons about fighting respiratory infections." 

The study compared infant mice exposed to common antibiotics (ampicillin, gentamicin, and vancomycin—the same ones frequently used in pregnant women and newborns) with those that maintained their natural gut bacteria. The following differences were found: 

• Antibiotic-exposed infant mice had significantly reduced populations of protective CD8+ T cells in their lungs 

• These mice showed impaired ability to form tissue-resident memory cells, specialized immune cells that live in the lungs and provide rapid protection against reinfection 

• The immune deficits persisted into adulthood, suggesting permanent changes to immune development 

Using lung samples from an NIH-funded biobank run by URMC (BRINDL biobank), the team confirmed that similar immune deficits were present in human infants exposed to antibiotics. These infants not only showed fewer memory T cells but also demonstrated gene expression patterns similar to older adults, who are also at greater risk for respiratory infections. 

Most importantly, supplementing antibiotic-exposed mice with inosine largely restored their ability to develop functional memory T cells and mount effective immune responses, offering a promising future avenue for potential therapies. 

"This suggests we might be able to protect at-risk infants through targeted supplementation," said Deshmukh. "While much more research is needed before this approach could be applied clinically, it gives us a path forward." 

The findings could influence future research on how to design interventions—including dietary supplements, metabolite therapies, or microbiome-supportive strategies—to help newborns develop stronger immune memory without relying solely on antibiotics or risky probiotics. The study also underscores the importance of balancing the life-saving benefits of antibiotics with careful stewardship, particularly during sensitive windows of immune development. 

Deshmukh credits GCH neonatologist Gloria Pryhuber, MD, as instrumental in the research. Pryhuber's BRINDL biobank of infant lung samples, collected through a 15-year NIH-funded effort, allowed the team to test their findings in human cells. 

"This paper wouldn't have been possible without Dr. Pryhuber's generosity and expertise," Deshmukh said. "The ability to compare our mouse model results to human cells was absolutely critical. It was one of the main reasons I came to Rochester (from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital) —to collaborate with her." 

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Journal

Cell

DOI

10.1016/j.cell.2025.05.013 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Human tissue samples

Article Title

Microbiota-derived inosine programs protective CD8+ T cell responses against influenza in newborns

COI Statement

Declaration of interests J.S. and H.D. are named as co-inventors on a provisional patent application relating to this work entitled “Methods and compositions for enhancing CD8(+) T cell-mediated immune responses in neonates,” which was filed on 4/11/2025 under application number 62/787,417 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.