scientificamerican--2020-08-07--A Cure for COVID-19 Will Take More Than Personal Immunity

At a press briefing on March 22 , Donald Trump announced : “ We ’ re at war , in a true sense we ’ re at war , and we are fighting an invisible enemy.
” Yet viruses are not sovereign nations ; they don ’ t have armies , navies or air forces .
They might not even be alive .
So perhaps war is not only an inadequate metaphor , but one that is fundamentally flawed .
The bellicose terms used to make sense of COVID-19 stem from a series of profound changes in medical thinking sparked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during the 19th century .
Because the repeated waves of infection appeared to track back from India along colonial trade routes , they quickly assumed the status of “ invasions.
” In response , a series of International Sanitary Conferences—forerunners of the World Health Organization—convened between 1851 and 1911 .
These conferences brought together medical and scientific experts , diplomats , lawyers and military leaders to debate how to implement the only viable strategies then available against the rapid spread of infections : quarantine , cordon sanitaire and fumigation .
These remain among @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fusing the military imagery embedded in the popular representations of cholera with the legal rhetoric of the International Sanitary Conferences , Russian zoologist Elie Metchnikoff ( 1845–1916 ) characterized “ immunity ” as a form of “ host defense.
” Metchnikoff ’ s innovation shifted the primary locus of medical intervention from the collective to the individual .
This metaphor became infused into modern medicine and informs the notion that our immune systems defend us against disease .
Metchnikoff ’ s formulation of immunity-as-defense helped to explain the new vaccines that were being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ narrow perspective overlooked how collectives contribute to the progression of disease .
It assumed that if an individual could be vaccinated , that would solve the collective problem .
However , individual organisms are not singularities ; we only exist in complicated contexts with other living beings both near and far .
Indeed , that ’ s why we are now exhorted to wash our hands , to maintain social distance and to avoid unnecessary physical contact .
That ’ s literally what contagion means : touching together .
While we might assume @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against pathogenic microbes , our communal systems actually do much of the heavy lifting to keep us healthy or to help us heal .
When these collective capacities are not maintained , or when they fail , they reveal the unequal vulnerabilities to which different individuals are exposed .
Communal systems support immune systems at very basic levels .
As the disproportionate numbers of people of color , of working people and of incarcerated people afflicted by COVID-19 show us , an individual ’ s capacity to heal depends not only upon the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its vitality in the face of interactions with microbes .
This healing capacity itself depends upon social and environmental resources , like adequate food and shelter , as well as ongoing health care throughout one ’ s life .
Immune systems can not adequately “ defend ” us in the absence of such communal systems .
The strong correlation between comorbidities and severe symptoms of COVID-19 , as well as the unequal distributions of these cofactors across racial , ethnic and class differences , proves this point .
Individual immunity presupposes community .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the use of immunity to frame our responses to the pandemic can allow us to neglect this communal context .
Today ’ s political leaders still rely on metaphors of immunity and military defense to think about infectious diseases , but this fails to account for the ways in which a collective action—or the lack thereof—can either enhance or mitigate the spread of disease .
But isn ’ t this the lesson we need to learn most from the current pandemic ?
That taking care of each other is actually another way to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in times of sickness , but in those moments when we take health most for granted .
There are no enemies in pandemics , and this is not a war .
Rather it ’ s an occasion for us to develop new ways to live together that can mitigate our common vulnerabilities as living beings .
Perhaps it ’ s not only time to support our immune systems , but also to ramp up our communal systems .
You can ’ t have one without the other .

At a press briefing on March 22, Donald Trump announced: “We’re at war, in a true sense we’re at war, and we are fighting an invisible enemy.” Yet viruses are not sovereign nations; they don’t have armies, navies or air forces. They might not even be alive. So perhaps war is not only an inadequate metaphor, but one that is fundamentally flawed.
The bellicose terms used to make sense of COVID-19 stem from a series of profound changes in medical thinking sparked by the cholera epidemics that beset Europe during the 19th century. Because the repeated waves of infection appeared to track back from India along colonial trade routes, they quickly assumed the status of “invasions.” In response, a series of International Sanitary Conferences—forerunners of the World Health Organization—convened between 1851 and 1911. These conferences brought together medical and scientific experts, diplomats, lawyers and military leaders to debate how to implement the only viable strategies then available against the rapid spread of infections: quarantine, cordon sanitaire and fumigation. These remain among our most viable responses even today.
Fusing the military imagery embedded in the popular representations of cholera with the legal rhetoric of the International Sanitary Conferences, Russian zoologist Elie Metchnikoff (1845–1916) characterized “immunity” as a form of “host defense.” Metchnikoff’s innovation shifted the primary locus of medical intervention from the collective to the individual. This metaphor became infused into modern medicine and informs the notion that our immune systems defend us against disease.
Metchnikoff’s formulation of immunity-as-defense helped to explain the new vaccines that were being developed at the time, but this narrow perspective overlooked how collectives contribute to the progression of disease. It assumed that if an individual could be vaccinated, that would solve the collective problem. However, individual organisms are not singularities; we only exist in complicated contexts with other living beings both near and far. Indeed, that’s why we are now exhorted to wash our hands, to maintain social distance and to avoid unnecessary physical contact. That’s literally what contagion means: touching together.
While we might assume that our immune systems should defend us against pathogenic microbes, our communal systems actually do much of the heavy lifting to keep us healthy or to help us heal. When these collective capacities are not maintained, or when they fail, they reveal the unequal vulnerabilities to which different individuals are exposed.
Communal systems support immune systems at very basic levels. As the disproportionate numbers of people of color, of working people and of incarcerated people afflicted by COVID-19 show us, an individual’s capacity to heal depends not only upon the organism’s innate capacity to sustain its vitality in the face of interactions with microbes. This healing capacity itself depends upon social and environmental resources, like adequate food and shelter, as well as ongoing health care throughout one’s life.
Immune systems cannot adequately “defend” us in the absence of such communal systems. The strong correlation between comorbidities and severe symptoms of COVID-19, as well as the unequal distributions of these cofactors across racial, ethnic and class differences, proves this point. Individual immunity presupposes community. Unfortunately, at the same time, the use of immunity to frame our responses to the pandemic can allow us to neglect this communal context.
Today’s political leaders still rely on metaphors of immunity and military defense to think about infectious diseases, but this fails to account for the ways in which a collective action—or the lack thereof—can either enhance or mitigate the spread of disease. But isn’t this the lesson we need to learn most from the current pandemic? That taking care of each other is actually another way to take care of ourselves; not just in times of sickness, but in those moments when we take health most for granted.
There are no enemies in pandemics, and this is not a war. Rather it’s an occasion for us to develop new ways to live together that can mitigate our common vulnerabilities as living beings. Perhaps it’s not only time to support our immune systems, but also to ramp up our communal systems. You can’t have one without the other.


scientificamerican--2020-08-12--NASA's TESS Planet-Hunting Space Telescope Completes Its Primary Mission

NASA 's exoplanet-hunting is done with its primary mission , but its search for strange new worlds goes on .
TESS ( short for `` Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite '' ) wrapped up its two-year primary mission on July 4 , having discovered 66 confirmed and nearly 2,100 `` candidates '' that scientists still need to vet , NASA officials said .
TESS continues to study the heavens , however , on an extended mission that runs through September 2022 .
`` TESS is producing a torrent of high-quality observations providing valuable data across a wide range of science topics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scientist for TESS at NASA 's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt , Maryland , .
`` As it enters its extended mission , TESS is already a roaring success . ''
TESS launched to Earth orbit in April 2018 and began its science work three months later .
The probe hunts for alien worlds using the `` , '' monitoring stars for tiny brightness dips caused by orbiting worlds crossing their faces .
This same strategy was used to great effect by TESS ' predecessor , NASA 's pioneering .
Kepler , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , found about two-thirds of the 4,200 exoplanets discovered to date .
( Kepler finds are still rolling in ; scientists continue to pore over the spacecraft 's huge data set , which has more than 3,000 additional candidates that require further analysis . )
TESS uses four cameras to study 24-by-96-degree sectors of the sky for about one month at a time .
( Your clenched fist held at arm 's length covers about 10 degrees of sky , for reference . )
The probe spent the first year of its primary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , then switched to the northern sky in its second year .
The planet-hunting craft managed to cover about 75 % of the sky during its two-year primary mission , NASA officials said .
The extended mission will feature the same order , with TESS focusing on the southern sky for the first 12 months before shifting to the northern sky .
During that second year , the probe will also observe areas around the ecliptic , the plane of Earth 's orbit around the sun .
TESS ' primary mission yielded many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called that orbits in its star 's habitable zone , the range of distances where liquid water could be stable on a world 's surface .
But the extended mission may be even more fruitful , because the TESS team has made some improvements over the past two years .
The probe 's `` cameras now capture a full image every 10 minutes , three times faster than during the primary mission , '' NASA officials wrote in the same statement .
`` A new fast mode allows the brightness of thousands of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , along with the previous method of collecting these observations from tens of thousands of stars every two minutes . ''
The budget for TESS ' primary mission was capped at $ 200 million , not including launch costs , which added another $ 87 million .
The extended mission wo n't add too much to the overall price tag .
For example , the extended-mission operations of NASA 's New Horizons Pluto probe , which began in 2017 , have cost less than $ 15 million per year , on top of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 780 million .
Copyright 2020 Space.com , a Future company .
All rights reserved .
This material may not be published , broadcast , rewritten or redistributed .

NASA's exoplanet-hunting TESS space telescope is done with its primary mission, but its search for strange new worlds goes on.
TESS (short for "Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite") wrapped up its two-year primary mission on July 4, having discovered 66 confirmed alien planets and nearly 2,100 "candidates" that scientists still need to vet, NASA officials said.
TESS continues to study the heavens, however, on an extended mission that runs through September 2022.
"TESS is producing a torrent of high-quality observations providing valuable data across a wide range of science topics," Patricia Boyd, the project scientist for TESS at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a statement . "As it enters its extended mission, TESS is already a roaring success."
TESS launched to Earth orbit in April 2018 and began its science work three months later. The probe hunts for alien worlds using the " transit method ," monitoring stars for tiny brightness dips caused by orbiting worlds crossing their faces.
This same strategy was used to great effect by TESS' predecessor, NASA's pioneering Kepler space telescope . Kepler, which was declared dead in October 2018, found about two-thirds of the 4,200 exoplanets discovered to date. (Kepler finds are still rolling in; scientists continue to pore over the spacecraft's huge data set, which has more than 3,000 additional candidates that require further analysis.)
TESS uses four cameras to study 24-by-96-degree sectors of the sky for about one month at a time. (Your clenched fist held at arm's length covers about 10 degrees of sky, for reference.) The probe spent the first year of its primary mission scrutinizing sectors in the southern sky, then switched to the northern sky in its second year.
The planet-hunting craft managed to cover about 75% of the sky during its two-year primary mission, NASA officials said.
The extended mission will feature the same order, with TESS focusing on the southern sky for the first 12 months before shifting to the northern sky. During that second year, the probe will also observe areas around the ecliptic, the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun.
TESS' primary mission yielded many exciting finds, including an Earth-sized planet called TOI 700 d that orbits in its star's habitable zone, the range of distances where liquid water could be stable on a world's surface. But the extended mission may be even more fruitful, because the TESS team has made some improvements over the past two years.
The probe's "cameras now capture a full image every 10 minutes, three times faster than during the primary mission," NASA officials wrote in the same statement. "A new fast mode allows the brightness of thousands of stars to be measured every 20 seconds, along with the previous method of collecting these observations from tens of thousands of stars every two minutes."
The budget for TESS' primary mission was capped at $200 million, not including launch costs, which added another $87 million. The extended mission won't add too much to the overall price tag. For example, the extended-mission operations of NASA's New Horizons Pluto probe, which began in 2017, have cost less than $15 million per year , on top of a prime-mission price tag of about $780 million.
Copyright 2020 Space.com, a Future company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


scientificamerican--2020-08-12--How Climate Change Strategies That Use Biomass Can Be More Realistic

In the flat farmland outside Decatur , Ill. , a dump truck filled with ears of corn rolls into a warehouse at one end of an ethanol plant run by commodities giant Archer-Daniels-Midland Company .
The corn is sent into a big fermentation vat that converts it to ethanol , which will be trucked to a refinery that will blend it with gasoline for sale nationwide .
The fermentation process releases carbon dioxide , which is captured in a large flue , then sent by pipeline to a wellhead .
Pumps send the gas deep belowground , where it will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pilot project is about to complete its three-year trial as a novel way to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while providing a viable commercial product that pays the bill .
The CO is soaked up by the corn plants as they grow ; injecting the gas into the sandstone permanently stores it .
But the use of corn for fuel , which accelerated in the U.S. in the 2000s , is controversial .
Corn could feed people and livestock ; growing plants for biofuel takes land that could otherwise be used to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ produces new CO emissions , as does harvesting and trucking the corn .
Fermenting , pipelining and injecting all require energy that , in the Midwest at least , may come from fossil fuels .
It is unclear whether corn-based ethanol can yield even a small net reduction in atmospheric CO .
The Decatur plant is one example of a suite of processes known as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage , or BECCS .
Although the facility uses grains , most techniques target woody plants , including trees , shrubs and grasses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or burned to create electricity .
The emissions from those activities could be sequestered underground or collected and sold as a raw material—primarily for chemical plants or to pump into stubborn oil deposits to force out more oil .
Ignored for the most part 10 years ago , biomass is now being given an important role in the blueprints to lessen climate change .
The list of applications is long and growing ; in addition to biofuels , it includes biomass burning for electricity and heat , biodigesters that create commercial methane , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as insulation , building materials and bioplastics .
The road maps that depend heavily on biomass include the 2018 Global Warming of 1.5 °C report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) and its 2019 special report Climate Change and Land ; the U.S. National Climate Assessment released in November 2018 ; and Project Drawdown ’ s scenarios in its 2020 The Drawdown Review .
Powerful industries such as electricity , fuel and plastics are betting big on biomass as a feedstock , pushing projected demand sky-high .
The scientific @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to preserve a climate suitable for civilization , global warming should be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels .
This requires a 45 percent reduction of emissions by 2030 and zero net emissions by 2050 , relative to 2010 levels , according to the IPCC ’ s 1.5 °C report .
Humanity ’ s remaining carbon budget—the amount of future emissions that can be tolerated before surpassing 1.5 °C—is 420 billion to 580 billion metric tons .
Staying within that limit requires slashing emissions as well as pulling CO from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could sequester 0.4 billion to 11.3 billion tons a year .
Project Drawdown does not include BECCS but calculates an average of 1.1 billion to 2.5 billion tons a year from other biomass applications .
The problem is that most plans assume they can have as much biomass as they want .
The truth is that the land needed to produce all that biomass poses a serious constraint .
The IPCC reports that large-scale implementation of BECCS alone would require 300 million to 700 million hectares ( Mha ) of land—an area roughly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mha ) or the continent of Australia ( 769 Mha ) .
And most of the land suitable for BECCS is used today for agriculture .
Growing biomass for BECCS at that scale , to say nothing of the other applications , would come into serious conflict with the farmland required to produce food crops and the pastureland needed for livestock .
Forests would also be vulnerable because the plans call for cutting them for biomass and replacing them with single-species plantations of high-yielding eucalypts or pines—large monocultures that ruin biodiversity .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for carbon sequestration could be sustainable .
A few approaches even improve crop yields as well as woody plant production .
But the projected demand is exceedingly high .
BECCS is the elephant in the room .
The IPCC and other organizations have put almost all their biomass eggs into this one basket , even though there are only about five small BECCS demonstration projects worldwide , according to the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute .
That is a risky strategy to mitigate climate change .
Greatly increased demand for biomass will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ major struggle over how land will be used in the future .
Tension is rising over whether more land should be put into soybeans to feed cattle to meet increasing demand for meat , whether cropland should be used to produce biofuels to replace fossil fuels , and how forests can be preserved instead of cut down .
Limitless options are not possible on a planet that has inherent limits .
A global scramble for biomass has begun , and unless some significant changes in expectations are made , governments and industries will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ always relied on biomass to meet basic needs , with virtually no thought about how much we are using .
Woody plants have long been essential for making tools , homes , buildings , ships , mats , rugs , paper and cardboard .
Bamboo has more than 1,500 documented uses .
Since our earliest days biomass has literally provided the fuel for our fires .
More than three billion people still cook over wood fires daily .
In the mid-1800s societies began to shift from wood to fossil fuels for energy , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the basis for civilization ’ s current prosperity but has also brought us to the brink of climate catastrophe .
Most biomass harvested today—more properly called lignocellulosic biomass—comes from trees , bamboo , herbaceous grasses and crop residues such as cornstalks .
Biomass has become an attractive climate solution because it is , to some degree , renewable—it can be grown again and again .
BECCS is the dominant source of biomass identified in all the plans .
It is still mostly a theoretical process , capturing CO emissions using the same technology @ @ @ @ @ @ @ power plants .
The biggest issue is the volume of biomass that would be needed .
In its 1.5 °C report , the IPCC states that all pathways that limit global warming to 1.5 °C or 2.0 °C require removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere , on the order of 100 billion to 1,000 billion tons over the 21st century .
Removal includes replanting forests , and farming practices can help sequester carbon in soils and perennial plants , but in the IPCC ’ s scheme , BECCS is cast as the primary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ budget .
Converting 300 million to 700 million hectares of cropland to biomass production is simply incompatible with increased food needs .
If food production is not negotiable , it is hard to find significant land .
Some previously abandoned cropland could be brought back into production of biomass crops that can grow on that marginal soil , but ranchers and pastoralists already graze livestock on a fair share of this area , much of it being pasture .
Meanwhile , to us , cutting into forests to create biomass plantations—something that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inevitable if global emissions are not rapidly reduced—is a nonstarter .
Forests are important sinks of carbon ; deforestation is already the source of 9 percent of anthropogenic emissions .
To draw down carbon dioxide and to preserve biodiversity , forests must be protected and expanded , not razed .
Project Drawdown ’ s projections are somewhat unique in that they only consider new sources of supply that do not undermine food security or increased forest protection and restoration .
Pathways to 1.5 °C that do not involve BECCS still require unrealistic amounts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ limitless appetite for liquid biofuels is also unsustainable ; there simply is not enough cropland to grow feedstock to replace the vast amounts of fuels we use .
If 100 percent of all the corn grown in the U.S. was fermented into ethanol , that would meet only 25 percent of the nation ’ s gasoline and diesel demand—and it would leave no corn for people or animals .
To see what level of BECCS deployment might push the world ’ s biomass and food supplies into unsustainable territory , we analyzed the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all purposes in 2015 and then projected demand to 2050 , including both low and high levels of BECCS as called for in the major reports .
In both scenarios , increasing supply , alone , could not meet demand without deforestation .
Reducing demand , alone , could not keep production within the planet ’ s biomass capacity .
Only by aggressively reducing certain demands while aggressively increasing certain forms of supply was it possible to provide the biomass needed—for the case of modest dependency on BECCS [ see graphic below ] @ @ @ @ @ @ @ requiring 450 Mha of land , more than the area of the European Union .
Even the low-BECCS case raises great social concerns .
Much of the land needed is now farmed by smallholders , grazed by pastoralists , or home to forests managed by indigenous peoples—land that could be taken against their will .
Some 12 million people worldwide have already fallen victim to such land grabs in recent years .
Land has been appropriated in Southeast Asia and Brazil to expand oil palm production and in parts of Africa to produce @ @ @ @ @ @ @ biomass demand while pursuing some sustainable supply strategies can draw down CO without impacting food production or clearing forests .
The first step is to reduce consumption .
Worldwide , paper recycling already shrinks demand for pulpwood from forests and plantations by 484 million metric tons ( MMT ) annually .
Project Drawdown predicts that recycling will increase to roughly 1,100 MMT per year by 2050 .
The project also estimates that replacing traditional wood cookstoves with clean cookstoves , of which there are many types , could ease wood consumption by 1,700 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also improve health by diminishing household smoke , an important benefit .
Some biomass wastes that are now discarded as refuse can instead become raw materials for generating energy , including waste from wood processing and from residential landscaping .
Crop residues—leftovers such as cornstalks and corncobs that remain after food crops are harvested—could also offer some biomass without changes in land use .
Some of it is already accounted for , however : about a quarter of the material now feeds livestock or augments farm practices .
Another 50 percent is best @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the soil .
That leaves only a quarter of annual residues as new raw material .
Together such approaches can take a hefty bite out of biomass demand .
But they do not free up nearly enough biomass to rein in climate change .
The second step toward providing a sustainable biomass supply is to produce more of it on the same global footprint .
Perhaps the most widely promoted approach is a massive expansion of commercial wood plantations—huge groves of eucalyptus , pines and other species .
These plantations produce much more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But covering large tracts of land with a single species of tree can undermine biodiversity , water quality and flood mitigation .
Worldwide , some 294 Mha are already used for wood plantations today , according to the global Food and Agriculture Organization .
Adding to that acreage will be difficult because , again , there is only so much land to go around .
Natural forests hold tremendous stores of carbon in wood and soils , so increased forest protection is important .
They are also vulnerable to wildfires , however , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the atmosphere is permanently sequestered ; dead , decomposing trees cycle some of it back into the air .
Some newer techniques for biomass production are scaling up .
One of them provides raw material for cellulosic ethanol , in which certain grasses and the stalks of food crops are converted into liquid fuel .
Scientists have made progress in finding efficient ways to break down this fibrous material .
Farmers are planting big expanses of perennial grasses such as miscanthus and switchgrass for biomass burning and hope to see fuel markets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rotation coppice , involves planting fast-growing trees such as willows and poplars in extremely dense rows .
The trees are harvested every two to three years by heavy equipment that chips the biomass right in the field .
The combined growing area of these systems—about 200,000 hectares , according to Project Drawdown—is still small , but the industry is projected to expand greatly .
There are ways to greatly increase carbon sequestration without taking agricultural land out of food production , some of which can actually increase crop yields .
The most widely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shrubs and trees into crop and livestock fields .
In France , timber trees and winter grains grow on the same land without competing because the trees leaf in summer and the wheat leafs out in the winter .
Farmers there can grow on 100 hectares what would take 130 to 140 hectares to produce if the timber and grain were grown separately .
Woody plants can also be grown in pastures .
A particularly promising approach called silvopasture is spreading rapidly in Latin America .
Shrubs are planted in dense swaths , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and rows of fast-growing trees such as eucalyptus grow widely apart to leave plentiful grazing space .
Intensive silvopasture can increase livestock productivity by double or more while sequestering large amounts of carbon .
Another approach known as evergreen energy is allowing smallholders in the tropics to produce food and wood for energy from the same land .
Farmers plant leguminous shrubs such as Gliricidia sepium in crop fields .
The leafy foliage from the shrubs fertilizes the soil and provides fodder for livestock .
The shrub wood is harvested at the end @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or for sale to local producers who burn it to generate electricity .
The approach can dramatically increase both food production and biomass energy and can store carbon every year in the soil and roots .
It can also improve farm incomes and jobs in rural populations .
Evergreen energy is already widespread in Sri Lanka , is being developed in Africa , and could work well in Asia and Latin America .
It would be an ideal way to produce biomass for BECCS , should that technology become available , without sacrificing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ potential .
Fertilizer trees and shrubs alone are projected to produce 1,200 MMT of biomass by 2050 , according to the Global EverGreening Alliance .
Agroforestry is already widespread ; 43 percent of the world ’ s agricultural land has greater than 10 percent tree cover , most of that located in the tropics .
Trees on farms increased 2 percent globally between 2000 and 2010 .
Millions of farm families throughout the tropics have adopted agroforestry techniques , and more are signing on .
The Global EverGreening Alliance has launched a campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CO annually by midcentury .
Realizing this potential , however , will require more sustained support for farmers by agricultural extension .
Despite the efforts of a few dedicated scientists and farmers , agroforestry in the U.S. lags behind the rest of the world .
There is no biophysical reason for this lack of application : agroforestry succeeds well in other temperate regions and in U.S. trials .
Reluctance is more a matter of mindset in agriculture .
Mechanized farming is not a limitation , either ; roughly 9 percent of farmland in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Perhaps biomass production can begin at the boundaries of fields and slowly work its way in .
( Planting lines of trees along fields to break winds that cause erosion helped to bring the central U.S. out of the 1930s Dust Bowl . )
Both France and China have developed systems for integrating trees in large mechanized farms .
India is making significant strides as well .
Mechanized farms in places such as the U.S. corn belt could integrate perennial grasses , notably switchgrass and miscanthus .
These tall grasses can be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that produce fuels or electricity .
Precision agriculture technologies are helping farmers identify areas of their fields that are producing food crops poorly and could be better exploited for perennial grasses .
Processing certain grasses for energy can also supply a product called leaf protein concentrate .
It is about 50 percent protein and loaded with vitamins and minerals .
Though edible by humans , it may be best as a substitute for soy for livestock .
Grasses can produce higher yields of this protein per hectare than soy or any other food @ @ @ @ @ @ @ perennial , they sequester carbon in the soil .
It is neither possible nor desirable to plant biomass on an area the size of Australia to meet the demand for BECCS and the other climate solutions .
Smarter biomass production and consumption can draw down carbon dioxide without undermining food supply or forests , but it can not cure our climate ills .
The IPCC wisely notes that in the scenarios most likely to limit warming to 1.5 °C , coherent , coordinated policies are needed to enhance food security and limit land-use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will still be needed to zero out greenhouse gas emissions , including reduced consumption by wealthy nations and individuals , conversion to clean energy , and electrification of transportation and industry .
Perhaps we can find inspiration from local people who are already trying to live a smart biomass future .
Members of the Las Cañadas campesino cooperative in Veracruz , Mexico , offer an interesting example .
Logging had converted 70 to 90 percent of the region ’ s native cloud forest to pasture .
In this mountainous landscape , solar and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 20 or so families are using the best biomass practices from around the world to address their needs .
They have integrated woody plants into their cornfields and pastures , planted bamboo and fast-growing , resprouting firewood trees , installed 50,000 native trees for reforestation , and adopted wood-conserving clean cookstoves .
They are experimenting with a gasifier that burns wood to generate electricity .
Member Ricardo Romero estimates a family can meet its annual cooking fuel needs from a plot of roughly 26 by 26 meters .
Perhaps the rest of us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vision .

In the flat farmland outside Decatur, Ill., a dump truck filled with ears of corn rolls into a warehouse at one end of an ethanol plant run by commodities giant Archer-Daniels-Midland Company. The corn is sent into a big fermentation vat that converts it to ethanol, which will be trucked to a refinery that will blend it with gasoline for sale nationwide. The fermentation process releases carbon dioxide, which is captured in a large flue, then sent by pipeline to a wellhead. Pumps send the gas deep belowground, where it will become trapped in sandstone rock.
This pilot project is about to complete its three-year trial as a novel way to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while providing a viable commercial product that pays the bill. The CO 2 is soaked up by the corn plants as they grow; injecting the gas into the sandstone permanently stores it.
But the use of corn for fuel, which accelerated in the U.S. in the 2000s, is controversial. Corn could feed people and livestock; growing plants for biofuel takes land that could otherwise be used to grow crops. Burning ethanol in cars produces new CO 2 emissions, as does harvesting and trucking the corn. Fermenting, pipelining and injecting all require energy that, in the Midwest at least, may come from fossil fuels. It is unclear whether corn-based ethanol can yield even a small net reduction in atmospheric CO 2 .
The Decatur plant is one example of a suite of processes known as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, or BECCS. Although the facility uses grains, most techniques target woody plants, including trees, shrubs and grasses, which are converted into liquid fuels or burned to create electricity. The emissions from those activities could be sequestered underground or collected and sold as a raw material—primarily for chemical plants or to pump into stubborn oil deposits to force out more oil.
Ignored for the most part 10 years ago, biomass is now being given an important role in the blueprints to lessen climate change. The list of applications is long and growing; in addition to biofuels, it includes biomass burning for electricity and heat, biodigesters that create commercial methane, biochar to improve soil, as well as insulation, building materials and bioplastics. The road maps that depend heavily on biomass include the 2018 Global Warming of 1.5 °C report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its 2019 special report Climate Change and Land; the U.S. National Climate Assessment released in November 2018; and Project Drawdown’s scenarios in its 2020 The Drawdown Review. Powerful industries such as electricity, fuel and plastics are betting big on biomass as a feedstock, pushing projected demand sky-high.
The scientific consensus behind the road maps is that to preserve a climate suitable for civilization, global warming should be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. This requires a 45 percent reduction of emissions by 2030 and zero net emissions by 2050, relative to 2010 levels, according to the IPCC’s 1.5 °C report. Humanity’s remaining carbon budget—the amount of future emissions that can be tolerated before surpassing 1.5 °C—is 420 billion to 580 billion metric tons. Staying within that limit requires slashing emissions as well as pulling CO 2 from the atmosphere. The IPCC estimates that BECCS could sequester 0.4 billion to 11.3 billion tons a year. Project Drawdown does not include BECCS but calculates an average of 1.1 billion to 2.5 billion tons a year from other biomass applications.
The problem is that most plans assume they can have as much biomass as they want. The truth is that the land needed to produce all that biomass poses a serious constraint. The IPCC reports that large-scale implementation of BECCS alone would require 300 million to 700 million hectares (Mha) of land—an area roughly equivalent to that of India (328 Mha) or the continent of Australia (769 Mha). And most of the land suitable for BECCS is used today for agriculture.
Growing biomass for BECCS at that scale, to say nothing of the other applications, would come into serious conflict with the farmland required to produce food crops and the pastureland needed for livestock. Forests would also be vulnerable because the plans call for cutting them for biomass and replacing them with single-species plantations of high-yielding eucalypts or pines—large monocultures that ruin biodiversity.
It is possible that modest consumption of biomass for carbon sequestration could be sustainable. A few approaches even improve crop yields as well as woody plant production. But the projected demand is exceedingly high. BECCS is the elephant in the room. The IPCC and other organizations have put almost all their biomass eggs into this one basket, even though there are only about five small BECCS demonstration projects worldwide, according to the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute. That is a risky strategy to mitigate climate change.
Greatly increased demand for biomass will further aggravate what has already become a major struggle over how land will be used in the future. Tension is rising over whether more land should be put into soybeans to feed cattle to meet increasing demand for meat, whether cropland should be used to produce biofuels to replace fossil fuels, and how forests can be preserved instead of cut down. Limitless options are not possible on a planet that has inherent limits. A global scramble for biomass has begun, and unless some significant changes in expectations are made, governments and industries will end up colliding.
Coffee shrubs cultivated in Ecuador's Andes Mountains flourish underneath trees that can provide helpful shade as well as leaf litter to improve the soil. Credit: Morley Read Alamy
The Coming Scramble
Our species has always relied on biomass to meet basic needs, with virtually no thought about how much we are using. Woody plants have long been essential for making tools, homes, buildings, ships, mats, rugs, paper and cardboard. Bamboo has more than 1,500 documented uses. Since our earliest days biomass has literally provided the fuel for our fires. More than three billion people still cook over wood fires daily.
In the mid-1800s societies began to shift from wood to fossil fuels for energy, materials and chemicals. This dependency is the basis for civilization’s current prosperity but has also brought us to the brink of climate catastrophe.
Most biomass harvested today—more properly called lignocellulosic biomass—comes from trees, bamboo, herbaceous grasses and crop residues such as cornstalks. Biomass has become an attractive climate solution because it is, to some degree, renewable—it can be grown again and again.
BECCS is the dominant source of biomass identified in all the plans. It is still mostly a theoretical process, capturing CO 2 emissions using the same technology that would scrub the gas from fossil-fuel power plants. The biggest issue is the volume of biomass that would be needed. In its 1.5 °C report, the IPCC states that all pathways that limit global warming to 1.5 °C or 2.0 °C require removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, on the order of 100 billion to 1,000 billion tons over the 21st century. Removal includes replanting forests, and farming practices can help sequester carbon in soils and perennial plants, but in the IPCC’s scheme, BECCS is cast as the primary tool to stay within the global carbon budget. Converting 300 million to 700 million hectares of cropland to biomass production is simply incompatible with increased food needs.
If food production is not negotiable, it is hard to find significant land. Some previously abandoned cropland could be brought back into production of biomass crops that can grow on that marginal soil, but ranchers and pastoralists already graze livestock on a fair share of this area, much of it being pasture. Meanwhile, to us, cutting into forests to create biomass plantations—something that the big climate plans say is undesirable but inevitable if global emissions are not rapidly reduced—is a nonstarter. Forests are important sinks of carbon; deforestation is already the source of 9 percent of anthropogenic emissions. To draw down carbon dioxide and to preserve biodiversity, forests must be protected and expanded, not razed. Project Drawdown’s projections are somewhat unique in that they only consider new sources of supply that do not undermine food security or increased forest protection and restoration.
Pathways to 1.5 °C that do not involve BECCS still require unrealistic amounts of biomass. The world’s limitless appetite for liquid biofuels is also unsustainable; there simply is not enough cropland to grow feedstock to replace the vast amounts of fuels we use. If 100 percent of all the corn grown in the U.S. was fermented into ethanol, that would meet only 25 percent of the nation’s gasoline and diesel demand—and it would leave no corn for people or animals.
To see what level of BECCS deployment might push the world’s biomass and food supplies into unsustainable territory, we analyzed the total amount of biomass used worldwide for all purposes in 2015 and then projected demand to 2050, including both low and high levels of BECCS as called for in the major reports. In both scenarios, increasing supply, alone, could not meet demand without deforestation. Reducing demand, alone, could not keep production within the planet’s biomass capacity. Only by aggressively reducing certain demands while aggressively increasing certain forms of supply was it possible to provide the biomass needed—for the case of modest dependency on BECCS [see graphic below]. Meeting the high-BECCS scenario ended up requiring 450 Mha of land, more than the area of the European Union.
Even the low-BECCS case raises great social concerns. Much of the land needed is now farmed by smallholders, grazed by pastoralists, or home to forests managed by indigenous peoples—land that could be taken against their will. Some 12 million people worldwide have already fallen victim to such land grabs in recent years. Land has been appropriated in Southeast Asia and Brazil to expand oil palm production and in parts of Africa to produce plantation crops such as cacao.
Credit: Jen Christiansen
Reducing the Need
Lessening biomass demand while pursuing some sustainable supply strategies can draw down CO 2 without impacting food production or clearing forests. The first step is to reduce consumption. Worldwide, paper recycling already shrinks demand for pulpwood from forests and plantations by 484 million metric tons (MMT) annually. Project Drawdown predicts that recycling will increase to roughly 1,100 MMT per year by 2050. The project also estimates that replacing traditional wood cookstoves with clean cookstoves, of which there are many types, could ease wood consumption by 1,700 MMT by 2050. The stoves can also improve health by diminishing household smoke, an important benefit.
Some biomass wastes that are now discarded as refuse can instead become raw materials for generating energy, including waste from wood processing and from residential landscaping. Crop residues—leftovers such as cornstalks and corncobs that remain after food crops are harvested—could also offer some biomass without changes in land use. Some of it is already accounted for, however: about a quarter of the material now feeds livestock or augments farm practices. Another 50 percent is best left on fields to decompose and rebuild the soil. That leaves only a quarter of annual residues as new raw material.
Together such approaches can take a hefty bite out of biomass demand. But they do not free up nearly enough biomass to rein in climate change.
Increasing Production
The second step toward providing a sustainable biomass supply is to produce more of it on the same global footprint. Perhaps the most widely promoted approach is a massive expansion of commercial wood plantations—huge groves of eucalyptus, pines and other species. These plantations produce much more wood per hectare than natural forests. But covering large tracts of land with a single species of tree can undermine biodiversity, water quality and flood mitigation. Worldwide, some 294 Mha are already used for wood plantations today, according to the global Food and Agriculture Organization. Adding to that acreage will be difficult because, again, there is only so much land to go around.
Natural forests hold tremendous stores of carbon in wood and soils, so increased forest protection is important. They are also vulnerable to wildfires, however, and not all carbon that is removed from the atmosphere is permanently sequestered; dead, decomposing trees cycle some of it back into the air.
Some newer techniques for biomass production are scaling up. One of them provides raw material for cellulosic ethanol, in which certain grasses and the stalks of food crops are converted into liquid fuel. Scientists have made progress in finding efficient ways to break down this fibrous material. Farmers are planting big expanses of perennial grasses such as miscanthus and switchgrass for biomass burning and hope to see fuel markets develop. Another strategy, called short rotation coppice, involves planting fast-growing trees such as willows and poplars in extremely dense rows. The trees are harvested every two to three years by heavy equipment that chips the biomass right in the field. The combined growing area of these systems—about 200,000 hectares, according to Project Drawdown—is still small, but the industry is projected to expand greatly.
Bamboo groves offer a ready supply of biomass for many uses; seen here is the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove in Kyoto, Japan, promoted as a tourist attraction. Credit: Getty Images
Relief
There are ways to greatly increase carbon sequestration without taking agricultural land out of food production, some of which can actually increase crop yields. The most widely practiced technique is agroforestry, which integrates shrubs and trees into crop and livestock fields. In France, timber trees and winter grains grow on the same land without competing because the trees leaf in summer and the wheat leafs out in the winter. Farmers there can grow on 100 hectares what would take 130 to 140 hectares to produce if the timber and grain were grown separately.
Woody plants can also be grown in pastures. A particularly promising approach called silvopasture is spreading rapidly in Latin America. Shrubs are planted in dense swaths, which livestock browse for edible leaves, and rows of fast-growing trees such as eucalyptus grow widely apart to leave plentiful grazing space. Intensive silvopasture can increase livestock productivity by double or more while sequestering large amounts of carbon.
Another approach known as evergreen energy is allowing smallholders in the tropics to produce food and wood for energy from the same land. Farmers plant leguminous shrubs such as Gliricidia sepium in crop fields. The leafy foliage from the shrubs fertilizes the soil and provides fodder for livestock. The shrub wood is harvested at the end of the dry season for household fuel or for sale to local producers who burn it to generate electricity. The approach can dramatically increase both food production and biomass energy and can store carbon every year in the soil and roots. It can also improve farm incomes and jobs in rural populations. Evergreen energy is already widespread in Sri Lanka, is being developed in Africa, and could work well in Asia and Latin America. It would be an ideal way to produce biomass for BECCS, should that technology become available, without sacrificing food production.
Expanded agroforestry has significant potential. Fertilizer trees and shrubs alone are projected to produce 1,200 MMT of biomass by 2050, according to the Global EverGreening Alliance. Agroforestry is already widespread; 43 percent of the world’s agricultural land has greater than 10 percent tree cover, most of that located in the tropics. Trees on farms increased 2 percent globally between 2000 and 2010. Millions of farm families throughout the tropics have adopted agroforestry techniques, and more are signing on. The Global EverGreening Alliance has launched a campaign to draw down 20 billion tons of CO 2 annually by midcentury. Realizing this potential, however, will require more sustained support for farmers by agricultural extension.
Despite the efforts of a few dedicated scientists and farmers, agroforestry in the U.S. lags behind the rest of the world. There is no biophysical reason for this lack of application: agroforestry succeeds well in other temperate regions and in U.S. trials. Reluctance is more a matter of mindset in agriculture. Mechanized farming is not a limitation, either; roughly 9 percent of farmland in the European Union is used for agroforestry. Perhaps biomass production can begin at the boundaries of fields and slowly work its way in. (Planting lines of trees along fields to break winds that cause erosion helped to bring the central U.S. out of the 1930s Dust Bowl.) Both France and China have developed systems for integrating trees in large mechanized farms. India is making significant strides as well.
Mechanized farms in places such as the U.S. corn belt could integrate perennial grasses, notably switchgrass and miscanthus. These tall grasses can be grown, harvested and transported to biorefineries that produce fuels or electricity. Precision agriculture technologies are helping farmers identify areas of their fields that are producing food crops poorly and could be better exploited for perennial grasses.
Processing certain grasses for energy can also supply a product called leaf protein concentrate. It is about 50 percent protein and loaded with vitamins and minerals. Though edible by humans, it may be best as a substitute for soy for livestock. Grasses can produce higher yields of this protein per hectare than soy or any other food crop, and because the grasses are perennial, they sequester carbon in the soil.
A Way Forward
It is neither possible nor desirable to plant biomass on an area the size of Australia to meet the demand for BECCS and the other climate solutions. Smarter biomass production and consumption can draw down carbon dioxide without undermining food supply or forests, but it cannot cure our climate ills. The IPCC wisely notes that in the scenarios most likely to limit warming to 1.5 °C, coherent, coordinated policies are needed to enhance food security and limit land-use change. Other rapid and deep transformations will still be needed to zero out greenhouse gas emissions, including reduced consumption by wealthy nations and individuals, conversion to clean energy, and electrification of transportation and industry.
Perhaps we can find inspiration from local people who are already trying to live a smart biomass future. Members of the Las Cañadas campesino cooperative in Veracruz, Mexico, offer an interesting example. Logging had converted 70 to 90 percent of the region’s native cloud forest to pasture. In this mountainous landscape, solar and wind are not promising options. The 20 or so families are using the best biomass practices from around the world to address their needs. They have integrated woody plants into their cornfields and pastures, planted bamboo and fast-growing, resprouting firewood trees, installed 50,000 native trees for reforestation, and adopted wood-conserving clean cookstoves. They are experimenting with a gasifier that burns wood to generate electricity. Member Ricardo Romero estimates a family can meet its annual cooking fuel needs from a plot of roughly 26 by 26 meters. Perhaps the rest of us can learn from the cooperative’s vision.


scientificamerican--2020-08-12--Our Temporary Moratorium against Handshakes Should Become Permanent

Here 's something I thought I 'd never say : Donald Trump was correct .
Back in 1997 , anyway .
About shaking hands .
“ The Japanese have it right , ” the allegedly germaphobic Trump wrote ( with co-author Kate Bohner ) in the book Trump : The Art of the Comeback .
“ They stand slightly apart and do a quick , formal and very beautiful bow in order to acknowledge each other 's presence ...
I wish we would develop a similar greeting custom in America .
In fact , I 've often thought of taking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the abolishment of the handshake.
” Of course , because of COVID-19 , the handshake is out .
Unfortunately , it could make its own comeback without vigorous lobbying against it .
I will now do some of that lobbying .
“ Recent medical reports , ” Trump also wrote , “ have come out saying that colds and various other ailments are spread through the act of shaking hands .
I have no doubt about this.
” Indeed , a search using the terms “ handshake ” and “ infection ” in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up a 1991 write-up in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology with the title “ Potential Role of Hands in the Spread of Respiratory Viral Infections : Studies with Human Parainfluenza Virus 3 and Rhinovirus 14.
” This piece is undoubtedly the one that Trump read in his comprehensive and careful research—it stood out as his likely source because most of the search results for that time period were for articles talking about the molecular “ handshake ” between an HIV protein and human cells .
Such studies might only have brought him unpleasant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Stern Show to compare his risk of STDs to fighting in Vietnam .
In another piece I turned up , published in the journal Medical Record , Nathan Breiter wrote about running into a friend and automatically shaking hands , only to find the hand “ rough and oily.
” Breiter later learned that what he felt was syphilide : a skin lesion caused by syphilis .
This experience got Breiter , as a trained physician , to thinking .
After considering how handshakes happened— “ the custom of shaking hands originated in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the weapon hand during a truce as a precaution against treachery ” —Breiter suggests banishing the practice to the medical waste bin of history : “ So we see that from a comparatively dark and illiterate period a custom having a rational origin , which rationale dwindled into nothingness during its spread and migration through successive centuries , was ushered into our glorious civilization , unnecessary in its essence , devoid of all intelligence , and positively injurious to public health.
” As the florid writing gives away , this article appeared well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ medical reports.
” It 's from 1897 , exactly a century before The Art of the Comeback , so the antishake notion has been around for a while .
By the way , the comeback book is a sequel to Trump : The Art of the Deal ( ghostwritten by the now regretful Tony Schwartz ) .
The second book was motivated by one of Trump 's artful corporate bankruptcies .
Sadly , as president , Trump went from disdaining the handshake to weaponizing it .
Videos with various world leaders depict him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it—and them—closer and holding their hand hostage for a while .
The move seems to be an attempt to physically dominate but makes it look like he heard only the first word in “ bully pulpit.
” We can do better .
In addition to bowing , other nontouch greetings exist in many cultures .
There 's the Hindu palms-together and head bow ; the Islamic hand on the heart ; the military salute ; the Vulcan split-hand gesture .
( Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy based Spock 's smooth move on a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jewish cemetery if you want to see plenty of graves adorned with what most people think of as Vulcan . )
I like any and all of the alternatives better than the traditional Western grope .
The time has come to say , “ Look .
No hands .
”

Here's something I thought I'd never say: Donald Trump was correct. Back in 1997, anyway. About shaking hands.
“The Japanese have it right,” the allegedly germaphobic Trump wrote (with co-author Kate Bohner) in the book Trump: The Art of the Comeback. “They stand slightly apart and do a quick, formal and very beautiful bow in order to acknowledge each other's presence ... I wish we would develop a similar greeting custom in America. In fact, I've often thought of taking out a series of newspaper ads encouraging the abolishment of the handshake.”
Of course, because of COVID-19, the handshake is out. Unfortunately, it could make its own comeback without vigorous lobbying against it. I will now do some of that lobbying.
“Recent medical reports,” Trump also wrote, “have come out saying that colds and various other ailments are spread through the act of shaking hands. I have no doubt about this.”
Indeed, a search using the terms “handshake” and “infection” in journal articles between 1990 and 1997 turns up a 1991 write-up in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology with the title “Potential Role of Hands in the Spread of Respiratory Viral Infections: Studies with Human Parainfluenza Virus 3 and Rhinovirus 14.”
This piece is undoubtedly the one that Trump read in his comprehensive and careful research—it stood out as his likely source because most of the search results for that time period were for articles talking about the molecular “handshake” between an HIV protein and human cells. Such studies might only have brought him unpleasant reminders that led him on the Howard Stern Show to compare his risk of STDs to fighting in Vietnam.
In another piece I turned up, published in the journal Medical Record, Nathan Breiter wrote about running into a friend and automatically shaking hands, only to find the hand “rough and oily.” Breiter later learned that what he felt was syphilide: a skin lesion caused by syphilis. This experience got Breiter, as a trained physician, to thinking.
After considering how handshakes happened—“the custom of shaking hands originated in the ancient and universal practice of grasping the weapon hand during a truce as a precaution against treachery”—Breiter suggests banishing the practice to the medical waste bin of history: “So we see that from a comparatively dark and illiterate period a custom having a rational origin, which rationale dwindled into nothingness during its spread and migration through successive centuries, was ushered into our glorious civilization, unnecessary in its essence, devoid of all intelligence, and positively injurious to public health.”
As the florid writing gives away, this article appeared well before any of Trump's “recent medical reports.” It's from 1897, exactly a century before The Art of the Comeback, so the antishake notion has been around for a while. By the way, the comeback book is a sequel to Trump: The Art of the Deal (ghostwritten by the now regretful Tony Schwartz). The second book was motivated by one of Trump's artful corporate bankruptcies.
Sadly, as president, Trump went from disdaining the handshake to weaponizing it. Videos with various world leaders depict him grabbing his counterpart's palm, yanking it—and them—closer and holding their hand hostage for a while. The move seems to be an attempt to physically dominate but makes it look like he heard only the first word in “bully pulpit.”
We can do better. In addition to bowing, other nontouch greetings exist in many cultures. There's the Hindu palms-together and head bow; the Islamic hand on the heart; the military salute; the Vulcan split-hand gesture. (Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy based Spock's smooth move on a Hebrew blessing symbol. Go to a Jewish cemetery if you want to see plenty of graves adorned with what most people think of as Vulcan.)
I like any and all of the alternatives better than the traditional Western grope. The time has come to say, “Look. No hands.”


scientificamerican--2020-08-12--Russia's Fast-Track Coronavirus Vaccine Draws Outrage Over Safety

Russia ’ s president Vladimir Putin announced on August 11 that the country ’ s health regulator had become the world ’ s first to approve a coronavirus vaccine for widespread use — but scientists worldwide have condemned the decision as dangerously rushed .
Russia hasn ’ t completed large trials to test its safety and efficacy , and rolling out an inadequately vetted vaccine could put at risk people who receive it , researchers say .
It could also impede global efforts to develop quality COVID-19 immunizations , they suggest .
“ That the Russians may be skipping such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community of vaccine scientists .
If they get it wrong it could undermine the entire global enterprise , ” says Peter Hotez , a vaccine scientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston , Texas .
“ This is a reckless and foolish decision .
Mass vaccination with an improperly tested vaccine is unethical .
Any problem with the Russian vaccination campaign would be disastrous both through its negative effects on health , but also because it would further set back the acceptance of vaccines in the population , ” Francois Balloux , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said in a statement distributed by the UK Science Media Centre .
In his announcement , Putin said that the Russian regulator had approved a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow , even though phase III trials of the vaccine had yet to be completed .
Such trials involve giving thousands of people a vaccine or a placebo injection , and then following them to see if the vaccine prevents disease .
They also allow researchers to confirm the vaccine ’ s safety and look @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been observed in smaller , earlier stage trials .
Russian health-care minister Mikhail Murashko said that the vaccine would be gradually introduced to citizens , and given to health workers and teachers first .
More than 200 COVID-19 vaccines are in development worldwide and several are already in phase III trials , with more frontrunners slated to begin theirs soon .
But researchers think that the earliest one of those vaccines could be approved is still months away .
The Gamaleya vaccine has been given to 76 volunteers as part of two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no results from those trials or other preclinical studies have been published , and little else is known about the experimental vaccine .
According to the ClinicalTrials.gov listings , the vaccine , which is given in two doses , is made of two adenoviruses that express the coronavirus spike protein .
The first dose is an Ad26 virus — the same strain being used in an experimental vaccine being developed by pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen — while the second ‘ booster ’ dose is made of an Ad5 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experimental jab being developed CanSino Biologics in China .
According to the vaccine ’ s Russian-language registration certificate , all 38 participants who received one or two doses of the vaccine had produced antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 ’ s spike protein , including potent neutralizing antibodies that inactivate viral particles .
These findings are similar to results of early-stage trials of other candidate vaccines .
Side effects were also similar , such as fever , headache and skin irritation at the site of injection .
Hotez expects that the Gamaleya vaccine will elicit a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The technical feat of developing a COVID19 vaccine is not very complicated , ” he says .
“ The hard part is producing these vaccines under quality umbrellas — quality control and quality assurance — and then assuring the vaccines are safe and actually work to protect against COVID19 in large phase III clinical trials.
” But little is known about phase III trial plans for the Gamaleya vaccine .
“ I simply haven ’ t managed to find any published details of a protocol , ” says Danny Altmann , an immunologist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the trial is closely tracking the immune responses of participants and looking out for any side effects .
The head of a Russian government-supported investment fund said the vaccine would go through phase III testing in the United Arab Emirates , Saudi Arabia and other countries , according to the state-owned TASS Russian News Agency .
The official said that purchase requests for 1 billion doses had been received by 20 countries , in Latin America , the Middle East , Asia and elsewhere , and that manufacturing was in place to produce @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the works .
Altmann says he is concerned that the vaccine could cause an exacerbated disease that occurs when antibodies generated by the vaccine carry the virus into cells , after exposure to the virus .
Another problem could be an asthma-like immune reaction that became an issue with some experimental vaccines against the SARS ( sever acute respiratory syndrome ) virus .
Picking up these reactions would require comparing thousands of people who received a vaccine or placebo and potentially became exposed to SARS-CoV-2 .
“ It ’ s ridiculous , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these data , ” says Svetlana Zavidova , head of Russia ’ s Association of Clinical Trials Organizations , which works with international pharmaceutical companies and research organizations .
Without a completed phase III trial , Zavidova also worries that it will not be clear whether the vaccine prevents COVID-19 or not — or causes any harmful side effects , because of gaps in how Russia monitor the effects of medicines .
“ Our system for safety monitoring , I think , is not the best , ” she says .
Zavidova also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be “ very harmful ” for efforts to run clinical trials of other COVID-19 vaccines and other medicines in Russia .
“ Not sure what Russia is up to , but I certainly would not take a vaccine that hasn ’ t been tested in Phase III , ” said Florian Krammer , an immunologist at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City , in a tweet .
“ Nobody knows if it ’ s safe or if it works .
They are putting [ health-care workers ] and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is reproduced with permission and was first published on August 11 , 2020 .
Read more about the coronavirus outbreak from Scientific American here .
And read coverage from our international network of magazines here .

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin announced on August 11 that the country’s health regulator had become the world’s first to approve a coronavirus vaccine for widespread use — but scientists worldwide have condemned the decision as dangerously rushed. Russia hasn’t completed large trials to test its safety and efficacy, and rolling out an inadequately vetted vaccine could put at risk people who receive it, researchers say. It could also impede global efforts to develop quality COVID-19 immunizations, they suggest.
“That the Russians may be skipping such measures and steps is what worries our community of vaccine scientists. If they get it wrong it could undermine the entire global enterprise,” says Peter Hotez, a vaccine scientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
“This is a reckless and foolish decision. Mass vaccination with an improperly tested vaccine is unethical. Any problem with the Russian vaccination campaign would be disastrous both through its negative effects on health, but also because it would further set back the acceptance of vaccines in the population,” Francois Balloux, a geneticist at University College London, said in a statement distributed by the UK Science Media Centre.
In his announcement, Putin said that the Russian regulator had approved a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, even though phase III trials of the vaccine had yet to be completed. Such trials involve giving thousands of people a vaccine or a placebo injection, and then following them to see if the vaccine prevents disease. They also allow researchers to confirm the vaccine’s safety and look for rarer side effects that may not have been observed in smaller, earlier stage trials. Russian health-care minister Mikhail Murashko said that the vaccine would be gradually introduced to citizens, and given to health workers and teachers first.
More than 200 COVID-19 vaccines are in development worldwide and several are already in phase III trials, with more frontrunners slated to begin theirs soon. But researchers think that the earliest one of those vaccines could be approved is still months away.
Lack of data
The Gamaleya vaccine has been given to 76 volunteers as part of two early-stage trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov, but no results from those trials or other preclinical studies have been published, and little else is known about the experimental vaccine.
According to the ClinicalTrials.gov listings, the vaccine, which is given in two doses, is made of two adenoviruses that express the coronavirus spike protein. The first dose is an Ad26 virus — the same strain being used in an experimental vaccine being developed by pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen — while the second ‘booster’ dose is made of an Ad5 virus, like the one in an experimental jab being developed CanSino Biologics in China.
According to the vaccine’s Russian-language registration certificate, all 38 participants who received one or two doses of the vaccine had produced antibodies against SARS-CoV-2’s spike protein, including potent neutralizing antibodies that inactivate viral particles. These findings are similar to results of early-stage trials of other candidate vaccines. Side effects were also similar, such as fever, headache and skin irritation at the site of injection.
Hotez expects that the Gamaleya vaccine will elicit a decent immune response against SARS-CoV-2. “The technical feat of developing a COVID19 vaccine is not very complicated,” he says. “The hard part is producing these vaccines under quality umbrellas — quality control and quality assurance — and then assuring the vaccines are safe and actually work to protect against COVID19 in large phase III clinical trials.”
But little is known about phase III trial plans for the Gamaleya vaccine. “I simply haven’t managed to find any published details of a protocol,” says Danny Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London. He hopes the trial is closely tracking the immune responses of participants and looking out for any side effects.
The head of a Russian government-supported investment fund said the vaccine would go through phase III testing in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other countries, according to the state-owned TASS Russian News Agency. The official said that purchase requests for 1 billion doses had been received by 20 countries, in Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere, and that manufacturing was in place to produce 500 million doses, with more capacity in the works.
‘Ridiculous authorization’
Altmann says he is concerned that the vaccine could cause an exacerbated disease that occurs when antibodies generated by the vaccine carry the virus into cells, after exposure to the virus. Another problem could be an asthma-like immune reaction that became an issue with some experimental vaccines against the SARS (sever acute respiratory syndrome) virus. Picking up these reactions would require comparing thousands of people who received a vaccine or placebo and potentially became exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
“It’s ridiculous, of course, to get authorization on these data,” says Svetlana Zavidova, head of Russia’s Association of Clinical Trials Organizations, which works with international pharmaceutical companies and research organizations. Without a completed phase III trial, Zavidova also worries that it will not be clear whether the vaccine prevents COVID-19 or not — or causes any harmful side effects, because of gaps in how Russia monitor the effects of medicines. “Our system for safety monitoring, I think, is not the best,” she says.
Zavidova also worries the vaccine’s approval will be “very harmful” for efforts to run clinical trials of other COVID-19 vaccines and other medicines in Russia.
“Not sure what Russia is up to, but I certainly would not take a vaccine that hasn’t been tested in Phase III,” said Florian Krammer, an immunologist at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, in a tweet. “Nobody knows if it’s safe or if it works. They are putting [health-care workers] and their population at risk.”
This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on August 11, 2020.
Read more about the coronavirus outbreak from Scientific American here. And read coverage from our international network of magazines here.


scientificamerican--2020-08-12--Claims of 'Ocean' inside Ceres May Not Hold Water

After arriving at the dwarf planet Ceres in 2015 , NASA ’ s Dawn spacecraft revealed a bizarre world where ice used to flow and erupt like lava .
In the last phase of the mission , which ended in 2018 , Dawn ’ s orbit swept within 35 kilometers ( 22 miles ) of Occator Crater , a 92-kilometer-wide feature dotted with bright deposits of sodium carbonate and other minerals .
The mission team ’ s analysis of the data , published on Monday in a set of seven papers in three of Nature ’ s journals , paints @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Occator Crater and substantiates earlier suspicions that a reservoir of liquid water exists beneath the surface of Ceres .
The extent of that supposedly watery region , however , remains unknown .
“ This is the last set of papers that really present the mission data and provide the team ’ s best interpretation , ” says Carol Raymond , a researcher at NASA ’ s Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL ) and Dawn ’ s deputy principal investigator .
“ Now the data are out in the wild , and everybody @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at them .
I ’ m sure we ’ re going to learn a lot more in the future.
” Early in Dawn ’ s mission , researchers surmised that the minerals in the deposits had been carried to the surface by liquid water that subsequently evaporated .
The youngest of these deposits formed a mere four million years ago , whereas the impact that created Occator Crater occurred around 20 million years ago .
This discrepancy left scientists unsure whether the water started as ice that was then melted by the heat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ liquid form in a subsurface reservoir .
To find out , the team measured how the speed of the spacecraft changed throughout its orbit to build a detailed map of Ceres ’ s gravitational field , which in turn revealed regions of high and low density in the crust .
Then Raymond and her colleagues combined the density map with models of how heat would travel in an ice-rich crust to reconstruct the aftermath of the Occator impact .
The scenario they uncovered , Raymond says , “ opens up a new way @ @ @ @ @ @ @ icy bodies such as Ceres , which is the largest object in the asteroid belt .
The energy of the impact created a “ melt chamber ” of liquid water near the surface , as well as fractures in the crust .
These fractures , Raymond says , connected the melt chamber to a deep reservoir of liquid water that already existed about 35 kilometers underground .
Over the course of millions of years , brine rose through the network of fractures as the melt chamber gradually refroze .
Upon reaching the surface @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the near-vacuum conditions , leaving behind the sodium carbonate and other salts .
High-resolution data also allowed researchers to study the composition of the bright deposits more closely .
Subtle gradations in the reflected light and thermal glow from the central dome in Occator Crater revealed the presence of a mineral called hydrohalite—essentially table salt with ice trapped in its crystal structure .
The mineral is common in Earth ’ s sea ice but had never before been detected elsewhere in the solar system .
The team calculated that once exposed on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the hydrohalite would disappear in roughly 100 years , leaving behind solid sodium chloride ( which would not be detected by Dawn ’ s instruments ) .
Thus , the presence of hydrohalite indicated that the brine continues to rise to the surface today .
“ We nailed the fact that there is ongoing geologic activity , ” says Raymond , who is a co-author of all seven studies .
In a Nature Astronomy commentary accompanying the new research , Julie Castillo-Rogez , a planetary scientist at JPL and a co-author of six @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an “ ocean world.
” “ Liquid inside Ceres ... is something we had been suspecting since the very early results of the mission , ” she says .
“ But now we have more of a smoking gun.
” Yet other scientists say that calling the dwarf planet an ocean world is an overstatement , given the current data .
“ I remain pretty skeptical about a subsurface ocean on Ceres , ” says Jim Zimbelman , a geologist at the Smithsonian Institution who was not involved with the research .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need to see some unequivocal geophysical evidence that a recent ocean existed , let alone still [ is ] there today.
” Mikhail Zolotov of Arizona State University , who was consulted for one of the seven studies but was not directly involved in the work , welcomes the high-resolution gravity data but dismisses the conclusion that Ceres hosts a brine reservoir as “ wishful thinking.
” In 2009 he proposed that the world ’ s crust is highly porous , with very little ice , an explanation that he still considers more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conclusion .
“ The interpretation of many data is not unique , ” he says .
“ We don ’ t need ice to explain what we see.
” Lindy Elkins-Tanton , principal investigator of NASA ’ s upcoming mission to the asteroid 16 Psyche , who was not part of the Ceres studies , says she finds the evidence of a brine reservoir on the world “ convincing ” but doubts that it is large enough to be considered an ocean .
For her , the most important new finding is that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ life ’ of a small body can come from impact , ” she says .
“ It actually does n't have to be the primordial heat of that body.
” Similar geologic process on other asteroids and moons , Elkins-Tanton says , could give rise to the chemical reactions thought to precede biological life .
Having put the final stamp on Dawn ’ s reconnaissance of Ceres , scientists are now considering a follow-up mission .
On Monday Castillo-Rogez submitted a report on the prospect to NASA as part of the agency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Astrobiology , which will identify research priorities for the period of 2023–2032 .
She and others hope to land a spacecraft in Occator Crater to investigate the composition of the brine in more detail .
The project will face competition from proposals for first-time visits to other bodies in the asteroid belt .
“ The challenge is to come up with the science goal that is really going to grab both NASA and the scientific community ’ s attention to the point that they ’ re willing to forego going elsewhere , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ Rourke , a planetary scientist at Arizona State University , who was not a member of the Dawn team , the possibility of a brine layer makes Ceres an “ absolutely compelling destination for future exploration.
” Elkins-Tanton agrees that learning more about the brine would be valuable .
But in her view , other minutiae of Ceres ’ s geology discussed in the new papers hold limited relevance for scientists ’ broader understanding of the solar system .
“ If you ’ re interested in the really specific geology of small @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a million questions you could ask and a million things you could do , ” she says .
“ To me , the interest in all of science really relies on the big questions only.
” Whether NASA sends another spacecraft to Ceres or not , planetary scientists concur that Dawn was a groundbreaking mission .
As the first probe to orbit two objects beyond Earth ( it visited the asteroid Vesta before continuing to Ceres ) , Dawn was “ revolutionary from the engineering side , ” Zimbelman says .
And from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says , “ it shows how you can go someplace new and discover amazing things , which is really what planetary science is all about .
”

After arriving at the dwarf planet Ceres in 2015, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft revealed a bizarre world where ice used to flow and erupt like lava. In the last phase of the mission, which ended in 2018, Dawn’s orbit swept within 35 kilometers (22 miles) of Occator Crater, a 92-kilometer-wide feature dotted with bright deposits of sodium carbonate and other minerals. The mission team’s analysis of the data, published on Monday in a set of seven papers in three of Nature’s journals, paints the fullest picture yet of the history of Occator Crater and substantiates earlier suspicions that a reservoir of liquid water exists beneath the surface of Ceres. The extent of that supposedly watery region, however, remains unknown.
“This is the last set of papers that really present the mission data and provide the team’s best interpretation,” says Carol Raymond, a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Dawn’s deputy principal investigator. “Now the data are out in the wild, and everybody will be able to take a look at them. I’m sure we’re going to learn a lot more in the future.”
Early in Dawn’s mission, researchers surmised that the minerals in the deposits had been carried to the surface by liquid water that subsequently evaporated. The youngest of these deposits formed a mere four million years ago, whereas the impact that created Occator Crater occurred around 20 million years ago. This discrepancy left scientists unsure whether the water started as ice that was then melted by the heat of the impact or already existed in liquid form in a subsurface reservoir.
To find out, the team measured how the speed of the spacecraft changed throughout its orbit to build a detailed map of Ceres’s gravitational field, which in turn revealed regions of high and low density in the crust. Then Raymond and her colleagues combined the density map with models of how heat would travel in an ice-rich crust to reconstruct the aftermath of the Occator impact. The scenario they uncovered, Raymond says, “opens up a new way to think about the geology” of icy bodies such as Ceres, which is the largest object in the asteroid belt. The energy of the impact created a “melt chamber” of liquid water near the surface, as well as fractures in the crust. These fractures, Raymond says, connected the melt chamber to a deep reservoir of liquid water that already existed about 35 kilometers underground. Over the course of millions of years, brine rose through the network of fractures as the melt chamber gradually refroze. Upon reaching the surface, the water rapidly boiled away in the near-vacuum conditions, leaving behind the sodium carbonate and other salts.
High-resolution data also allowed researchers to study the composition of the bright deposits more closely. Subtle gradations in the reflected light and thermal glow from the central dome in Occator Crater revealed the presence of a mineral called hydrohalite—essentially table salt with ice trapped in its crystal structure. The mineral is common in Earth’s sea ice but had never before been detected elsewhere in the solar system. The team calculated that once exposed on the surface of Ceres, the ice in the hydrohalite would disappear in roughly 100 years, leaving behind solid sodium chloride (which would not be detected by Dawn’s instruments). Thus, the presence of hydrohalite indicated that the brine continues to rise to the surface today. “We nailed the fact that there is ongoing geologic activity,” says Raymond, who is a co-author of all seven studies.
In a Nature Astronomy commentary accompanying the new research, Julie Castillo-Rogez, a planetary scientist at JPL and a co-author of six of the papers, hails Ceres as an “ocean world.” “Liquid inside Ceres ... is something we had been suspecting since the very early results of the mission,” she says. “But now we have more of a smoking gun.” Yet other scientists say that calling the dwarf planet an ocean world is an overstatement, given the current data.
“I remain pretty skeptical about a subsurface ocean on Ceres,” says Jim Zimbelman, a geologist at the Smithsonian Institution who was not involved with the research. “Modeling is great, but I will need to see some unequivocal geophysical evidence that a recent ocean existed, let alone still [is] there today.” Mikhail Zolotov of Arizona State University, who was consulted for one of the seven studies but was not directly involved in the work, welcomes the high-resolution gravity data but dismisses the conclusion that Ceres hosts a brine reservoir as “wishful thinking.” In 2009 he proposed that the world’s crust is highly porous, with very little ice, an explanation that he still considers more plausible than the Dawn team’s conclusion. “The interpretation of many data is not unique,” he says. “We don’t need ice to explain what we see.”
Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator of NASA’s upcoming mission to the asteroid 16 Psyche, who was not part of the Ceres studies, says she finds the evidence of a brine reservoir on the world “convincing” but doubts that it is large enough to be considered an ocean. For her, the most important new finding is that “the heat for the ongoing geologic ‘life’ of a small body can come from impact,” she says. “It actually doesn't have to be the primordial heat of that body.” Similar geologic process on other asteroids and moons, Elkins-Tanton says, could give rise to the chemical reactions thought to precede biological life.
Having put the final stamp on Dawn’s reconnaissance of Ceres, scientists are now considering a follow-up mission. On Monday Castillo-Rogez submitted a report on the prospect to NASA as part of the agency’s Decadal Survey on Planetary Science and Astrobiology, which will identify research priorities for the period of 2023–2032. She and others hope to land a spacecraft in Occator Crater to investigate the composition of the brine in more detail. The project will face competition from proposals for first-time visits to other bodies in the asteroid belt. “The challenge is to come up with the science goal that is really going to grab both NASA and the scientific community’s attention to the point that they’re willing to forego going elsewhere,” Zimbelman says.
For Joseph O’Rourke, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University, who was not a member of the Dawn team, the possibility of a brine layer makes Ceres an “absolutely compelling destination for future exploration.” Elkins-Tanton agrees that learning more about the brine would be valuable. But in her view, other minutiae of Ceres’s geology discussed in the new papers hold limited relevance for scientists’ broader understanding of the solar system. “If you’re interested in the really specific geology of small worlds like Ceres, there’s a million questions you could ask and a million things you could do,” she says. “To me, the interest in all of science really relies on the big questions only.”
Whether NASA sends another spacecraft to Ceres or not, planetary scientists concur that Dawn was a groundbreaking mission. As the first probe to orbit two objects beyond Earth (it visited the asteroid Vesta before continuing to Ceres), Dawn was “revolutionary from the engineering side,” Zimbelman says. And from the science side, O’Rourke says, “it shows how you can go someplace new and discover amazing things, which is really what planetary science is all about.”