Turtle scavenging critical to freshwater ecosystem health

by Nature Publishing Group

Adult Emydura macquarii. Credit: Claudia Santori.

Freshwater turtles may have a role in regulating water quality in river systems by scavenging fish carcasses, suggests a study of Emydura macquarii, a vulnerable freshwater turtle species found in Australia. The findings are published in Scientific Reports.

Carp are a major pest in many parts of Australia and ammonia, a by-product of carp carcass decomposition, is toxic to animals in high concentrations. Ricky-John Spencer and colleagues measured the impact of scavenging turtles on the water quality of artificial wetlands containing carp carcasses, using five groups of four male Emydura macquarii caught at Hawksview Lagoon in New South Wales. Each artificial wetland contained either four or no turtles and consisted of a tank filled with flowing water, cement blocks for turtles to bask on and plastic tunnels for shelter. Carp carcasses were left in each artificial wetland until they had either been fully eaten by turtles or had fully decomposed. When turtles were present, carp carcasses were removed three times faster and water quality returned to initial conditions more quickly, as indicated by a fall in ammonia levels and the recovery of dissolved oxygen levels. Aquatic animals need dissolved oxygen to breathe.

The Murray-Darling basin is a river system that supports 40% of Australia's agricultural production. It is the main water source for more than 2.8 million people. Freshwater turtles are scarce in the Murray-Darling basin due to death on roads and nest destruction by foxes. The water quality and ecosystems of the basin could be severely affected by plans by the Australian government to reduce the number of invasive carp through the introduction of a naturally occurring carp virus as there are fewer turtles present to scavenge on carcasses, the authors suggest.

The state-of-art experimental wetland facility at Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury campus. Credit: Ricky Spencer and Claudia Santori.
Baby Emydura macquarii. Credit: Tom Burd.
Day one of the mesocosm experiments within the state-of-art experimental wetland facility at Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury campus - a carp carcass is added to the water. Credit: Ricky Spencer and Claudia Santori.

Day nine of the mesocosm experiments within the state-of-art experimental wetland facility at Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury campus - with turtles present in the water, the carp carcass has been completely devoured. Credit: Ricky Spencer and Claudia Santori.

Day nine of the mesocosm experiments within the state-of-art experimental wetland facility at Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury campus - without turtles present in the water, the carp carcass continues to decompose and water quality deteriorates. Credit: Ricky Spencer and Claudia Santori.

The state-of-art experimental wetland facility at Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury campus. Credit: Ricky Spencer and Claudia Santori.

Baby Emydura macquarii. Credit: Tom Burd.


Explore further Millions of rotting fish—turtles and crays can save us from carpageddon

More information: Scavenging by threatened turtles regulates freshwater ecosystem health during fish kills, Scientific Reports (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-71544-3 , www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-71544-3

Journal information: Scientific Reports


Provided by Nature Publishing Group

Taxing online sports betting, fantasy sports may help states cover pandemic losses

by Avery Ruxer Franklin, Rice University

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Taxing online fantasy sports and sports betting may help states recoup some of the sales tax revenue lost during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a finance expert at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.


Joyce Beebe, a fellow in public finance, writes that COVID-19 has saddled state governments with large revenue shortages, highlighted by a 21% plunge in average sales tax revenue in May 2020 compared with a year earlier. Some states have been exploring creative ways to raise money—like imposing excise taxes on sports betting and daily fantasy sports (DFS).

"When excise taxes are levied on potentially harmful goods and activities, such as cigarettes, gambling and alcoholic beverages, they are often called 'sin taxes,'" Beebe wrote. "Over time, what constitutes 'sinful' products varies as a result of evolving cultural, health and social perspectives. Although 'sin taxes' arguably focus on goods and activities that aren't overly controversial, the public debate is no less intense, because the tax is imposed, in part, to change people's behaviors."

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal law prohibiting sports betting in 2018, allowing states to decide on the issue for themselves. As of 2020, sports betting is legal—and providing tax revenue—in 23 states and Washington, D.C. Yet, not all of these states allow DFS, and not all states that allow DFS permit sports betting.

"The distinction generally lies in whether the fantasy sports are considered a 'game of chance' or a 'game of skills' under state law, where the former falls in the definition of gambling and the latter is generally authorized," Beebe wrote. "As such, some DFS industry groups maintain the distinction between DFS and sports betting by emphasizing the skill element of DFS, hoping to increase the chance of legalizing DFS—although their goal is to ultimately legalize both."

COVID-19 has provided an unexpected environment for DFS to flourish due to social distancing measures, Beebe argues. She wrote that such measures may continue to "fuel the popularity of online sports betting, and the pandemic will motivate more states to accelerate its legalization."

"When debating whether to legalize sports betting, the real gain is that states can regulate the activities and provide a legitimate environment that protects consumers from disreputable operations and limits the risk of addiction," Beebe wrote.


Explore furtherPoll: Majority of Americans support legalization of sports betting

More information: 

Be a good sport (and pay your taxes): blog.bakerinstitute.org/2020/0 … -and-pay-your-taxes/

Provided by Rice University

Study shows quizzes improve academic performance
NOT TESTING!!!
by Iowa State University

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

About a year ago, a conversation during a faculty meeting piqued Marcus Crede's interest.

 A senior faculty member in Iowa State University's Department of Psychology said that he believed frequent quizzes help students better grasp classroom material.

 Crede, an associate professor of psychology, was skeptical that something as simple as a quiz could positively impact students' academic performance. He decided to dig deeper and conduct a meta-analytic study of existing research to see if there was any merit to the claim. What he discovered truly surprised him.


"I have a long history of trying to understand the variables that contribute to learning and performance in the classroom," Crede said. "For me, this study is part of a larger effort to understand what works and what doesn't work. It turned out to be a much more interesting paper than I thought it was going to be. I was surprised."

The study

Crede teamed up with psychology graduate student Lukas Sotola, who took the lead on much of the research. They analyzed data from previously published studies that examined 52 classes with almost 8,000 students, primarily college-level courses, to determine if frequent quizzes improved the students' academic performance. Laboratory settings were excluded from the study because Crede and Sotola wanted to observe whether similar studies from labs would apply to general classrooms. They defined quizzes as low-stakes assessments of learned material that occurred at least once a week.

Crede emphasizes that this study did not involve true experiments, where some students were randomly assigned quiz conditions and others were not.

"As soon as we don't have random assignments, we can't be 100% certain that the difference is really do to the quizzes. It could be something else."

Nevertheless, the results suggest there may be a strong link between frequent quizzing and student success.

The study's results are detailed in the paper, "Regarding Class Quizzes: A Meta-analytic Synthesis of Studies on the Relationship Between Frequent Low-stakes Testing and Class Performance," published last month in the journal Educational Psychology Review.

A few surprises

Crede and Sotola discovered that when students are quizzed over class material at least once a week, they tend to perform better on midterm and final exams compared to students who did not take quizzes. They also found that students who took frequent quizzes were less likely to fail the class, especially if they were struggling with the course content.

"I was surprised the effect of quizzes was relatively strong," Crede said. "I was skeptical. I didn't think this would have much of an effect. The other surprising thing was how much quizzes helped reduce failure rates in classes. The odds of passing a class went through the roof where instructors used this."


Even if quizzes only modestly impact students' ability to pass a class, Sotola said this tool should be part of an instructor's teaching curriculum.

"A modest effect can have a large impact over the course of many years," Sotola said. "If quizzes improve performance and lead to even a slightly lower percentage of students failing their classes, then that will presumably have positive effects on graduation and drop-out rates down the road, which will save students and institutions time and money."

Crede noted that students who struggle the most in a class seem to benefit the greatest from frequent quizzes. This is a profound finding, he said, especially since implementing short quizzes into course curriculum is a relatively simple task.

"In many universities, including Iowa State, there's often concern about drop-out rates and failure rates, and so the fact that we can apparently do so much with so little effort is really encouraging for us," Crede said.

In addition to quiz frequency, another factor that seemed to positively impact students' performance was immediate feedback from instructors. Also, Crede and Sotola said quizzes that required students to answer with written responses proved more beneficial to their understanding of class material compared to multiple-choice questions, though their pool of data for this particular aspect of the study was small.

"You have to be cautious about the amount of data we have, but multiple-choice questions seem to be a little less effective than what we call a constructive-response question, when you actually have to come up with the answer yourself," Crede said. "It's about recognizing the right answer and actually remembering what the right answer is."

Crede acknowledges that asking teachers to grade written quizzes daily or weekly may discourage some from implementing them in their classes. Instead, he recommends instructors utilize online quizzes that can be automatically graded by a course management system, such as Canvas.

Crede and Sotola said some quiz attributes proved insignificant in their study, including whether the tests were pop quizzes versus planned, or if they were online or on paper. No matter how they are delivered, Crede and Sotola agree that their study shows frequent quizzes with immediate instructor feedback help students, especially those who are having difficulties, succeed in the classroom.

"The impact on struggling students was really remarkable," Crede said. "Again, we only have data on about 1,000 students, but it's really quite dramatic. If it's even remotely in that neighborhood, this is something we should all be doing."


Explore further  No evidence that grit improves performance, analysis finds

More information: Lukas K. Sotola et al, Regarding Class Quizzes: a Meta-analytic Synthesis of Studies on the Relationship Between Frequent Low-Stakes Testing and Class Performance, Educational Psychology Review (2020). DOI: 10.1007/s10648-020-09563-9

Provided by Iowa State University

Future teachers often think memorization is the best way to teach math and science – until they learn a different way

by Peter C. Cormas, The Conversation

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

I found that college students who are taking courses to become teachers can change their beliefs of how science and mathematics should be taught to and learned by K-12 students.

Most of these future teachers tell me when they start my course, they believe that K-12 students must memorize science and mathematics knowledge to learn it. They also believe that students cannot acquire knowledge through a process used by scientists and mathematicians called problem-solving. Problem-solving asks students to solve engaging and challenging problems that are provided without a strategy or solution. It also involves group work and a time to present and justify their strategies and solutions to the class.

To challenge my students' beliefs, I ask future teachers to teach science and mathematics to students with problem-solving. At first they often resist because they believe that their students can only memorize science and mathematics knowledge. However, after they have asked the students to use problem-solving and find it successful, they discover that students can learn like scientists and mathematicians The evidence and experiences start to change their beliefs.

The way I reached these conclusions was by studying future teachers over the course of four years. I studied 113 future teachers' beliefs in 10 sections of a course that I taught on how to teach science and mathematics. Throughout the course, I asked the future teachers to discover science and mathematics knowledge with problem-solving. I also had the future teachers teach students at a local school by asking them to learn with problem-solving.

To measure changes in future teachers' beliefs following completion of the class, I asked them to complete a survey at the start and end of the course. At the end, the findings showed that the future teachers were significantly more likely to teach in a way that reflected how scientists and mathematicians solve problems.

It also appeared that their teaching of science with problem-solving encouraged their use of the method when they taught mathematics. Conversely, their teaching of mathematics with problem-solving encouraged their use of the method when they taught science.

This study matters because a teacher's beliefs – their personal philosophy about teaching and learning—often determine how they will teach and what students will learn. And because problem-solving is necessary for scientific and mathematical literacy, students need teachers who will expose them to problem-solving.

This study also matters because college professors who work with future teachers can employ similar strategies. They can place future educators in situations in which they must confront their beliefs about teaching and learning with evidence and experiences that contradict their beliefs.

Those who do similar research are trying to figure out how to assure future teachers use problem-solving in their future classrooms. I have taught many education students who did quite well in my course, and successfully used science and mathematics problem-solving with their students. However, former students that I ran into years later often told me that they do not use problem-solving as teachers. Instead, they reverted to simply asking students to memorize science and mathematics information. They told me the reason for this is that teachers in their present schools do not use problem-solving. I find this troubling.

It may be that one way to solidify beliefs about teaching through problem-solving instead of memorization would be for science and mathematics faculty to use problem-solving in their college classrooms. Research shows that similarities and coherence between college courses may increase the likelihood that future teachers will believe in the value of problem-solving. If so, then my students may become less likely to abandon the methods learned in their courses. In turn, they may be more likely to help make their future students more adept at mathematics and science.


Explore furtherCreativity important to lift math education

Provided by The Conversation

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

Could breadfruit be the next superfood?

by University of British Columbia

UBC Okanagan researchers say breadfruit is nutritionally sound and has the potential to improve worldwide food security issues.

Credit: Jan Vozenilek, Copper Sky Productions, Kelowna.

A fruit used for centuries in countries around the world is getting the nutritional thumbs-up from a team of British Columbia researchers.

Breadfruit, which grows in abundance in tropical and South Pacific countries, has long been a staple in the diet of many people. The fruit can be eaten when ripe, or it can be dried and ground up into a flour and repurposed into many types of meals, explains UBC Okanagan researcher Susan Murch.

"Breadfruit is a traditional staple crop from the Pacific islands with the potential to improve worldwide food security and mitigate diabetes," says Murch, a chemistry professor in the newly-created Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science. "While people have survived on it for thousands of years there was a lack of basic scientific knowledge of the health impacts of a breadfruit-based diet in both humans and animals."

Breadfruit can be harvested, dried and ground into a gluten-free flour. For the project, researchers had four breadfruits from the same tree in Hawaii, shipped to the Murch Lab at UBC Okanagan. Doctoral student Ying Liu led the study examining the digestion and health impact of a breadfruit-based diet.

"Detailed and systematic studies of the health impacts of a breadfruit diet had not previously been conducted and we wanted to contribute to the development of breadfruit as a sustainable, environmentally-friendly and high-production crop," Liu says.

The few studies done on the product have been to examine the glycemic index of breadfruit—with a low glycemic index it is comparable to many common staples such as wheat, cassava, yam and potatoes.

"The objective of our current study was to determine whether a diet containing breadfruit flour poses any serious health concerns," explains Liu, who conducted her research with colleagues from British Columbia Institute of Technology's Natural Health and Food Products Research Group and the Breadfruit Institute of the National Tropical Botanic Garden in Hawaii.

The researchers designed a series of studies—using flour ground from dehydrated breadfruits—that could provide data on the impacts of a breadfruit-based diet fed to mice and also an enzyme digestion model.

The researchers determined that breadfruit protein was found to be easier to digest than wheat protein in the enzyme digestion model. And mice fed the breadfruit diet had a significantly higher growth rate and body weight than standard diet-fed mice.

Liu also noted mice on the breadfruit diet had a significantly higher daily water consumption compared to mice on the wheat diet. And at the end of the three-week-trial, the body composition was similar between the breadfruit and wheat diet-fed mice.

"As the first complete, fully-designed breadfruit diet study, our data showed that a breadfruit diet does not impose any toxic impact," says Liu. "Fundamental understanding of the health impact of breadfruit digestion and diets is necessary and imperative to the establishment of breadfruit as a staple or as a functional food in the future."

The use of breadfruit is nutritious and sustainable and could make inroads in food sustainability for many populations globally, she adds. For example, the average daily consumption of grain in the United States is 189 grams (6.67 ounces) per day. Liu suggests if a person ate the same amount of cooked breadfruit they can meet up to nearly 57 per cent of their daily fiber requirement, more than 34 per cent of their protein requirement and at the same time consume vitamin C, potassium, iron, calcium and phosphorus.

"Overall, these studies support the use of breadfruit as part of a healthy, nutritionally balanced diet," says Liu. "Flour produced from breadfruit is a gluten-free, low glycemic index, nutrient-dense and complete protein option for modern foods."

The study was recently published in PLOS ONE.


Explore furtherStudies confirm breadfruit's ability to repel insects

More information: Ying Liu et al, Breadfruit flour is a healthy option for modern foods and food security, PLOS ONE (2020). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236300

Journal information: PLoS ONE


Provided by University of British Columbia

Sugar promotes sperm longevity in pig reproductive tract

by Lauren Quinn, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Pig sperm. Credit: University of Wisconsin Madison

For many livestock species, artificial insemination (AI) is standard. But it can be tricky to achieve success the first time, thanks to variability in ovulation timing across the herd.

Sperm remains viable for a day or two once they reach the oviduct, the tube connecting the uterus with the ovaries, in pigs and cattle. The amount of time sperm can be stored in the oviduct has a direct bearing on AI success; if ovulation happens just outside that window, the effort and expense of AI has to be repeated.

A new University of Illinois study identifies a naturally occurring sugar that slows the maturation of sperm in pigs, opening up the possibility of extending sperm storage time within the female reproductive tract and increasing the chances of successful fertilization through AI.

"We knew there was something about the oviduct that was increasing sperm lifespan, but we didn't know what it was, exactly," says David Miller, professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at Illinois and co-author on the PLOS One study. "In this study, we discovered the molecules of the oviduct that bind sperm and increase their lifespan are complex sugars called glycans."

After screening more than 400 sugars for their capacity to hold sperm, Miller's team had an inkling glycans were a candidate for pigs. To confirm, they isolated various sugars from the pig oviduct and applied them to beads in the laboratory, mimicking the oviduct lining. Compared with other sugars, the glycan-treated beads bound more sperm.

But it wasn't just the physical act of slowing sperm down that increased their lifespan.

"We found out glycans were delaying the normal influx of calcium into sperm," Miller says. "Normally, calcium slowly comes into sperm as they mature, and that triggers them on their differentiation pathway, which makes them capable of fertilization. But binding to these immobilized sugars actually stops that calcium movement inside the cells. So it in a sense, the glycans are blocking their differentiation pathway and making them live longer."

Miller sees several potential applications for this discovery. For example, it might be possible to conduct a fertility test for sperm using glycans in the lab. Sperm whose lifespan didn't increase when exposed to glycans would likely be less fertile and could be discarded. It might also be possible, someday, to introduce supplemental glycans in the oviduct during AI to create a larger reservoir of viable sperm.

The results also extend scientists' understanding of fertility across animal species. Miller has done research to show a similar sugar binds and extends longevity in bovine sperm, and he's currently looking for genetic similarities in sperm storage organs among a wide variety of animal groups. Nature may use the same mechanisms to lengthen sperm lifespan after mating in several species.

The article, "Adhesion to oviduct glycans regulates porcine sperm Ca2+ influx and viability," is published in PLOS One.


Explore further

A novel sperm selection technology to increase success rates of in vitro fertilization

More information: Sergio A. Machado et al, Adhesion to oviduct glycans regulates porcine sperm Ca2+ influx and viability, PLOS ONE (2020). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237666

Journal information: PLoS ONE

Provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Discovery of microbes with mixed membranes sheds new light on early evolution of life

by Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research

View from the RV Pelagia during the expedition on the Black Sea

Photo: Laura Villanueva

Current research suggests that more complex life-forms, including humans, evolved from a symbiosis event of Bacteria and another single-celled organism known as Archaea. However, evidence of a transition period in which the two organisms mixed where nowhere to be found. That is, until now. In the deep waters of the Black Sea, scientists found microbes that can make membrane lipids, a layer that surrounds a cell like a skin, of unexpected origin. Researchers from NIOZ and Utrecht University have published their findings in the prestigious ISME Journal.


Changing skins

Cells are surrounded by a layer of membrane lipids that protect them from changes in their environment such as temperature, much in the same way that our skin changes when we are cold or exposed to the sun. Lead author and NIOZ senior scientist Laura Villanueva explains why they make such interesting biomarkers. "When a cell dies, these lipids preserve like fossils and hold ancient-old information on Earths' early environmental conditions." Our tree of life includes small and simple cells (Bacteria and Archaea) and more complex cells (Eukaryotes), including animals and humans. Bacteria and Eukaryotes share a similar lipid membrane. Looking at Archaea, their 'skin' or membrane looks very different and is primarily designed to help these microorganisms to survive in extreme environments. Villanueva: "This 'lipid divide,' or difference in membranes between Bacteria and Eukaryotes on the one hand and Archaea on the other, is believed to have happened after the emergence of Bacteria and Archaea from the last universal cellular ancestor (LUCA)."

Missing piece hidden in the deep Black Sea

The leading theory is that Eukaryotes evolved from a symbiosis event between archaeal and bacterial cells in which the archaeal cell was the host. But how does this work when their 'skins' are so different and share no sign of common ancestry? Villanueva: "To explain the creation of more complex life-forms, the archaeal membrane must have made a switch to a bacterial type membrane. Such a switch likely needed a transition period in which the two membrane types were mixed." However, mixed lipid membranes had never been found in microbes until the team of Villanueva made an unexpected discovery in de deep waters of the Black Sea.

Villanueva notes, "We found a possible missing piece of this puzzle in the Black Sea. Here, an abundant group of bacteria thrive in the deep-sea, absent of oxygen and with high sulfide concentration. We discovered that the genetic material of this group did not only carry pathway genes for bacterial lipids but archaeal ones as well." The peculiarity was also found in the genetic material of other, closely related Bacteria and supports the idea that this ability to create 'mixed' membranes is more widespread than previously thought. This discovery sheds new light on the evolution of all cellular life forms and may have important consequences for the interpretation of archaeal lipid fossils in the geological record and paleoclimate reconstructions.


Explore furtherNew insight into the evolution of complex life on Earth

More information: Laura Villanueva et al, Bridging the membrane lipid divide: bacteria of the FCB group superphylum have the potential to synthesize archaeal ether lipids, The ISME Journal (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41396-020-00772-2

Journal information: ISME Journal


Provided by Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research

Wildfires can leave toxic drinking water behind – here's how to protect the public

by Andrew J. Whelton and Caitlin R. Proctor, The Conversation

Debris in Paradise, California, after the Camp Fire, Nov. 17, 2018. 

Credit: Senior Airman Crystal Housman/U.S. Air National Guard, CC BY

Less than halfway through the 2020 wildfire season, fires are burning large swaths of the western U.S. As in previous years, these disasters have entered populated areas, damaging drinking water networks. Water systems have lost pressure, potentially sucking in pollutants, and several utilities are warning of possible and confirmed chemical contamination.


We are environmental engineers who help communities affected by disasters, including support for responses to the 2017 Tubbs Fire and 2018 Camp Fire in California. As we concluded in a recently published study of burned areas, communities need to upgrade building codes to keep wildfires from causing widespread contamination of drinking water systems. They also need to act more aggressively to protect residents from possible toxic exposure immediately after fires.

How wildfires poison water systems

After both the 2017 Tubbs Fire in California's Sonoma and Napa counties and the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County, California, drinking water tests revealed a plethora of acutely toxic and carcinogenic pollutants. Water inside homes was not safe to use—or even to treat.

Water pipes buried underground and inside of buildings were extensively contaminated. Both fires destroyed fire hydrants, water pipes and meter boxes. Leaks and ruptured hydrants were common.

After the fires passed, testing ultimately revealed widespread hazardous drinking water contamination in areas affected by both fires. Evidence suggests that the toxic chemicals originated from a combination of burning vegetation, structures and plastic materials.

Chemicals in the air may have also been sucked into hydrants as water pipes lost pressure. Some water system plastics decomposed and leached chemicals directly into water. Toxic chemicals then spread throughout pipe networks and into buildings.


Limited water testing by state and local agencies showed that benzene and naphthalene were present at levels that could cause immediate physical harm. These chemicals, as well as methylene chloride, styrene, toluene and vinyl chloride, exceeded limits for longer-term exposure.

All of these substances are volatile organic compounds – chemicals that readily evaporate into the air at room temperature. Many of them cause cancer. All can cause vomiting, diarrhea and nausea after a brief high-concentration exposure.

Simply running a cold water faucet can release volatile organic compounds from tap water into the air. Heating water for showers or cooking makes them enter the air even faster, creating a more severe inhalation risk. Some can also be absorbed through the skin.

Pipes, water meters and meter covers after wildfires destroyed them. 

Credit: Caitlin Proctor, Amisha Shah, David Yu, and Andrew Whelton/Purdue University, CC BY-ND

Protecting the public

In our view, agencies should not underestimate health hazards posed by fire-damaged drinking water systems. Just in the past month, after the CZU Lightning Complex Fire burned parts of San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, California officials and a water utility issued and reissued an advisory allowing children to bathe in potentially contaminated drinking water. Five days later, when limited test results became available, both organizations recanted and said no one should bathe in the water.

To avoid this kind of error, we recommend issuing "Do Not Use" orders in the wake of major fires to protect the public before water testing results are available. We believe it is acceptable to use water for fire fighting and toilet flushing, but not for purposes that involve ingestion, skin exposure or inhalation, such as bathing or cooking.

Under no circumstance should people be told to smell the water to determine its safety, as officials recommended for months after the Camp Fire. Many harmful chemicals have no odor, so only testing can determine safety.

Advisories to boil water should not be used, since boiling speeds up the release of toxic chemicals into the air. Nor do we recommend "Do Not Drink/Do Not Boil" advisories, which allow bathing in contaminated water.

Before agencies lift or modify advisories, we believe they should be required to carry out thorough chemical screens of water systems. Too often, officials charged with protecting public health fail to take this step, exposing people to needless risk. More typically, they act like California's San Lorenzo Valley Water District, which lifted a post-wildfire "Do Not Drink/Do Not Boil" order in parts of its territory on Sept. 7, 2020 with a notice to ratepayers that "If test results reveal anything harmful, you will be advised promptly."

Agencies also need to test buildings for water contamination. Home drinking water quality can differ from room to room, so reliable testing should sample both cold and hot water at many locations within each building.

While infrastructure is being repaired, survivors need a safe water supply. Water treatment devices sold for home use, such as refrigerator and faucet water filters, are not approved for extremely contaminated water, although sales representatives and government officials may mistakenly think the devices can be used for that purpose. While survivors wait for safe water to return, government agencies should ensure that reliable emergency water supplies are available.

Update building codes for future fires

Our research underscores that community building codes are inadequate to prevent wildfire-caused pollution of drinking water and homes.

Adopting codes that require builders to install fire-resistant meter boxes and place them farther from vegetation would help prevent infrastructure from burning so readily in wildfires. Concrete meter boxes and water meters with minimal plastic components would be less likely to ignite. Some plastics may be practically impossible to make safe again, since all types are susceptible to fire and heat.

Installing one-way valves, called backflow prevention devices, at each water meter can prevent contamination rushing out of the damaged building from flowing into the larger buried pipe network. Water main shutoff valves and water sampling taps should exist at every water meter box. Sample taps can help responders quickly determine water safety.

As the past several years have shown, many communities need to be better prepared for wildfires. Two years after the Camp Fire, the town of Paradise, California is still clearing and repairing its water system, at an estimated cost of up to US$150 million. We believe the time to upgrade in other towns is now.


Explore further

Wildfires can poison drinking water: Here's how communities can be better prepared

Provided by The Conversation

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

Unknown details identified in the Lions' Courtyard at the Alhambra

by University of Seville

A novel methodology was followed based on three complementary graphic analyses: first, outstanding images from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries were reviewed; then new computer drawings were made of their muqarnas, following the theoretical principles of their geometrical grouping; and finally, a three-dimensional scan was made to ascertain their precise current state from the point cloud obtained. Credit: Universidad de Sevilla

Through drawings, researchers from the University of Seville, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland) and the University of Granada have identified details hitherto unknown in the muqarnas of the temples of the Lions' Courtyard at the Alhambra in Granada, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


In order to better understand and facilitate the conservation of these fourteenth-century architectural elements, following a review of numerous repairs performed over the intervening centuries, a novel methodology was followed based on three complementary graphic analyses: first, outstanding images from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries were reviewed; then new computer drawings were made of their muqarnas, following the theoretical principles of their geometrical grouping; and finally, a three-dimensional scan was made to ascertain their precise current state from the point cloud obtained.

The comparison of drawings has allowed us to verify for the first time that the muqarnas of the two temples have a different configuration and different number of pieces. In addition, geometric deformations have been detected in the original Nasrid design, identifying hitherto unknown pieces, plus other deformations due to the various repairs from major threats that the temples and their muqarnas have survived for centuries, despite their fragile construction.

"For the first time, this article documents and analyses details that were hitherto practically absent from the scientific literature", says Antonio Gámiz, professor at the University of Seville and co-author of this work.

The muqarnas are one of the most unique architectural episodes of the Nasrid Alhambra and of medieval Islamic art because of their sophisticated three-dimensional geometrical construction. They are small prisms that are grouped together and create a great diversity of spatial configurations, adapting their composition to very diverse architectural situations in cornices, arches, capitals and vaults. They reached a virtuous zenith during the reign of Muhammad V (1354-1359 and 1362-1391) when crucial works were undertaken in the palaces of the Alhambra.


Explore furtherArchitects have recreated the Puerta de Triana (Triana Gate) in Seville

More information: Antonio Gámiz-Gordo et al, The Pavilions at the Alhambra's Court of the Lions: Graphic Analysis of Muqarnas, Sustainability (2020). DOI: 10.3390/su12166556

Provided by University of Seville

Momentum of unprecedented Chilean uprising stalled by COVID-19 pandemic

by Binghamton University

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The uprising that erupted in fall 2019 in Chile against the post-dictatorship government may be diminished by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.


Despite a reputation for equitable development and robust democratic institutions, post-dictatorship Chile proved incapable of guaranteeing economic and social protections for vast swaths of the population and of adequately representing their needs and policy preferences, according to René Rojas, assistant professor of human development at Binghamton University. Over the last 10 years, stagnation, intensified insecurity and oligarchic politics promoted an upsurge in popular protests that finally erupted in October 2019, as a furious and seemingly uncontainable rebellion. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, may give the post-authoritarian regime a new lease on life, as it undermines possibilities for ongoing collective action and places the prospects for meaningful reform on hold.

"As the insurgency set about to resolve its differences and confront inevitable exhaustion, the arrival of the coronavirus and its recent surge have placed mobilizations on hold, threatening to restore the fragile balance of the pre-rebellion order," wrote Rojas in a new paper in New Labor Forum. "In one swoop, the pandemic snatched from the movement its crucial weapon for securing concessions—its capacity for disruption."

Fear of the virus and its economic consequences has stymied the uprising, and Chileans have redirected their energies toward holding on to work and whatever income they might secure. Whether the uprising can find its momentum again amidst the ongoing pandemic remains to be seen. Some developments indicate that as the pandemic reveals the inadequacy of official relief measures and re-exposes deep inequalities at the heart of the Chilean governing model, mass mobilization might retake center stage, wrote Rojas.

"The question in coming months will be whether Chile's new mass movement can regroup and win the reforms it forced onto the national agenda or whether neoliberal elites will succeed in reviving the developed world's least representative and most unequal political system," said Rojas.


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More information: René Rojas, Can the Chilean Uprising Survive the Pandemic?, New Labor Forum (2020). DOI: 10.1177/1095796020949487

Provided by Binghamton University
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