The concept of implicit bias has made its way into the general consciousness, most often in the context of racial bias. More broadly, however, implicit biases can affect how people think of anything -- from their thoughts about cookies to those about white men.
"All the little ways in which our everyday thinking about social stuff is unconscious or uncontrollable," wrote Calvin Lai, assistant professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, in an article in DCist. "The stuff that we don't realize is influencing us when we make decisions."
Along with a broader cultural awareness of implicit bias is idea that the actions that they influence can be changed by eliminating the bias itself.
Change the bias, changes in the behavior will follow. It seems logical enough.
If true, reducing implicit bias could be put to practical use for anything from ending discrimination (removing a bias in favor of white males) to losing weight (dialing down a cookie bias).
In a meta-analysis of research papers published on the subject of implicit bias, however, Lai found that the evidence does not show this kind of causal relationship.
The research is published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Lai worked with Patrick Forscher, of the University of Arkansas, to systematically review 492 studies that dealt with changing people's "automatic mental processes," the uncontrollable, unconscious mental processes that have come to be known in particular contexts as "implicit bias."
The studies contained more than 87,000 participants. After crunching the numbers, Lai and Forscher saw that studies suggest biases can, in fact, be changed -- although not dramatically.
When they honed in, looking at 63 studies that explicitly considered a link between changes in bias and changes in actions, however, they found no evidence of a causal relationship.
"We definitely didn't expect this," Lai said. "And it challenges assumptions about the relationship between implicit bias and behavior."
Lai suggested four possible reasons that a link was not established in the meta-analysis:
Measurement errors: The way outcomes were measured may have picked up on changes unrelated to the underlying bias. For example, Lai said, such a measurement would be analogous to "moving the mercury around within a thermometer rather than changing the heat in the room."
Confounds: After tests to measure an implicit bias, something happened, unrelated to the changed subjects' behavior.
Measured too narrow of a bias: Appeared to assess the same associations, but maybe the effects were too broad to capture a change associated with the change in bias. For example, the implicit bias measured was about broad attitudes toward White vs. Black people, but the behaviors measured were about behavior toward a specific person of a particular race. In that case, the attitude measured may have been too general.
No causal relationship: Implicit bias doesn't affect behavior at all.
This last option doesn't sit well with Lai. "It would open a theoretical can of worms because there are decades of experiments in other lines of research showing evaluation without conscious intention or control," he said.
However, Lai said there is a more effective way to change these behaviors; one that doesn't rely on changing people's implicit biases: ridding society of the features that cause people to act in a biased way.
For example, reducing subjectivity makes it more difficult for a person's biases to affect decision-making. Instead of relying on a "gut feeling" for a hiring decision, for example, lay out the requirements first, and stick to them.
Or, in the cookie realm, don't have any on hand -- not at home or at the office -- and don't drive past the bakery on the way home.
On an individual level, Lai said, "Equip people with strategies to resist the environment's biasing influence.
"The power of counterstereotypes is not to be underestimated," Lai wrote in a paper describing possible ways to counteract implicit biases. "And if counterstereotypical encounters become typical, shift in attitudes and beliefs will follow."
Lai points out that this study was heavily constrained by the available literature. The studies they included focused on brief interventions and assessments and was heavily skewed toward a certain demographic: university students.
Read more at Science Daily
Aug 3, 2019
3D printing the human heart
The technique, known as Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels (FRESH), has allowed the researchers to overcome many challenges associated with existing 3D bioprinting methods, and to achieve unprecedented resolution and fidelity using soft and living materials.
Each of the organs in the human body, such as the heart, is built from specialized cells that are held together by a biological scaffold called the extracellular matrix (ECM). This network of ECM proteins provides the structure and biochemical signals that cells need to carry out their normal function. However, until now it has not been possible to rebuild this complex ECM architecture using traditional biofabrication methods.
"What we've shown is that we can print pieces of the heart out of cells and collagen into parts that truly function, like a heart valve or a small beating ventricle," says Adam Feinberg, a professor of biomedical engineering (BME) and materials science & engineering at Carnegie Mellon, whose lab performed this work. "By using MRI data of a human heart, we were able to accurately reproduce patient-specific anatomical structure and 3D bioprint collagen and human heart cells."
Over 4000 patients in the United States are waiting for a heart transplant, while millions of others worldwide need hearts but are ineligible for the waitlist. The need for replacement organs is immense, and new approaches are needed to engineer artificial organs that are capable of repairing, supplementing, or replacing long-term organ function. Feinberg, who is a member of Carnegie Mellon's Bioengineered Organs Initiative, is working to solve these challenges with a new generation of bioengineered organs that more closely replicate natural organ structures.
"Collagen is an extremely desirable biomaterial to 3D print with because it makes up literally every single tissue in your body," explains Andrew Hudson, a BME Ph.D. student in Feinberg's lab and co-first author on the paper. "What makes it so hard to 3D print, however, is that it starts out as a fluid -- so if you try to print this in air it just forms a puddle on your build platform. So we've developed a technique that prevents it from deforming."
The FRESH 3D bioprinting method developed in Feinberg's lab allows collagen to be deposited layer-by-layer within a support bath of gel, giving the collagen a chance to solidify in place before it is removed from the support bath. With FRESH, the support gel can be easily melted away by heating the gel from room temperature to body temperature after the print is complete. This way, the researchers can remove the support gel without damaging the printed structure made of collagen or cells.
This method is truly exciting for the field of 3D bioprinting because it allows collagen scaffolds to be printed at the large scale of human organs. And it is not limited to collagen, as a wide range of other soft gels including fibrin, alginate, and hyaluronic acid can be 3D bioprinted using the FRESH technique, providing a robust and adaptable tissue engineering platform. Importantly, the researchers also developed open-source designs so that nearly anyone, from medical labs to high school science classes, can build and have access to low-cost, high-performance 3D bioprinters.
Looking forward, FRESH has applications in many aspects of regenerative medicine, from wound repair to organ bioengineering, but it is just one piece of a growing biofabrication field. "Really what we're talking about is the convergence of technologies," says Feinberg. "Not just what my lab does in bioprinting, but also from other labs and small companies in the areas of stem cell science, machine learning, and computer simulation, as well as new 3D bioprinting hardware and software."
Read more at Science Daily
Aug 2, 2019
Unexpected nut eating by gorillas
Scientists have observed a population of western lowland gorillas in Loango National Park, Gabon using their teeth to crack open the woody shells of Coula edulis nuts. The researchers combined direct feeding observations and mechanical tests of seed casings to show that gorillas may be taxing their teeth to their upper limits, year after year, to access this energy rich food source.
Despite their large body size, gorillas are known to have a vegetarian diet consisting almost exclusively of leafy vegetation and fruit. Their teeth are large and high crested when compared to other great apes which is traditionally seen as an adaptation to them spending a large amount of time chewing tough fibrous plant material. In contrast, their teeth are not well adapted to eating hard objects, such as nuts encased in a woody shell, because the high crests on their molar teeth would be at risk of damage. "I was amazed when we first observed the nut eating by the gorillas," states Martha Robbins, senior author on the paper. "We can not only see it, but also hear it, as the shell gives way to the incredible strength of their bite. Gorillas obviously have large, powerful jaws, but we did not expect to see this because their teeth are not well-suited to such behavior."
The nuts of Coula edulis are encased in a hard, woody shell that takes around 271 kg of force to crack. Yet for the three months the nuts are available, the gorillas of Loango National Park concentrate their feeding on the energy rich kernels, spending up to three hours a day chomping through nuts. This is surprising as animals that eat very hard food items tend to have strong, rounded molars that act like a pestle and mortar and are very efficient at cracking brittle foods. Like other foliage eaters, gorilla teeth have higher crests providing extra cutting edges for slicing tough material. Under the monumental bite force required to crack nuts, teeth with sharp edges are prone to break meaning they may be worn away quickly. The researchers were surprised to learn that the gorillas at Loango are regularly gambling with their teeth and taxing them close to their predicted mechanical limits. While some primates, like chimps, protect their teeth by using tools to crack open nuts, it appears that the gorillas at Loango National Park reply on brute strength to break through the woody shells of Coula edulis nuts. The fact they do this year after year indicates that gorilla teeth may be stronger than previously thought.
The research also implies that western lowland gorillas have much greater dietary breadth than previously believed. The absence of nut cracking behavior in other populations of western gorillas where the nuts are also present suggests the behavior may be cultural, if gorillas need to observe and learn the behavior from other group members. "The fact that this nut eating is observed in Loango but not in other forests in central Africa where the nut occurs stresses the importance of studying and conserving gorillas throughout the habitat where they are found," says Robbins.
Read more at Science Daily
Despite their large body size, gorillas are known to have a vegetarian diet consisting almost exclusively of leafy vegetation and fruit. Their teeth are large and high crested when compared to other great apes which is traditionally seen as an adaptation to them spending a large amount of time chewing tough fibrous plant material. In contrast, their teeth are not well adapted to eating hard objects, such as nuts encased in a woody shell, because the high crests on their molar teeth would be at risk of damage. "I was amazed when we first observed the nut eating by the gorillas," states Martha Robbins, senior author on the paper. "We can not only see it, but also hear it, as the shell gives way to the incredible strength of their bite. Gorillas obviously have large, powerful jaws, but we did not expect to see this because their teeth are not well-suited to such behavior."
The nuts of Coula edulis are encased in a hard, woody shell that takes around 271 kg of force to crack. Yet for the three months the nuts are available, the gorillas of Loango National Park concentrate their feeding on the energy rich kernels, spending up to three hours a day chomping through nuts. This is surprising as animals that eat very hard food items tend to have strong, rounded molars that act like a pestle and mortar and are very efficient at cracking brittle foods. Like other foliage eaters, gorilla teeth have higher crests providing extra cutting edges for slicing tough material. Under the monumental bite force required to crack nuts, teeth with sharp edges are prone to break meaning they may be worn away quickly. The researchers were surprised to learn that the gorillas at Loango are regularly gambling with their teeth and taxing them close to their predicted mechanical limits. While some primates, like chimps, protect their teeth by using tools to crack open nuts, it appears that the gorillas at Loango National Park reply on brute strength to break through the woody shells of Coula edulis nuts. The fact they do this year after year indicates that gorilla teeth may be stronger than previously thought.
The research also implies that western lowland gorillas have much greater dietary breadth than previously believed. The absence of nut cracking behavior in other populations of western gorillas where the nuts are also present suggests the behavior may be cultural, if gorillas need to observe and learn the behavior from other group members. "The fact that this nut eating is observed in Loango but not in other forests in central Africa where the nut occurs stresses the importance of studying and conserving gorillas throughout the habitat where they are found," says Robbins.
Read more at Science Daily
Shining (star)light on the search for life
In the hunt for life on other worlds, astronomers scour over planets that are light-years away. They need ways to identify life from afar -- but what counts as good evidence?
Our own planet provides some inspiration. Microbes fill the air with methane; photosynthesizing plants expel oxygen. Perhaps these gases might be found wherever life has taken hold.
But on worlds very different from our own, putative signs of life can be stirred up by non-biological processes. To know a true sign when you see it, astronomer Kevin France at the University of Colorado, Boulder, says, you must look beyond the planet itself, all the way to the gleaming star it orbits.
To this end, France and his team designed the SISTINE mission. Flying on a sounding rocket for a 15-minute flight, it will observe far-off stars to help interpret signs of life on the planets that orbit them. The mission will launch from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in the early morning hours of Aug. 5, 2019.
When Earth Is a Bad Example
Shortly after Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago, it was enveloped by a noxious atmosphere. Volcanoes spewed methane and sulfur. The air teemed with up to 200 times more carbon dioxide than today's levels.
It wasn't for another billion and a half years that molecular oxygen, which contains two oxygen atoms, entered the scene. It was a waste product, discarded by ancient bacteria through photosynthesis. But it kick-started what became known as the Great Oxidization Event, permanently changing Earth's atmosphere and paving the way for more complex lifeforms.
"We would not have large amounts of oxygen in our atmosphere if we didn't have that surface life," France said.
Oxygen is known as a biomarker: a chemical compound associated with life. Its presence in Earth's atmosphere hints at the lifeforms lurking below. But as sophisticated computer models have now shown, biomarkers on Earth aren't always so trustworthy for exoplanets, or planets orbiting stars elsewhere in the universe.
France points to M-dwarf stars to make this case. Smaller and colder than our Sun, M-dwarfs account for nearly three-quarters of the Milky Way's stellar population. To understand exoplanets that orbit them, scientists simulated Earth-sized planets circling M-dwarfs. Differences from Earth quickly emerged.
M-dwarfs generate intense ultraviolet light. When that light struck the simulated Earth-like planet, it ripped the carbon from carbon dioxide, leaving behind free molecular oxygen. UV light also broke up molecules of water vapor, releasing single oxygen atoms. The atmospheres created oxygen -- but without life.
"We call these false-positive biomarkers," France said. "You can produce oxygen on an Earth-like planet through photochemistry alone."
Earth's low oxygen levels without life were a kind of fluke -- thanks, in part, to our interaction with our Sun. Exoplanet systems with different stars might be different. "If we think we understand a planet's atmosphere but don't understand the star it orbits, we're probably going to get things wrong," France said.
To Know a Planet, Study its Star
France and his team designed SISTINE to better understand host stars and their effects on exoplanet atmospheres. Short for Suborbital Imaging Spectrograph for Transition region Irradiance from Nearby Exoplanet host stars, SISTINE measures the high-energy radiation from these stars. With knowledge about host stars' spectra, scientists can better distinguish true biomarkers from false-positives on their orbiting planets.
To make these measurements, SISTINE uses a spectrograph, an instrument that separates light into its component parts.
"Spectra are like fingerprints," said Jane Rigby, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who uses the methodology. "It's how we find out what things are made of, both on our planet and as we look out into the universe."
SISTINE measures spectra in wavelengths from 100 to 160 nanometers, a range of far-UV light that, among other things, can create oxygen, possibly generating a false-positive. Light output in this range varies with the mass of the star -- meaning stars of different masses will almost surely differ from our Sun.
SISTINE can also measure flares, or bright stellar explosions, which release intense doses of far-UV light all at once. Frequent flares could turn a habitable environment into a lethal one.
The SISTINE mission will fly on a Black Brant IX sounding rocket. Sounding rockets make short, targeted flights into space before falling back to Earth; SISTINE's flight gives it about five minutes observing time. Though brief, SISTINE can see stars in wavelengths inaccessible to observatories like the Hubble Space Telescope.
Two launches are scheduled. The first, from White Sands in August, will calibrate the instrument. SISTINE will fly 174 miles above Earth's surface to observe NGC 6826, a cloud of gas surrounding a white dwarf star located about 2,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. NGC 6826 is bright in UV light and shows sharp spectral lines -- a clear target for checking their equipment.
After calibration, the second launch will follow in 2020 from the Arnhem Space Centre in Nhulunbuy, Australia. There they will observe the UV spectra of Alpha Centauri A and B, the two largest stars in the three-star Alpha Centauri system. At 4.37 light-years away, these stars are our closest stellar neighbors and prime targets for exoplanet observations. (The system is home to Proxima Centauri B, the closest exoplanet to Earth.)
Testing New Tech
Both SISTINE's observations and the technology used to acquire them are designed with future missions in mind.
One is NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, currently set to launch in 2021. The deep space observatory will see visible to mid-infrared light -- useful for detecting exoplanets orbiting M-dwarfs. SISTINE observations can help scientists understand the light from these stars in wavelengths that Webb can't see.
SISTINE also carries novel UV detector plates and new optical coatings on its mirrors, designed to help them better reflect rather than absorb extreme UV light. Flying this technology on SISTINE helps test them for NASA's future large UV/optical space telescopes.
Read more at Science Daily
Our own planet provides some inspiration. Microbes fill the air with methane; photosynthesizing plants expel oxygen. Perhaps these gases might be found wherever life has taken hold.
But on worlds very different from our own, putative signs of life can be stirred up by non-biological processes. To know a true sign when you see it, astronomer Kevin France at the University of Colorado, Boulder, says, you must look beyond the planet itself, all the way to the gleaming star it orbits.
To this end, France and his team designed the SISTINE mission. Flying on a sounding rocket for a 15-minute flight, it will observe far-off stars to help interpret signs of life on the planets that orbit them. The mission will launch from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in the early morning hours of Aug. 5, 2019.
When Earth Is a Bad Example
Shortly after Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago, it was enveloped by a noxious atmosphere. Volcanoes spewed methane and sulfur. The air teemed with up to 200 times more carbon dioxide than today's levels.
It wasn't for another billion and a half years that molecular oxygen, which contains two oxygen atoms, entered the scene. It was a waste product, discarded by ancient bacteria through photosynthesis. But it kick-started what became known as the Great Oxidization Event, permanently changing Earth's atmosphere and paving the way for more complex lifeforms.
"We would not have large amounts of oxygen in our atmosphere if we didn't have that surface life," France said.
Oxygen is known as a biomarker: a chemical compound associated with life. Its presence in Earth's atmosphere hints at the lifeforms lurking below. But as sophisticated computer models have now shown, biomarkers on Earth aren't always so trustworthy for exoplanets, or planets orbiting stars elsewhere in the universe.
France points to M-dwarf stars to make this case. Smaller and colder than our Sun, M-dwarfs account for nearly three-quarters of the Milky Way's stellar population. To understand exoplanets that orbit them, scientists simulated Earth-sized planets circling M-dwarfs. Differences from Earth quickly emerged.
M-dwarfs generate intense ultraviolet light. When that light struck the simulated Earth-like planet, it ripped the carbon from carbon dioxide, leaving behind free molecular oxygen. UV light also broke up molecules of water vapor, releasing single oxygen atoms. The atmospheres created oxygen -- but without life.
"We call these false-positive biomarkers," France said. "You can produce oxygen on an Earth-like planet through photochemistry alone."
Earth's low oxygen levels without life were a kind of fluke -- thanks, in part, to our interaction with our Sun. Exoplanet systems with different stars might be different. "If we think we understand a planet's atmosphere but don't understand the star it orbits, we're probably going to get things wrong," France said.
To Know a Planet, Study its Star
France and his team designed SISTINE to better understand host stars and their effects on exoplanet atmospheres. Short for Suborbital Imaging Spectrograph for Transition region Irradiance from Nearby Exoplanet host stars, SISTINE measures the high-energy radiation from these stars. With knowledge about host stars' spectra, scientists can better distinguish true biomarkers from false-positives on their orbiting planets.
To make these measurements, SISTINE uses a spectrograph, an instrument that separates light into its component parts.
"Spectra are like fingerprints," said Jane Rigby, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who uses the methodology. "It's how we find out what things are made of, both on our planet and as we look out into the universe."
SISTINE measures spectra in wavelengths from 100 to 160 nanometers, a range of far-UV light that, among other things, can create oxygen, possibly generating a false-positive. Light output in this range varies with the mass of the star -- meaning stars of different masses will almost surely differ from our Sun.
SISTINE can also measure flares, or bright stellar explosions, which release intense doses of far-UV light all at once. Frequent flares could turn a habitable environment into a lethal one.
The SISTINE mission will fly on a Black Brant IX sounding rocket. Sounding rockets make short, targeted flights into space before falling back to Earth; SISTINE's flight gives it about five minutes observing time. Though brief, SISTINE can see stars in wavelengths inaccessible to observatories like the Hubble Space Telescope.
Two launches are scheduled. The first, from White Sands in August, will calibrate the instrument. SISTINE will fly 174 miles above Earth's surface to observe NGC 6826, a cloud of gas surrounding a white dwarf star located about 2,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. NGC 6826 is bright in UV light and shows sharp spectral lines -- a clear target for checking their equipment.
After calibration, the second launch will follow in 2020 from the Arnhem Space Centre in Nhulunbuy, Australia. There they will observe the UV spectra of Alpha Centauri A and B, the two largest stars in the three-star Alpha Centauri system. At 4.37 light-years away, these stars are our closest stellar neighbors and prime targets for exoplanet observations. (The system is home to Proxima Centauri B, the closest exoplanet to Earth.)
Testing New Tech
Both SISTINE's observations and the technology used to acquire them are designed with future missions in mind.
One is NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, currently set to launch in 2021. The deep space observatory will see visible to mid-infrared light -- useful for detecting exoplanets orbiting M-dwarfs. SISTINE observations can help scientists understand the light from these stars in wavelengths that Webb can't see.
SISTINE also carries novel UV detector plates and new optical coatings on its mirrors, designed to help them better reflect rather than absorb extreme UV light. Flying this technology on SISTINE helps test them for NASA's future large UV/optical space telescopes.
Read more at Science Daily
Two fraudsters, one passport
Computers are more accurate than humans at detecting digitally manipulated ID photos, which merge the images of two people, new research has found.
Face morphing is a method used by fraudsters in which two separate identity photographs are digitally merged to create a single image that sufficiently resembles both people. This image is then submitted as part of the application for a genuine passport or driving licence, and if accepted, potentially allows both people to use the same genuine identification document without arousing suspicion.
A new study by psychologists at the University of Lincoln asked participants in one experiment to decide whether an image showed the person standing in front of them. In this task, participants accepted the digitally created morphs around half of the time, while a basic computer model could correctly identify morphs over two thirds of time.
The research used high quality 'face morphs' over a series of four experiments which included screen-based image comparison tasks alongside a live task, designed to mimic a real-life border-control situation in which an agent would have to accept or reject a passport image based on its resemblance to the person in front of them.
Results showed that participants not only failed to spot 51 percent of these fraudulent images, but once they were provided with more information on face-morphing attacks, detection rates only rose to 64 percent. In another experiment, the researchers showed that training did not help participants to detect morphs presented onscreen, and detection rates remained around chance level. The results suggest that the morphs were accepted as legitimate ID photos often enough that they may be feasible as tools for committing fraud, especially in border control situations where the final acceptance decision is often made by a human operator.
When similar images were put through a simple computer algorithm trained to differentiate between morphs and normal photos, 68 percent of the images were correctly identified as morph images, showing the programme to be significantly more accurate than human participants. The algorithm used was relatively basic as a demonstration, and recent software being developed by computer scientists is far more sophisticated and shows even greater levels of success.
Lead researcher Dr Robin Kramer from the University of Lincoln's School of Psychology said: "The advancements and availability of high quality image editing software has made these kinds of 'face morphing attacks' more sophisticated and the images harder to detect.
"Our results show that morph detection is highly error-prone and the level at which these images were accepted represents a significant concern for security agencies. Training did not provide a useful solution to this problem.
Read more at Science Daily
Face morphing is a method used by fraudsters in which two separate identity photographs are digitally merged to create a single image that sufficiently resembles both people. This image is then submitted as part of the application for a genuine passport or driving licence, and if accepted, potentially allows both people to use the same genuine identification document without arousing suspicion.
A new study by psychologists at the University of Lincoln asked participants in one experiment to decide whether an image showed the person standing in front of them. In this task, participants accepted the digitally created morphs around half of the time, while a basic computer model could correctly identify morphs over two thirds of time.
The research used high quality 'face morphs' over a series of four experiments which included screen-based image comparison tasks alongside a live task, designed to mimic a real-life border-control situation in which an agent would have to accept or reject a passport image based on its resemblance to the person in front of them.
Results showed that participants not only failed to spot 51 percent of these fraudulent images, but once they were provided with more information on face-morphing attacks, detection rates only rose to 64 percent. In another experiment, the researchers showed that training did not help participants to detect morphs presented onscreen, and detection rates remained around chance level. The results suggest that the morphs were accepted as legitimate ID photos often enough that they may be feasible as tools for committing fraud, especially in border control situations where the final acceptance decision is often made by a human operator.
When similar images were put through a simple computer algorithm trained to differentiate between morphs and normal photos, 68 percent of the images were correctly identified as morph images, showing the programme to be significantly more accurate than human participants. The algorithm used was relatively basic as a demonstration, and recent software being developed by computer scientists is far more sophisticated and shows even greater levels of success.
Lead researcher Dr Robin Kramer from the University of Lincoln's School of Psychology said: "The advancements and availability of high quality image editing software has made these kinds of 'face morphing attacks' more sophisticated and the images harder to detect.
"Our results show that morph detection is highly error-prone and the level at which these images were accepted represents a significant concern for security agencies. Training did not provide a useful solution to this problem.
Read more at Science Daily
Flu vaccine reduces risk of early death for elderly intensive care patients
It appears that an influenza vaccine does not just work when it comes to influenza. A new study shows that elderly people who have been admitted to an intensive care units have less risk of dying and of suffering a blood clot or bleeding in the brain if they have been vaccinated. And this is despite the fact that they are typically older, have more chronic diseases and take more medicine then those who have not been vaccinated.
The study covers almost 90,000 surviving intensive care patients above the age of 65 during an eleven year period in Denmark. Only a few of them were admitted directly due to influenza. However, regardless of the cause of the admission, for those who were vaccinated the risk of suffering a stroke -- which is the collective name for bleeding and blood clots in the brain -- was 16 per cent lower. This group also has an eight per cent lower risk of dying during the first year following their hospitalisation.
"Every year, 30,000 people are admitted to the intensive care units in Danish hospitals and we know that the first year is critical. Approximately three out of four survive the hospitalisation and are discharged from hospital. But even among the patients who are discharged, almost one in five die within the first year while many others suffer complications. Our study shows that there are fewer deaths and serious complications among the patients who have been vaccinated against influenza. So this supports the current recommendation that elderly people should be vaccinated," says Christian Fynbo Christiansen, clinical associate professor at Aarhus University Hospital and consultant at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.
Today, less than forty per cent of elderly Europeans say yes to the vaccination.
"We can't say with one hundred per cent certainty that the risk of a stroke and dying is lower solely because of the vaccine. But we can see that the elderly people who have been vaccinated do better in the event of critical illness. This suggests that it would be good if more elderly people received the vaccine. Not least because the vaccine is both safe and inexpensive," says Christian Fynbo Christiansen.
This is the first time that researchers have looked into the effect of the vaccine specifically on elderly critically ill patients. Other researchers have previously shown that the influenza vaccine lessens the risk of bacterial infections and heart attacks. However, the study shows that this is not the case for the elderly intensive care patients.
"Surprisingly, the vaccine didn't reduce the number of pneumonia cases in our study. We had otherwise expect that it would, as some previous studies have shown that the vaccine has this effect on younger and healthy individuals. Neither was there any clear difference in the number of blood clots in the heart. This raises new research questions about what effect of the vaccine on the immune system and whether there were other differences between the patients," says Christian Fynbo Christiansen.
Read more at Science Daily
The study covers almost 90,000 surviving intensive care patients above the age of 65 during an eleven year period in Denmark. Only a few of them were admitted directly due to influenza. However, regardless of the cause of the admission, for those who were vaccinated the risk of suffering a stroke -- which is the collective name for bleeding and blood clots in the brain -- was 16 per cent lower. This group also has an eight per cent lower risk of dying during the first year following their hospitalisation.
"Every year, 30,000 people are admitted to the intensive care units in Danish hospitals and we know that the first year is critical. Approximately three out of four survive the hospitalisation and are discharged from hospital. But even among the patients who are discharged, almost one in five die within the first year while many others suffer complications. Our study shows that there are fewer deaths and serious complications among the patients who have been vaccinated against influenza. So this supports the current recommendation that elderly people should be vaccinated," says Christian Fynbo Christiansen, clinical associate professor at Aarhus University Hospital and consultant at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.
Today, less than forty per cent of elderly Europeans say yes to the vaccination.
"We can't say with one hundred per cent certainty that the risk of a stroke and dying is lower solely because of the vaccine. But we can see that the elderly people who have been vaccinated do better in the event of critical illness. This suggests that it would be good if more elderly people received the vaccine. Not least because the vaccine is both safe and inexpensive," says Christian Fynbo Christiansen.
This is the first time that researchers have looked into the effect of the vaccine specifically on elderly critically ill patients. Other researchers have previously shown that the influenza vaccine lessens the risk of bacterial infections and heart attacks. However, the study shows that this is not the case for the elderly intensive care patients.
"Surprisingly, the vaccine didn't reduce the number of pneumonia cases in our study. We had otherwise expect that it would, as some previous studies have shown that the vaccine has this effect on younger and healthy individuals. Neither was there any clear difference in the number of blood clots in the heart. This raises new research questions about what effect of the vaccine on the immune system and whether there were other differences between the patients," says Christian Fynbo Christiansen.
Read more at Science Daily
Aug 1, 2019
Drop of ancient seawater rewrites Earth's history
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| Lava. |
Plate tectonics is Earth's vital -- and unique -- continuous recycling process that directly or indirectly controls almost every function of the planet, including atmospheric conditions, mountain building (forming of continents), natural hazards such as volcanoes and earthquakes, formation of mineral deposits and the maintenance of our oceans. It is the process where the large continental plates of the planet continuously move, and the top layers of the Earth (crust) are recycled into the mantle and replaced by new layers through processes such as volcanic activity.
Where it was previously thought that plate tectonics started about 2.7 billion years ago, a team of international scientists used the microscopic leftovers of a drop of water that was transported into the Earth's deep mantle -- through plate tectonics -- to show that this process started 600 million years before that. An article on their research that proves plate tectonics started on Earth 3.3 billion years ago was published in the high impact academic journal, Nature, on 16 July.
"Plate tectonics constantly recycles the planet's matter, and without it the planet would look like Mars," says Professor Allan Wilson from the Wits School of Geosciences, who was part of the research team.
"Our research showing that plate tectonics started 3.3 billion years ago now coincides with the period that life started on Earth. It tells us where the planet came from and how it evolved."
Earth is the only planet in our solar system that is shaped by plate tectonics and without it the planet would be uninhabitable.
For their research, the team analysed a piece of rock melt, called komatiite -- named after the type occurrence in the Komati river near Barberton in Mpumalanga -- that are the leftovers from the hottest magma ever produced in the first quarter of Earth's existence (the Archaean). While most of the komatiites were obscured by later alteration and exposure to the atmosphere, small droplets of the molten rock were preserved in a mineral called olivine. This allowed the team to study a perfectly preserved piece of ancient lava.
"We examined a piece of melt that was 10 microns (0.01mm) in diameter, and analysed its chemical indicators such as H2O content, chlorine and deuterium/hydrogen ratio, and found that Earth's recycling process started about 600 million years earlier than originally thought," says Wilson. "We found that seawater was transported deep into the mantle and then re-emerged through volcanic plumes from the core-mantle boundary."
The research allows insight into the first stages of plate tectonics and the start of stable continental crust.
"What is exciting is that this discovery comes at the 50th anniversary of the discovery of komatiites in the Barberton Mountain Land by Wits Professors, the brothers Morris and Richard Viljoen," says Wilson.
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Hubble uncovers a 'heavy metal' exoplanet shaped like a football
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| This artist's illustration shows an alien world that is losing magnesium and iron gas from its atmosphere. The observations represent the first time that so-called "heavy metals"—elements more massive than hydrogen and helium—have been detected escaping from a hot Jupiter, a large gaseous exoplanet orbiting very close to its star.The planet, known as WASP-121b, orbits a star brighter and hotter than the Sun. The planet is so dangerously close to its star that its upper atmosphere reaches a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit, about 10 times greater than any known planetary atmosphere. A torrent of ultraviolet light from the host star is heating the planet's upper atmosphere, which is causing the magnesium and iron gas to escape into space. Observations by Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph have detected the spectral signatures of magnesium and iron far away from the planet.The planet's "hugging" distance from the star means that it is on the verge of being ripped apart by the star's gravitational tidal forces. The powerful gravitational forces have altered the planet's shape so that it appears more football shaped.The WASP-121 system is about 900 light-years from Earth. |
Observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveal magnesium and iron gas streaming from the strange world outside our solar system known as WASP-121b. The observations represent the first time that so-called "heavy metals" -- elements heavier than hydrogen and helium -- have been spotted escaping from a hot Jupiter, a large, gaseous exoplanet very close to its star.
Normally, hot Jupiter-sized planets are still cool enough inside to condense heavier elements such as magnesium and iron into clouds.
But that's not the case with WASP-121b, which is orbiting so dangerously close to its star that its upper atmosphere reaches a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature in WASP-121b's upper atmosphere is about 10 times greater than that of any known planetary atmosphere. The WASP-121 system resides about 900 light-years from Earth.
"Heavy metals have been seen in other hot Jupiters before, but only in the lower atmosphere," explained lead researcher David Sing of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. "So you don't know if they are escaping or not. With WASP-121b, we see magnesium and iron gas so far away from the planet that they're not gravitationally bound."
Ultraviolet light from the host star, which is brighter and hotter than the Sun, heats the upper atmosphere and helps lead to its escape. In addition, the escaping magnesium and iron gas may contribute to the temperature spike, Sing said. "These metals will make the atmosphere more opaque in the ultraviolet, which could be contributing to the heating of the upper atmosphere," he explained.
The sizzling planet is so close to its star that it is on the cusp of being ripped apart by the star's gravity. This hugging distance means that the planet is football shaped due to gravitational tidal forces.
"We picked this planet because it is so extreme," Sing said. "We thought we had a chance of seeing heavier elements escaping. It's so hot and so favorable to observe, it's the best shot at finding the presence of heavy metals. We were mainly looking for magnesium, but there have been hints of iron in the atmospheres of other exoplanets. It was a surprise, though, to see it so clearly in the data and at such great altitudes so far away from the planet. The heavy metals are escaping partly because the planet is so big and puffy that its gravity is relatively weak. This is a planet being actively stripped of its atmosphere."
The researchers used the observatory's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph to search in ultraviolet light for the spectral signatures of magnesium and iron imprinted on starlight filtering through WASP-121b's atmosphere as the planet passed in front of, or transited, the face of its home star.
This exoplanet is also a perfect target for NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope to search in infrared light for water and carbon dioxide, which can be detected at longer, redder wavelengths. The combination of Hubble and Webb observations would give astronomers a more complete inventory of the chemical elements that make up the planet's atmosphere.
The WASP-121b study is part of the Panchromatic Comparative Exoplanet Treasury (PanCET) survey, a Hubble program to look at 20 exoplanets, ranging in size from super-Earths (several times Earth's mass) to Jupiters (which are over 100 times Earth's mass), in the first large-scale ultraviolet, visible, and infrared comparative study of distant worlds.
The observations of WASP-121b add to the developing story of how planets lose their primordial atmospheres. When planets form, they gather an atmosphere containing gas from the disk in which the planet and star formed. These atmospheres consist mostly of the primordial, lighter-weight gases hydrogen and helium, the most plentiful elements in the universe. This atmosphere dissipates as a planet moves closer to its star.
"The hot Jupiters are mostly made of hydrogen, and Hubble is very sensitive to hydrogen, so we know these planets can lose the gas relatively easily," Sing said. "But in the case of WASP-121b, the hydrogen and helium gas is outflowing, almost like a river, and is dragging these metals with them. It's a very efficient mechanism for mass loss."
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TESS satellite uncovers 'first nearby super-Earth'
Located about 31 light-years away, the super-Earth planet -- named GJ 357 d -- was discovered in early 2019 owing to NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a mission designed to comb the heavens for exoplanets, according to their new modeling research in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"This is exciting, as this is humanity's first nearby super-Earth that could harbor life -- uncovered with help from TESS, our small, mighty mission with a huge reach," said Kaltenegger, associate professor of astronomy, director of Cornell's Carl Sagan Institute and a member of the TESS science team.
The exoplanet is more massive than our own blue planet, and Kaltenegger said the discovery will provide insight into Earth's heavyweight planetary cousins. "With a thick atmosphere, the planet GJ 357 d could maintain liquid water on its surface like Earth, and we could pick out signs of life with telescopes that will soon be online," she said.
Astronomers from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands and the University of La Laguna, both in Spain, announced the discovery of the GJ 357 system July 31 in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. They showed that the distant solar system -- with a diminutive M-type dwarf sun, about one-third the size of our own sun -- harbors three planets, with one of those in that system's habitable zone: GJ 357 d.
Last February, the TESS satellite observed that the dwarf sun GJ 357 dimmed very slightly every 3.9 days, evidence of a transiting planet moving across the star's face. That planet was GJ 357 b, a so-called "hot Earth" about 22% larger than Earth, according to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, which guides TESS.
Follow-up observations from the ground led to the discovery of two more exoplanetary siblings: GJ 357 c and GJ 357 d. The international team of scientists collected Earth-based telescopic data going back two decades -- to reveal the newly found exoplanets' tiny gravitational tugs on its host star, according to NASA.
Exoplanet GJ 357 c sizzles at 260 degrees Fahrenheit and has at least 3.4 times Earth's mass. However, the system's outermost known sibling planet -- GJ 357 d, a super-Earth -- could provide Earth-like conditions and orbits the dwarf star every 55.7 days at a distance about one-fifth of Earth's distance from the sun. It is not yet known if this planet transits its sun.
Kaltenegger, doctoral candidate Jack Madden and undergraduate student Zifan Lin '20 simulated light fingerprints, climates and remotely detectable spectra for a planet that could range from a rocky composition to a water world.
Madden explained that investigating new discoveries provides an opportunity to test theories and models. "We built the first models of what this new world could be like," he said. "Just knowing that liquid water can exist on the surface of this planet motivates scientists to find ways of detecting signs of life."
Lin described the work from an undergraduate perspective: "Working on a newly discovered planet is something of a dream come true. I was among the first group of people to model its spectra, and thinking about this still overwhelms me."
In a nod to her institute's namesake, the late Cornell professor Carl Sagan, Kaltenegger said: "If GJ 357 d were to show signs of life, it would be at the top of everyone's travel list -- and we could answer a 1,000-year-old question on whether we are alone in the cosmos."
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Mysterious release of radioactive material uncovered
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| Radiation symbol. |
Among the 70 experts from all over Europe who contributed data and expertise to the current study are Dieter Hainz and Dr. Paul Saey from the Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics at TU Wien (Vienna). The data was evaluated by Prof. Georg Steinhauser from the University of Hanover (who is closely associated with the Atomic Institute) together with Dr. Olivier Masson from the Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) in France. The team has now published the results of the study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Unusual Ruthenium Release
"We measured radioactive ruthenium-106," says Georg Steinhauser. "The measurements indicate the largest singular release of radioactivity from a civilian reprocessing plant." In autumn of 2017, a cloud of ruthenium-106 was measured in many European countries, with maximum values of 176 millibecquerels per cubic meter of air. The values were up to 100 times higher than the total concentrations measured in Europe after the Fukushima incident. The half-life of the radioactive isotope is 374 days.
This type of release is very unusual. The fact that no radioactive substances other than ruthenium were measured is a clear indication that the source must have been a nuclear reprocessing plant.
The geographic extent of the ruthenium-106 cloud was also remarkable -- it was measured in large parts of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. Ruthenium-106 was even found in the Caribbean. The data was compiled by an informal, international network of almost all European measuring stations. In total, 176 measuring stations from 29 countries were involved. In Austria, in addition to TU Wien, the AGES (Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety) also operates such stations, including the alpine observatory at Sonnblick at 3106m above sea level.
No Health Hazard
As unusual as the release may have been, the concentration of radioactive material has not reached levels that are harmful to human health anywhere in Europe. From the analysis of the data, a total release of about 250 to 400 terabecquerel of ruthenium-106 can be derived. To date, no state has assumed responsibility for this considerable release in the fall of 2017.
The evaluation of the concentration distribution pattern and atmospheric modelling suggests a release site in the southern Urals. This is where the Russian nuclear facility Majak is located. The Russian reprocessing plant had already been the scene of the second-largest nuclear release in history in September 1957 -- after Chernobyl and even larger than Fukushima. At that time, a tank containing liquid waste from plutonium production had exploded, causing massive contamination of the area.
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