Culture

Astronomers have made the rare sighting of two stars spiralling to their doom by spotting the tell-tale signs of a teardrop-shaped star.

The tragic shape is caused by a massive nearby white dwarf distorting the star with its intense gravity, which will also be the catalyst for an eventual supernova that will consume both. Found by an international team of astronomers and astrophysicists led by the University of Warwick, it is one of only very small number of star systems that has been discovered that will one day see a white dwarf star reignite its core.

New research published by the team today (12 July) in Nature Astronomy confirms that the two stars are in the early stages of a spiral that will likely end in a Type Ia supernova, a type that helps astronomers determine how fast the universe is expanding.

This research received funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council, part of UK Research and Innovation.

HD265435 is located roughly 1,500 light years away and comprises a hot subdwarf star and a white dwarf star orbiting each other closely at a rate of around 100 minutes. White dwarfs are 'dead' stars that have burnt out all their fuel and collapsed in on themselves, making them small but extremely dense.

A type Ia supernova is generally thought to occur when a white dwarf star's core reignites, leading to a thermonuclear explosion. There are two scenarios where this can happen. In the first, the white dwarf gains enough mass to reach 1.4 times the mass of our Sun, known as the Chandrasekhar limit. HD265435 fits in the second scenario, in which the total mass of a close stellar system of multiple stars is near or above this limit. Only a handful of other star systems have been discovered that will reach this threshold and result in a Type Ia supernova.

Lead author Dr Ingrid Pelisoli from the University of Warwick Department of Physics, and formerly affiliated with the University of Potsdam, explains: "We don't know exactly how these supernovae explode, but we know it has to happen because we see it happening elsewhere in the universe.

"One way is if the white dwarf accretes enough mass from the hot subdwarf, so as the two of them are orbiting each other and getting closer, matter will start to escape the hot subdwarf and fall onto the white dwarf. Another way is that because they are losing energy to gravitational wave emissions, they will get closer until they merge. Once the white dwarf gains enough mass from either method, it will go supernova."

Using data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the team were able to observe the hot subdwarf, but not the white dwarf as the hot subdwarf is much brighter. However, that brightness varies over time which suggested the star was being distorted into a teardrop shape by a nearby massive object. Using radial velocity and rotational velocity measurements from the Palomar Observatory and the W. M. Keck Observatory, and by modelling the massive object's effect on the hot subdwarf, the astronomers could confirm that the hidden white dwarf is as heavy as our Sun, but just slightly smaller than the Earth's radius.

Combined with the mass of the hot subdwarf, which is a little over 0.6 times the mass of our Sun, both stars have the mass needed to cause a Type Ia supernova. As the two stars are already close enough to begin spiralling closer together, the white dwarf will inevitably go supernova in around 70 million years. Theoretical models produced specifically for this study predict that the hot subdwarf will contract to become a white dwarf star as well before merging with its companion.

Type Ia supernovae are important for cosmology as 'standard candles'. Their brightness is constant and of a specific type of light, which means astronomers can compare what luminosity they should be with what we observe on Earth, and from that work out how distant they are with a good degree of accuracy. By observing supernovae in distant galaxies, astronomers combine what they know of how fast this galaxy is moving with our distance from the supernova and calculate the expansion of the universe.

Dr Pelisoli adds: "The more we understand how supernovae work, the better we can calibrate our standard candles. This is very important at the moment because there's a discrepancy between what we get from this kind of standard candle, and what we get through other methods.

"The more we understand about how supernovae form, the better we can understand whether this discrepancy we are seeing is because of new physics that we're unaware of and not taking into account, or simply because we're underestimating the uncertainties in those distances.

"There is another discrepancy between the estimated and observed galactic supernovae rate, and the number of progenitors we see. We can estimate how many supernovae are going to be in our galaxy through observing many galaxies, or through what we know from stellar evolution, and this number is consistent. But if we look for objects that can become supernovae, we don't have enough. This discovery was very useful to put an estimate of what a hot subdwarf and white dwarf binaries can contribute. It still doesn't seem to be a lot, none of the channels we observed seems to be enough."

The findings of the study, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and led by Professor Kristian Pollock from the University of Nottingham, are published in Palliative Medicine.

When somebody is seriously ill and dying at home, managing their medications can be a difficult and complex task. This is made more difficult given that the care often needs to be given when patients and their families are tired and emotional. Family members are often assumed to be willing and able to support patients with their medication. However, little is known about what these tasks involve or how families cope with them.

In this study, a team of experts explored the views of patients and families managing medications in their homes. The study reports the outcomes of 21 interviews with bereaved family caregivers and 43 interviews with patients and current family caregivers.

The research found:

More awareness is needed to understand the ways that managing medications add to the considerable burden of care and work that must be undertaken when someone is seriously ill and dying at home;

Family caregivers are increasingly expected to undertake complex and technical medication tasks formerly carried out by professionals, but with little if any training, supervision or support; this trend has been exacerbated by Covid-19

The work of managing medications is critical to enabling patients to remain at home at the end of life.

The findings of the research have implications for practice and policy:

Health care professionals will benefit from a greater understanding of the complexities of medications management undertaken by patients and families in order to identify and tailor the support they can provide.

Substantial reduction in the complexity and bureaucracy of Health and Social Care services is needed for them to can be navigable for patients and families managing medications at the end of life.

The lack of presence of Community Pharmacists in this research suggests there may be a greater role for them in supporting patients and families to manage medications at home.

Dr Eleanor Wilson, from the Nottingham Centre for the Advancement of Palliative and End of Life Care (NCARE) in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham, worked on the study. She said: "Our findings show that managing medications at the end of life can be considerable 'work'. Including practical and physical work of organising, ordering and collecting medications, the emotional work of supporting someone to take their medication and the knowledge-based work of understanding what medications are for, when they should be taken and what side effects they may cause.

"This medicines 'work' often needs to be done when patients and families are tired, upset and under pressure, so health professionals need to be alert to how much they are asking families to do at this time."

ITHACA, N.Y. - Traces of the gas phosphine point to volcanic activity on Venus, according to new research from Cornell University.

Last autumn, scientists revealed that phosphine was found in trace amounts in the planet's upper atmosphere. That discovery promised the slim possibility that phosphine serves as a biological signature for the hot, toxic planet.

Now Cornell scientists say the chemical fingerprint support a different and important scientific find: a geological signature, showing evidence of explosive volcanoes on the mysterious planet.

"The phosphine is not telling us about the biology of Venus," said Jonathan Lunine, professor of physical sciences and chair of the astronomy department at Cornell. "It's telling us about the geology. Science is pointing to a planet that has active explosive volcanism today or in the very recent past."

Lunine and Ngoc Truong, a doctoral candidate in geology, authored the study, "Volcanically Extruded Phosphides as an Abiotic Source of Venusian Phosphine," published July 12 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Truong and Lunine argue that volcanism is the means for phosphine to get into Venus' upper atmosphere, after examining observations from the ground-based, submillimeter-wavelength James Clerk Maxwell Telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in northern Chile.

If Venus has phosphide - a form of phosphorous present in the planet's deep mantle - and, if it is brought to the surface in an explosive, volcanic way and then injected into the atmosphere, those phosphides react with the Venusian atmosphere's sulfuric acid to form phosphine, Truong said.

Lunine said their phosphine model "suggests explosive volcanism occurring," while "radar images from the Magellan spacecraft in the 1990s show some geologic features could support this."

In 1978, on NASA's Pioneer Venus orbiter mission, scientists uncovered variations of sulfur dioxide in Venus' upper atmosphere, hinting at the prospect of explosive volcanism, Truong said, similar to the scale of Earth's Krakatoa volcanic eruption in Indonesia in 1883.

But, Truong said, "confirming explosive volcanism on Venus through the gas phosphine was totally unexpected."

Many exoplanets have opaque atmospheres, obscured by clouds or hazes that make it hard for astronomers to characterize their chemical compositions. A new study shows that haze particles produced under different conditions have a wide range of properties that can determine how clear or hazy a planet's atmosphere is likely to be.

Photochemical reactions in the atmospheres of temperate exoplanets lead to the formation of small organic haze particles. Large amounts of these photochemical hazes form in Earth's atmosphere every day, yet our planet has relatively clear skies. The reason has to do with how easily haze particles are removed from the atmosphere by deposition processes.

"It's not just haze production but also haze removal that determines how clear the atmosphere is," said Xinting Yu, a postdoctoral fellow at UC Santa Cruz and lead author of the study, published July 12 in Nature Astronomy.

Yu and her colleagues measured the properties of haze particles produced in the laboratory under conditions representative of exoplanet atmospheres, including a range of gas compositions, temperatures, and energy sources. Coauthor Xi Zhang, assistant professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz, said laboratory experiments like this are essential for understanding haze formation and its impact on observations.

"We can't bring haze samples back from exoplanets, so we have to try to mimic the atmospheric conditions in the laboratory," he said.

According to Yu, haze removal depends on a critical material property of the particles called surface energy. "Surface energy describes how cohesive or 'sticky' the material is," she said.

Sticky haze particles readily bond with each other when they collide, growing into larger particles that fall out of the atmosphere onto the surface of the planet (a process called dry deposition). They also make good condensation nuclei for cloud droplets and are easily removed by wet deposition. Hazes produced on Earth typically have high surface energy and are therefore 'sticky' and efficiently removed from the atmosphere.

Yu's laboratory experiments show that the hazes produced in exoplanet atmospheres are highly diverse, with properties that depend on the conditions in which they are produced.

"Some of them are similar to the Earth haze, have high surface energy, and are easy to remove, leading to clear skies," she said. "But some of them have very low surface energy, like a non-stick pan; they do not bond with other particles very well and remain as small particles hanging in the atmosphere for a long time."

The study found that a critical factor is the temperature at which the haze particles are created. Hazes produced at around 400 Kelvin (260°F) tended to have the lowest surface energies, leading to less efficient removal and hazier atmospheres. This finding actually corresponds with observed trends, Yu said, noting that exoplanets at temperatures of 400 to 500 K tend to be the haziest.

Cooler planets located in the habitable zones of their host stars are more likely to have clear atmospheres, she said. "We may not have to worry about habitable exoplanets being too hazy for future observations, as hazes tend to have higher surface energies at lower temperatures," Yu said. "So it is easy to remove these hazes, leaving relatively clear atmospheres."

Astronomers are looking forward to having a powerful tool for characterizing exoplanet atmospheres with the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). When an exoplanet transits across the face of its star, its atmosphere filters the light from the star, giving astronomers with a sensitive enough telescope (like JWST) an opportunity to identify the chemical components of the atmosphere using transmission spectroscopy.

A hazy atmosphere would interfere with transmission spectroscopy, but the hazes themselves may still yield valuable information, according to Zhang.

"Hazes are not featureless," he said. "With better telescopes, we may be able to characterize the composition of exoplanet hazes and understand their chemistry. But the observations will be very hard to explain without data from laboratory experiments. This study has revealed the huge diversity of haze particles, and understanding their optical properties will be a high priority for future studies."

A diet rich in fermented foods enhances the diversity of gut microbes and decreases molecular signs of inflammation, according to researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine.

In a clinical trial, 36 healthy adults were randomly assigned to a 10-week diet that included either fermented or high-fiber foods. The two diets resulted in different effects on the gut microbiome and the immune system.

Eating foods such as yogurt, kefir, fermented cottage cheese, kimchi and other fermented vegetables, vegetable brine drinks, and kombucha tea led to an increase in overall microbial diversity, with stronger effects from larger servings. "This is a stunning finding," said Justin Sonnenburg, PhD, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology. "It provides one of the first examples of how a simple change in diet can reproducibly remodel the microbiota across a cohort of healthy adults."

In addition, four types of immune cells showed less activation in the fermented-food group. The levels of 19 inflammatory proteins measured in blood samples also decreased. One of these proteins, interleukin 6, has been linked to conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Type 2 diabetes and chronic stress.

"Microbiota-targeted diets can change immune status, providing a promising avenue for decreasing inflammation in healthy adults," said Christopher Gardner, PhD, the Rehnborg Farquhar Professor and director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. "This finding was consistent across all participants in the study who were assigned to the higher fermented food group."

Microbe diversity stable in fiber-rich diet

By contrast, none of these 19 inflammatory proteins decreased in participants assigned to a high-fiber diet rich in legumes, seeds, whole grains, nuts, vegetables and fruits. On average, the diversity of their gut microbes also remained stable. "We expected high fiber to have a more universally beneficial effect and increase microbiota diversity," said Erica Sonnenburg, PhD, a senior research scientist in basic life sciences, microbiology and immunology. "The data suggest that increased fiber intake alone over a short time period is insufficient to increase microbiota diversity."

The study will be published online July 12 in Cell. Justin and Erica Sonnenburg and Christopher Gardner are co-senior authors. The lead authors are Hannah Wastyk, a PhD student in bioengineering, and former postdoctoral scholar Gabriela Fragiadakis, PhD, who is now an assistant professor of medicine at UC-San Francisco.

A wide body of evidence has demonstrated that diet shapes the gut microbiome, which can affect the immune system and overall health. According to Gardner, low microbiome diversity has been linked to obesity and diabetes.

"We wanted to conduct a proof-of-concept study that could test whether microbiota-targeted food could be an avenue for combatting the overwhelming rise in chronic inflammatory diseases," Gardner said.

The researchers focused on fiber and fermented foods due to previous reports of their potential health benefits. While high-fiber diets have been associated with lower rates of mortality, the consumption of fermented foods can help with weight maintenance and may decrease the risk of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The researchers analyzed blood and stool samples collected during a three-week pre-trial period, the 10 weeks of the diet, and a four-week period after the diet when the participants ate as they chose.

The findings paint a nuanced picture of the influence of diet on gut microbes and immune status. On one hand, those who increased their consumption of fermented foods showed similar effects on their microbiome diversity and inflammatory markers, consistent with prior research showing that short-term changes in diet can rapidly alter the gut microbiome. On the other hand, the limited change in the microbiome within the high-fiber group dovetails with the researchers' previous reports of a general resilience of the human microbiome over short time periods.

Designing a suite of dietary and microbial strategies

The results also showed that greater fiber intake led to more carbohydrates in stool samples, pointing to incomplete fiber degradation by gut microbes. These findings are consistent with other research suggesting that the microbiome of people living in the industrialized world is depleted of fiber-degrading microbes.

"It is possible that a longer intervention would have allowed for the microbiota to adequately adapt to the increase in fiber consumption," Erica Sonnenburg said. "Alternatively, the deliberate introduction of fiber-consuming microbes may be required to increase the microbiota's capacity to break down the carbohydrates."

In addition to exploring these possibilities, the researchers plan to conduct studies in mice to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which diets alter the microbiome and reduce inflammatory proteins. They also aim to test whether high-fiber and fermented foods synergize to influence the microbiome and immune system of humans. Another goal is to examine whether the consumption of fermented food decreases inflammation or improves other health markers in patients with immunological and metabolic diseases, and in pregnant women and older individuals.

"There are many more ways to target the microbiome with food and supplements, and we hope to continue to investigate how different diets, probiotics and prebiotics impact the microbiome and health in different groups," Justin Sonnenburg said.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a medically safe mental health intervention, according to a new study led by CAMH researcher Dr. Tyler Kaster as part of his doctoral studies at ICES and the University of Toronto. The study was published today in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry, and is among the largest and most comprehensive to compare the safety of ECT with standard treatment amongst individuals with depression.

Multiple studies over a period of decades have confirmed the effectiveness of ECT as a mental health intervention for people with treatment-resistant depression. Up to 80 per cent of people with severe depression who receive ECT achieve remission. However, despite this success rate, only one per cent of people with severe depression ever receive ECT, likely due to concerns about side effects of ECT such as cognitive and medical complications.

This study, entitled Risk of serious medical events in patients with depression treated with electroconvulsive therapy: a propensity score-matched, retrospective cohort study, looked at the psychiatric records of over 10,000 patients in Ontario whose depression was serious enough to require at least three days of hospitalization, and compared the risk of medical hospitalization or death within 30 days for patients who had ECT compared to patients who did not. It concludes that, "among individuals hospitalized with depression, there is not a clinically significant increased risk for serious medical events with exposure to ECT while the risk of suicide appears to be significantly reduced. The benefits of ECT on depression outcomes may outweigh its risks in this population."

"ECT is the single most effective treatment we have in psychiatry for depression," said lead author CAMH Psychiatrist Dr. Tyler Kaster, who treats ECT patients at the CAMH Temerty Centre for Therapeutic Brain Stimulation. "But prejudice and discrimination around the treatment is enormous in terms of preventing people from accessing it."

In Canada, over 1 in 9 adults (3.2 million Canadians or 11.3 per cent) will experience a major depression in their lifetime, at which time they will most likely be prescribed antidepressants and/or psychotherapy. However, about a third of these individuals will fail to respond to these first-line treatments, and then will be diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression. There are a number of interventions for this condition including medication combinations, new drugs like ketamine and a neurostimulation treatment called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). However, when these treatments don't lead to improvement or when a depression becomes very severe leading to hospitalization, ECT is often considered as the next step, as it is highly effective at rapidly reducing symptoms of depression and suicidal thinking. Learn more about ECT on the CAMH website.

Dr. Simone Vigod, study corresponding author, senior adjunct scientist at ICES and Chief of Psychiatry at Women's College Hospital, said the study illustrates the importance of emphasizing the safety and efficacy of ECT as an effective mental health intervention for people for whom nothing else has worked. "At Women's College Hospital, we believe that supporting people living with mental health conditions has never been more important," added Dr. Vigod. "Doing so requires providing patients with a full spectrum of evidence-based treatments founded on rigorous research evidence. This investigation adds to the existing body of research on the safety and efficacy of ECT, which can serve as a valuable option for those with severe depression."

Dr. Kaster believes that the persistent fear associated with ECT is a reflection of the overall level of prejudice and discrimination that continues to persist in regards to mental illness itself.

CAMH continues to be Canada's leader in neurostimulation treatment delivery, and treats approximately 250 patients per year with ECT. CAMH's Temerty Centre for Therapeutic Brain Intervention is one of the world's leading centres in brain stimulation treatment, research and training. Through clinical research projects, the Temerty Centre is driving treatment advances using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), magnetic seizure therapy (MST), and ECT.

The ubiquitous overuse injuries that nag runners may stem from an unlikely culprit: how far you lean forward.

Trunk flexion, the angle at which a runner bends forward from the hip, can range wildly--runners have self-reported angles of approximately -2 degrees to upward of 25. A new study from the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) found that greater trunk flexion has significant impact on stride length, joint movements, and ground reaction forces. How you lean may be one of the contributors to your knee pain, medial tibial stress syndrome, or back pain.

"This was a pet peeve turned into a study," said Anna Warrener, PhD, lead author and assistant professor of anthropology at CU Denver. Warrener worked on the initial research during her postdoc fellowship with Daniel Liberman, PhD, in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. "When [Lieberman] was out preparing for his marathons, he noticed other people leaning too far forward as they ran, which had so many implications for their lower limbs. Our study was built to find out what they were."

The study was published in Human Movement Science.

A New Angle on Overuse Injuries

The head, arms and trunk constitute roughly 68% of total body mass. Small changes in trunk flexion have the potential to substantially alter lower-limb kinematics and ground reaction forces (GRF) during running.

To study the downstream effects, Warrener and her team recruited 23 injury-free, recreational runners between the ages of 18 and 23. They recorded each participant running 15-second trials at their self-selected trunk position and three others: a 10-, 20-, and a 30-degree angle of flexion. But to make the study work, they had to first figure out how to get each runner to bend at the right slant.

"We had to create a way in which we could reasonably force someone into a forward lean that didn't make them so uncomfortable that they changed everything about their gait," said Warrener. The team hung a lightweight, plastic dowel from the ceiling just above the runners' heads, moving it up or down, depending on the angle needed.

Contrary to the team's original hypothesis, the average stride length decreased 13 cm and stride frequency increased from 86.3 strides/min to 92.8 strides/min. Overstride relative to the hip increased 28%.

"The relationship between strike frequency and stride length surprised us," said Warrener. "We thought that the more you lean forward, your leg would need to extend further to keep your body mass from falling outside the support aera. As a result, overstride and stride frequency would go up. The inverse was true. Stride length got shorter and stride rate increased."

Warrener believes this may be due to a decrease in the aerial phase (if they're not getting as much air time, runners will take shorter steps), which means leg swings quickened as a result of reduced forward movement.

"The act of swinging your leg is really expensive as you're running," said Warrener. "Swinging it faster as you lean forward may mean a higher locomotor cost."

Compared to the participants' natural trunk flexion, increased angles led to a more flexed hip and bent knee joint. A bigger lean also changed the runners' foot and lower limb position, leading to an increased impact of GRF on the body (rate of loading by 29%; vertical ground reaction force impact transients by 20%).

The combination of trunk flexion angle, foot and leg placement, and GRF variables, shows that excessive trunk flexion could be one cause of injurious running form and, according to Warrener, is key for understanding how diverse running forms optimize economy and performance.

"The big picture takeaway is that running is not all about what is happening from the trunk down--it's a whole-body experience," said Warrener. "Researchers should think about the downstream effects of trunk flexion when studying running biomechanics."

Destroying tropical ecosystems and replacing them with soybeans and other crops has immediate and devastating consequences for soybeans, according to new peer-reviewed research in the journal World Development. With 35.8 million hectare currently under soy cultivation in Brazil, extreme heat--which adjacent tropical forests help keep in check--has reduced soybean income by an average of approximately US$100 per hectare per year.

The study, Conserving the Cerrado and Amazon biomes of Brazil protects the soy economy from damaging warming, shows that protecting the Amazon and Cerrado can prevent the sort of high temperatures that damages the productivity of crops--estimated to cost the sector US$3.55 billion.

Another recent study found annual agricultural losses associated with deforestation-driven declines in precipitation at US$1 billion. Taken together, the two estimates reveal the massive economic impacts of destroying ecosystems on Brazil's agricultural sector; the annual losses are likely to be even higher than $US4.55 billion, which is only a conservative estimate.

"Destroying forests and other ecosystems instantly turns up the heat and reduces precipitation in the immediate vicinity where the destruction takes place, scorching soybean plants and inflicting great harm on the sector's profitability," said Rafaela Flach, the study's lead author.

"The economic fallout is big--and getting bigger, with serious impacts on global and local economics and food security. It's a local problem with global ramifications, and it's happening in tropical regions worldwide."

The research comes as Brazil faces its worst drought in almost a century, while deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has also expanded dramatically, setting new records for each of the past three months. With the fire season fast approaching, the overall trend has been one of accelerated ecosystem destruction with scant protection offered by the government. In three years, the Bolsonaro Administration has weakened 57 environmental laws, slashing environmental fines for illegal operations by 70% from March 2020 to August 2020 alone.

Scientists already have a well-established understanding of how tropical deforestation contributes to global climate change through emitting carbon and reducing the ability of the world's forests to take more carbon out of the atmosphere. A new body of research is emerging, showing how tropical deforestation has climate impacts beyond carbon: Deforestation immediately increases extreme heat locally and decreases regional and local rainfall.

These cascading impacts parch soil and harm crops and livestock, threatening agriculture both nearby and far away--with billion-dollar ramifications, as the report shows.

"The economic impacts of deforestation on extreme heat and reduced rainfall taken in isolation are troubling. But when we look at the impacts together and include climate change, the total effect can be overwhelming to the economy," said Flach. "While the global impacts should not be underestimated, the damage from ecosystem loss already being done to the Brazilian economy alone is severe."

In the new research, scientists analyzed the value of native vegetation in providing extreme heat regulation for soy production using two complementary approaches: soy revenue lost from the destruction of forests and other ecosystems and soy revenue gained from the conservation of these ecosystems.

For the analysis focused on ecosystem loss, they estimated the increased exposure to extreme heat for the amount of vegetation that was removed. For the conservation analysis, they modeled the value of standing forests and other ecosystems based on estimated regulation of extreme heat.

Soybean cultivation has expanded dramatically in Brazil, which is now the world's largest producer with 37% of global market share. Brazilian farmers have increased crop yields per hectare--from 1.7 to 3.2 tons per hectare between 1990 and 2019--while also expanding the land being planted--from 11.5 to 35.8 million ha between 1990 and 2019.

By 2019, soy constituted 49% of Brazilian cropland area and 41% of agricultural revenues. The two new studies reveal that farmers would have increased yields even more if they had not deforested, which would have held extreme heat at bay and maintained rainfall.

"The good news is that there's a win-win here. In the past and even today a lot of land is cleared to the detriment of food production and the climate" said Dr. Michael Obersteiner, a study co-author and the Director of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford. "The soy sector has a powerful opportunity to reduce this risk by stopping deforestation. In so doing, they benefit their industry--to say nothing of the major contribution to slowing global climate change."

PULLMAN, Wash. - After cutbacks and layoffs, remaining employees were more likely to feel they were treated fairly if the companies invested in them - and morale was less likely to plunge, according to new research.

Those investments can include training for workers, team-building exercises or improving company culture. Even keeping workloads manageable after layoffs can help employees' job attitudes, according to the Journal of Organizational Behavior study.

"Whenever possible, cost-cutting is best combined with signals that people remain the firm's most prized asset," said Jeff Joireman, the study's co-author and a professor in Washington State University's Carson College of Business.

Researchers reviewed 137 previous studies examining job attitudes before, during and after cost-cutting events or people-focused investments. By focusing on longitudinal studies that followed employees for up to two years after the events, they were able to document persistent changes in attitudes.

Layoffs, offshoring and other cost-cutting measures affect morale longer than most companies realize, according to Joireman and his co-authors from Vrije University in Amsterdam and Brussels.

For at least two years after the cost-cutting event, workers reported reduced job satisfaction and less loyalty toward the organization - with implications for the firms' productivity and employee turnover.

Cost-cutting measures shook up the employer-employee relationship, researchers found. Workers felt their employer had treated them unfairly, didn't care about them and had broken promises. Upgrading technology to reduce costs was the exception, generating a positive response from employees.

Investments in workers, on the other hand, led to employees feeling cared for and valued by their organizations, resulting in lasting improvements in job attitudes.

When investing in workers was combined with cost-cutting, employee job attitudes remained relatively stable over time. Company support for workers after downsizing was perceived as helping reestablish the employee-employer bond, the researchers found.

Joireman said the study's findings challenge assumptions that shifts in job attitudes are temporary.

"The prevailing attitude is that cost-cutting is really bad for employees' attitudes in the short-run, but in the long-run, employee's attitudes will return to the baseline," he said.

Without this kind of analysis, firms remain in the dark about the negative effects of cost-cutting over the long haul, and whether people-oriented interventions provide lasting benefits, Joireman added.

Human Usher syndrome (USH) is the most common form of hereditary deaf-blindness. Sufferers can be deaf from birth, suffer from balance disorders, and eventually lose their eyesight as the disease progresses. For some 25 years now, the research group led by Professor Uwe Wolfrum of the Institute of Molecular Physiology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has been conducting research into Usher syndrome. Working in cooperation with the group headed up by Professor Reinhard Lührmann at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, his team has now identified a novel pathomechanism leading to Usher syndrome. They have discovered that the Usher syndrome type 1G protein SANS plays a crucial role in regulating splicing process. Furthermore, the researchers have been able to demonstrate that defects in the SANS protein can lead to errors in the splicing of genes related to the Usher syndrome, which may provoke the disease.

Further research on how the SANS protein contributes to the development of blindness needed

"We are aiming to elucidate the molecular basis that leads to the degeneration of the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells in the eye in cases of Usher syndrome," said Professor Uwe Wolfrum. For sufferers with USH, cochlea implants can be used to compensate for hearing loss. However, there are currently no existing treatments for the associated blindness. The current investigation is focusing on one of the Usher syndrome proteins, the USH1G protein, known as SANS. Previous research undertaken by Wolfrum's team established that SANS acts as a scaffold protein. SANS has multiple domains to which other proteins can dock, thus ensuring correct cellular function. Mutations in the USH1G/SANS gene lead to malfunctions of the auditory and vestibular hair cells in the inner ear and of the photoreceptor cells of the retina, which are responsible for the sensory defects experienced by Usher syndrome patients.

It remains unclear how SANS contributes to pathogenic processes in the eye. Encoded by the USH1G gene, the protein is expressed in the photoreceptors of the retina and glia cells. "So far, we had thought of SANS simply as a scaffold molecule that participates in transport processes in the cytoplasm associated with ciliary extensions," said Wolfrum. "But recently, Adem Yildirim in his PhD thesis conducted in the International PhD Program (IPP) in Mainz discovered that SANS interacts with splicing factors to regulate pre-mRNA splicing."

SANS regulates the splicing of pre-mRNA

Splicing is an important process in path from the coding gene to the biosynthesis of proteins. What happens during splicing is that non-coding introns are removed from initially transcribed pre-mRNA or, in the case of alternative splicing, exons that are not required for the subsequent protein variant are excluded. The resulting mRNA is then used for protein biosynthesis. The splicing process is catalyzed in the nucleus by the spliceosome, a dynamic, highly complex molecular machine that is successively assembled during the splicing process from a number of subcomplexes of protein and RNA components.

"We were surprised by our finding that SANS is not only a component of the transport to cilia at the surface of the cell but also active in the nucleus and can modulate the splicing process there too", said Wolfrum, referring to their results published in Nucleic Acids Research. In the cell nucleus, SANS is responsible for transferring tri-snRNP complexes, or components of spliceosome subcomplexes, from the Cajal bodies, a kind of molecular assembly line, to the so-called nuclear speckles. In this compartment, tri-snRNP complexes bind to the spliceosome assembly to subsequently activate it. SANS is also likely to be involved in recycling the tri-snRNP components back to the Cajal bodies.

The absence of SANS and also pathogenic mutations of the USH1G/SANS gene prevent the spliceosome being correctly assembled and sequentially activated. This, in turn, suppresses the correct splicing of other Usher syndrome-related genes, ultimately leading to their dysfunction and therefore to the development of the disorder. "Thus, we provide the first evidence that splicing dysregulation may participate in the pathophysiology of Usher syndrome," is how the authors sum up their results in their article. And Professor Uwe Wolfrum added: "In addition to the new findings relating to the splicing mechanism, we have also identified new aspects that we aim to investigate with regard to developing concepts for the treatment and therapy of the Usher syndrome in future."

Co-authors Bulat Galimzyanov and Anatolii Mokshin (Department of Computational Physics) have developed a unique model that allows for a universal interpretation of experimental data on viscosity for systems of different types, while also proposing an alternative method for classifying materials based on a unified temperature scale.

The publication was funded by Russian Science Foundation's grant 'Theoretical, simulation and experimental studies of physical and mechanical features of amorphous systems with inhomogeneous local viscoelastic properties', guided by Professor Mokshin.

Using the developed viscosity model, scientists processed experimental data obtained for thirty different types of systems: from simple quartz glass to complex organic compounds such as salol and propylene carbonate.

"The model reproduces quite accurately the experimental temperature dependences of the viscosity of such materials both near the melting point and near the glass transition temperature, below which the system freezes while still preserving the liquid structure. At the same time, the model uses only two adjustable parameters. In comparison, other existing models use at least three of such parameters. Therefore, this model can be used to more accurately predict the low-temperature physical parameters of materials based on high-temperature characteristics such as thermal conductivity and entropy at the melting point," comments Associate Professor Galimzyanov.

The results were obtained using an original method of temperature scaling.

"Earlier, we have developed a method to scale the temperature and the phase diagram of various types of systems. This gave a toll to compare the experimental temperature dependences of the viscosity of systems regardless of their preparation conditions. This temperature scale formed the basis of the developed viscosity model, which made it possible to minimize the number of adjustable parameters and improve the accuracy of data approximation," adds Anatolii Mokshin.

The research contributes to making corrections to the existing methods of classification for glass-forming materials and to establishing a unified viscosity model for various types of compounds.

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat today released the first official draft of a new Global Biodiversity Framework to guide actions worldwide through 2030 to preserve and protect Nature and its essential services to people.

The framework includes 21 targets for 2030 that call for, among other things:

At least 30% of land and sea areas global (especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and its contributions to people) conserved through effective, equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas (and other effective area-based conservation measures)

A 50% of greater reduction in the rate of introduction of invasive alien species, and controls or eradication of such species to eliminate or reduce their impacts

Reducing nutrients lost to the environment by at least half, and pesticides by at least two thirds, and eliminating the discharge of plastic waste

Nature-based contributions to global climate change mitigation efforts of least 10 GtCO2e per year, and that all mitigation and adaptation efforts avoid negative impacts on biodiversity

Redirecting, repurposing, reforming or eliminating incentives harmful for biodiversity, in a just and equitable way, reducing them by at least $US 500 billion per year

A $US 200 billion increase in international financial flows from all sources to developing countries

More than two years in development, the Framework will undergo further refinement during online negotiations in late summer before being presented for consideration at CBD's next meeting of its 196 parties at COP15, scheduled for Kunming, China October 11-24.

The full Global Biodiversity Framework is available at cbd.int

The Four Goals for 2050:

The draft framework proposes four goals to achieve, by 2050, humanity "living in harmony with nature," a vision adopted by the CBD's 196 member parties in 2010.

Goal A: The integrity of all ecosystems is enhanced, with an increase of at least 15% in the area, connectivity and integrity of natural ecosystems, supporting healthy and resilient populations of all species, the rate of extinctions has been reduced at least tenfold, and the risk of species extinctions across all taxonomic and functional groups, is halved, and genetic diversity of wild and domesticated species is safeguarded, with at least 90% of genetic diversity within all species maintained.

Goal B: Nature's contributions to people have been valued, maintained or enhanced through conservation and sustainable use supporting the global development agenda for the benefit of all;

Goal C: The benefits from the utilization of genetic resources are shared fairly and equitably, with a substantial increase in both monetary and non-monetary benefits shared, including for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Goal D: The gap between available financial and other means of implementation, and those necessary to achieve the 2050 Vision, is closed.

Milestones to be reached by 2030

The four goals each have 2-3 broad milestones to be reached by 2030 (10 milestones in all):

Goal A:

Milestone A.1 Net gain in the area, connectivity and integrity of natural systems of at least 5%.

Milestone A.2 The increase in the extinction rate is halted or reversed, and the extinction risk is reduced by at least 10%, with a decrease in the proportion of species that are threatened, and the abundance and distribution of populations of species is enhanced or at least maintained.

Milestone A.3 Genetic diversity of wild and domesticated species is safeguarded, with an increase in the proportion of species that have at least 90% of their genetic diversity maintained.

Goal B:
M

Milestone B.1 Nature and its contributions to people are fully accounted and inform all relevant public and private decisions.

Milestone B.2 The long-term sustainability of all categories of nature's contributions to people is ensured, with those currently in decline restored, contributing to each of the relevant Sustainable Development Goals.

Goal C:

Milestone C.1 The share of monetary benefits received by providers, including holders of traditional knowledge, has increased.

Milestone C.2 Non-monetary benefits, such as the participation of providers, including holders of traditional knowledge, in research and development, has increased.

Goal D:

Milestone D.1 Adequate financial resources to implement the framework are available and deployed, progressively closing the financing gap up to at least US $700 billion per year by 2030.

Milestone D.2 Adequate other means, including capacity-building and development, technical and scientific cooperation and technology transfer to implement the framework to 2030 are available and deployed.

Milestone D.3 Adequate financial and other resources for the period 2030 to 2040 are planned or committed by 2030.

21 "Action Targets" for 2030

The framework then lists 21 associated "action targets" for 2030:

Reducing threats to biodiversity

Target 1

Ensure that all land and sea areas globally are under integrated biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning addressing land- and sea-use change, retaining existing intact and wilderness areas.

Target 2

Ensure that at least 20 per cent of degraded freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems are under restoration, ensuring connectivity among them and focusing on priority ecosystems.

Target 3

Ensure that at least 30 per cent globally of land areas and of sea areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and its contributions to people, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscapes and seascapes.

Target 4

Ensure active management actions to enable the recovery and conservation of species and the genetic diversity of wild and domesticated species, including through ex situ conservation, and effectively manage human-wildlife interactions to avoid or reduce human-wildlife conflict.

Target 5

Ensure that the harvesting, trade and use of wild species is sustainable, legal, and safe for human health.

Target 6

Manage pathways for the introduction of invasive alien species, preventing, or reducing their rate of introduction and establishment by at least 50 per cent, and control or eradicate invasive alien species to eliminate or reduce their impacts, focusing on priority species and priority sites.

Target 7

Reduce pollution from all sources to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity and ecosystem functions and human health, including by reducing nutrients lost to the environment by at least half, and pesticides by at least two thirds and eliminating the discharge of plastic waste.

Target 8

Minimize the impact of climate change on biodiversity, contribute to mitigation and adaptation through ecosystem-based approaches, contributing at least 10 GtCO2e per year to global mitigation efforts, and ensure that all mitigation and adaptation efforts avoid negative impacts on biodiversity.

Meeting people's needs through sustainable use and benefit-sharing

Target 9

Ensure benefits, including nutrition, food security, medicines, and livelihoods for people especially for the most vulnerable through sustainable management of wild terrestrial, freshwater and marine species and protecting customary sustainable use by indigenous peoples and local communities.

Target 10

Ensure all areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry are managed sustainably, in particular through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, increasing the productivity and resilience of these production systems.

Target 11

Maintain and enhance nature's contributions to regulation of air quality, quality and quantity of water, and protection from hazards and extreme events for all people.

Target 12

Increase the area of, access to, and benefits from green and blue spaces, for human health and well-being in urban areas and other densely populated areas.

Target 13

Implement measures at global level and in all countries to facilitate access to genetic resources and to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources, and as relevant, of associated traditional knowledge, including through mutually agreed terms and prior and informed consent.

Tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming

Target 14

Fully integrate biodiversity values into policies, regulations, planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies, accounts, and assessments of environmental impacts at all levels of government and across all sectors of the economy, ensuring that all activities and financial flows are aligned with biodiversity values.

Target 15

All businesses (public and private, large, medium and small) assess and report on their dependencies and impacts on biodiversity, from local to global, and progressively reduce negative impacts, by at least half and increase positive impacts, reducing biodiversity-related risks to businesses and moving towards the full sustainability of extraction and production practices, sourcing and supply chains, and use and disposal.

Target 16

Ensure that people are encouraged and enabled to make responsible choices and have access to relevant information and alternatives, taking into account cultural preferences, to reduce by at least half the waste and, where relevant the overconsumption, of food and other materials.

Target 17

Establish, strengthen capacity for, and implement measures in all countries to prevent, manage or control potential adverse impacts of biotechnology on biodiversity and human health, reducing the risk of these impacts.

Target 18

Redirect, repurpose, reform or eliminate incentives harmful for biodiversity, in a just and equitable way, reducing them by at least US$ 500 billion per year, including all of the most harmful subsidies, and ensure that incentives, including public and private economic and regulatory incentives, are either positive or neutral for biodiversity.

Target 19

Increase financial resources from all sources to at least US$ 200 billion per year, including new, additional and effective financial resources, increasing by at least US$ 10 billion per year international financial flows to developing countries, leveraging private finance, and increasing domestic resource mobilization, taking into account national biodiversity finance planning, and strengthen capacity-building and technology transfer and scientific cooperation, to meet the needs for implementation, commensurate with the ambition of the goals and targets of the framework.

Target 20

Ensure that relevant knowledge, including the traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities with their free, prior, and informed consent, guides decision?making for the effective management of biodiversity, enabling monitoring, and by promoting awareness, education and research.

Target 21

Ensure equitable and effective participation in decision-making related to biodiversity by indigenous peoples and local communities, and respect their rights over lands, territories and resources, as well as by women and girls, and youth.

Says CBD Executive Secretary Elizabeth Maruma Mrema: "Urgent policy action globally, regionally and nationally is required to transform economic, social and financial models so that the trends that have exacerbated biodiversity loss will stabilize by 2030 and allow for the recovery of natural ecosystems in the following 20 years, with net improvements by 2050."

"The framework aims to galvanize this urgent and transformative action by Governments and all of society, including indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society, youth and businesses and financial institutions. It will be implemented primarily through national-level activities, supported by subnational, regional and global-level actions."

"This is a global, outcome-oriented framework for the Convention's 196 Parties to develop national and regional goals and targets, to update national strategies and action plans as needed, and to facilitate regular monitoring and review of progress at the global level."

Implementation

The draft Global Biodiversity Framework notes that effective implementation requires mobilizing resources from both the public and private finance sectors, ongoing identification of risk associated with biodiversity loss capacity development, technical and scientific cooperation, technology transfer and innovation.

It also calls for integration with relevant multilateral environmental agreements and other relevant international processes, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and strengthening cooperation.

Successful implementation will also depend on effective outreach, awareness and uptake by all stakeholders, a comprehensive system for planning, monitoring, reporting and review that allows for transparent communication of progress, rapid course correction, and timely input in the preparation of a post-2030 Global Biodiversity Framework.

Background

Biodiversity and its benefits are fundamental to human well-being and a healthy planet. Despite ongoing efforts, biodiversity is deteriorating worldwide and this decline is projected to continue or worsen under business-as-usual scenarios.

The post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework builds on the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and sets out an ambitious plan to implement broad-based action to bring about a transformation in society's relationship with biodiversity and to ensure that, by 2050, the shared vision of living in harmony with nature is fulfilled.

The draft framework reflects input from the second meeting of a Working Group managing the framework's creation, as well as submissions received. The draft will be further updated in late summer with the benefit of input from the 24th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice and the 3rd meeting of the Subsidiary Body in Implementation, as well as the advice from thematic consultations.

Relationship with 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The framework will contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At the same time, progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals will help to provide the conditions necessary to implement the framework.

Theory of change

The framework's theory of change assumes that transformative actions are taken to (a) put in place tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming, (b) reduce the threats to biodiversity and (c) ensure that biodiversity is used sustainably in order to meet people's needs and that these actions are supported by (i) enabling conditions, and (ii) adequate means of implementation, including financial resources, capacity and technology. It also assumes that progress is monitored in a transparent and accountable manner with adequate stocktaking exercises to ensure that, by 2030, the world is on a path to reach the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity.

The theory of change for the framework acknowledges the need for appropriate recognition of gender equality, women's empowerment, youth, gender-responsive approaches and the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in the implementation of this framework. Further, it is built upon the recognition that its implementation will be done in partnership with many organizations at the global, national and local levels to leverage ways to build a momentum for success. It will be implemented taking a rights-based approach and recognizing the principle of intergenerational equity.

The theory of change is complementary to and supportive of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It also takes into account the long-term strategies and targets of other multilateral environment agreements, including the biodiversity-related and Rio conventions, to ensure synergistic delivery of benefits from all the agreements for the planet and people.

For 30 years, University of Tokyo Associate Professor Hisayoshi Nozaki has traveled an hour west of Tokyo to visit the Sagami River and collect algal samples to understand how living things evolved different sexes. Through new analysis of samples collected in 2007 and 2013 from dam lakes along the river, Lake Sagami and Lake Tsukui, researchers identified a species of freshwater algae that evolved three different sexes, all of which can breed in pairs with each other.

This phenomenon of three sexes is slightly different from hermaphroditism. In species that normally have two sexes, a hermaphroditic individual who can produce both the male and female sex cells usually exists due to unusual gene expression. Many plants and some invertebrate species have three sexes due to normal gene expression, but this is the first time a species of algae or fungi has been identified with three sexes.

The threes sexes of the Pleodorina starrii algae are male, female, and a third sex that researchers call bisexual in reference to the fact that it can produce both male and female sex cells in a single genotype and exists due to normal expression of the species' genes. These algae are 32- or 64-celled organisms and have small mobile (male) and large immobile (female) sex cells.

"It seems very uncommon to find a species with three sexes, but in natural conditions, I think it may not be so rare," said Nozaki, the last author of the research paper published in Evolution.

Evoluntionarily ancient living things have sex cells that are similar in appearance and known as plus or minus, rather than male or female. More recently evolved species usually have dramatic differences between the sex cells, like the large egg and small spermatozoa of humans.

Nozaki and his colleagues are interested in Pleodorina starrii because it and its close evolutionary cousins use different sex systems, so they are useful models to study the genetics of how sex evolved. P. starrii had been identified decades prior, but had not been studied in detail.

In the lab, researchers can watch green P. starrii cells grow in spherical colonies with other individuals of their sex. Male colonies are recognizable by the clear packets of sperm they release into the water. The sperm packets swim until they hit a female colony, then split up into individual sperm cells that enter individual female cells and combine to produce a new generation.

Researchers separate colonies and then deprive them of nutrients to force them to reproduce sexually. In isolation, colonies reproduce asexually, forming cloned colonies of their same genotype. Isolated colonies of one sex can be mixed with isolated colonies of another sex and the ratio of their offsprings' sexes can be useful clues for researchers to understand the genetics of sex determination.

In 2006, Nozaki and other University of Tokyo experts were the first to find a male-specific gene in P. starrii, which they named OTOKOGI, a Japanese word meaning "manly." In 2010, they found a group of female-only genes and named them HIBOTAN, or "scarlet peony," after a 1960s film franchise where the lead female character had a red flower tattoo.

After genetic analysis and more mating trials, researchers eventually concluded that P. starrii has a "bisexual-factor" gene that is likely located on a chromosome separate from the OTOKOGI and HIBOTAN sex genes. Cells in genetically bisexual P. starrii possess both OTOKOGI and bisexual-factor genes, but they can produce normal male or female colonies when they reproduce sexually with other P. starrii colonies.

Genetically male P. starrii have only the OTOKOGI male-type gene and genetically female can have either only the female-type HIBOTAN genes or both HIBOTAN and the bisexual-factor genes.

More experiments are needed to understand genes in more detail, but researchers suspect that the bisexual factor may only be active in the presence of the "manly" OTOKOGI.

"This finding was possible because of our very long-term experience of going on field collection trips and our practice growing and studying algae. Continued, long-term studies are very important to unveil the true nature of species in the natural world," Nozaki commented.

China's first meteorological satellite launched in 1988. It was named Fengyun, which roughly translates to "wind and cloud". Since then, 17 more Fengyun meteorological satellites were launched, with seven still in operation, to monitor Earth's wind, clouds and, more recently, extreme weather events such as hurricanes and wildfires. With more than 30 years of Earth observational data freely available to international partners, the Fengyun Meteorological Satellite program works as part of Earth's operational observation system, along with the United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellites and Europe's polar orbiting meteorological satellite series to provide a more complete picture weather events and their global impacts

To highlight the Fengyun satellites' data applications and to encourage further research among domestic and international collaborators, Advances in Atmospheric Sciences published a special issue titled, "Fengyun Meteorological Satellites: Data, Application and Assessment," on 10 July, 2021. It's the first time international communities' evaluation and application of Fengyun satellites are collectively published in a journal.

The special issue is a culmination of research initiated at a 2019 conference for international users to develop a comprehensive, integrated approach for exchanging ideas and promoting global applications of the satellite data, according to Peng Zhang, the deputy director of the National Satellite Meteorological Center of the China Meteorological Administration. More than 200 people representing more than 30 countries attended. Since then, international users have applied the data in various research projects, and Zhang said the intention is for collaborations to grow as the data capabilities expand.

"In the last decade, great efforts have been made to improve the performance of the satellites and their on-board instrumentation," said Zhang, who organized the special issue. "With extensive, multi-modal observational capabilities on Fengyun satellites, international communities have and will continue to make use of this data."

Such capabilities include image navigation, radiometric calibration, multiband optical imaging, atmospheric sounding, microwave imaging, hyperspectral trace gas detection, full-band radiation budget measuring and more -- in short, an extensive list of ways to monitor weather events and atmospheric changes of Earth. Zhang also co-authored a data description paper, which summarizes not only the data available, but how international users can access it.

The critical factor, Zhang said, is in how these data can be applied. The rest of the special issue features work undertaken in each of the 2019 conference's sections: retrieval algorithms, used to interpret raw data; products validation, which cross-references satellite data with earth-based observations; numerical weather predictions, or how to predict future weather using models of current atmospheric conditions; and climate and environmental predictions, which involves using satellite data to estimate surface effects of atmospheric changes.

On 5 July, Fengyun 3E, the world's first early morning orbit weather satellite was launched, and it will improve global weather forecast by filling in the data gap in a certain time of a day and assist in achieving 100 percent global data coverage every six hours.

"Fengyun satellites will continue to play an important role in Earth sciences in the future, especially as the international community continues to collaborate and apply this data to research that benefits us all," Zhang said. "The new epoch for comprehensive Earth observations has begun."

"All living beings, including us, depend on photosynthesis," says Prof. Wataru Sakamoto of the Institute of Plant Science and Resources at Okayama University, Japan, as he begins to explain the core concepts behind a recent breakthrough in understanding plant physiology, which he was involved in. "Photosynthesis produces the energy needed to sustain plants and the oxygen we breathe. This reaction occurs in two steps, the first of which involves capturing light energy
and producing oxygen. This step takes place in a cell organelle in the plant cells called the chloroplast: specifically, in the membranes of one of its components, the thylakoid. The thylakoid membrane is unique to oxygen?producing organisms like plants and cyanobacteria,
and its role has been known for over 200 years. Yet, even today in the technology age, the precise mechanisms that that shape this structure are unknown to us."

Now, Prof. Sakamoto and an international team of scientists have answered part of this question by focusing on a membrane remodeling protein, called VIPP1, which has been found to be involved in maintaining the integrity of the thylakoid membrane. Using high resolution imaging via cryo?electron microscopy, they've elucidated the mechanism by which this protein protects thylakoid membrane integrity. Their findings are published in the journal Cell.

Speaking of his motivation for being part of this study, Prof. Sakamoto says, "Chloroplasts in land plants are thought to have been derived from the endosymbiosis of cyanobacteria in plants 1.5 billion years ago. I was very fascinated by this during my college years and decided to study such organelles containing multiple membranes and their own DNA, like mitochondria and chloroplasts. In my laboratory, I have been working on VIPP1 since 2006, and have reported several of its important characteristics."

In this study, what the scientists observed was remarkable. Three VIPP1 monomers 'flex and interweave' in a specific formation to create a nucleotide binding pocket. Nucleotide binding to specific layers of such interwoven monomers cause layer stacking that results in basketlike structures of different symmetries. A part of the monomer is an amphiphilic--structure containing both water?attracting and water?repelling portions--helix. Within the basket
structure, these helices are oriented such that their hydrophilic (water?attracting) portions face the outside of the basket and their hydrophobic (water?repelling) portions face the inside of the basket. The hydrophobic portions are also lipid (fat) attracting. Thylakoid membranes, like most cell membranes, are lipid membranes. The hydrophobic interior of the basket structure binds to the membrane and remodels it by increasing its curvature.

In their experiments, when the scientists added mutations to prevent the hydrophobic surfaces from forming, stress on the membrane from high intensity light caused the thylakoid membrane to swell up and get damaged. This damage did not occur in membranes which had access to VIPP1 oligomers with hydrophobic surfaces.

Dr. Sakamoto explains the importance of these results in the field of research: "Our study reports that the membrane?remodeling protein VIPP1 plays a critical role in maintaining thylakoid membranes. This protein appears to share a common structure with ESCRT?III, which
is important in membrane remodeling in humans and yeast, indicating that the mechanism at play here is a common mechanism regulating membrane integrity." Further referring to more tangible potential practical applications, he says: "Thylakoid is key to photosynthesis. Understanding its structure in detail can help crop production and thus food security. For instance, improving thylakoid membrane longevity can improve crop productivity." And of course, all things considered, this finding resolves a long?standing mystery in the biology underlying photosynthesis.