Friday, February 14, 2020

Pea instead of soy in animal feed

LEGUME BOOM IS GOOD FOR WESTERN CANADA

by Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg

By far the largest proportion of soybeans grown worldwide is used for animal feed. This is particularly problematic because soybean cultivation inflicts massive environmental damage on supplier countries. The Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) is therefore currently researching domestic alternatives as part of the SilaToast project. This project is conducted jointly with the Saxon State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology (LfULG), with the aim of determining what special handling alternative feedstuffs will require to equal the nutritional value of soybeans.

Soy is a popular feedstuff mainly due to its high protein content. However, its cultivation has been criticized on several grounds. For one, most soybeans, grown primarily in South America, are genetically modified, a practice which European consumers increasingly object to. Soybean cultivation also destroys important ecological areas such as rainforests, and their transport over long distances pollutes the environment. The overall poor environmental footprint of soya has led the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food (BMEL) to support research into substitutes. It funds the joint MLU and LfULG SilaToast project for testing two native legumes, the pea and the field bean. "Our main goal is to improve the feed value of regionally produced feedstuffs by fermentation and thermal treatment so they can replace soy protein both quantitatively and qualitatively," states Prof. Dr. Olaf Steinhöfel, MLU honorary professor and the LfULG's project lead. However, this is not the only motivation. "Domestic legumes also benefit agriculture, the environment, and the climate in multiple ways," according to Annette Zeyner, professor of animal nutrition at the MLU. They loosen the soil and store nitrogen from the air, which other plants are incapable of.

Peas in particular contain copious amounts of protein and starch. "But at this point they don't measure up to soy, partly because they contain many so-called anti-nutritive factors," Zeyner explains. These are substances that hinder the absorption of valuable nutrients. However, the problem is relatively easy to solve, as Zeyner's working group has discovered. For one, anti-nutritive ingredients are largely degraded by normal agricultural ensiling practices. Another method for boosting the legume's nutritional properties, although not yet widely used in combination with ensiling, is heat exposure. Thermal treatment does more than just further degrade the anti-nutritive factors in peas.

In a recent study, Zeyner and her collaborator Dr. Martin Bachmann were able to show that it also keeps the proteins from being decomposed as quickly by bacteria in the rumen of cows and other ruminants. Decomposition that happens too soon is problematic for two reasons: one, a large amount of nitrogen is excreted via the fecal matter and can thus enter the groundwater as a nitrate or the air as nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, and, two, valuable essential amino acids are lost in the process. These need to survive the passage to the small intestine to be absorbed there. This is particularly important in order for dairy cows to achieve sufficient production.

"The sticking point is that overheating in turn damages the proteins," says Zeyner. The project therefore determined the optimal temperature, length of thermal treatment, and silage moisture content. In laboratory testing, Bachmann was able to show that ensiling and thermal treatment did not impact gas and methane production. Scanning electron microscope imaging moreover showed that starch molecules were not altered by heating.

Horse nutrition: Prebiotics do more harm than good

More information: M. Bachmann et al, Effects of toasting temperature and duration on in vitro ruminal gas production kinetics and post-ruminal crude protein from field pea (Pisum sativum) legume grain silages, Livestock Science (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.livsci.2020.103944

OF CABBAGES AND KINGS

How plants in the cabbage family look inward when sulfur is scarce

Researchers at Kyushu University's Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology found that disrupting the production of two enzymes in thale cress -- a relative of cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower -- reduces the breakdown of health-beneficial glucosinolates at the expense of plant growth in sulfur-deficient environments. Credit: William J. Potscavage Jr., Kyushu University

New research from Kyushu University in Japan provides a better understanding of how chemicals thought to impart unique health benefits to plants in the cabbage family are broken down to promote growth in conditions lacking sufficient sulfur, and could aid in the future development of broccoli and cabbage that are even healthier for you.

Researchers from the Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology at Kyushu U reported that disrupting the production of two enzymes in thale cress plants—a relative of cabbage—reduced the conversion of chemicals called glucosinolates to simpler compounds and further slowed growth when the plants did not receive sufficient amounts of sulfur from their environment.

Produced by plants in the Brassicaceae family, which includes cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and mustard, glucosinolates are sulfur-containing compounds that give the vegetables their unique flavor and smell, and some studies indicate that glucosinolates may also be beneficial for preventing cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

However, the plants are known to breakdown glucosinolates in environments deficient of sulfur, an essential nutrient for plant growth. While this mechanism appears to act as a strategy to sustain growth under such unfavorable conditions, current knowledge of how the process occurs and contributes to adaptation to sulfur deficiency is still limited.

A group of researchers led by Akiko Maruyama-Nakashita has now published in Plant and Cell Physiology a deeper understanding of this mechanism through the study of genetically modified model plants.

"While we had previous evidence suggesting two particular enzymes may be key based on their increased presence when sulfur is deficient, our new results show that removing these enzymes through genetic modification dramatically disrupts this breakdown," says Maruyama-Nakashita.

Maruyama-Nakashita and her group studied thale cress plants—a member of the Brassicaceae family and the first plant to have its genome completely sequence—modified through the insertion of DNA from bacteria to prevent one of the two enzymes from being produced. By cross fertilizing these plants obtained from the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center, the researchers created plants that lacked both enzymes, called BGLU28 and BGLU30.

While all of the plants had similar levels of glucosinolates in sulfur-sufficient conditions, levels were significantly higher in plants missing both enzymes compared to unmodified plants and those missing only one enzyme when grown in sulfur-deficient conditions.

Furthermore, growth was dramatically stunted in the plants missing both enzymes relative to the other plants when sulfur was scarce, proving that breakdown of glucosinolates contributes greatly to sustaining plant growth in sulfur-deficient environments. Thus, one of the roles of the glucosinolates in the plants may be as a store of sulfur that can be released when needed.

"The knowledge obtained here deepens our understanding of plant adaptation strategies to sulfur deficient environments, and thus provides implications for promoting effective sulfur utilization in modern agriculture," comments Liu Zhang, the first author on the paper reporting the results.

"We hope that characterization of key enzymes that regulate glucosinolate breakdown will shed light on designing strategies to improve the content of these functional compounds in Brassica crops," she adds.

Predatory lacewings do not care whether their prey detoxifies plant defenses or not

Invasive species that threaten biodiversity on the Antarctic

Peninsula are identified

by University of Córdoba

Invasive species are non-native ones that are introduced into a new habitat and are able to adapt to it, displacing indigenous species or causing them to go extinct. This threat is increased by the fact that people and things are constantly moving all over the world, and this is one of the main causes of biodiversity worldwide. Though it is uninhabited, Antarctica is not free from this problem. Due to scientific activity and growing tourism in Antarctica, especially on the Antarctic Peninsula, there is a high risk of invasive species coming into this habitat and killing off indigenous species in the area.

An international research team, including University of Cordoba researcher Pablo González Moreno, identified 13 invasive species that are the likeliest to threaten biodiversity in the Antarctic. "The species were assessed using three main criteria: their risk of coming to the Antarctic Peninsula, the risk of surviving and reproducing and the risk of causing a negative impact on the biodiversity and ecosystems of the region," explains González Moreno.

Among them, the most troubling are the Chilean mussel, the Mediterranean mussel, edible seaweed also known as wakame, some kinds of crabs, mites, and some insects, as well as land plants such as Leptinella scariosa and Leptinella plumose.

These non-native species can be transported in different ways. Visiting people can bring in seeds on their clothes or on the soles of their shoes which can end up taking root in the new soil. As far as boats are concerned, they may have species, such as mussels, stuck to their hulls and inside as well, especially in fresh food supplies, where different plants and insects can hide. In addition, rats and mice can be a threat. Some of the Antarctic islands, such as Marion Island and South Georgia Island, have already been invaded by these rodents, though this is not expected to happen on the Antarctic Peninsula yet.

These species and many others require mitigation measures in order to reduce their impact on fragile biological communities in the Antarctic, not only on marine habitats but land habitats as well. Some non-native species are already established near research centers and tourist areas. Erradicating invasive species is possible but difficult and costly.

"The only way to prevent this threat is by implementing a solid biosecurity system that can minimize the risk of entry of invasive species, as well as an early warning system that would monitor the region and identify new invasive species getting established," explains González Moreno. Only then will it be possible to reduce the risks and protect vulnerable Antarctic ecosystems against the threat of non-native species.

Predicting non-native invasions in Antarctica

More information: Kevin A. Hughes et al, Invasive non‐native species likely to threaten biodiversity and ecosystems in the Antarctic Peninsula region, Global Change Biology (2020). DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14938

#ANTHROPOCENE #SIXTHEXTINCTION

Researchers announce extinction of the Chinese paddlefish

The new decade 2020 began with the sad announcement that another species is now extinct—the Chinese Paddlefish (Psephurus gladius), a close relative of the sturgeon family. A paper by Chinese scientists concluded (based on IUCN criteria) that after 200 million years, the "Panda of the Yangtze" which reached up to 7m is now gone from the Yangtze forever. Although the paper received wide coverage in international media, unfortunately it only marked the scientific notification of a fate already sealed and known for some time. In fact, the authors estimated that the paddlefish went extinct somewhere in 2005–2010. The last time a live specimen was found was in 2003. Ten years before that (1993), scientists announced that the species was already "functionally extinct," meaning that for lack of mates it could not reproduce anymore. Therefore, the newest paper did not write a surprise ending for this sad story. Experts have been well aware of the situation for many years.

The paper well illustrates the factors behind the disappearance of the Chinese Paddlefish; and they sound all too familiar to those affecting sturgeon in other rivers such as the Danube. In particular, the combined effects of overfishing and the disruption of migration routes by both small and large dams without proper consideration for fish migration continue to have severe negative impacts on these species. On the Danube, the situation is best represented by the Iron Gates Dams.

The Chinese paddlefish population has been in gradual decline over the last century. Even so, until the 1970's, up to 25 tons of paddlefish were still harvested annually. When the Three Gorges and Gezhouba Dams were constructed on the Yangtze River in the 1980s without any fish passes, they cut off the paddlefish spawning grounds and sealed their fate.

The Danube River, which was historically the home to six distinct sturgeon species, is no exception to this repeating story. The European Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser sturio) already disappeared long time ago from its entire Black Sea range. The last specimen was found in 1991 in the Rioni River in Georgia. This sturgeon is also sometimes referred to as the common sturgeon, since it was once found all across Europe. Today it is extirpated from all its entire range except in the Gironde-Dordogne-Garonne Basin in France. Less than 800 wild common sturgeons are thought to survive. A breeding and release programme is in place, but due to a very low number of fish in the breeding stock, it has not been very effective.

When the Three Gorges and Gezhouba Dams were constructed without any fish passes, they cut off the paddlefish spawning grounds. Credit: Flickr Biosiversity Photo Database, Liu Chen Han

Action might also come too late for the ship sturgeon, another species once native to the Danube River system. Given that only three known specimens have been caught since 2000, most experts consider the ship sturgeon functionally extinct in the Danube River Basin.

Down from six to four!? None of the four remaining Danube sturgeon species are doing great either. If anything, these past stories should be ringing alarm bells in Europe, and in particular in the Black Sea Region. Currently, the Lower Danube and the Rioni River are the only rivers on the European continent where sturgeon that need to migrate between salt and freshwater environment still reproduce naturally. Only the sterlet, a pure freshwater species, can also be found upstream from the big and unpassable Danube dams such as the Iron Gates or Gabcikovo.

"There is so much more we want to learn about these fascinating fish, but we are running out of time and we know already well enough what measures need to be taken and that we need to take them now, in order to prevent their extinction"—Beate Striebel, WWF Sturgeon Initiative leader.

As time is literally ticking for sturgeon, the Pan European Action Plan for Sturgeon Conservation clearly outlines what needs to be done. A year ago, governments signed up to this plan under the Bern Convention and the European Habitats Directive. It is time to follow up on these commitments. Otherwise we will soon read about similar stories like the one about the Yangtze Paddlefish.

Background

The only remaining relative is the American paddlefish, found in the Mississippi River Basin. Credit: Kevin Schafer / WWF

The Chinese paddlefish was the largest predatory freshwater fish; one of only two paddlefish species in existence. The only remaining relative is the American paddlefish, found in the Mississippi River Basin in the United States. Almost nothing is known about its biology and ecology. Chinese paddlefish could reach 3-7 m (23 ft) in length and weigh up to 300-500 kg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_paddlefish) Both paddlefish species are closely related to the sturgeon family, of which 85 percent are threatened with extinction; making them the most endangered group of species globally.

WWF is engaged in sturgeon protection measures in most Danube countries. Sturgeons used to be present in almost all European rivers, but today seven out of the eight species of sturgeon on the European continent are threatened with extinction. Sturgeons have survived the dinosaurs, but now teeter on the brink of extinction. The Black Sea Region is crucial to the survival of these species in Europe. The Danube and the Rioni River in Georgia are the only two rivers remaining in Europe where migrating sturgeons reproduce naturally. The main reasons are overfishing and loss of habitat through dams that block migration routes or in-river constructions, facilitating navigation. These are often detrimental to the feeding and spawning habitats, necessary for sturgeon survival. Within the EU the only river with naturally reproducing sturgeon populations remains the Danube. Crucial but no longer reproductive stocks are left in the Po River in Italy and the Gironde in France. Restocking activities take place in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, France, Germany, Poland, Austria and the Netherlands. Our priority is to identify and protect the critical habitats of the remaining four sturgeon species (Huso huso, Acipenser stellatus, A. ruthenus, A. gueldenstaedtii) in the Lower Danube and north-western Black Sea, as well as to reduce pressure on their remaining populations by addressing poaching and ensuring protection.WWF releases 11,000 sturgeons to restock Danube

1 in 5 kids start school with health or emotional difficulties that challenge their learning

by Meredith O'connor, Jon Quach and Sharon Goldfeld, The Conversation

WHY CHILDREN FAIL.....IN SCHOOL

WILL NOT BE SOLVED WITH STANDARDIZED TESTING,

1 in 5 kids start school with health or emotional difficulties that challenge their learning — Credit: Shutterstock.com

Teachers identify one in five children as having emerging health or developmental concerns when they start school. This might include a child being disruptive, having difficulties understanding the teacher's instructions, or experiencing fears and anxieties at a level that makes it difficult for them to learn.

Our research, published in "Child: care, health and development", found by year three these children, on average, had poorer NAPLAN results in reading and numeracy than those who didn't start school with such difficulties.

Socio-economic disadvantage added further to the risk of poor learning outcomes for children with emerging concerns.

Previous research has highlighted how developmental and health concerns when starting school, that aren't adequately addressed, can have a profound impact on children's school experiences.

Children can miss school, have trouble doing school work due to fatigue or problems learning, or feel left out from their peer group and school life.

We can't just look to individual schools and teachers to fix this. The whole of the education system needs reform to meet the needs of this large group of children.

What kind of difficulties are these?

In Australia, not all health and developmental difficulties qualify children for special needs programs. Our research focused on children with mild to moderate difficulties emerging in the early years of school. These can go under the radar.

The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) collects data from teachers across Australia about all children's development in their first year of school, every three years. Data from 2015 shows 17% of children had emerging developmental concerns identified by their teacher, but did not qualify as having special needs.

The majority of teacher concerns for these children related to language (44%), which includes children not being able to express themselves or follow directions. The next most common were concerns about behaviour (17%) such as the child having trouble with classroom rules; emotional problems (16%) such as withdrawing from learning and peers; and learning difficulties (10%) such as picking up specific reading skills.

The percentage of children starting school with these types of difficulties is increasing. The proportion of children with teacher-identified language difficulties rose from 8% to 14% between 2009 and 2015.

How this affects learning

We analysed the AEDC and NAPLAN data of 42,619 Victorian children. We looked at associations between teachers' concerns when the children started school and their NAPLAN results in reading and numeracy at year three.

We also accounted for socio-demographic factors that could impact on both health and learning.

We found teachers' concerns about children's health and development at the start of school predicted lower reading and numeracy scores. By year three, this equated to about nine months behind in schooling on average.

The combined effect of emerging concerns and socio-economic disadvantage on children's academic learning was even greater. Around one-third (34%) of children with emerging concerns, and 39% of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, had poor reading and or numeracy outcomes.

When children had both emerging concerns and disadvantage, 60% had poor outcomes.

Children living in disadvantaged circumstances have less access to appropriate health and education supports (such as to specialist health services) that can be a buffer against poor learning outcomes. Because academic skills are vital for future career and education opportunities, this has the potential to reinforce the cycle of disadvantage across generations.

What do we need to do?

We previously found that 84% of children who started school with emerging health and developmental concerns did not have their needs consistently reported by their teacher and parent.

While the data couldn't tell us the reasons why, it may not be surprising since parents and teachers see children in different contexts and from different perspectives. For example, a child may struggle more with the learning demands in a classroom which parents may not know about. But on the other hand, parents might be managing a medication routine at home the teacher may not be aware of.

This separation can become problematic if it interferes with children getting the support and services they need. Teachers are instrumental in identifying and making referrals to school services. Parents are increasingly expected to advocate for their child to receive additional support and services at school and in the community.

Health practitioners in and outside schools are also important parts of children's care teams. They can offer information about a health condition, ideas for strategies to support the child at school, and information about their own services, to avoid duplication.

To build a shared understanding of children's needs across these stakeholders, we need to find new ways to quickly identify, communicate about, and respond to children's needs as they first become apparent.

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data – an annual collection of information about Australian school students with disability—is an example of a positive shift towards recognising children with emerging needs and providing a common framework for understanding them. This is achieved by taking the focus away from a child's diagnosis (or lack of it) and towards the adjustments needed to help children learn and participate at school.

Moving in these directions requires rethinking our approach to resourcing schools to support children with emerging health and developmental concerns, particularly for those who are also disadvantaged

Screening kindergarten readiness

Provided by The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Images: The two halves of Mars' whole

Mars is very much a world of two halves – as highlighted by this new image from ESA’s Mars Express, which shows where the planet’s dramatically different hemispheres come together as one. The northern hemisphere of Mars is flat, smooth and, in places, sits a few kilometres lower than the southern. The southern hemisphere, meanwhile, is heavily cratered, and peppered with pockets of past volcanic activity. A transition zone known as ‘dichotomy boundary’ separates the northern lowlands and southern highlands. Large parts of this region are filled with something scientists call fretted terrain: blocky, broken-up, fragmented swathes of terrain where the rough, pockmarked martian south gives way to the smoother north. This image shows a region of fretted terrain named Nilosyrtis Mensae; channels, valleys and worn-away craters can be seen across the frame, reflecting the water, wind and ice erosion the region has experienced over martian history. This image comprises data gathered on 29 September 2019 during orbit 19908. The ground resolution is approximately 15 m/pixel and the images are centred at about 69°E/31°N. This image was created using data from the nadir and colour channels of the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). The nadir channel is aligned perpendicular to the surface of Mars, as if looking straight down at the surface. North is to the right. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

Mars is very much a world of two halves, as this new image from ESA's Mars Express highlights, showing where these dramatically different regions come together as one.

The morphology and characteristics of the martian surface differ significantly depending on location. The northern hemisphere of Mars is flat, smooth and, in places, sits a few kilometers lower than the southern. The southern hemisphere, meanwhile, is heavily cratered, and peppered with pockets of past volcanic activity.

A transition zone known as 'dichotomy boundary' separates the northern lowlands and southern highlands. Large parts of this region are filled with something scientists call fretted terrain: blocky, broken-up, fragmented swathes of terrain where the rough, pockmarked martian south gives way to the smoother north.

This new image from the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) shows exactly that: a region of fretted terrain named Nilosyrtis Mensae.

Nilosyrtis Mensae has a labyrinthian appearance, with numerous channels and valleys carving through the terrain. Water, wind and ice been strongly affecting this region, dissecting and eroding the terrain, along with changes in martian geology: valleys have formed over time and sliced across the region, and once-defined impact craters have slowly degraded, their walls and features gradually wearing away.

This colour-coded topographic image shows a region of Mars’ surface named Nilosyrtis Mensae, based on data gathered by the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera on 29 September 2019 during orbit 19908. This view is based on a digital terrain model (DTM) of the region, from which the topography of the landscape can be derived; lower parts of the surface are shown in blues and purples, while higher altitude regions show up in whites, yellows and reds, as indicated on the scale to the bottom left. North is to the right. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

The large crater to the right of the frame is an example of this degradation: it has a smooth, rounded appearance, with gently sloping walls, softened edges, and a flat bottom that has been widened and filled by sedimentary material over time. This worn-away morphology reflects both the crater's advanced age, and the levels of erosion it has undergone since it formed.

Such erosion processes also created rounded hills and isolated flat-topped hills, or 'mesas," that are visible within the crater and across the region more widely. These stand apart from their surroundings as isolated features, and contribute to the blocky, fractured appearance of fretted terrain.

Scientists are interested in Nilosyrtis Mensae not only for its location in this intriguing transition zone between north and south, but also for the secrets it could hold about the history of water on Mars.

This image shows a region of Mars’ surface named Nilosyrtis Mensae. It comprises data gathered on 29 September 2019 during orbit 19908. The ground resolution is approximately 15 m/pixel and the images are centred at about 69°E/31°N. This image was created using data from the nadir and colour channels of the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). The nadir channel is aligned perpendicular to the surface of Mars, as if looking straight down at the surface. This perspective looks over the region from north to south. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

This image shows shows a region of Mars’ surface named Nilosyrtis Mensae in wider context. The area outlined by the bold white box indicates the area imaged by the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera on 29 September 2019 during orbit 19908. Credit: NASA MGS MOLA Science Team

Observations of this region by missions such as Mars Express have revealed ridges, grooves and other surface textures indicative of flowing material—most likely ice.

The climate and atmosphere of ancient Mars allowed ice and snow to accumulate and move around across the planet's surface.

Ice is thought to have flowed through the various valleys and across the plateaus in this region, in the form of slow-moving glaciers that swept up debris as they traveled. Such features would be similar to rock glaciers here on Earth: either icy flows covered in layers of mud and sediment, or flowing mixtures of ice, mud, snow and rock interspersed with larger rocks and boulders.

Studying and characterizing the various processes at play across the surface of Mars is a key aim of Mars Express. Launched in 2003, the spacecraft has now been orbiting the Red Planet for over a decade and a half. Meanwhile, the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) joined in 2016, soon to be joined by the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover and its accompanying surface science platform, scheduled for launch in July.

Fractured ice sheets on Mars

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Canada's divorce is data revealing—and still murky

Divorce data revealing – and still murky

Sociology professor Rachel Margolis’ research around divorce shows that more Canadian couples are staying married – but garnering such important information has become much harder since Statistics Canada stopped collecting vital statistics on divorce in 2008. Credit: Paul Mayne // Western News

Cupid seems to be working overtime in Canada—and, thanks to one Western researcher, we have the data to prove it for the first time in a decade.

Divorce rates in Canada are on the decline—nearly cut in half this past decade. While the annual rates hovered around 10 divorces for every 1,000 marriages in the early 2000s, that has since fallen to six for every 1,000 as of 2016.

"The trend in divorce over the last decade seems to follows the trend in the United States and some other European countries," Sociology professor Rachel Margolis noted.

While the number of divorces in the United States is higher than Canada, they too dropped this past decade, from 20 for every 1,000 marriages to 16.7 for every 1,000.

"Part of that is due to the fact not as many people are getting married. And when they are they're getting married later. So marriage is becoming more selective of stronger unions or people with more education and income."

There was also a shifting age distribution among people getting divorced, Margolis added.

In the early 1990s, more than half of divorces in Canada were granted to those in their 20s and 30s. Over the last 20 years, however, it has become more common for divorces to occur later. Only 28 percent of divorces were granted to those in their 20s and 30s, while 57 percent were granted to those in their 40s and 50s, and an additional 15 percent for those 60 and above, referred to as the 'grey divorce revolution."

"The Baby Boomers have had more tumultuous marriage histories than younger generations. So we've seen some shifting in the age distribution of the married and divorced population," Margolis said. "A lot has been written in the United States and other countries about big increases in divorce among Boomers over the last 20 years. We see some increase, but not this huge grey revolution."

Her study, "Capturing trends in Canadian divorce in an era without vital statistics," represents the first new data into divorces in some time.

In Canada, marriage and divorce information has not been published since 2008, when vital statistics data stopped being analyzed and reported by Statistics Canada. An annual savings of $350,000, plus the fact the government felt people weren't using the statistics, were some of the reasons for ceasing the data collection. But such information is key for demographers, governments and anyone interested in planning for the future, Margolis continued.

"Divorce is a very basic measure of how families and unions are changing," Margolis said. "In order to understand many important questions about how our society is changing, especially for vulnerable groups, we have to know how families are changing. This is very basic demographic data. It's like saying, "Why do we even care how many people live in Canada? Why do a census?"

Because of this data gap, Margolis used anonymized administrative tax data to provide insights into recent trends in divorce in Canada. While other countries have also ceased publications of marriage and divorce vital statistics, they continue to collect data through other means, such as the American Community Survey in the United States. Canada has nothing similar.

"It's a data-quality issue. This is at the core of what demographers do. It's really frustrating because we want to have good estimates of this measures," she said. "How can we measure these basic things on how our society is changing? What is the quality of the data?"

In the past, divorces have been undercounted in tax data when compared to Statistics Canada. This is potentially problematic, Margolis added, leading to research increasingly underestimating divorce over time. It could become unclear how much of a decline in divorce in recent years is due to a decline in data quality.

To this end, Margolis has brought forward recommendations to Statistics Canada. In addition to tax data, perhaps adding a question to the monthly Labour Force Survey could serve as an efficient and reliable vehicle for collecting this important data. This survey already uses data collected to make decisions regarding job creation, education and training, retirement pensions and income support—so why not marriage and divorce, she wondered.

"Since changes in marriage are so related to changes in employment, household structure and poverty, I think there is interest," said Margolis, who continues to work towards strengthening our understanding of demographic changes in Canada. "We rely on indicators of marriage and divorce in understanding so many things about society."

Divorce: On the decline in sub-Saharan Africa

More information: Rachel Margolis et al. Capturing trends in Canadian divorce in an era without vital statistics, Demographic Research (2019). DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2019.41.52

Kitsch religious souvenirs can rekindle pilgrimage experience

by Lancaster University

REIFICATION POSTMODERN PLASTIC JESUS

REPLACES A PIECE OF THE CROSS, A SAINTS TOE

'Tacky' and 'kitsch' religious souvenirs brought back from pilgrimage sites offer pilgrims and their friends and family who cannot make the journey a deeper religious connection.

Research by Dr. Leighanne Higgins, of Lancaster University, and Dr. Kathy Hamilton, of the University of Strathclyde, published in the Annals of Tourism Research, studied visitors to the Catholic pilgrimage site of Lourdes, in France, a beacon for both ill and healthy pilgrims.

They found that souvenirs brought home either as gifts or for the pilgrim themselves extend the pilgrimage beyond Lourdes and into the homes of those who may never have been to the town itself.

Such material objects can frequently be given derogatory labels, but the researchers found such terms fail to appreciate the value pilgrims and those who receive their gift derive from having the souvenirs in their homes.

"Religious souvenirs from pilgrimage sites have been variously labelled 'Jesus Junk', 'Holy Hardware' and 'Christian Kitsch'," said Dr. Higgins, Senior Lecturer in Marketing in Lancaster University Management School. "However, our study shows they have a more symbolic and important meaning for those who take them home.

"Objects purchased in Lourdes not only remind pilgrims of their pilgrimage, but also extend the essence of Lourdes to their homes. A pilgrim's personal attachment to the objects they bring home from Lourdes allows them to recapture the feelings of the pilgrimage.

"Religious objects are not used as symbols of religion, but instead provide a link to the pilgrimage and creates a sense of togetherness both with others who have been on pilgrimage and with those who remained at home but who receive similar items. The objects allow some of the therapeutic benefits of pilgrimage to be extended, with their cheap monetary value not commensurate with the value derived by those who buy or receive them.

"Our findings show that beneath the cacophony of plastic, luminosity and glitter, there can lie a kaleidoscope of symbolism important to a person's sense of self and a pathway to experiencing a more subtle, individual sense of community around pilgrimage. Souvenirs allow people to experience the sense of togetherness pilgrimage can create, conveying a sense of belonging even to those who have not made the journey."

The researchers conducted six visits to Lourdes, totalling eight weeks at the pilgrimage site, observing and interviewing pilgrims, both in Lourdes and after their return, as well as speaking with volunteers, Lourdes hotel owners and priests.

One of the pilgrims the researchers spoke to, Matthew, discussed the sense of calm and quietude he experienced on his visits to the Grotto of Massabielle, and how he recaptured these feelings through interaction with a wooden bracelet he brought home. He told them: "It reminds me of the place. It reminds me of how I felt, how I feel about the place... It reminds me of everything about Lourdes, about the experience, the kind of better person I want to be."

"What Matthew told us reinforce the sensory nature of memories of pilgrimage, which he is able to recapture through the bracelet," said Dr. Hamilton, Reader in Marketing at the University of Strathclyde. "Beliefs are materialised in such objects, connecting those at home with Lourdes, where the practice of touching them brings their meaning to the fore.

"Another pilgrim, Lilly, brought home a sparkling Our Lady statue that she herself described as 'tacky'. Yet it connects her to her visits to Lourdes and memories of her mother, who visited the shrine on pilgrimage and who later died from cancer. The significance of the item extends beyond its market value."

Andrea, a pilgrim who brought home a luminous Our Lady statue she acknowledges as being religious kitsch, said: "When I wake during the night and see the statue shining, I feel protected and safe knowing Our Lady is watching me."

"The statue projects an atmosphere of safety and protection for Andrea, much as pilgrims experience in Lourdes," added Dr. Higgins. "Lourdes 'speaks' to pilgrims through the objects they bring home, helping them with their lives away from the pilgrimage site and in the larger world.

"It is the pilgrims' belief in the narrative of Lourdes that drives them to bring souvenirs home."

As well as investigating the sense of togetherness souvenirs taken home can provide for pilgrims, their friends and families, Dr. Higgins and Dr. Hamilton also looked at the bonds with pilgrimage created by written prayers (petitions) left behind and candles lit in or near the Grotto in Lourdes.

Petitions are personal requests for religious intervention in life problems, both from pilgrims themselves and often from friends, family or acquaintances who cannot make the journey but who ask for them to be taken to Lourdes for them. They are private communications with God and provide a connection between pilgrims and those at home.

The researchers found that people posting petitions do not believe they will be more likely to be heard and answered if they are left in the Grotto, but see the process as special, allowing the sacred experience of the pilgrimage to speak to those at home.

Candles lit in or near the Grotto offer a similar connection, with the displays representing the collective voice of pilgrims and a shared connection between those on pilgrimage and those who do not travel.

"Therapeutic release is not only achieved by the pilgrims who are physically present at the pilgrimage site, but it can be extended to those at home, both through the petitions and the candles," said Dr. Hamilton. "Those who receive the gifts and who send petitions to Lourdes have a similar sense of emotional release to those who make the physical journey, creating a bond between them and Lourdes, a unity and togetherness shared by pilgrims and those who may never be able to visit the shrine."

People turn to consumerism to confront problems, grief and feelings

More information: Leighanne Higgins et al, Pilgrimage, material objects and spontaneous communitas, Annals of Tourism Research (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2019.102855

NASA's space snowman reveals secrets: few craters, no water

by Marcia Dunn

This Jan. 1, 2019 image from NASA shows Arrokoth, the farthest, most primitive object in the Solar System ever to be visited by a spacecraft. Astronomers reported Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020 that this pristine, primordial cosmic body photographed by the New Horizons probe is relatively smooth with far fewer craters than expected. It's also entirely ultrared, or highly reflective, which is commonplace in the faraway Twilight Zone of our solar system known as the the Kuiper Belt. (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Roman Tkachenko via AP)

NASA's space snowman is revealing fresh secrets from its home far beyond Pluto.

More than a year after its close encounter with the snowman-shaped object, the New Horizons spacecraft is still sending back data from more than 4 billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away.

"The data rate is painfully slow from so far away," said Will Grundy of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, one of the lead authors.

Astronomers reported Thursday that this pristine, primordial cosmic body now called Arrokoth—the most distant object ever explored—is relatively smooth with far fewer craters than expected. It's also entirely ultrared, or highly reflective, which is commonplace in the faraway Twilight Zone of our solar system known as the the Kuiper Belt.

Grundy said in an email that to the human eye, Arrokoth would look less red and more dark brown, sort of like molasses. The reddish color is indicative of organic molecules.

While frozen methane is present, no water has yet been found on the body, which is an estimated 22 miles (36 kilometers) long tip to tip. At a news conference Thursday in Seattle, New Horizons' chief scientist Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute said its size was roughly that of the city.

VIDEO https://sciencex.com/newman/gfx/video/2020/5e45a73e53870.mp4

Scientists have used all available New Horizons images of Arrokoth, taken from many angles, to determine its 3D shape, as shown in this animation. The shape provides additional insight into Arrokoth’s origins. The flattened shapes of each of Arrokoth’s lobes, as well as the remarkably close alignment of their poles and equators, point to an orderly, gentle merger of two objects formed from the same collapsing cloud of particles. Arrokoth has the physical features of a body that came together slowly, with ‘locally-sourced’ materials from a small part of the solar nebula. An object like Arrokoth wouldn’t have formed, or look the way it does, in a more chaotic accretion environment. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Roman Tkachenko

As for the snowman shape, it's not nearly as flat on the backside as previously thought. Neither the small nor big sphere is fully round, but far from the flatter pancake shape scientists reported a year ago. The research team likened the somewhat flattened spherical forms to the shape of M&Ms.

No rings or satellites have been found. The light cratering suggests Arrokoth dates back to the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. It likely was created by a slow, gentle merger between two separate objects that possibly were an orbiting pair. The resulting fused body is considered a contact binary.

This kind of slow-motion hookup likely arose from collapsing clouds in the solar nebula, as opposed to intense collisions theorized to form these planetesimals, or little orbiting bodies.

New Horizons flew past Arrokoth on Jan. 1, 2019, more than three years after the spacecraft visited Pluto. Originally nicknamed Ultima Thule, the object received its official name in November; Arrokoth means sky in the language of the Native American Powhatan people.

Launched in 2006, the spacecraft is now 316 million miles (509 million kilometers) beyond Arrokoth. The research team is looking for other potential targets to investigate. Powerful ground telescopes still under construction will help survey this part of the sky.

This brief animation moves between two New Horizons spacecraft views of Arrokoth, the spacecraft's New Year's 2019 flyby target in the Kuiper Belt. The 3D effects come from pairing or combining images taken at different viewing angles, creating a "binocular" stereo effect, just as the separation of our eyes allows us to see three-dimensionally. The 3D information from these images provides scientists with critical insight on the object's shape and structure and, subsequently, origin. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Roman Tkachenko

Emerging technology will enable scientists to develop a mission that could put a spacecraft in orbit around Pluto, 3 billion miles (5 billion kilometers) away, according to Stern. After a few years, that same spacecraft could be sent even deeper into the Kuiper Belt to check out other dwarf planets and objects, he said.

The New Horizons scientists reported their latest findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as in three separate papers in the journal Science.

David Jewitt of the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the studies, said a flyby mission like New Horizons, where encounters last just a few days, is hardly ideal.

"For future missions, we need to be able to send spacecraft to the Kuiper Belt and keep them there" in orbit around objects, Jewitt wrote in a companion piece in Science. That would allow "these intriguing bodies to be studied in stunning geological and geophysical detail," he noted.

Explore furtherLooking back at a New Horizons New Year's to remember
More information: J.R. Spencer el al., "The geology and geophysics of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth," Science (2020). science.sciencemag.org/lookup/ … 1126/science.aay3999

W.B. McKinnon el al., "The solar nebula origin of (486958) Arrokoth, a primordial contact binary in the Kuiper belt," Science (2020). science.sciencemag.org/lookup/ … 1126/science.aay6620

W.M. Grundy at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ el al., "Color, composition, and thermal environment of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth," Science (2020). science.sciencemag.org/lookup/ … 1126/science.aay3705

"A deep dive into the abyss," Science (2020). science.sciencemag.org/lookup/ … 1126/science.aba6889
Journal information: Science

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