scientificamerican--2020-10-27--Double Whammy of Warming, Overfishing Could Spell Disaster for Antarctic Krill

The icy ocean around Antarctica may seem like a cold and foreboding place .
But it ’ s actually brimming with life .
Penguins and seals build their colonies on its rocky shores .
Orcas , whales and a variety of fish zip through its gray waters .
Seabirds glide overhead .
The Antarctic Peninsula , the continent ’ s northernmost spit of land , is one of the most biologically diverse regions of all .
And at the cornerstone of its delicate ecosystem is a small , shrimp-like creature known as the Antarctic krill .
“ Krill is literally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” said Cassandra Brooks , an environmental scientist at the University of Colorado , Boulder .
“ Literally so many things feed on it .
The whales feed on it , and whales come from all over to feed on it .
The penguins feed on it , the seabirds , the fish , the seals .
So it is such a critical part of the food system in the Southern Ocean.
” No more than a few inches long , krill are some of the most abundant organisms on the planet—at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scientists worry about their future .
Krill fishing is a lucrative industry , and one that ’ s steadily on the rise .
Krill catch has nearly tripled since the 1980s .
Fishers landed around 400,000 metric tons of krill in 2019 alone , the majority of it caught from the rich waters around the Antarctic Peninsula .
At the same time , scientists worry that climate change on the peninsula could cause krill populations to decline or migrate into different , and perhaps more heavily fished , areas within the next few @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and increased fishing could be disastrous both for krill and for the animals that depend on them , some researchers say .
This week , 26 nations are meeting to discuss a proposal that could ease these effects .
A virtual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources ( CCAMLR ) is convening between now and Oct. 30 .
Established in 1982 as part of the Antarctic Treaty System , the commission ’ s aim is to conserve Antarctic marine life and sustainably manage the region ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to implement marine protected areas , or MPAs , if all its members agree by consensus .
So far , there are just two in existence—one around the South Orkney Islands , just north of the Antarctic Peninsula , and another covering 600,000 square miles in the Ross Sea .
But several others have been proposed .
These include one protected area off the coast of East Antarctica and another in the Weddell Sea .
A third proposal calls for a marine protected area around the Antarctic Peninsula .
The proposal would prohibit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while allowing for sustainable , managed fisheries in other regions .
“ The challenge is to find a proposal , an MPA proposal , that can protect the ecosystem at the same time that takes into consideration the interests of different members or different activities , ” said Mecha Santos , an Argentinean scientist who helped develop the MPA proposal .
“ We need to take into consideration that this is an area that is important for many countries for different reasons.
” The proposal has garnered widespread support from scientists .
Researchers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ overfishing—all the more important at a time when the future effects of climate change are a potential threat to the peninsula ’ s diverse ecosystem .
Earlier this month , nine scientists ( including Brooks , the CU Boulder scientist ) published a comment in the journal Nature urging commission members to adopt the MPA .
The Antarctic Peninsula is a heavily trafficked region , touched by the fingerprint of human activities in a variety of ways , the authors noted .
On top of fishing and climate change , tourism and research @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ecosystem .
“ This delicate and iconic ecosystem is in peril , ” the authors wrote .
For much of the 20th century , the Antarctic Peninsula was one of the fastest warming regions on the planet .
Research suggests that temperatures there rose by nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit each decade for at least 50 years .
Then , in the late 1990s , a strange new trend emerged .
Temperatures on the peninsula began to drop slightly .
Studies suggest that the cooling pattern is probably driven by a combination of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the healing of the so-called ozone hole .
Thanks to a monumental international effort to cut down on the use of ozone-depleting chemicals , ozone—a substance in the atmosphere that helps protect the Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays—is recovering .
As ozone has built back up in the atmosphere , though , it has caused some changes in winds and other atmospheric circulation patterns in the Southern Hemisphere .
And some of these changes have contributed to a dip in local temperatures .
But that pattern isn ’ t expected to last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ place , the cooling trend is modest—temperatures on the peninsula are still substantially higher than they were in the preindustrial era .
And as greenhouse gas emissions continue pouring into the atmosphere , the influence of climate change will eventually outweigh the temporary cooling effect .
It ’ s likely only a matter of time before the long-term warming trend around the Antarctic Peninsula resumes .
The region has seen some record-breaking hot days in the past year .
In February—midsummer in the Southern Hemisphere—a weather station on the Antarctic Peninsula recorded temperatures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the continent .
Just a few days later , instruments on Seymour Island , off the peninsula ’ s northern reaches , recorded temperatures above 69 degrees .
Scientists are still studying the ways that rising temperatures could affect krill populations .
It ’ s a complex question with a lot of uncertainty .
Juvenile krill , known as krill larvae , are thought to use sea ice as a habitat .
It helps them hide from predators and take refuge from strong Antarctic ocean currents .
“ A lot of work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ couple years is trying to understand the winter sea ice extent and understand what it is about the sea ice that krill are using , ” said Stuart Corney , an expert on Antarctic ecosystems at the University of Tasmania .
Antarctic sea ice has been rapidly declining for the last five or six years , and that will likely continue as the region keeps warming .
In the short term , it ’ s possible krill could benefit in some regions .
Juvenile krill tend to favor rough , uneven ice , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggests that this kind of ice habitat may increase around Antarctica—at least temporarily—even as total ice coverage declines .
But as sea ice continues to disappear over time , the favored habitats will start to vanish , as well .
That ’ s bad news for krill in the long run .
Other research suggests that rising temperatures could inhibit krill growth , according to Emily Klein , a scientist at Boston University .
In other words , krill may get smaller over time .
That means if the total number of krill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eat more of them to survive .
And fishers will need to catch more of them to meet their weight quotas .
Some scientists also worry that as the waters warm and sea ice declines , krill may start migrating into different regions of the Southern Ocean .
If they move into areas where fishing is more intense , their populations could decline faster .
So far , it ’ s a bit unclear exactly how krill populations will respond in the coming decades .
But modeling studies suggest that in the long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ krill populations will be negatively affected by climate change .
And if krill decline , so will the predators that feed on them .
This kind of chain reaction could profoundly alter the Antarctic ecosystem .
“ I think what we ’ ll see [ in the future ] is worsening of the same trends that are happening in the Antarctic Peninsula right now , ” said Andrea Kavanagh , director of Antarctic and Southern Ocean conservation work at the Pew Charitable Trusts , which is advocating for additional Southern Ocean MPAs .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in penguin populations ; you ’ ll see less sea ice , warmer waters.
” It ’ s true that marine protected areas can ’ t protect against the influence of climate change .
“ The only thing that can stop climate change is reducing fossil fuel use , ” Kavanagh noted .
“ But what MPAs can do is it stops fishing .
And stopping fishing in certain areas gives the ecosystem resilience to the changing climate , so they ’ re better able to adapt to warming.
” This isn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ area has been on the table for the peninsula .
The proposal has been submitted—and failed to pass—twice in a row now .
This year will mark the third year the proposal has been up for discussion .
It was first developed and submitted by member states Chile and Argentina , and currently has support from a number of other members .
Years of discussion aren ’ t uncommon .
The Ross Sea MPA , established in 2016 , took five years of negotiations to finally pass .
With 26 member states required @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commercial fishing interests at stake , the commission ’ s proceedings tend to be complex .
Still , recent studies have suggested that the MPA doesn ’ t necessarily have to come at the expense of the fishing industry .
Research co-authored by Klein , the Boston University scientist , suggests that an MPA around the Antarctic Peninsula could help bolster krill populations in the coming decades , even when accounting for the influence of climate change .
And it could do so without dramatically affecting the fishing industry .
“ The fisheries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Klein told E & E News .
“ We didn ’ t see huge declines in the potential for krill catches .
That was really heartening.
” The pandemic has made 2020 a difficult year to continue the negotiations , noted Santos , the Argentinean scientist who helped develop the proposal .
Because the meetings are virtual this year , “ that means it is very complicated to have bilateral conversations with countries that may have still some concerns , ” she said in an interview .
“ But I am always with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ MPAs—could be adopted , ” she added .
“ I think we are seeing that the world is changing , it ’ s facing the habitat destruction , so I think that ... we need to have these big conservation actions that help us to restore the ecosystem , or to protect them—now and for the future.
” Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from E & E News .
E & E provides daily coverage of essential energy and environmental news at www.eenews.net .

The icy ocean around Antarctica may seem like a cold and foreboding place. But it’s actually brimming with life.
Penguins and seals build their colonies on its rocky shores. Orcas, whales and a variety of fish zip through its gray waters. Seabirds glide overhead.
The Antarctic Peninsula, the continent’s northernmost spit of land, is one of the most biologically diverse regions of all. And at the cornerstone of its delicate ecosystem is a small, shrimp-like creature known as the Antarctic krill.
“Krill is literally the keystone species in the Southern Ocean,” said Cassandra Brooks, an environmental scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder. “Literally so many things feed on it. The whales feed on it, and whales come from all over to feed on it. The penguins feed on it, the seabirds, the fish, the seals. So it is such a critical part of the food system in the Southern Ocean.”
No more than a few inches long, krill are some of the most abundant organisms on the planet—at least, for now. But some scientists worry about their future.
Krill fishing is a lucrative industry, and one that’s steadily on the rise. Krill catch has nearly tripled since the 1980s. Fishers landed around 400,000 metric tons of krill in 2019 alone, the majority of it caught from the rich waters around the Antarctic Peninsula.
At the same time, scientists worry that climate change on the peninsula could cause krill populations to decline or migrate into different, and perhaps more heavily fished, areas within the next few decades.
The double whammy of warming and increased fishing could be disastrous both for krill and for the animals that depend on them, some researchers say.
This week, 26 nations are meeting to discuss a proposal that could ease these effects.
A virtual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is convening between now and Oct. 30. Established in 1982 as part of the Antarctic Treaty System, the commission’s aim is to conserve Antarctic marine life and sustainably manage the region’s fisheries.
The commission has the power to implement marine protected areas, or MPAs, if all its members agree by consensus. So far, there are just two in existence—one around the South Orkney Islands, just north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and another covering 600,000 square miles in the Ross Sea.
But several others have been proposed. These include one protected area off the coast of East Antarctica and another in the Weddell Sea.
A third proposal calls for a marine protected area around the Antarctic Peninsula. The proposal would prohibit fishing in certain biologically rich areas, while allowing for sustainable, managed fisheries in other regions.
“The challenge is to find a proposal, an MPA proposal, that can protect the ecosystem at the same time that takes into consideration the interests of different members or different activities,” said Mecha Santos, an Argentinean scientist who helped develop the MPA proposal. “We need to take into consideration that this is an area that is important for many countries for different reasons.”
The proposal has garnered widespread support from scientists. Researchers say it could protect krill populations from overfishing—all the more important at a time when the future effects of climate change are a potential threat to the peninsula’s diverse ecosystem.
Earlier this month, nine scientists (including Brooks, the CU Boulder scientist) published a comment in the journal Nature urging commission members to adopt the MPA.
The Antarctic Peninsula is a heavily trafficked region, touched by the fingerprint of human activities in a variety of ways, the authors noted. On top of fishing and climate change, tourism and research expeditions also have the potential to disrupt the ecosystem.
“This delicate and iconic ecosystem is in peril,” the authors wrote.
The threat of future warming
For much of the 20th century, the Antarctic Peninsula was one of the fastest warming regions on the planet. Research suggests that temperatures there rose by nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit each decade for at least 50 years.
Then, in the late 1990s, a strange new trend emerged. Temperatures on the peninsula began to drop slightly.
Studies suggest that the cooling pattern is probably driven by a combination of natural climate cycles and atmospheric changes related to the healing of the so-called ozone hole. Thanks to a monumental international effort to cut down on the use of ozone-depleting chemicals, ozone—a substance in the atmosphere that helps protect the Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays—is recovering.
As ozone has built back up in the atmosphere, though, it has caused some changes in winds and other atmospheric circulation patterns in the Southern Hemisphere. And some of these changes have contributed to a dip in local temperatures.
But that pattern isn’t expected to last, scientists warn.
In the first place, the cooling trend is modest—temperatures on the peninsula are still substantially higher than they were in the preindustrial era. And as greenhouse gas emissions continue pouring into the atmosphere, the influence of climate change will eventually outweigh the temporary cooling effect.
It’s likely only a matter of time before the long-term warming trend around the Antarctic Peninsula resumes. The region has seen some record-breaking hot days in the past year.
In February—midsummer in the Southern Hemisphere—a weather station on the Antarctic Peninsula recorded temperatures topping 64 degrees Fahrenheit, a record for the continent. Just a few days later, instruments on Seymour Island, off the peninsula’s northern reaches, recorded temperatures above 69 degrees.
Scientists are still studying the ways that rising temperatures could affect krill populations. It’s a complex question with a lot of uncertainty.
Juvenile krill, known as krill larvae, are thought to use sea ice as a habitat. It helps them hide from predators and take refuge from strong Antarctic ocean currents.
“A lot of work we’ve done over the last couple years is trying to understand the winter sea ice extent and understand what it is about the sea ice that krill are using,” said Stuart Corney, an expert on Antarctic ecosystems at the University of Tasmania.
Antarctic sea ice has been rapidly declining for the last five or six years, and that will likely continue as the region keeps warming.
In the short term, it’s possible krill could benefit in some regions. Juvenile krill tend to favor rough, uneven ice, according to Corney. And some research suggests that this kind of ice habitat may increase around Antarctica—at least temporarily—even as total ice coverage declines.
But as sea ice continues to disappear over time, the favored habitats will start to vanish, as well. That’s bad news for krill in the long run.
Other research suggests that rising temperatures could inhibit krill growth, according to Emily Klein, a scientist at Boston University. In other words, krill may get smaller over time.
That means if the total number of krill stays constant, predators will need to eat more of them to survive. And fishers will need to catch more of them to meet their weight quotas.
Some scientists also worry that as the waters warm and sea ice declines, krill may start migrating into different regions of the Southern Ocean. If they move into areas where fishing is more intense, their populations could decline faster.
So far, it’s a bit unclear exactly how krill populations will respond in the coming decades. But modeling studies suggest that in the long run, it’s likely that krill populations will be negatively affected by climate change. And if krill decline, so will the predators that feed on them.
This kind of chain reaction could profoundly alter the Antarctic ecosystem.
“I think what we’ll see [in the future] is worsening of the same trends that are happening in the Antarctic Peninsula right now,” said Andrea Kavanagh, director of Antarctic and Southern Ocean conservation work at the Pew Charitable Trusts, which is advocating for additional Southern Ocean MPAs. “You’ll see more declines in penguin populations; you’ll see less sea ice, warmer waters.”
It’s true that marine protected areas can’t protect against the influence of climate change.
“The only thing that can stop climate change is reducing fossil fuel use,” Kavanagh noted. “But what MPAs can do is it stops fishing. And stopping fishing in certain areas gives the ecosystem resilience to the changing climate, so they’re better able to adapt to warming.”
This isn’t the first year a marine protected area has been on the table for the peninsula. The proposal has been submitted—and failed to pass—twice in a row now.
This year will mark the third year the proposal has been up for discussion. It was first developed and submitted by member states Chile and Argentina, and currently has support from a number of other members.
Years of discussion aren’t uncommon. The Ross Sea MPA, established in 2016, took five years of negotiations to finally pass. With 26 member states required to reach a consensus, and lucrative commercial fishing interests at stake, the commission’s proceedings tend to be complex.
Still, recent studies have suggested that the MPA doesn’t necessarily have to come at the expense of the fishing industry.
Research co-authored by Klein, the Boston University scientist, suggests that an MPA around the Antarctic Peninsula could help bolster krill populations in the coming decades, even when accounting for the influence of climate change. And it could do so without dramatically affecting the fishing industry.
“The fisheries can do OK, too,” Klein told E&E News. “We didn’t see huge declines in the potential for krill catches. That was really heartening.”
The pandemic has made 2020 a difficult year to continue the negotiations, noted Santos, the Argentinean scientist who helped develop the proposal. Because the meetings are virtual this year, “that means it is very complicated to have bilateral conversations with countries that may have still some concerns,” she said in an interview.
“But I am always with hope the MPA—this MPA and the other MPAs—could be adopted,” she added. “I think we are seeing that the world is changing, it’s facing the habitat destruction, so I think that ... we need to have these big conservation actions that help us to restore the ecosystem, or to protect them—now and for the future.”
Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from E&E News. E&E provides daily coverage of essential energy and environmental news at www.eenews.net.


scientificamerican--2020-10-28--The Big Bang, Zebras and the Texture of Our Universe

What do zebras have to do with the structure of the cosmos ?
Imagine a single zebra in your mind .
With twitching ears , tufted hair , and a visual interference pattern wrapped over muscle and skin , the animal has its own contours , which are easy to make out up close .
But get a large group of zebras together ( a dazzle , by definition ) , and the individuals blend and meld into a seemingly homogeneous sea of heads , hoofs and stripes , especially when viewed from a great distance .
The matter in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in much the same way .
In this video , How the Big Bang Governs the Texture of Our Universe , we explore the concept of cosmic inhomogeneities—using zebras as an analogy for clumps of matter scattered throughout the universe .
Animator Lottie Kingslake depicts these whimsical and familiar characters as they graze and form larger and larger groups similarly to how matter is pulled together in galaxies .
We were inspired by the color palette of Marylyn Dintenfass ’ s paintings , which make up the backdrop in the live-action portion of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up a fundamental question about the texture of space : Is it smooth or bumpy ?
The answer is that it is both .
It is homogeneous , or smooth , when viewed from vast distances but inhomogeneous , or bumpy , at the scale of planets and galaxies .
This difference in texture gives us hints about our universe ’ s earliest history and even lets us characterize how dark matter is distributed .
But what exactly does it mean for the universe to be textured as it is ?
Empty space @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to alter the equilibrium of the universe .
Moments after the big bang , there was a period of inflation , in which the universe expanded exponentially .
At this point , the universe was almost perfectly smooth—because although it was devoid of stars and galaxies ( the first atoms did not form until about 380,000 years after the big bang ) , there were tiny quantum ripples in spacetime .
Over time , these tiny quantum fluctuations were amplified by gravity .
Clumps and voids formed , creating a bumpy texture on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the clumps together , they collapsed into themselves to form stars , planets and galaxies—and inhomogeneity gradually increased over cosmological time .
Our universe remains smooth , or homogeneous , over very long distances , where gravitational collapse does not hold sway .
But if you zoom way out , all of the matter and energy in the cosmos appears evenly distributed .
That ’ s a little mental roughage to think about the next time you find yourself at the zoo .

What do zebras have to do with the structure of the cosmos? Imagine a single zebra in your mind. With twitching ears, tufted hair, and a visual interference pattern wrapped over muscle and skin, the animal has its own contours, which are easy to make out up close. But get a large group of zebras together (a dazzle, by definition), and the individuals blend and meld into a seemingly homogeneous sea of heads, hoofs and stripes, especially when viewed from a great distance. The matter in the universe, it seems, dazzles in much the same way.
In this video, How the Big Bang Governs the Texture of Our Universe, we explore the concept of cosmic inhomogeneities—using zebras as an analogy for clumps of matter scattered throughout the universe. Animator Lottie Kingslake depicts these whimsical and familiar characters as they graze and form larger and larger groups similarly to how matter is pulled together in galaxies. We were inspired by the color palette of Marylyn Dintenfass’s paintings, which make up the backdrop in the live-action portion of the video.
This visual rendering takes up a fundamental question about the texture of space: Is it smooth or bumpy? The answer is that it is both. It is homogeneous, or smooth, when viewed from vast distances but inhomogeneous, or bumpy, at the scale of planets and galaxies. This difference in texture gives us hints about our universe’s earliest history and even lets us characterize how dark matter is distributed.
But what exactly does it mean for the universe to be textured as it is? Empty space is smooth because there is no matter to alter the equilibrium of the universe. Moments after the big bang, there was a period of inflation, in which the universe expanded exponentially. At this point, the universe was almost perfectly smooth—because although it was devoid of stars and galaxies (the first atoms did not form until about 380,000 years after the big bang), there were tiny quantum ripples in spacetime.
Over time, these tiny quantum fluctuations were amplified by gravity. Clumps and voids formed, creating a bumpy texture on relatively small scales. As gravity pulled the clumps together, they collapsed into themselves to form stars, planets and galaxies—and inhomogeneity gradually increased over cosmological time.
Our universe remains smooth, or homogeneous, over very long distances, where gravitational collapse does not hold sway. But if you zoom way out, all of the matter and energy in the cosmos appears evenly distributed.
That’s a little mental roughage to think about the next time you find yourself at the zoo.


scientificamerican--2020-10-28--Bizarre Bugs Found in Big City Show Nature's Weirdness Is Everywhere

City dwellers may be familiar with flies and cockroaches , but a closer look shows there is a mind-blowing array of tiny critters that creep and crawl through the landscape .
Because of COVID-19 , this past summer , the biodiversity discovery group Taxon Expeditions , based in Leiden , the Netherlands , decided to forego a faraway research trip to tropical rain forests or caves in the Balkans .
Instead its investigators stayed closer to home , focusing their magnifying lenses inside Amsterdam ’ s city limits .
In just two weeks , the researchers documented nearly 1,000 species @ @ @ @ @ @ @ creepy crawlies , ” including many insects .
The findings have prompted the group to advocate for protecting urban green spaces , which are disappearing worldwide .
Here are just a handful of the eye-catching creatures the scientists found .
Green crab spider ( Diaea dorsata ) has plenty of eyes to find its prey .
It typically lives in mature forests but evidently can thrive in small inner-city green spaces .
It loses its green color when it molts .
Riverbank ground beetle ( Elaphrus riparius ) is a tiny hunter that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ river edges .
Tiny diving beetle ( Hygrotus inaequalis ) is less than three millimeters long .
It lives in ponds , small pools and even ditches that have ample vegetation .
Iva Njunji ( left ) , an entomologist and co-director of Taxon Expeditions , sorts through hundreds of insects from a compost heap with expedition participant Marty Vink .
The two found several species never seen before in Amsterdam .
European alder spittlebug ( Aphrophora alni ) has wings that help it hop like a frog and a keel running down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is common in Amsterdam ’ s city parks and across Europe .
Jumping spider ( Marpissa mucosa ) lives on the bark and lichens of trees .
Yet it can also be found on houses or even in them—a small but startling sight , given the fur and eyes .
Dead head fly ( Myathropa florea ) resembles a wasp or bee .
Like those insects , it can hover over blossoms searching for pollen , but it is harmless .
And unlike those stinging creatures , it has no antennae .
Common @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is found in many cities .
It is usually gray , but the violet color means it has been struck with an iridovirus , a fatal infection that is prevalent in dense urban populations of wood lice .
Common wood louse ( Oniscus asellus ) , often found under rocks , sheds its shell-like exoskeleton every four weeks or so as it grows .
The process takes up to three days .
Mottled shield bug ( Rhaphigaster nebulosa ) is indeed a true bug , unlike many insects .
It sucks sap and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have larvae : young individuals are just small versions of adults but with immature wings ( small triangular flaps ) .
Western yellow centipede ( Stigmatogaster ebulosiean ) can burrow underground in forward or reverse , thanks to two antennae on its head ( foreground ) and two more in the rear .
Science in Images is a new category of articles featuring photographs and videos from all the disciplines of science .
Click on the button below to see the full collection .

City dwellers may be familiar with flies and cockroaches, but a closer look shows there is a mind-blowing array of tiny critters that creep and crawl through the landscape. Because of COVID-19, this past summer, the biodiversity discovery group Taxon Expeditions, based in Leiden, the Netherlands, decided to forego a faraway research trip to tropical rain forests or caves in the Balkans. Instead its investigators stayed closer to home, focusing their magnifying lenses inside Amsterdam’s city limits.
In just two weeks, the researchers documented nearly 1,000 species of what they are calling “tiny creepy crawlies,” including many insects. The findings have prompted the group to advocate for protecting urban green spaces, which are disappearing worldwide. Here are just a handful of the eye-catching creatures the scientists found.
Green crab spider (Diaea dorsata) has plenty of eyes to find its prey. It typically lives in mature forests but evidently can thrive in small inner-city green spaces. It loses its green color when it molts.
Riverbank ground beetle (Elaphrus riparius) is a tiny hunter that lives in the silt and mud along river edges.
Tiny diving beetle (Hygrotus inaequalis) is less than three millimeters long. It lives in ponds, small pools and even ditches that have ample vegetation.
Iva Njunjić (left), an entomologist and co-director of Taxon Expeditions, sorts through hundreds of insects from a compost heap with expedition participant Marty Vink. The two found several species never seen before in Amsterdam.
European alder spittlebug (Aphrophora alni) has wings that help it hop like a frog and a keel running down the middle of its head. It is common in Amsterdam’s city parks and across Europe.
Jumping spider (Marpissa mucosa) lives on the bark and lichens of trees. Yet it can also be found on houses or even in them—a small but startling sight, given the fur and eyes.
Dead head fly (Myathropa florea) resembles a wasp or bee. Like those insects, it can hover over blossoms searching for pollen, but it is harmless. And unlike those stinging creatures, it has no antennae.
Common rough wood louse (Porcellio scaber) is found in many cities. It is usually gray, but the violet color means it has been struck with an iridovirus, a fatal infection that is prevalent in dense urban populations of wood lice.
Common wood louse (Oniscus asellus), often found under rocks, sheds its shell-like exoskeleton every four weeks or so as it grows. The process takes up to three days.
Mottled shield bug (Rhaphigaster nebulosa) is indeed a true bug, unlike many insects. It sucks sap and smells foul. The bug does not have larvae: young individuals are just small versions of adults but with immature wings (small triangular flaps).
Western yellow centipede (Stigmatogaster subterranea) can burrow underground in forward or reverse, thanks to two antennae on its head (foreground) and two more in the rear.
Science in Images is a new category of articles featuring photographs and videos from all the disciplines of science. Click on the button below to see the full collection.
Science in Images


scientificamerican--2020-10-28--New Activism by Scientists Can Lead to Partisan Backlash

Support for science is on the U.S. national ballot in 2020 .
The decision of dozens of Nobel laureates to endorse Joe Biden for president , as well as that of leading peer-reviewed journals to condemn Donald Trump , highlights a stark November choice : the Trump administration ’ s aims of curtailing the influence of scientific research on public policy , or a Biden presidency that should prove more receptive .
Such editorials express dismay about the Trump administration ’ s handling of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic .
They also describe a broad pattern of hostility toward the scientific @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attempts at drastic budget cuts , and frequent refusals to allow evidence-based thinking to inform public policy .
Unquestionably , science is becoming more politically contentious .
Over the past two decades , both elected officials and political pundits have become increasingly likely to disagree about research on issues such as climate change .
Following this high-profile polarization , Democrats and Republicans in the general public have become increasingly likely to take stances that reflect those disagreements .
Today , although most Americans trust information from physicians and medical scientists , public trust @ @ @ @ @ @ @ partisan , and conservatives and Republicans are less likely to hold positive views toward that community .
As a counter to this , scientists ran for Congress in record numbers in the 2018 midterm elections , mostly on the Democratic side .
Scientists are running again this year .
Mobilized science , however , is not without potential costs .
When scientists advocate for their interests in an expressly political way , they risk further polarizing public opinion about research .
For example , in a peer-reviewed study on the 2017 March for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ various political views two days before before and two days after the demonstrations that took place across the country .
Following widespread media coverage of marches , both ideological liberals and conservatives came to hold more extreme views toward the scientific community .
For example , self-identified conservatives were asked how strongly they agreed with the statement that “ scientists care less about solving important problems and more about personal gain.
” From before to after the March , their agreement increased , indicating stronger negativity toward scientific experts .
Self-identified liberals , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ decrease in agreement and thus more positive feelings .
Mapped onto a numeric scale , the gap between liberals and conservatives increased by 11 percent following the protests .
Increasing this divide could have unfortunate consequences for scientific research .
To gain reelection , members of Congress need to show they are in step with their constituents on various issues , which may include attitudes toward science .
The extent to which the government pursues evidence-based policy and funds scientific research could be influenced by whichever partisan side happens to control the presidency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instance , the late Senator Tom Coburn ( R–Okla . )
was able to insert a provision in a 2013 spending bill that temporarily stopped the National Science Foundation from funding some political science research .
The restrictions were removed the following year .
But if negative attitudes towards science increase in Republican congressional districts , their representatives could become less likely to support funding for government institutions like NSF or the National Institutes of Health .
This raises an important question : what can be done to combat the politicization of science @ @ @ @ @ @ @ further spark Americans ’ interest in , and curiosity about , scientific research .
Studies find that people who take an interest in science—irrespective of whether they consider themselves to be Democrats , Republicans or independents—are more likely to hold positive views toward the scientific community and support federal funding for scientific research .
For example , I published research in Nature Climate Changethat indicated that that young adults who are highly interested in scientific topics tend to be more likely to hold positive feelings toward climate scientists decades later in adulthood .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ liberals , moderates or conservatives .
There are several ways that scientists might be able to fan these sparks .
For example , partnerships between scientists and digital application developers—aimed at introducing children and young adults to basic scientific concepts through video games—may help stimulate curiosity about science .
Researchers have also partnered with artists to produce visually appealing art installations related to science-relevant issues , and these have been shown to arouse public science interest .
History also indicates that partisanship about science is not baked into American politics .
We weren @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scientific research ought to play in informing policy decisions .
For example , while a Republican presidential administration is currently leading an effort to reverse nearly one hundred .
Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) regulations , the agency was originally establishedby another Republican administration under President Richard Nixon .
This sense of common ground can be seen in the history of public attitudes too .
While conservatives gradually have become more likely to hold negative views toward the scientific community in recent decades , conservative and liberal Americans alike placed high levels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1970s to the mid-1990s .
Although Republicans today are less likely than Democrats to support increasing funding for scientific research , the two sides held virtually indistinguishable views as recently as the early 2000s .
So concerns about a backlash against mobilized science do not mean that scientists ought to avoid taking political action .
The 2017 March for Science , for example , helped establish an organizing infrastructure for citizens and scientists alike to advocate for evidence-based policymaking , which continues with organized letter-writing campaigns to elected officials and other operations .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ research , scientists running for congressional office were more likely to win if they received financial support from the 314 Action Fund , a political action committee devoted to electing candidates with scientific backgrounds to Congress .
Scientists elected to political office have the potential to be powerful allies for research funding and in championing evidence-based public policy .
For example , Representative T.J. Cox ( D–Calif . )
—an engineer who , in 2018 , narrowly won a seat held by Republicans since 1981—has been a vocal advocate for encouraging the Centers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ epidimeology policies to track the transmission of COVID-19 .
Other 2018 winners , such as Representative Chrissy Houlahan ( D–Pa . )
—who has an engineering background and masters degree in science and technology policy—have fought to secure millions of dollars in federal funding for STEM education .
This means that while advocacy could come at a cost of further politicizing Americans ’ views toward the scientific community , there are strategies scientists can follow to mitigate that effect .
The potential benefits of mobilized science may well be worth it .

Support for science is on the U.S. national ballot in 2020. The decision of dozens of Nobel laureates to endorse Joe Biden for president, as well as that of leading peer-reviewed journals to condemn Donald Trump, highlights a stark November choice: the Trump administration’s aims of curtailing the influence of scientific research on public policy, or a Biden presidency that should prove more receptive. Such editorials express dismay about the Trump administration’s handling of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. They also describe a broad pattern of hostility toward the scientific community, suppression of government-funded research and attempts at drastic budget cuts, and frequent refusals to allow evidence-based thinking to inform public policy.
Unquestionably, science is becoming more politically contentious. Over the past two decades, both elected officials and political pundits have become increasingly likely to disagree about research on issues such as climate change. Following this high-profile polarization, Democrats and Republicans in the general public have become increasingly likely to take stances that reflect those disagreements. Today, although most Americans trust information from physicians and medical scientists, public trust in the scientific community has become increasingly partisan, and conservatives and Republicans are less likely to hold positive views toward that community. As a counter to this, scientists ran for Congress in record numbers in the 2018 midterm elections, mostly on the Democratic side. Scientists are running again this year.
Mobilized science, however, is not without potential costs. When scientists advocate for their interests in an expressly political way, they risk further polarizing public opinion about research. For example, in a peer-reviewed study on the 2017 March for Science, I surveyed 350 people with various political views two days before before and two days after the demonstrations that took place across the country. Following widespread media coverage of marches, both ideological liberals and conservatives came to hold more extreme views toward the scientific community.
For example, self-identified conservatives were asked how strongly they agreed with the statement that “scientists care less about solving important problems and more about personal gain.” From before to after the March, their agreement increased, indicating stronger negativity toward scientific experts. Self-identified liberals, given the same statement, showed a decrease in agreement and thus more positive feelings. Mapped onto a numeric scale, the gap between liberals and conservatives increased by 11 percent following the protests.
Increasing this divide could have unfortunate consequences for scientific research. To gain reelection, members of Congress need to show they are in step with their constituents on various issues, which may include attitudes toward science. The extent to which the government pursues evidence-based policy and funds scientific research could be influenced by whichever partisan side happens to control the presidency or Congress. In 2013, for instance, the late Senator Tom Coburn (R–Okla.) was able to insert a provision in a 2013 spending bill that temporarily stopped the National Science Foundation from funding some political science research. The restrictions were removed the following year. But if negative attitudes towards science increase in Republican congressional districts, their representatives could become less likely to support funding for government institutions like NSF or the National Institutes of Health.
This raises an important question: what can be done to combat the politicization of science? One place to start is to further spark Americans’ interest in, and curiosity about, scientific research. Studies find that people who take an interest in science—irrespective of whether they consider themselves to be Democrats, Republicans or independents—are more likely to hold positive views toward the scientific community and support federal funding for scientific research. For example, I published research in Nature Climate Changethat indicated that that young adults who are highly interested in scientific topics tend to be more likely to hold positive feelings toward climate scientists decades later in adulthood. This held true whether they self-identified as liberals, moderates or conservatives.
There are several ways that scientists might be able to fan these sparks. For example, partnerships between scientists and digital application developers—aimed at introducing children and young adults to basic scientific concepts through video games—may help stimulate curiosity about science. Researchers have also partnered with artists to produce visually appealing art installations related to science-relevant issues, and these have been shown to arouse public science interest.
History also indicates that partisanship about science is not baked into American politics. We weren’t alwaysso divided about the role scientific research ought to play in informing policy decisions. For example, while a Republican presidential administration is currently leading an effort to reverse nearly one hundred. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, the agency was originally establishedby another Republican administration under President Richard Nixon. This sense of common ground can be seen in the history of public attitudes too.
While conservatives gradually have become more likely to hold negative views toward the scientific community in recent decades, conservative and liberal Americans alike placed high levels of trust in scientists from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. Although Republicans today are less likely than Democrats to support increasing funding for scientific research, the two sides held virtually indistinguishable views as recently as the early 2000s.
So concerns about a backlash against mobilized science do not mean that scientists ought to avoid taking political action. The 2017 March for Science, for example, helped establish an organizing infrastructure for citizens and scientists alike to advocate for evidence-based policymaking, which continues with organized letter-writing campaigns to elected officials and other operations. And, as I show in recent research, scientists running for congressional office were more likely to win if they received financial support from the 314 Action Fund, a political action committee devoted to electing candidates with scientific backgrounds to Congress.
Scientists elected to political office have the potential to be powerful allies for research funding and in championing evidence-based public policy. For example, Representative T.J. Cox (D–Calif.)—an engineer who, in 2018, narrowly won a seat held by Republicans since 1981—has been a vocal advocate for encouraging the Centers for Disease Control to embrace evidence-based wastewater epidimeology policies to track the transmission of COVID-19. Other 2018 winners, such as Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D–Pa.)—who has an engineering background and masters degree in science and technology policy—have fought to secure millions of dollars in federal funding for STEM education.
This means that while advocacy could come at a cost of further politicizing Americans’ views toward the scientific community, there are strategies scientists can follow to mitigate that effect. The potential benefits of mobilized science may well be worth it.


scientificamerican--2020-10-29--Election Science Stakes: Climate

Election Science Stakes: Climate

Steve Mirsky : For this installment of our pre-election podcast series I spoke to Andrea Thompson .
She ’ s a Scientific American associate editor covering issues in sustainability and the environment with an emphasis on climate .
Andrea Thompson : President Trump has called into question a lot of well-established climate science .
He has denigrated the federal government 's own National Climate Assessment , as well as the work put out every few years by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , which are the two documents that really bring together and summarize and synthesize all of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Whereas former Vice President Biden has made it clear that he understands and respects climate science , and that he thinks that climate change is a really existential threat .
In specifics , so one of the key things that President Trump did was last year he put in a request to remove the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement , which is the global agreement for countries to gradually reduce their greenhouse gas emissions .
If Biden wins , he has said he will immediately bring us back into that agreement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alluded to earlier , that comes out every four years , it 's mandated by Congress .
There 's multiple federal agencies that put that together .
And the last one that came out came out during the Trump administration .
And it was very different from the one that came out during the Obama administration .
The Trump Administration put it out very quietly to try and minimize attention to it .
So now we 're at the beginning of the process for the next one .
But I think it would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would reprioritize that report .
Whereas the Trump administration could be expected to affect what science gets included in it , and what the conclusions are and how those were communicated .
And the reason that 's such an important document is because it sort of synthesizes all of this climate information about the changes we have observed and expect in the future across the whole United States .
And that 's really valuable information for state and local governments to have as they tried to figure out how to respond to climate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them in the future .
Because that 's not information you can necessarily get on your own if you 're a city government .
So that 's kind of the resource that cities and states can use , so it 's a really critically important document .
SM : What about the scientists themselves and how they have been either supported or interfered with ?
AT : Yeah , that 's one that varies , I think , from agency to agency , I think in part because of where the Trump Administration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NASA , I think , have seen probably a little less interference than others .
Versus the Environmental Protection Agency , which has been a main focus of the Trump administration to date .
And , and where they have done a lot of rollbacks and overruling of agency scientists in terms of rulemaking .
And they 've also changed some of the rulemaking to limit what science can actually be included in some of those regulations and rule processes .
I think NOAA , the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ middle .
They 're still doing a lot of their traditional climate work .
You know , they do a lot of work with satellites , they 're the main entity that does our recordkeeping on weather and climate .
And so they 've been continuing that .
But there have been some appointments to that agency very recently that has scientists and environmentalists concern because the people appointed have in the past made statements showing that they do n't accept climate science .
And so there 's some concern if there 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could undercut some of the science and scientists at NOAA .

Full Transcript
For this installment of our preelection podcast series I spoke to Andrea Thompson. She’s a Scientific American associate editor covering issues in sustainability and the environment with an emphasis on climate.
“President Trump has called into question a lot of well-established climate science. He has denigrated the federal government’s own National Climate Assessment, as well as the work put out every few years by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which are the two documents that really bring together and summarize and synthesize all of the climate research that’s being done. Whereas former vice president Biden has made it clear that he understands and respects climate science and that he thinks that climate change is a really existential threat.
“In specifics, so one of the key things that President Trump did was: last year he put in a request to remove the United States from the Paris climate agreement, which is the global agreement for countries to gradually reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. If Biden wins, he has said he will immediately bring us back into that agreement.
“The National Climate Assessment that I alluded to earlier that comes out every four years, it’s mandated by Congress. There’s multiple federal agencies that put that together. And the last one that came out came out during the Trump administration. And it was very different from the one that came out during the Obama administration. The Trump administration put it out very quietly to try and minimize attention to it. So now we’re at the beginning of the process for the next one. But I think it would be pretty clear that a Biden administration would reprioritize that report. Whereas the Trump administration could be expected to affect what science gets included in it and what the conclusions are and how those were communicated. And the reason that’s such an important document is because it sort of synthesizes all of this climate information about the changes we have observed and expect in the future across the whole United States. And that’s really valuable information for state and local governments to have as they tried to figure out how to respond to climate threats today and also plan for them in the future. Because that’s not information you can necessarily get on your own if you’re a city government. So that’s kind of the resource that cities and states can use, so it’s a really critically important document.”
What about the scientists themselves and how they have been either supported or interfered with?
“Yeah, that’s one that varies, I think, from agency to agency, I think, in part, because of where the Trump administration put its energies. So agencies like NASA, I think, have seen probably a little less interference than others—versus the Environmental Protection Agency, which has been a main focus of the Trump administration to date and where they have done a lot of rollbacks and overruling of agency scientists in terms of rulemaking. And they’ve also changed some of the rulemaking to limit what science can actually be included in some of those regulations and rule processes. I think NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has probably been a little bit in the middle. They’re still doing a lot of their traditional climate work. You know, they do a lot of work with satellites, they’re the main entity that does our record keeping on weather and climate. And so they’ve been continuing that. But there have been some appointments to that agency very recently that has scientists and environmentalists concerned because the people appointed have, in the past, made statements showing that they don’t accept climate science. And so there’s some concern if there’s a second Trump administration, that that could undercut some of the science and scientists at NOAA.”
—Steve Mirsky
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]


scientificamerican--2020-10-28--In the Hunt for Planet Nine, Astronomers Eye a New Search Technique

Finding Planet Nine may require looking at telescope images in a different light .
Astronomers are vetting a “ shifting and stacking ” technique that could aid the hunt for the putative world , which some researchers think lurks undiscovered in the far outer system , way beyond Pluto ’ s orbit .
The strategy involves shifting space-telescope images along sets of possible orbital paths , then stacking the photos together to combine their light .
The technique has already been used to discover some moons in our solar system , and it could potentially spot Planet Nine—also known as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Planet Next—and other extremely farflung objects , researchers said .
“ You really can ’ t see them without using this kind of method , ” Malena Rice , an astronomy Ph.D. student at Yale University in Connecticut , said in a statement .
“ If Planet Nine is out there , it ’ s going to be incredibly dim.
” Rice is lead author of a new study that put the method into action .
She and co-author Greg Laughlin , an astronomy professor at Yale , shifted and stacked images captured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Satellite ( TESS ) , which hunts for alien worlds from Earth orbit .
In a test , the researchers found the faint signals of three known trans-Neptunian objects ( TNOs ) —small bodies that circle the sun beyond Neptune ’ s orbit—in shifted and stacked TESS images .
The scientists then conducted a blind search of two distant patches of sky , turning up 17 new TNO candidates .
“ If even one of these candidate objects is real , it would help us to understand the dynamics of the outer solar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nine , ” Rice said .
“ It ’ s compelling new information.
” The researchers are currently working to confirm the 17 candidate TNOs , using imagery captured by ground-based telescopes .
TNOs are bread crumbs that could lead to the way to Planet Nine .
Researchers have inferred the hypothetical world ’ s existence from the odd orbits of some TNOs , which they say are clustered in a way that strongly suggests sculpting by a big , farflung “ perturber.
” The data indicate a planet five to 10 times @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sun hundreds of times farther away than our world does .
Not everyone is on board with this interpretation , however .
Some scientists think the TNOs ’ odd clustering arises from the combined gravitational influence of their many minuscule neighbors , not a single big object .
The new study has been accepted by The Planetary Science Journal .
Rice presented the results today ( Oct. 27 ) at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society ’ s Division for Planetary Sciences , which is being held virtually this year .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
All rights reserved .
This material may not be published , broadcast , rewritten or redistributed .

Finding Planet Nine may require looking at telescope images in a different light.
Astronomers are vetting a “shifting and stacking” technique that could aid the hunt for the putative world, which some researchers think lurks undiscovered in the far outer system, way beyond Pluto’s orbit.
The strategy involves shifting space-telescope images along sets of possible orbital paths, then stacking the photos together to combine their light. The technique has already been used to discover some moons in our solar system, and it could potentially spot Planet Nine—also known as Planet X, Giant Planet Five or Planet Next—and other extremely farflung objects, researchers said.
“You really can’t see them without using this kind of method,” Malena Rice, an astronomy Ph.D. student at Yale University in Connecticut, said in a statement. “If Planet Nine is out there, it’s going to be incredibly dim.”
Rice is lead author of a new study that put the method into action. She and co-author Greg Laughlin, an astronomy professor at Yale, shifted and stacked images captured by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which hunts for alien worlds from Earth orbit.
In a test, the researchers found the faint signals of three known trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs)—small bodies that circle the sun beyond Neptune’s orbit—in shifted and stacked TESS images. The scientists then conducted a blind search of two distant patches of sky, turning up 17 new TNO candidates.
“If even one of these candidate objects is real, it would help us to understand the dynamics of the outer solar system and the likely properties of Planet Nine,” Rice said. “It’s compelling new information.”
The researchers are currently working to confirm the 17 candidate TNOs, using imagery captured by ground-based telescopes.
TNOs are bread crumbs that could lead to the way to Planet Nine. Researchers have inferred the hypothetical world’s existence from the odd orbits of some TNOs, which they say are clustered in a way that strongly suggests sculpting by a big, farflung “perturber.” The data indicate a planet five to 10 times more massive than Earth, orbiting the sun hundreds of times farther away than our world does.
Not everyone is on board with this interpretation, however. Some scientists think the TNOs’ odd clustering arises from the combined gravitational influence of their many minuscule neighbors, not a single big object.
The new study has been accepted by The Planetary Science Journal. Rice presented the results today (Oct. 27) at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences, which is being held virtually this year.
Copyright 2020 Space.com, a Future company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


scientificamerican--2020-10-28--Media Multitasking Disrupts Memory, Even in Young Adults

The bulky , modern human brain evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago and , for the most part , has remained largely unchanged .
That is , it is innately tuned to analog information—to focus on the hunt at hand or perhaps the forage for wild plants .
Yet we now pummel our ancient thinking organ with a daily deluge of digital information that many scientists believe may have enduring and worrisome effects .
A new study published today in Nature supports the concern .
The research suggests that “ media multitasking ” —or engaging with multiple forms of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they are television , texting or Instagram—may impair attention in young adults , worsening their ability to later recall specific situations or experiences .
The authors of the new paper used electroencephalography—a technique that measures brain activity—and eye tracking to assess attention in 80 young adults between the ages of 18 and 26 .
The study participants were first presented with images of objects on a computer screen and asked to classify the pleasantness or size of each one .
After a 10-minute break , the subjects were then shown additional objects and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new .
By analyzing these individuals ’ brain and eye responses as they were tasked with remembering , the researchers could identify the number of lapses in their attention .
These findings were then compared to the results of a questionnaire the participants were asked to fill out that quantified everyday attention , mind wandering and media multitasking .
Higher reported media multitasking correlated with a tendency toward attentional lapses and decreased pupil diameter , a known marker of reduced attention .
And attention gaps just prior to remembering were linked with forgetting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ known to be associated with episodic memory—the recall of particular events .
Previous work had shown a connection between media multitasking and poorer episodic memory .
The new findings offer clues as to why this might be the case .
“ We found evidence that one ’ s ability to sustain attention helps to explain the relationship between heavier media multitasking and worse memory , ” says the paper ’ s lead author Kevin Madore , a postdoctoral fellow in the department of psychology at Stanford University .
“ Individuals who are heavier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because they have lower sustained attention ability.
” “ This is an impressive study , ” comments Daphne Bavelier , a professor of psychology at the University of Geneva in Switzerland , who was not involved in the new research .
“ The work is important as it identifies a source of interindividual variability when one is cued to remember information ” —the differences in attention among the study participants .
“ These findings are novel and tell us something important about the relationship between attention and memory , and their link to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we did not know before , ” adds Harvard University psychologist Daniel L. Schacter , who was also not involved in the study .
Madore points out that the new findings are , for now , correlational .
They do not indicate if media multitasking leads to impaired attention or if people with worse attention and memory are just more prone to digital distractions .
They also do not necessarily implicate any specific media source as detrimental to the brain .
As work by Bavelier found , action video games in particular harbor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But Madore and his colleagues , including senior author of the paper and Stanford psychologist Anthony D. Wagner , hope to clarify these unknowns in future studies .
They also hope to pursue attention-training interventions that could help improve attention and memory in people prone to distraction .
With winter looming and the COVID-19 pandemic keeping us indoors , Madore feels the new study stresses the need to be mindful of how we engage with media .
“ I think our data point to the importance of being consciously aware of attentiveness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ awareness means resisting media multitasking during school lectures or work Zoom sessions or making sure not to idly flip through your Facebook feed while half watching the new Borat movie .

The bulky, modern human brain evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago and, for the most part, has remained largely unchanged. That is, it is innately tuned to analog information—to focus on the hunt at hand or perhaps the forage for wild plants. Yet we now pummel our ancient thinking organ with a daily deluge of digital information that many scientists believe may have enduring and worrisome effects.
A new study published today in Nature supports the concern. The research suggests that “media multitasking”—or engaging with multiple forms of digital or screen-based media simultaneously, whether they are television, texting or Instagram—may impair attention in young adults, worsening their ability to later recall specific situations or experiences.
The authors of the new paper used electroencephalography—a technique that measures brain activity—and eye tracking to assess attention in 80 young adults between the ages of 18 and 26. The study participants were first presented with images of objects on a computer screen and asked to classify the pleasantness or size of each one. After a 10-minute break, the subjects were then shown additional objects and asked whether they were already classified or new. By analyzing these individuals’ brain and eye responses as they were tasked with remembering, the researchers could identify the number of lapses in their attention. These findings were then compared to the results of a questionnaire the participants were asked to fill out that quantified everyday attention, mind wandering and media multitasking.
Higher reported media multitasking correlated with a tendency toward attentional lapses and decreased pupil diameter, a known marker of reduced attention. And attention gaps just prior to remembering were linked with forgetting the earlier images and reduced brain-signal patterns known to be associated with episodic memory—the recall of particular events.
Previous work had shown a connection between media multitasking and poorer episodic memory. The new findings offer clues as to why this might be the case. “We found evidence that one’s ability to sustain attention helps to explain the relationship between heavier media multitasking and worse memory,” says the paper’s lead author Kevin Madore, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of psychology at Stanford University. “Individuals who are heavier media multitaskers may also show worse memory because they have lower sustained attention ability.”
“This is an impressive study,” comments Daphne Bavelier, a professor of psychology at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, who was not involved in the new research. “The work is important as it identifies a source of interindividual variability when one is cued to remember information”—the differences in attention among the study participants. “These findings are novel and tell us something important about the relationship between attention and memory, and their link to everyday behavior ..., [something] we did not know before,” adds Harvard University psychologist Daniel L. Schacter, who was also not involved in the study.
Madore points out that the new findings are, for now, correlational. They do not indicate if media multitasking leads to impaired attention or if people with worse attention and memory are just more prone to digital distractions. They also do not necessarily implicate any specific media source as detrimental to the brain. As work by Bavelier found, action video games in particular harbor plenty of potential for improving brain function.
But Madore and his colleagues, including senior author of the paper and Stanford psychologist Anthony D. Wagner, hope to clarify these unknowns in future studies. They also hope to pursue attention-training interventions that could help improve attention and memory in people prone to distraction.
With winter looming and the COVID-19 pandemic keeping us indoors, Madore feels the new study stresses the need to be mindful of how we engage with media. “I think our data point to the importance of being consciously aware of attentiveness,” he says, whether that awareness means resisting media multitasking during school lectures or work Zoom sessions or making sure not to idly flip through your Facebook feed while half watching the new Borat movie.


scientificamerican--2020-10-28--Floating Offshore Wind Turbines Set to Make Inroads in U.S.

A second phase of offshore wind development is about to get underway in the U.S. , starting in Maine , a state that sees its energy future built on a new type of wind turbine .
It is one that can float in deeper waters and that may be built more cheaply than existing wind turbines being constructed or planned along most of the U.S. East Coast .
One of the main beneficiaries of what are called “ floaters ” —turbines that are held by mooring lines attached to anchors in waters deeper than 160 feet—will likely be the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are planning wind farms and Oregon and Washington are expected to follow .
“ This will be a global industry , ” predicted Walter Musial , the leading expert on offshore wind for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory .
At the moment , the business is in its infancy , but he noted that 80 % of the world ’ s offshore waters suitable for wind turbines near major population centers are deep .
The major type of offshore turbines built in Europe and just beginning to rise along the East Coast are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that may be too expensive to build in deeper waters .
But floaters , which have the added cost-saving advantage of being assembled in nearby ports and then towed out to sea , Musial predicted , will be “ close to or near to being cost competitive ” with them by 2024 .
Floaters are likely to give a major boost to what has already become a large , capital-intensive renewable energy business .
According to an estimate by the University of Delaware , the existing fixed-bottom offshore turbines underway or in advanced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ capital costs of $ 70 billion and would result in 18.6 gigawatts of electricity—the equivalent output of 18 average-size nuclear power plants—between 2020 and 2030 ( Climatewire , July 30 ) .
Unlike fixed-bottom turbines , a business now dominated by European companies , floaters have been pioneered by U.S. innovators , including a team of researchers at the University of Maine .
They went to work in 2009 to find an energy source that could save the state from a looming economic crisis because the price of heating oil had risen to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ persisted , noted Habib Dagher , executive director of the University of Maine ’ s Advanced Structures and Composites Center , it would mean a $ 10,000 annual heating bill , pushing families and communities in northern Maine into poverty during its frozen winters .
“ It was not sustainable and a big crisis in the state , ” he recalled in an interview .
So the team plunged into a plan for a potential solution : Dagher ’ s dream of a turbine sitting on a base made with hollow , bucketlike @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Legislature with one vote short of a unanimous approval and financial help from the U.S. Department of Energy , the team erected a model wind turbine , one-eighth the size of a conventional turbine , and put it on a float .
Then the team had a tugboat tow it out to an offshore site .
It was small but strong enough to stand up to powerful winds and crashing waves , and made history in 2013 as the first floatable wind turbine to feed electricity into the U.S. power grid .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s offshore wind-making potential is 36 times greater than the state ’ s total electricity demand .
In the following years , not much happened , but recently two serious industry players joined Maine in a $ 100 million partnership to build a full-size floating turbine near the site .
They are Diamond Offshore Wind , a subsidiary of Japan ’ s Mitsubishi Corp. , and RWE Renewables , a subsidiary of a large German electric utility and the second-largest offshore wind company in the world .
Maine also has begun meeting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Massachusetts and New Hampshire to explore the possibility of other offshore sites that could supply clean power to upper New England .
Now what started as Dagher ’ s dream has turned into a larger one : “ The strength of Maine ’ s economy , the preservation of our natural resources , the long-term health and well-being of our communities and of future generations depend in great part on our transitioning to clean energy and tackling the threat of climate change , ” said Maine Gov .
Janet Mills ( D ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. pioneer on the West Coast is Alla Weinstein , now CEO of a company called Castle Wind , which is proposing to build a floating wind farm with as many as 100 turbines spinning offshore in Morro Bay in central California .
When Weinstein , an immigrant from Russia who arrived in 1974 with little command of English and a half-finished college education , first proposed the idea in 2008 , the reaction was underwhelming .
“ Floating offshore wind ?
” they asked .
“ Come back in 15 years , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Two years later , we had a demonstration project.
” While Dagher had the state of Maine behind him , Weinstein found only tepid support in California .
But she did find two investors willing to finance a demonstration project , a full-size wind turbine on a floating platform to be located offshore from Portugal .
It began generating electricity in 2011 .
The demonstration helped Weinstein ’ s first company , Principle Power Inc. , build two more floaters in Portugal and another off the coast of Scotland .
And Weinstein @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a new trade association , the European Ocean Energy Association , where new contacts helped her sharpen her next goal , which was to go back and jump-start construction in the deep waters of offshore California .
She left Principle Power in 2015 and later formed Castle Wind , a joint venture with EnBW North America , a subsidiary of one of Germany ’ s largest energy companies and among the global leaders in offshore wind .
Her unsolicited proposal to build a floating wind farm 30 miles off the central California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ potential bidders likely to participate in a federal auction for the lease site early next year .
California offers one of the nation ’ s biggest renewable energy markets .
It has set goals for 50 % renewable energy by 2025 and 100 % by 2045 .
It is considering proposals for a second floating wind farm offshore from Humboldt County , 270 miles north of San Francisco .
Weinstein ’ s old company , Principle Power , located in Emeryville , Calif. , is among the companies that hope to sell turbine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ preparing to bid on California ’ s leases .
“ Alla is a great client of ours , and we look forward to working with her , ” said Joo Metelo , who succeeded her as the CEO of Principle Power .
Unlike other offshore wind turbine technologies , which have been mainly designed in Europe , Principle Power ’ s patented “ WindFloat ” bases were invented in Berkeley , Calif .
They operate on a system that distributes water to each of the turbine ’ s three floating ballasts to keep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pitch and roll of the ocean .
The technology has matured into wind farms in waters off Portugal , Scotland and France , and Metelo now expects the world ’ s biggest projects to rise in the deeper waters off the West Coast and Hawaii .
“ She ’ s made great things for the industry , ” Metelo said , referring to Weinstein .
Offshore wind , even in deeper , more remote waters off California , is not a business for the fainthearted .
Fishing groups have raised objections in California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Defense , which is concerned about offshore pilot training areas and the spinning turbines ’ interference with radar installations .
Weinstein , who got her electrical engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken , N.J. , and then worked as an aeronautical engineer for several years , decided that a career as an entrepreneur in renewable energy was worth the risks .
“ It ’ s more that you kind of feel what you want to do , and when it comes in front of you , you feel right .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ afraid of doing something that you don ’ t have the manual for , then those things happen , ” she explained in an interview .
While floaters are currently more expensive than wind turbines with a fixed foundation in the ocean , Musial of NREL believes they will remove a big economic barrier in the offshore wind business because wind turbines are growing larger , and a U.S. law called the Jones Act requires very large and very expensive U.S.-owned ships to install them at sea .
But floaters can be assembled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sea for installation and even towed back to port for major repairs , if necessary , he explained , reducing labor costs .
There is a third stage in offshore energy now developing in Europe , which applies to both fixed and floating wind turbine farms .
As demand for renewable energy has grown , companies have begun considering ways to reduce power line congestion by making and storing excess energy offshore .
One way is by using electrolysis to split hydrogen out of seawater and storing it in underwater bladders near wind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Dutch government recently announced “ Crosswind , ” an unsubsidized offshore wind farm being built by Royal Dutch Shell PLC , an oil major , and Eneco , a local utility .
It will test a variety of ways of making and storing excess offshore energy , including floating solar arrays , temporary battery storage and an electrolyzer .
A letter sent to the Dutch parliament by the minister of economic affairs titled “ Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap 2030 ” explained that so-called green hydrogen could prevent the price of electricity generated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support further offshore investment .
That would be accomplished by making more hydrogen at sea and shipping it to shore for a variety of purposes .
They include supplying hydrogen for fuel cell-equipped electric cars and for heating buildings as the Netherlands continues in its planned phaseout of fossil fuels .
Despite the renewable energy ambitions of various states , the U.S. is not ready for this yet , Musial pointed out .
“ But my crystal ball says that in 10 years we ’ ll be worrying about green hydrogen .
Right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from E & E News .
E & E provides daily coverage of essential energy and environmental news atwww.eenews.net .

A second phase of offshore wind development is about to get underway in the U.S., starting in Maine, a state that sees its energy future built on a new type of wind turbine. It is one that can float in deeper waters and that may be built more cheaply than existing wind turbines being constructed or planned along most of the U.S. East Coast.
One of the main beneficiaries of what are called “floaters”—turbines that are held by mooring lines attached to anchors in waters deeper than 160 feet—will likely be the U.S. West Coast, where California and Hawaii are planning wind farms and Oregon and Washington are expected to follow.
“This will be a global industry,” predicted Walter Musial, the leading expert on offshore wind for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. At the moment, the business is in its infancy, but he noted that 80% of the world’s offshore waters suitable for wind turbines near major population centers are deep.
The major type of offshore turbines built in Europe and just beginning to rise along the East Coast are installed in shallower waters on fixed foundations that may be too expensive to build in deeper waters. But floaters, which have the added cost-saving advantage of being assembled in nearby ports and then towed out to sea, Musial predicted, will be “close to or near to being cost competitive” with them by 2024.
Floaters are likely to give a major boost to what has already become a large, capital-intensive renewable energy business. According to an estimate by the University of Delaware, the existing fixed-bottom offshore turbines underway or in advanced planning in seven East Coast states involve capital costs of $70 billion and would result in 18.6 gigawatts of electricity—the equivalent output of 18 average-size nuclear power plants—between 2020 and 2030 (Climatewire, July 30).
Unlike fixed-bottom turbines, a business now dominated by European companies, floaters have been pioneered by U.S. innovators, including a team of researchers at the University of Maine. They went to work in 2009 to find an energy source that could save the state from a looming economic crisis because the price of heating oil had risen to $4 a gallon.
If that persisted, noted Habib Dagher, executive director of the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, it would mean a $10,000 annual heating bill, pushing families and communities in northern Maine into poverty during its frozen winters. “It was not sustainable and a big crisis in the state,” he recalled in an interview.
So the team plunged into a plan for a potential solution: Dagher’s dream of a turbine sitting on a base made with hollow, bucketlike concrete floats.
Backed by Maine’s Legislature with one vote short of a unanimous approval and financial help from the U.S. Department of Energy, the team erected a model wind turbine, one-eighth the size of a conventional turbine, and put it on a float. Then the team had a tugboat tow it out to an offshore site.
It was small but strong enough to stand up to powerful winds and crashing waves, and made history in 2013 as the first floatable wind turbine to feed electricity into the U.S. power grid.
On paper that looked impressive because Maine’s offshore wind-making potential is 36 times greater than the state’s total electricity demand. In the following years, not much happened, but recently two serious industry players joined Maine in a $100 million partnership to build a full-size floating turbine near the site.
They are Diamond Offshore Wind, a subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp., and RWE Renewables, a subsidiary of a large German electric utility and the second-largest offshore wind company in the world. Maine also has begun meeting with the U.S. Interior Department, Massachusetts and New Hampshire to explore the possibility of other offshore sites that could supply clean power to upper New England.
Now what started as Dagher’s dream has turned into a larger one: “The strength of Maine’s economy, the preservation of our natural resources, the long-term health and well-being of our communities and of future generations depend in great part on our transitioning to clean energy and tackling the threat of climate change,” said Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) in announcing the RWE-Mitsubishi partnership.
The U.S. pioneer on the West Coast is Alla Weinstein, now CEO of a company called Castle Wind, which is proposing to build a floating wind farm with as many as 100 turbines spinning offshore in Morro Bay in central California. When Weinstein, an immigrant from Russia who arrived in 1974 with little command of English and a half-finished college education, first proposed the idea in 2008, the reaction was underwhelming.
“Floating offshore wind?” they asked. “Come back in 15 years,” recalled Weinstein in an interview. “Two years later, we had a demonstration project.”
While Dagher had the state of Maine behind him, Weinstein found only tepid support in California. But she did find two investors willing to finance a demonstration project, a full-size wind turbine on a floating platform to be located offshore from Portugal. It began generating electricity in 2011.
The demonstration helped Weinstein’s first company, Principle Power Inc., build two more floaters in Portugal and another off the coast of Scotland. And Weinstein was selected to be the first president of a new trade association, the European Ocean Energy Association, where new contacts helped her sharpen her next goal, which was to go back and jump-start construction in the deep waters of offshore California.
She left Principle Power in 2015 and later formed Castle Wind, a joint venture with EnBW North America, a subsidiary of one of Germany’s largest energy companies and among the global leaders in offshore wind. Her unsolicited proposal to build a floating wind farm 30 miles off the central California coast has stimulated interest from 13 other potential bidders likely to participate in a federal auction for the lease site early next year.
California offers one of the nation’s biggest renewable energy markets. It has set goals for 50% renewable energy by 2025 and 100% by 2045. It is considering proposals for a second floating wind farm offshore from Humboldt County, 270 miles north of San Francisco.
Weinstein’s old company, Principle Power, located in Emeryville, Calif., is among the companies that hope to sell turbine bases to her new company and others preparing to bid on California’s leases. “Alla is a great client of ours, and we look forward to working with her,” said João Metelo, who succeeded her as the CEO of Principle Power.
Unlike other offshore wind turbine technologies, which have been mainly designed in Europe, Principle Power’s patented “WindFloat” bases were invented in Berkeley, Calif. They operate on a system that distributes water to each of the turbine’s three floating ballasts to keep the spinning turbine upright regardless of the pitch and roll of the ocean.
The technology has matured into wind farms in waters off Portugal, Scotland and France, and Metelo now expects the world’s biggest projects to rise in the deeper waters off the West Coast and Hawaii. “She’s made great things for the industry,” Metelo said, referring to Weinstein.
Offshore wind, even in deeper, more remote waters off California, is not a business for the fainthearted. Fishing groups have raised objections in California. So has the U.S. Department of Defense, which is concerned about offshore pilot training areas and the spinning turbines’ interference with radar installations.
Weinstein, who got her electrical engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., and then worked as an aeronautical engineer for several years, decided that a career as an entrepreneur in renewable energy was worth the risks.
“It’s more that you kind of feel what you want to do, and when it comes in front of you, you feel right. As long as you’re not afraid of doing something that you don’t have the manual for, then those things happen,” she explained in an interview.
While floaters are currently more expensive than wind turbines with a fixed foundation in the ocean, Musial of NREL believes they will remove a big economic barrier in the offshore wind business because wind turbines are growing larger, and a U.S. law called the Jones Act requires very large and very expensive U.S.-owned ships to install them at sea.
But floaters can be assembled in local seaports, towed out to sea for installation and even towed back to port for major repairs, if necessary, he explained, reducing labor costs.
There is a third stage in offshore energy now developing in Europe, which applies to both fixed and floating wind turbine farms. As demand for renewable energy has grown, companies have begun considering ways to reduce power line congestion by making and storing excess energy offshore. One way is by using electrolysis to split hydrogen out of seawater and storing it in underwater bladders near wind farms.
Germany has begun experiments. The Dutch government recently announced “Crosswind,” an unsubsidized offshore wind farm being built by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, an oil major, and Eneco, a local utility. It will test a variety of ways of making and storing excess offshore energy, including floating solar arrays, temporary battery storage and an electrolyzer.
A letter sent to the Dutch parliament by the minister of economic affairs titled “Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap 2030” explained that so-called green hydrogen could prevent the price of electricity generated at sea from becoming too low to support further offshore investment. That would be accomplished by making more hydrogen at sea and shipping it to shore for a variety of purposes. They include supplying hydrogen for fuel cell-equipped electric cars and for heating buildings as the Netherlands continues in its planned phaseout of fossil fuels.
Despite the renewable energy ambitions of various states, the U.S. is not ready for this yet, Musial pointed out. “But my crystal ball says that in 10 years we’ll be worrying about green hydrogen. Right now it might be a little early.”
Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from E&E News. E&E provides daily coverage of essential energy and environmental news at www.eenews.net.