Area burned by severe fire increased 8-fold in western US over past four decades

The number of wildfires and the amount of land they consume in the western U.S. has substantially increased since the 1980s, a trend often attributed to ongoing climate change. Now, new research finds fires are not only becoming more common in the western U.S. but the area burned at high severity is also increasing, a trend that may lead to long-term forest loss.

The new findings show warmer temperatures and drier conditions are driving an eight-fold increase in annual area burned by high severity fire across western forests from 1985-2017. In total, annual area burned by high severity wildfires -- defined as those that kill more than 95% of trees -- increased by more than 450,000 acres.

"As more area burns at high severity, the likelihood of conversion to different forest types or even to non-forest increases," said Sean Parks, a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and lead author of the new study. "At the same time, the post-fire climate is making it increasingly difficult for seedlings to establish and survive, further reducing the potential for forests to return to their pre-fire condition."

Parks will present the results Wednesday, 9 December at AGU's Fall Meeting 2020. The findings are also published in AGU's journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Scientists have known for years that wildfires are on the rise in the western U.S., coincident with recent long-term droughts and warmer temperatures. Many western states, especially parts of California, have undergone several multi-year droughts over the past four decades, a fact scientists attribute to human-caused changes to the climate. However, it is less clear how fire severity has changed over the past half century.

In the new study, Parks and John Abatzoglou, an atmospheric scientist at the University of California Merced, used satellite imagery to assess fire severity in four large regions in the western U.S. from 1985 to 2017. Rather than analyze the amount of area burned each year, they instead looked at the area burned at high severity, which is more likely to adversely impact forest ecosystems and human safety and infrastructure.

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"The amount of area burned during a given year is an imperfect metric for assessing fire impacts," Parks said. "There was a substantial amount of fire in the western U.S. prior to Euro-American colonization, but that fire did not likely have the extreme effects that we're seeing now."

Beneficial fires

Wildfires were historically a common component of many forest ecosystems, especially in dry areas that receive little or sporadic rainfall. Fire was such a common occurrence in some regions that many tree species -- especially certain species of pine -- evolved traits that allow them to not only survive fires but to facilitate their ignition as well.

In the mountainous slopes of California, for example, ponderosa pines, sugar pines and giant sequoias sport thick bark that keeps the living tissue underneath insulated from extreme heat. Some tree species also drop the branches growing closest to the ground, which might otherwise allow fires to climb up into the canopy.

Species like jack pines are so dependent on fire that their seeds are unable to effectively disperse until a passing blaze melts the resinous coating surrounding their cones. And the slender, needle-like leaves of pines dry out more quickly than the broad leaves of deciduous hardwoods, making them excellent kindling.

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The catch is these trees evolved to cope with frequent, low-intensity fires. During a severe fire, even the most well-adapted plants can succumb to mortality. If too many trees die, forest regrowth can be impeded by the lack of viable seeds.

"Forest burned at high severity bears the biggest ecological impacts from a fire," said Philip Dennison, a fire scientist at the University of Utah who was unaffiliated with the study. "These are the areas that are going to take the longest to recover, and in many places that recovery has been put into question due to higher temperatures and drought."

A 2019 study authored by Parks found up to 15% of intermountain forests in the western U.S. are at risk of disappearing. In dry regions, such as the southwestern U.S., that number increases to 30% when assuming fires burn under extreme weather.

As western North America continues to reel from the vice-like grip of droughts and increasing temperatures, scientists expect severe fires will become even more common.

"One take home message is that fire severity is elevated in warmer and drier years in the western U.S., and we expect that climate change will result in even warmer and drier years in the future," Parks said.

#Nature | https://sciencespies.com/nature/area-burned-by-severe-fire-increased-8-fold-in-western-us-over-past-four-decades/

Animals Are Using Utah's Largest Wildlife Overpass Earlier Than Expected

Why did the moose cross Interstate 80? Because three-and-a-half miles of fencing guided it to Utah’s largest wildlife overpass.

Utah’s Department of Transportation completed the bridge in 2018, and new video from the state’s Division of Wildlife Resources shows dozens of animals using it to cross safely above six lanes of traffic, Leah Asmelash reports for CNN.

The overpass is 50 feet wide and 320 feet long, and its location was picked strategically based on animals’ migratory patterns, according to Atlas Obscura. Experts originally anticipated that local wildlife could take years to get used to the new, animal-friendly infrastructure, UDOT spokesman John Gleason told Park Record’s Angelique McNaughton in 2018. But in the last two years, cameras placed along the bridge’s guardrail captured footage of not only the expected deer, moose and elk, but also predators and small mammals.

Utah plans to conduct a full analysis of how the bridge has improved safety for wildlife—and people—after it’s been open for three to five years.

In a video posted on Facebook on November 19, viewers can watch moose, deer and elk trot across the bridge. In other clips, black bears wander up and down the path. And in another segment, a bobcat carries a small mammal in its mouth while walking across the bridge at night. Boulders and logs are strewn across the bridge to help it blend in with the landscape on either side and encourage animals to use it. And the animals do—a camera captured a big cat scratching and stretching on one of the logs.

“As you can see, the 2nd year of this overpass has been successful at helping wildlife safely migrate over busy Interstate 80 and helping motorists be much safer as well,” Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources writes in the video’s caption.

In the two years before the overpass was built, UDOT recorded 106 collisions between vehicles and animals, which killed 98 deer, three moose, two raccoons, two elk and one cougar, per Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune. The count led the non-profit organization Save People Save Wildlife to dub the road section “Slaughter Row,” reports Park Record. The wildlife overpass was built as part of a larger UDOT project that also added a climbing truck lane and replaced several miles of asphalt.

The overpass incorporates over three miles of fencing stretching in both directions away from the bridge in order to guide wildlife toward the safe point to cross. After one year, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources was surprised to see that cougars, coyotes, and yellow-bellied marmots had joined deer and moose crossing the bridge. This year’s footage shows bears and porcupines joined the mix.

“It's great to see so many different animals using the overpass,” said Utah Department of Transportation spokesman John Gleason to the Salt Lake Tribune in 2019.

The benefit is not just to animals, but to drivers as well. Gleason continued, “From what we can tell, the number of accidents there is down dramatically. At least initially, it appears the investment in safety is paying off. And we expected it to take several years before the animals got used to using it, so this is great.”

It will be a few more years until Utah has its official results of the I-80 overpass. But studies of wildlife crossings in Florida, Australia and Mexico have shown that they save both human and animal lives by preventing collisions.

“You can get reductions of 85 to 95 percent with crossings and fencing that guide animals under or over highways,” said Rob Ament, the road ecology program manager at the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University, to National Geographic’s Starre Vartan in 2019.

But Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources has repeatedly emphasized that the overpass is for animals only. Despite the warnings, guardrail cameras have spotted people walking and skiing across the new overpass, which is not only trespassing, but also puts people at risk of running into dangerous animals like moose, reported the Salt Lake Tribune.

“Please keep off of this overpass,” Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources notes in the new video’s caption. The point of the overpass, after all, is to keep people and wildlife at a safe distance.

#News | https://sciencespies.com/news/animals-are-using-utahs-largest-wildlife-overpass-earlier-than-expected/

Megalodons, the Ocean's Most Ferocious Prehistoric Predators, Raised Their Young in Nurseries

Millions of years ago, monstrously sized sharks named megalodons dominated the ocean. These giants grew larger than modern day humpback whales, casually snacked on animals like dolphins and seals, had the strongest bite force of any creature to ever exist—yes, including T. rex. But despite being fierce predators, a new study published last week in the journal Biology Letters suggests that megalodons were pretty good parents and raised their young in nurseries, reports Mindy Weisberger for Live Science.

Nurseries provide a safe haven for baby sharks to grow before they depart to take on the great blue sea. They are typically found in warm, shallow waters, such as coral reefs and mangroves, that offer an abundance of food. Nurseries also shield baby sharks from predators and protect them as they learn to hunt, reports Melissa Cristina Márquez for Forbes. And this behavior didn't die out with the megalodons—some modern-day shark species, like great whites and catsharks, also raise their young in nurseries.

"I just find it fascinating that even what many call the ‘biggest and baddest shark of all time’ had to spend the first few years of its life growing up in a special location before it could dominate the oceans itself," Phillip Sternes, a shark researcher at University of California, Riverside, who was not involved in the study, tells Forbes.

In this new study, a team of scientists analyzed a set of 25 megalodon teeth collected around northeastern Spain. The teeth were much too small to belong to the fully grown giants, so the scientists figured that the teeth must have belonged to juveniles, reports Lucy Hicks for Science. Fossil evidence also suggests that millions of years ago, the same region had shallow shorelines, warm water and flourishing marine life, which would have made it a perfect place for baby sharks to thrive. Given the collection of baby teeth and the geography of the area, the scientists determined that a megalodon nursery must have existed there, reports Eleonore Hughes for Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Armed with new information about megalodon shark nurseries, the scientists analyzed nearly 500 more megalodon teeth collected from eight different spots around the world to figure out where other nurseries could have existed. They identified four more potential nursery sites—two in the United States and two in Panama—ranging in age from 3.6 million years old to 16 million years old.

In 2010, a different team, including Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute scientists, discovered a megalodon nursery in Panama from 10 million years ago. At the time, the team wasn't sure if megalodon nurseries were widespread or a random occurrence. This new study adds substantial evidence that baby megalodons were raised in nurseries, Science reports.

This discovery also offers a new theory to how the world's most ferocious predator went extinct more than 3 million years ago, which remains a pervasive mystery. They know that megalodons thrived during a period of warm temperatures that lasted for millions of years. But as the climate cooled about 5 million years ago, it could have reduced the availability of suitable nurseries for the sharks to raise their young. And without good nurseries, juveniles wouldn't have survived, which could have helped drive the species to extinction, reports AFP.

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#News | https://sciencespies.com/news/megalodons-the-oceans-most-ferocious-prehistoric-predators-raised-their-young-in-nurseries/

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to leave agency in January

SAN FRANCISCO — Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, who oversaw the agency’s work to streamline space-related regulation, announced plans to leave his post Jan. 20, 2021.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve at the Federal Communications Commission, including as Chairman of the FCC over the past four years,” Pai said in a statement. “I am grateful to President Trump for giving me the opportunity to lead the agency in 2017, to President Obama for appointing me as a Commissioner in 2012, and to Senate Majority Leader McConnell and the Senate for twice confirming me.  To be the first Asian-American to chair the FCC has been a particular privilege.”

During Pai’s tenure, the FCC streamlined satellite licensing regulations for commercial space startups and established rules for the upcoming auction of 300 megahertz of satellite C-band spectrum for 5G cellular network operators, prompting 13 orders for new C-band satellites.

“It’s also been an honor to work with my fellow Commissioners to execute a strong and broad agenda,” Pai said in a statement. “Together, we’ve delivered for the American people over the past four years: closing the digital divide; promoting innovation and competition, from 5G on the ground to broadband from space; protecting consumers; and advancing public safety. ”

While Pai was chairman, the FCC also announced plans to award $20 billion in broadband subsidies under the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and granted Ligado Networks permission to deploy a low-power broadband network opposed by commercial satellite operators, the U.S. Defense Department and the Commerce Department due to concern it would disrupt GPS signals.

#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/fcc-chairman-ajit-pai-to-leave-agency-in-january/

The Impact Of Covid-19 Is Forcing Companies To Adopt New Technology [Infographic]

Recently IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity, released the results of a survey about the most important technologies in the coming year. In that survey they asked 350 CIOs and CTOs in the US, UK, China, India, and Brazil about the impact of Covid-19 on technology adoption and cybersecurity. Their answers are shedding some light on how the world will change in 2021.

The global pandemic has had and continues to have, a heavy impact on the world. The depth of that impact may not be completely understood for years to come but in the meantime companies all over the world are doing their best to adapt to the situation at hand. One of the ways companies are adapting to the situation is by adopting and accelerating new technology to help them prepare for the challenges brought on by Covid-19.

The IEEE survey asked CTOs and CIOs about the more important technologies to adopt in the upcoming year and their answers were enlightening. Among their top answers were accelerated adoption of cloud computing, 5G, as well as AI and machine learning. Other answers included the internet of things, augmented/virtual reality, and video conferencing.

Technology Adoption, Acceleration and Disaster Preparedness due to COVID-19

Kander10 Designs

In addition to accelerating the adoption of certain technologies companies are also preparing themselves for potential large-scale issues like data breaches and natural disasters. According to the survey, 92% consider themselves better prepared and more than half agree that Covid-19 was responsible for motivating the change. In addition to that preparedness, many companies have had to increase their cybersecurity to help compensate for the existence of a mobile workforce, employees using personal devices, and to ensure that workplace data remains secure. It seems that in this category there is still work to be done because only a third of those surveyed can track and manage 26-50% of the devices connected to their business and about a fifth can handle 51-75%.

Cybersecurity and preparing for the worst

Kander10 Designs

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As the pandemic continues, we can only guess at its overall impact. For now, we will all have to move forward with the information we have and hope that the decisions we are making are for the best.

#News | https://sciencespies.com/news/the-impact-of-covid-19-is-forcing-companies-to-adopt-new-technology-infographic/

It's not too late to save 102 species at risk of extinction

The Fraser River estuary in British Columbia is home to 102 species at risk of extinction. A new study says it's not too late to save these species if action is taken now.

"There is currently no overarching plan to save them. If we don't act quickly, many species, including species of salmon and southern resident killer whales, are likely to be functionally extinct in the next 25 years," says senior author Tara Martin, a professor of conservation science at UBC, in a paper published today in Conservation Science and Practice.

The Fraser estuary is the largest on the Pacific coast of North America. More than three million people in B.C.'s Lower Mainland live near the Fraser River, and many of them rely on these species and ecosystems for their livelihoods, culture and well-being.

Applying a conservation decision framework called Priority Threat Management developed by Martin and her team, the authors brought together over 65 experts in the ecology and management of species that utilize the Fraser River estuary to identify conservation actions, estimate their benefit to species recovery, their cost and feasibility.

The plan includes the implementation of an environmental co-governance body that sees First Nation, federal and provincial governments working together with municipalities, NGOs and industry to implement these strategies. The research finds that co-governance underpins conservation success in urban areas, by increasing the feasibility of management strategies.

Throughout history, humans have settled in areas of high biodiversity. Today, these areas are home to our biggest urban centres with biodiversity at increasing risk from escalating cumulative threats.

Lead author Laura Kehoe, who did the work while a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Victoria and UBC, says it's not too late to save these species if we act now.

"The price tag is $381 million over 25 years or $15 million a year and invests in strategies ranging from aquatic habitat restoration and transport regulation to green infrastructure and public land management. This amounts to less than $6 per person a year in Greater Vancouver -- the price of a single beer or latte."

The authors acknowledge that identifying the management strategies to conserve species within such regions, and ensuring effective governance to oversee their implementation, presents enormous challenges -- yet the cost of not acting is staggering.

"Not only do we risk losing these species from the region, but the co-benefits from investing in these conservation actions are enormous," explains Martin. "For example, along with generating more than 40 full-time jobs for 25 years, historically the value of a Fraser salmon fishery exceeds $300 million a year, and whale watching is more than $26 million. If we lose thriving populations of these species, we lose these industries. Our study suggests that investing in conservation creates jobs and economic opportunities."

Crucially, the study found that future major industrial developments, including the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline and Roberts Bank port terminal expansion, jeopardizes the future of many of these species including the southern resident killer whale, salmon and sturgeon, and the migratory western sandpiper.

The study concludes that biodiversity conservation in heavily urbanized areas is not a lost cause but requires urgent strategic planning, attention to governance, and large-scale investment.

#Environment | https://sciencespies.com/environment/its-not-too-late-to-save-102-species-at-risk-of-extinction/

Report concludes former Spaceport America director violated state law

WASHINGTON — The ousted director of New Mexico’s Spaceport America repeatedly violated state law and policies while running the commercial launch site in a “dysfunctional” manner, according to a report prepared for state officials.

The New Mexico Office of the State Auditor released a report Nov. 24 that outlined evidence of numerous violations of procurement laws, open meeting acts and other state policies by Dan Hicks, who served for nearly four years as executive director of the spaceport, best known as the operations base for suborbital spaceflight company Virgin Galactic.

The report “details a severe breakdown of internal controls that resulted in possible waste and abuse of taxpayer funds,” the office said in a statement about the investigation.

The state government put Hicks on administrative leave June 12 after Zach DeGregorio, at the time the spaceport’s director of finance and administration, filed a complaint with state officials about what he believed were improper activities by Hicks. DeGregorio resigned from the spaceport later that month. The board of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority voted Oct. 16 to fire Hicks.

Officials hired a private firm, The McHard Group, to investigate those claims. Their 362-page report found, in their view, ample evidence that both Hicks and DeGregorio violated laws and policies, from improper contracting processes to conducting business by the spaceport’s board outside of public meetings to filing false travel vouchers.

The report described in detail examples of Hicks’ violations of law and policy. Investigators said Hicks justified trips to meetings of the National Space Council and its advisory group by claiming he was a member, which was not the case. Hicks issued contract solicitations and selected awardees often without the approval of the spaceport’s board as required. There was also a “lack of controls” over the spaceport’s budget, including overspending that put the spaceport at times in danger of running out of money.

The report concluded that, based on the evidence, “Dan Hicks violated criminal and administrative statues, as well as the State of New Mexico Governmental Compliance Act, and Governor [Michelle] Lujan Grisham’s Code of Conduct, during his tenure as Director of the Spaceport.”

The report also described Hicks as an “extremely dysfunctional manager” and “at times a forceful bully” who sought greater control over the management of the spaceport, and its budget, than allowed by state law. That alarmed the spaceport’s anchor tenant, Virgin Galactic, “who became increasingly dissatisfied with Mr. Hicks’ management” and complained to the governor’s office.

While DeGregorio filed the complaint that triggered the investigation, the report found he was also complicit in violations of law and policy. “Mr. DeGregorio collaborated with Mr. Hicks to circumvent rules to procure contracts, spend money on unapproved travel, file materially false vouchers, move money off approved [purchase orders] to cover other expenditures, and generally fail to control the Spaceport’s finances in any responsible way.”

The report, submitted to the Office of the State Auditor two days before the spaceport’s board voted to fire Hicks, recommended that its findings be referred to the state attorney general for a formal criminal investigation.

In a statement, Alicia Keyes, secretary of New Mexico’s Economic Development Department, whose oversight includes Spaceport America, said she was aware of management issues at the spaceport early this year. The report mentions in passing a meeting that state officials held with Hicks in March “in which he was chastised for inappropriate behavior and given an ultimatum.”

“The Economic Development Department, supported by the governor, moved quickly to investigate allegations of impropriety at the spaceport,” Keyes said in that statement. “It is now time to move forward and repair the breakdowns that allowed these abuses to happen.”

How that repair process will go forward remains unclear. Scott McLaughlin, director of business development at Spaceport America, has been serving as interim executive director since June, but state officials have not announced a timetable for selecting a new executive director. The spaceport’s board, chaired by Keyes, is scheduled to meet Dec. 2.

#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/report-concludes-former-spaceport-america-director-violated-state-law/

In fire-prone West, plants need their pollinators -- and vice versa

2020 is the worst fire year on record in the United States, with nearly 13 million acres burned, 14,000 structures destroyed and an estimated $3 billion spent on fire suppression -- and counting. At the same time, certain land managers have invested huge amounts of time and resources toward restoring fire through "controlled burn" approaches.

In the face of heartbreaking losses, effort and expense, scientists are still grappling with some of the most basic questions about how fire influences interactions between plants and animals in the natural world.

A new study grounded in the northern Rockies explores the role of fire in the finely tuned dance between plants and their pollinators. Published Nov. 25 in the Journal of Ecology, the findings from researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, Marquette University, Montana State University and The Wilderness Society are particularly significant in light of recent reports about the rapid and widespread decline of insects globally.

"A large number of studies have looked at how fire affects plants, or how fire affects animals. But what is largely understudied is the question of how fire affects both, and about how linkages within those ecological networks might respond to fire disturbance," said Jonathan Myers, associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, a co-author of the study.

The researchers discovered that wildfire disturbance and plant-pollinator interactions are both important in determining where plants take root and where pollinators are found. But in burned landscapes, plant-pollinator interactions are generally as important or more important than any other factor in determining the composition of species present.

The importance of flowering-plant species in determining the composition of pollinator species doubled to quadrupled following wildfire. In addition, the importance of pollinators in determining plant composition nearly doubled following wildfire.

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"Clearly, pollinators perform a valuable ecosystem service for humans by pollinating all our crops. In intact natural ecosystems, they perform an equally valuable service," said Joseph LaManna, assistant professor of biological sciences at Marquette University, first author of the study. "What we are seeing is that plant and pollinator linkages become even more important in disturbed or burned landscapes. These connections are important for restoring ecosystems in which natural wildfire regimes have been altered or suppressed by human activities.

"And as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of wildfires, the potential for biodiversity loss -- for losses of individual plant or pollinator species -- is going to be even more profound than we anticipated," he said.

Feeling the burn

Wildfire in the northern Rockies can be ignited by lightning -- but more and more, it is started by people.

Historically, wildfires tended to burn hot in some spots and cold in others, resulting in a patchwork or mosaic of differing levels of fire disturbance. But with rising global temperatures, the plant debris and other materials that fuel fires are drying out. That trend combined with decades of active fire suppression has resulted in a shift from a majority mixed-severity wildfire regime to today's high-severity blazes.

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For this study, co-author Laura Burkle at Montana State University led the field inventories of plants and pollinators at 152 plots in Montana representing a wildfire gradient including plots with no recent wildfire (unburned), mixed-severity wildfire and high-severity wildfire. LaManna and Myers worked with Burkle and Travis Belote of The Wilderness Society to analyze the data.

At the sites they compared, the scientists found that the number of individual bees, flies and butterflies -- and the flowering plants they frequent -- were higher in parts of the landscape that had burned, as opposed to those that hadn't burned.

However, increases were greater in areas that had experienced mixed-severity wildfire, which leaves some vegetation intact in a mosaic of habitat types, as opposed to high-severity wildfire, which largely removes all vegetation and can damage the soil and seed bank.

For example, flowering-plant abundances increased more than 10-fold in mixed-severity wildfire and more than nine-fold in high-severity wildfire compared with unburned areas. Overall the researchers identified 329 pollinator species and 193 flowering-plant species.

"Oftentimes, the public perception about fire in general is that it is bad. But it was impressive how much higher the abundances of both plants and pollinators were -- as well as the number of species -- in the burned landscapes compared with the unburned landscapes," Myers said.

Leave it to the bees

Although this study shows that fire increased abundances and species diversity of pollinators and flowering plants overall, the intensity of the fire matters. Hotter, high-severity burns can eliminate landscape features that pollinators require, like stumps or woody debris for nesting. Mixed-severity wildfire is most beneficial.

Around the world, pollinator populations are in decline. The northern Rockies are no exception to this troubling trend.

"Thanks to this project, we now have very in-depth knowledge of local pollinator communities, especially the bee communities," Burkle said. "One of the benefits of these data is to be able to provide expert knowledge about declining pollinator species and species of concern, like the Western Bumble Bee (Bombus occidentalis), which is currently being considered for federal listing under the Endangered Species Act.

"When we think about patterns of biodiversity across space, we typically consider different groups of species separately," she said. "In our case, we might consider patterns of plant diversity separately from patterns of pollinator diversity. But our study provides solid evidence that -- above and beyond the influence of disturbances like wildfires -- the relationships that plants have with pollinators are strong contributors to these patterns of biodiversity.

"This means that biotic interactions among species are important and will need to be considered more explicitly in conservation actions, like plans for species range shifts with climate change."

Accelerating extinction

Global climate change is likely to increase the frequency and intensity of wildfires in many other regions -- as it has in the mountain West, the researchers said.

The findings from this study suggest that this could possibly result in additional losses of vulnerable species.

"We may see wildfire accelerating co-extinction events where you lose a pollinator and then you lose all of the plants that the pollinator depended on -- and then you lose more pollinators that were associated with those plants, and so on," LaManna said. "You have a potential for a chain of losses."

Overall, this research advances understanding of how and why wildfire affects conservation, land management and restoration of forest ecosystems. It also shows that ecological models that predict how species will respond under various climate change scenarios also should consider biological interactions within food webs, Myers said.

"By sharing our findings with federal land managers across the region, we hope to contribute to management plans, with the dual aim of maintaining biodiversity of plants and pollinators while restoring environmental complexity representative of historical fire regimes," Myers said.

#Environment | https://sciencespies.com/environment/in-fire-prone-west-plants-need-their-pollinators-and-vice-versa/

Neutrinos prove our Sun is undergoing a second type of fusion in its core

Like all stars, our Sun is powered by the fusion of hydrogen into heavier elements. Nuclear fusion is not only what makes stars shine, it is also a primary source of the chemical elements that make the world around us.

Much of our understanding of stellar fusion comes from theoretical models of atomic nuclei, but for our closest star, we also have another source: neutrinos created in the Sun's core.

Whenever atomic nuclei undergo fusion, they produce not only high energy gamma rays but also neutrinos. While the gamma rays heat the Sun's interior over thousands of years, neutrinos zip out of the Sun at nearly the speed of light.

Solar neutrinos were first detected in the 1960s, but it was difficult to learn much about them other than the fact that they were emitted from the Sun. This proved that nuclear fusion occurs in the Sun, but not the type of fusion.

According to theory, the dominant form of fusion in the Sun should be the fusion of protons that produces helium from hydrogen. Known as the pp-chain, it is the easiest reaction for stars to create.

For larger stars with hotter and more dense cores, a more powerful reaction known as the CNO-cycle is the dominant source of energy. This reaction uses hydrogen in a cycle of reactions with carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen to produce helium.

The CNO cycle is part of the reason why these three elements are among the most abundant in the Universe (other than hydrogen and helium).

The CNO cycle kicks in at higher temperatures. (RJ Hall)

In the past decade neutrino detectors have become much for efficient. Modern detectors are also able to detect not just the energy of a neutrino, but also its flavor.

We now know that the solar neutrinos detected from early experiments come not from the common pp-chain neutrinos, but from secondary reactions such as boron decay, which create higher energy neutrinos that are easier to detect.

Then in 2014, a team detected low-energy neutrinos directly produced by the pp-chain. Their observations confirmed that 99 percent of the Sun's energy is generated by proton-proton fusion.

The energy levels of various solar neutrinos. (HERON/Brown University)

While the pp-chain dominates fusion in the Sun, our star is large enough that the CNO cycle should occur at a low level. It should be what accounts for that extra 1 percent of the energy produced by the Sun.

But because CNO neutrinos are rare, they are difficult to detect. But recently a team successfully observed them.

One of the biggest challenges with detecting CNO neutrinos is that their signal tends to be buried within terrestrial neutrino noise. Nuclear fusion doesn't occur naturally on Earth, but low levels of radioactive decay from terrestrial rocks can trigger events in a neutrino detector that are similar to CNO neutrino detections.

So the team created a sophisticated analysis process that filters the neutrino signal from false positives. Their study confirms that CNO fusion occurs within our Sun at predicted levels.

The CNO cycle plays a minor role in our Sun, but it is central to the life and evolution of more massive stars.

This work should help us understand the cycle of large stars, and could help us better understand the origin of the heavier elements that make life on Earth possible.

This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.

#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/neutrinos-prove-our-sun-is-undergoing-a-second-type-of-fusion-in-its-core/

That bizarre monolith in Utah desert has now mysteriously disappeared

Strangely come, strangely go. Only days after the world first became aware of it, a mysterious metal monolith in the remote desert of Utah's Red Rock Country has now seemingly vanished from sight.

The object made headlines last week, after authorities with the Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced the discovery of the strange, shiny pillar, standing around 3 metres (about 10 feet) tall. Its origins were completely unknown.

How long had it been there? Who put it there? Why? How? Were aliens involved? (Most likely not, but as with most of our questions about the mysterious monolith, nothing was ever very certain.)

(DPS)

In any case, the object – noticed during an aerial count of bighorn sheep in the region – was located in a very remote part of Utah's red sandstone wilds. Authorities did not disclose the precise location, urging the public not to try to find or visit it, for fear people might become stranded and require rescue.

There was also the matter of the monolith's rights to loiter on public lands at all, mysteriously or not.

"Although we can't comment on active investigations, the Bureau of Land Management would like to remind public land visitors that using, occupying, or developing the public lands or their resources without a required authorisation is illegal, no matter what planet you are from," a statement explained.

While the authorities didn't want people to try to locate or visit the monolith, people did. One individual, David Surber, trekked to the object, and posted photos and videos of it on Instagram.

"Awesome journey out to the monolith today," Surber wrote. "Regardless of who built it or where it came from."

Meanwhile, local residents and authorities were becoming concerned that visitors, intrigued by media attention, might damage Native American artefacts and archaeological sites trying to find the controversial installation.

"While the monolith has better craftsmanship than graffiti, this is still vandalism," the Utah Department of Heritage & Arts tweeted.

"It irreversibly altered the natural environment on public lands. While the monolith is interesting, we cannot condone vandalism of any type."

All of this played out in a matter of mere days, but the latest developments on the monolith might provide an ending of sorts to the object's strange tale.

"We have received credible reports that the illegally installed structure, referred to as the 'monolith' has been removed from Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands by an unknown party," the BLM explained in a statement issued on the weekend.

While it's not known who took the monolith or why, the BLM clarified that it did not remove the structure, which it considers to be private property – albeit private property parked on public land and cut directly into the desert bedrock, no less.

"IT'S GONE!" the DPS corroborated (in an Instagram post no longer available). "Almost as quickly as it appeared it has now disappeared."

In its place, all that remains is the empty space where the monolith once stood, now marked by some rocks. Although now it's the disappearance, not the appearance, that has people guessing again whether aliens were involved.

#Humans | https://sciencespies.com/humans/that-bizarre-monolith-in-utah-desert-has-now-mysteriously-disappeared/

Scientists confirm entirely new species of gelatinous blob from the deep, dark sea

For the first time, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have formally identified a new species of undersea creature based solely on high-definition video footage captured at the bottom of the ocean.

And what an undersea creature it is. Meet Duobrachium sparksae – a strange, gelatinous species of ctenophore, encountered by the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Deep Discoverer during a dive off the coast of Puerto Rico.

That encounter took place back in 2015, but when you're laying claim to discovering a wholly new species – based solely on video evidence, for that matter, with no physical specimens to help make your case – it helps to do your due diligence.

Duobrachium sparksae. (NOAA)

Luckily, Deep Discoverer's cameras – the footage of which you can see here – were up to the job, capable of picking up subtle details on D. sparksae's body less than a millimetre long.

Subsequent analysis of the organism – now detailed in a new paper – indicates it's easily distinguishable from all other known ctenophore species, the researchers say.

"It's unique because we were able to describe a new species based entirely on high-definition video," explains NOAA marine biologist Allen Collins.

"We don't have the same microscopes as we would in a lab, but the video can give us enough information to understand the morphology in detail, such as the location of their reproductive parts and other aspects."

Those aspects are manifold. From a distance, D. sparksae's most notable feature is its bulbous, balloon-like body, but it also features two prominent tentacle arms.

In total, three different individuals were filmed by the ROV at depths of around 3,900 metres (almost 2.5 miles down), with one of the animals appearing to perhaps be using its tentacles to anchor itself to the seabed.

"It was a beautiful and unique organism," says oceanographer Mike Ford.

"It moved like a hot air balloon attached to the seafloor on two lines, maintaining a specific altitude above the seafloor. Whether it's attached to the seabed, we're not sure. We did not observe direct attachment during the dive, but it seems like the organism touches the seafloor."

The other specimens might not have been touching the seabed, but all three of the animals were spotted within two metres of it, in a feature called the Arecibo Amphitheater, which lies within an underwater trench known as the Guajataca Canyon.

It's in these very deep parts of the ocean where ctenophores are found, but the extreme depth of their natural habitat means we don't encounter these mysterious animals – let alone new species – very often.

Ctenophores go by a number of common names, many of which seem almost comical: comb jellies (named after their 'combs' of fine cilia) is the most popular, but they have also been referred to as sea gooseberries, sea walnuts, and Venus's girdles.

Digital illustrations of Duobrachium sparksae. (Nicholas Bezio).

While the animals can superficially resemble jellyfish, they are not closely related. Ctenophores, which are carnivorous, subsist on small arthropods and various kinds of larvae.

Up to about 200 species have been described to date, with about one new species being found each year on average, and most discoveries rely on video capture methods for the basis of physical descriptions, given the difficulties of collecting specimens.

"This presents somewhat of a conundrum because taxonomy relies heavily upon physical type specimens preserved in museums to serve as references to which other material can be compared," the researchers explain in their paper.

"Indeed, the idea of using photographic evidence to establish new species has been highly contentious in recent decades."

Luckily, given the high-definition footage the team got of these three fine specimens of D. sparksae, the researchers say they didn't get "any pushback" about their species discovery.

While the team hopes to collect specimens on future dives for physical analysis, they say it might be decades before they have the chance to run into the comb jelly again.

For D. sparksae's sake, that might be for the best: bringing a gelatinous blob up to sea level, when it normally resides about 4 kilometres under the ocean's surface, can be a messy affair.

"Even if we had the equipment, there would have been very little time to process the animal because gelatinous animals don't preserve very well," Collins says.

"Ctenophores are even worse than jellyfish in this regard."

The findings are reported in Plankton and Benthos Research.

#Nature | https://sciencespies.com/nature/scientists-confirm-entirely-new-species-of-gelatinous-blob-from-the-deep-dark-sea/

Artificial intelligence is now smart enough to know when it can't be trusted

How might The Terminator have played out if Skynet had decided it probably wasn't responsible enough to hold the keys to the entire US nuclear arsenal? As it turns out, scientists may just have saved us from such a future AI-led apocalypse, by creating neural networks that know when they're untrustworthy.

These deep learning neural networks are designed to mimic the human brain by weighing up a multitude of factors in balance with each other, spotting patterns in masses of data that humans don't have the capacity to analyse.

While Skynet might still be some way off, AI is already making decisions in fields that affect human lives like autonomous driving and medical diagnosis, and that means it's vital that they're as accurate as possible. To help towards this goal, this newly created neural network system can generate its confidence level as well as its predictions.

"We need the ability to not only have high-performance models, but also to understand when we cannot trust those models," says computer scientist Alexander Amini from the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).

This self-awareness of trustworthiness has been given the name Deep Evidential Regression, and it bases its scoring on the quality of the available data it has to work with – the more accurate and comprehensive the training data, the more likely it is that future predictions are going to work out.

The research team compares it to a self-driving car having different levels of certainty about whether to proceed through a junction or whether to wait, just in case, if the neural network is less confident in its predictions. The confidence rating even includes tips for getting the rating higher (by tweaking the network or the input data, for instance).

While similar safeguards have been built into neural networks before, what sets this one apart is the speed at which it works, without excessive computing demands – it can be completed in one run through the network, rather than several, with a confidence level outputted at the same time as a decision.

"This idea is important and applicable broadly," says computer scientist Daniela Rus. "It can be used to assess products that rely on learned models. By estimating the uncertainty of a learned model, we also learn how much error to expect from the model, and what missing data could improve the model."

The researchers tested their new system by getting it to judge depths in different parts of an image, much like a self-driving car might judge distance. The network compared well to existing setups, while also estimating its own uncertainty – the times it was least certain were indeed the times it got the depths wrong.

As an added bonus, the network was able to flag up times when it encountered images outside of its usual remit (so very different to the data it had been trained on) – which in a medical situation could mean getting a doctor to take a second look.

Even if a neural network is right 99 percent of the time, that missing 1 percent can have serious consequences, depending on the scenario. The researchers say they're confident that their new, streamlined trust test can help improve safety in real time, although the work has not yet been peer-reviewed.

"We're starting to see a lot more of these [neural network] models trickle out of the research lab and into the real world, into situations that are touching humans with potentially life-threatening consequences," says Amini.

"Any user of the method, whether it's a doctor or a person in the passenger seat of a vehicle, needs to be aware of any risk or uncertainty associated with that decision."

The research is being presented at the NeurIPS conference in December, and an online paper is available.

#Tech | https://sciencespies.com/tech/artificial-intelligence-is-now-smart-enough-to-know-when-it-cant-be-trusted/

A new species of rare phylum Loricifera discovered in the deep-sea surrounding Japan

The Loricifera is a microscopic, sediment-dwelling marine invertebrate, with a head covered in over 200 spines and an abdomen with a protective shell -- known as a lorica. Since it was first discovered in 1983, just under 40 species have been written about. Now, that number is one more thanks to a group of scientists who reported on a new genus and species of Loricifera.

Their findings were published in the Journal Marine Biodiversity.

"Loricifera is a rare animal that is still under-researched, but our recent finding improves our understanding of the species' diversity," said lead author Shinta Fujimoto.

Loricifera typically inhabit the space between sand and mud particles in the ocean. Fossils exist from the Cambrian period, suggesting a long existence on Earth. They have complicated life cycles and a few species are reported to live in anoxic environments. Their exact position on the animal tree of life is unknown.

Researchers from Tohoku University, Kyushu University, Mie University, Hiroshima University and the University of Copenhagen reported on a new species of Loricifera inhabiting Japan's area from the continental slope to the deeper sea -- roughly 177 m to 1059 m below the sea. This marks the second time a new Loricifera species has been found near Japan; the last one was discovered in 1988 in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench.

Fujimoto and his team hope to uncover as much as they can about this rare species. "Each new species provides us with answers, but also more questions. We will keep on looking for these extraordinary animals to understand the species' diversity, ecology, life history and evolution."

Story Source:

Materials provided by Tohoku University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

#Nature | https://sciencespies.com/nature/a-new-species-of-rare-phylum-loricifera-discovered-in-the-deep-sea-surrounding-japan/

Community conservation reserves protect fish diversity in tropical rivers

Prohibiting fishing in conservation reserves is a common strategy for protecting ocean ecosystems and enhancing fisheries management. However, such dedicated reserves are rare in freshwater ecosystems, where conservation efforts generally piggyback on the protection of terrestrial habitats and species.

Now, a collaboration between researchers from Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison has found that small, community-based reserves in Thailand's Salween River Basin are serving as critical refuges for fish diversity in a region whose subsistence fisheries have suffered from decades of overharvesting.

The team's paper, "A Network of Grassroots Reserves Protects Tropical River Fish Diversity," published Nov. 25 in Nature.

The lead author is Aaron Koning, a former postdoctoral fellow with the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability who is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nevada, Reno. The project was overseen by Pete McIntyre, the Dwight Webster Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow and associate professor of natural resources and environment at Cornell University.

Freshwater ecosystems across the world have experienced rapid species declines compared to ecosystems on land or in the ocean. One of the leading causes is overfishing, particularly in regions where fish are a vital source of human nutrition.

Koning launched his work in Thailand as a doctoral student with McIntyre at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with the goal of testing whether the benefits documented from marine conservation reserves might also apply to freshwater systems. Both researchers came to Cornell in 2018 and continued to work on the project with their collaborators at UW-Madison.

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They focused on the Mae Ngao River along Thailand's border with Myanmar, because Southeast Asia has an unusually long history of freshwater conservation reserves. In 2012, Koning began documenting more than 50 reserves spread over 1,000 square kilometers of the river valley. Each of these reserves had been created by a local community to support its own nearby fishing grounds.

"It was really striking to see this largely uncoordinated effort of grassroots actors who pursued this fascinating conservation strategy of their own volition, and they keep doing it because they can see the benefits in their catches," Koning said. "That really motivated me to ask the questions: Why does this work and could it work elsewhere?"

The researchers surveyed fish communities in 23 separate reserves that ranged in length from 300 meters to 2 kilometers. Compared to adjacent areas where fishing is unrestricted and intense, the grassroots reserves contained on average 27% more fish species and 124% higher fish density, with a more than twentyfold increase in overall biomass.

"Generally, we think of rivers as systems where things flow through and fish move around constantly, so what effect could a small reserve possibly have?" Koning said. "But just having a few hundred meters where people aren't fishing, while they're fishing like crazy everywhere else, can consistently produce these big changes."

One of the key characteristics for successful reserves was location. When reserves are placed within view of local villages, the community members can enforce conservation rules and deter poachers.

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"Residents can literally see the large fish from their homes -- it's pretty compelling," McIntyre said.

Fish longer than 20 centimeters (approximately 8 inches) were almost entirely restricted to the reserves, and larger reserves saw the biggest bump in fish diversity and size. Community members reported that having the reserves over time helped them to catch larger fish. This indicates the reserves not only protect biodiversity but can also bolster the food security of local populations, especially during the dry season when farmers have collected their crops and turn to subsistence fishing to supplement their families' diets.

"As if the local benefits were not amazing enough, we were fascinated to see a further benefit of having other reserves nearby. These fish populations appear to be linked, yielding synergistic gains when the ad hoc network of reserves allows exchange among protected areas," McIntyre said.

The team's findings aligned with the theoretical predictions made by marine conservation models, which led the researchers to suspect the grassroots reserves could be a successful strategy for other regions that have been overharvested, such as in the Mekong, Amazon and Congo rivers, where intensive fisheries feed millions of people.

"This is a great example of communities engaging in conservation on their own, and being successful," Koning said. "If we can take that reality, mix it with what we already know from marine systems, then maybe we can marry these things and design a system of small reserves that maximize conservation benefits while improving fishery benefits for communities, too."

Koning is now working with Zeb Hogan, an aquatic ecologist at the University of Nevada-Reno who hosts the National Geographic network program "Monster Fish," to study this conservation approach at larger scales in the Mekong River basin.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Mustard Seed Foundation, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, in addition to the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.

#Nature | https://sciencespies.com/nature/community-conservation-reserves-protect-fish-diversity-in-tropical-rivers/

Satellite images confirm uneven impact of climate change

University of Copenhagen researchers have been following vegetation trends across the planet's driest areas using satellite imagery from recent decades. They have identified a troubling trend: Too little vegetation is sprouting up from rainwater in developing nations, whereas things are headed in the opposite direction in wealthier ones. As a result, the future could see food shortages and growing numbers of climate refugees.

More than 40 percent of Earth's ecosystems are arid, an amount that is expected to increase significantly over the course of the 21st century. Some of these areas, such as those in Africa and Australia may be savannah or desert, where sparse rainfall has long been the norm. Within these biomes, vegetation and wildlife have adapted to making use of their scant water resources, but they are also extraordinarily vulnerable to climate change.

Using extensive imagery from satellites that monitor Earth every day, researchers from the University of Copenhagen's Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources Management have studied the evolution of vegetation in arid regions. Their conclusion is unequivocal:

"We observe a clear trend of arid areas developing in a negative direction in the most economically challenged countries. Here, it is apparent that the growth of vegetation has become increasingly decoupled from the water resources available and that there is simply less vegetation in relation to the amount of rainfall. The opposite is the case in the wealthiest countries," explains Professor Rasmus Fensholt of the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management.

Worse in Asia and Africa, better in South America and Australia

The researchers analyzed 15 years worth of satellite imagery of vegetation and rainfall -- from 2000 to 2015. To compare the evolution of vegetation in arid regions of the world, the researchers removed precipitation totals from the equation. In other words, they produced a calculation that accounts for the fact that some regions received more rain in past decades, while other regions received less.

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This provides a more accurate picture of ecosystem health, as human influences become easier to identify: In other words, whether resource use is balanced or whether an ecosystem's resources have been overexploited, with potentially fatal consequences -- as imbalanced systems may be irreparable.

"Here, our results demonstrate that in arid regions, particularly those in Africa and Asia, less vegetation grows for the amount of rainwater that falls, while more vegetation grows in arid areas of South America and Australia," says lead author Christin Abel, a postdoc at the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management.

Infographic text: Areas with purple hues indicate where vegetation growth relative to rainfall is declining, while green hues reveal areas where vegetation has grown more than expected. White areas represent ecosystems where vegetation growth is in balance with the water resources available.

According to the researchers, there may be several explanations for why climate change and rising global temperatures are impacting vegetation in arid regions of the world's poorest countries. Among the most obvious is rapid population growth, in Africa for example, where there is an increasing need to exploit land that is otherwise poorly suited for agriculture. Doing so produces lower yields and puts increasing amounts of livestock on too little grass in already fragile ecosystems.

Conversely, vegetation in arid areas of the world's wealthier countries seems to be coping better with climate change. This is likely due to the intensification and expansion of larger farms, where more economic resources allow for, among other things, irrigation and fertilization.

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Food crises and more climate refugees

As a result of climate change, future trends for the planet's poorest areas only seem to be getting worse. Forecasts point to an expansion of today's arid areas where they will make up a larger and larger share of our global ecosystems. This may result in more and more people being left without food and their needing to migrate.

"One consequence of declining vegetation in the world's poorer arid regions areas may be an increase in climate refugees from various African countries. According to what we've seen in this study, there is no indication that the problem will diminish in the future," explains Rasmus Fensholt.

For a number of years, satellite imagery has let researchers observe that, overall, it actually appears that the world's arid regions have become greener. However, when researchers look at how much vegetation arid areas in developing countries get in relation to rainfall amounts, the picture looks different.

"We have been pleased to see that, for a number of years, vegetation has been on an upwards trend in arid regions. But if we dig only a tiny bit deeper and look at how successfully precipitation has translated into vegetation, then climate change seems to be hitting unevenly, which is troubling," says Rasmus Fensholt.

#Nature | https://sciencespies.com/nature/satellite-images-confirm-uneven-impact-of-climate-change/

Japan launches JDRS-1 optical data relay satellite for military, civilian use

HELSINKI — Japan has a new data relay satellite headed for geostationary orbit following successful launch of JDRS-1 on a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ H-IIA rocket Sunday.

The H-IIA rocket No. 43 lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan at 2:25 a.m. Eastern Nov. 29.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries confirmed separation of JDRS-1 and launch success two and a half hours later.

The JDRS-1 will relay optical and radar data from Japan’s Information Gathering Satellites (IGS) and other data from science satellites to Earth. Few details of the satellite have been revealed due to the largely military nature of its mission.

The new satellite carries Laser Utilizing Communication System (LUCAS) developed by JAXA. LUCAS uses infrared light to facilitate inter-satellite links at rates of up to 1.8 gigabits per second.

The JDRS satellite was jointly developed by JAXA and the Government of Japan. The Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center owns and operates the satellite, with JAXA responsible for the optical data relay function.

The satellite will operate in a geostationary orbit at 35,400 kilometers above the Earth, relaying data between Japanese satellites passing below and ground stations. This allows speedier passing of data, facilitating its transfer when a satellite would otherwise not have a clear view of the ground station. 

Japan’s follow-on Advanced Land Observation Satellites for Earth science and observation, ALOS-3 and ALOS-4, will be capable of utilizing the full relay capabilities of JDRS-1. ALOS-3 could launch as soon as 2021.

The JDRS-1 replaces the “Kodama” Data Relay Test Satellite (DRTS) launched in 2002 and operational through August 2017. The LUCAS payload allows data transfer at around seven times faster than the S-band and Ka-band DRTS .

Illustration of the LUCAS optical data relay payload on the JDRS-1 satellite. Credit: JAXA

Sunday’s JDRS-1 launch was the 43rd of the four variants of the H-IIA rocket, which boasts a 100 percent success rate. 

The H-IIA and H-IIB are to be retired by the end of 2023 and replaced by the new H3 rocket. The latter was expected to have an inaugural launch by the end of 2020, but this has now slipped to Japanese Financial Year 2021, beginning April 2021, following discovery of issues with components of the new LE-9 rocket engine.

#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/japan-launches-jdrs-1-optical-data-relay-satellite-for-military-civilian-use/

Study of 40,000 people identifies a key personality trait that creates a happy family

We all want our family life to be as happy as possible – and now researchers have identified some of the personal characteristics and skills that are most likely to make for a harmonious home.

One of the key factors when it comes to healthy family and romantic relationships, it would seem, is psychological flexibility. When challenges and problems arise, this flexibility can keep relationships from breaking down.

The conclusions were drawn from what's known as a meta-analysis, or a study of previous studies. In this case the meta-analysis encompassed 174 earlier pieces of research on relationships, covering 43,952 people in total.

"Put simply, this meta-analysis underscores that being mindful and emotionally flexible in tough and challenging situations not only improves the lives of individuals, it might also strengthen and enrich their close relationships," says psychologist Ronald Rogge, from the University of Rochester.

Rogge and his colleague Jennifer Daks, also a psychologist at the University of Rochester, found that "mindful flexibility" was linked to rewarding family and relationship dynamics, as well as stronger connections between the individuals involved.

The researchers go on to specify some of the personal skills needed for psychological flexibility. These include being open to and accepting of experiences, whether good or bad, and having a mindful, attentive awareness of the present through daily life.

Other positive skills include experiencing thoughts and feelings without obsessing over them, keeping a broad perspective even in difficult times, staying in touch with deeper values through the fluctuating moods of each day, and being able to continue to take steps towards a goal even amidst difficulties and setbacks.

Quite a list of appealing traits then. Psychological inflexibility, on the other hand, typically results from actively avoiding difficult thoughts, feelings and experiences, going through daily life distracted and inattentive, and getting stuck by difficult thoughts and feelings.

Other behaviours in the psychologically inflexible include seeing difficult thoughts and feelings as a personal reflection (and feeling judged because of them), allowing the stress and chaos of daily life to overwhelm deeper priorities, and getting derailed easily by setbacks and difficult experiences.

In families, psychological flexibility leads to greater cohesion, not as much stress or distress, and a greater use of adaptive parenting strategies. In romantic relationships, it leads to greater satisfaction and less negative conflict.

The research fits in with a previous study run by Rogge, which looked at how just being more aware of relationships and keeping communication channels open could make a significant difference in how long those relationships last.

"The results suggest that husbands and wives have a pretty good sense of what they might be doing right and wrong in their relationships," says Rogge about the earlier study.

"You might not need to teach them a whole lot of skills to cut the divorce rate. You might just need to get them to think about how they are currently behaving."

The research has been published in the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science.

#Humans | https://sciencespies.com/humans/study-of-40000-people-identifies-a-key-personality-trait-that-creates-a-happy-family/

These medicinal plants have evolved an ingenious way to hide from their predators: us

On the wide open slopes of China's Hengduan Mountains, there are perks to being a wallflower. After thousands of years of human harvesting, a rare alpine flower - prized in Chinese medicine - is trying its hardest not to stand out.

In the alpine meadows where humans pluck the Fritillaria delavayi plant the most, scientists have noticed the perennial herb blends in better with the rocky background.

Avoiding the limelight in a drab environment is no easy feat when your leaves and bulbs are normally a bright green, so some populations of F. delavayi have turned more of a brown or grey to better match their surroundings.

Many plants are capable of such camouflage, usually as an attempt to hide from hungry hunters, but up here, the only real predators are us.

"Like other camouflaged plants we have studied, we thought the evolution of camouflage of this fritillary had been driven by herbivores, but we didn't find such animals," explains botanist Yang Niu from the Kunming Institute of Botany. 

"Then we realised humans could be the reason."

Normal green plants with low harvest pressure (A and B) and camouflaged individuals with high harvest pressure (C and D). (Niu et al., Current Biology, 2020)

Speaking to locals in the area, researchers estimated how each accessible population of alpine herb had been harvested over the past five years.

Using a model for human vision, researchers found significant colour diversity among herb populations - especially those that existed in areas with high levels of human harvesting.

This suggests human behavior is somehow shaping the evolution of these famous herbs, which are the most commonly used treatment in China for coughs and phlegm. 

F. delavayi plants sport a set of leaves that vary in colour from grey to brown, but it's only after their fifth year of life that they begin to produce annual bulbs of similar shades. Over 3,500 individual bulbs are needed to make just a kilogram of medicine.  

This slow and minimal growth is part of what makes the rare herb so cherished, but it's also what makes it vulnerable to overharvesting.

Changing colour is probably one of the only defences this plant has got against increased harvesting from humans. And so, it seems, the more we want it, the harder it is to find. 

To further test the plant's camouflage on real human vision, researchers set up a computer experiment in which participants were asked to locate various colours of the herb in 14 slides of its natural environment.

As expected, the more-camouflaged and less green plants were harder to locate as quickly.

"It's remarkable to see how humans can have such a direct and dramatic impact on the colouration of wild organisms, not just on their survival but on their evolution itself," says botanist and ecologist Martin Stevens from the University of Exeter.

"It's possible that humans have driven evolution of defensive strategies in other plant species, but surprisingly little research has examined this." 

The rare snow lotus is one of the few examples we have. Historically collected by humans, studies have shown this coveted plant has grown significantly smaller in the past hundred years.

There's even a theory that humans unconsciously drove the evolution of weeds from a pest to something more similar to wheat as plants tried to avoid being torn out of the ground.

That's a fascinating idea, and further research on harvested wild plants like F. delavayi might help us better understand what aspects of plant biology humans are truly capable of influencing.

The study was published in Current Biology. 

#Nature | https://sciencespies.com/nature/these-medicinal-plants-have-evolved-an-ingenious-way-to-hide-from-their-predators-us/

Understanding traditional Chinese medicine can help protect species

Demystifying traditional Chinese medicine for conservationists could be the key to better protecting endangered species like pangolins, tigers and rhino, according to University of Queensland-led researchers.

UQ PhD candidate Hubert Cheung said efforts to shift entrenched values and beliefs about Chinese medicine are not achieving conservation gains in the short term.

He said a better understanding of traditional practices was critical for conservationists to form more effective strategies.

"The use of endangered species in traditional Chinese medicine threatens species' survival and is a challenge for conservationists," Mr Cheung said.

"Pushing messages of inefficacy, providing various forms of scientific evidence or promoting biomedical alternatives doesn't seem to be drastically influencing decisions and behaviours.

"And, although many practices and treatments continue to be criticised for lacking scientific support, the World Health Organization approved the inclusion of traditional Chinese medicine in its global compendium of medical practices last year.

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"The challenge now is for conservationists to work proactively with practitioners and others in the industry to find sustainable solutions.

"However, most conservation scientists and organisations are unfamiliar with traditional Chinese medicine, which makes it difficult to devise effective and culturally-nuanced interventions."

The researchers have examined the core theories and practices of traditional Chinese medicine, in a bid to make it more accessible.

They hope their study -- and the nuances within -- will influence policy and campaigning.

"Today, traditional Chinese medicine is formally integrated into China's healthcare system, and has been central to China's response to the ongoing pandemic," Mr Cheung said.

"In fact, the Chinese government's COVID-19 clinical guidance has included recommendations for the use of a product containing bear bile, which has raised concerns among conservation groups."

UQ's Professor Hugh Possingham said traditional Chinese medicine was now not only entrenched in the social and cultural fabric of Chinese society, but also gaining users elsewhere.

"A better understanding of traditional Chinese medicine will empower conservationists to engage more constructively with stakeholders in this space," Professor Possingham said.

"We're hoping that this work can help all parties develop more effective and lasting solutions for species threatened by medicinal use."

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Queensland. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

#Nature | https://sciencespies.com/nature/understanding-traditional-chinese-medicine-can-help-protect-species/

Canada developing lunar rover and science payloads

WASHINGTON — The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is moving ahead on efforts to develop lunar science payloads and a small rover that could fly to the moon on a NASA-sponsored lander mission.

The CSA announced Nov. 27 it awarded six contracts with a total value of $2.9 million Canadian ($2.2 million) to five companies and universities for initial “Phase 0” studies of lunar science instruments. The instruments range from spectrometers and particle telescopes to an “agriculture feasibility” payload.

The contracts, with individual values ranging between $300,000 and $600,000, are intended to study the feasibility of the proposed instruments and how they will support lunar science. The contracts are expected to last for up to nine months.

The contracts are part of CSA’s Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP), an initiative that the Canadian government unveiled in February 2019 at the same time as it announced it would provide a robotic arm for the NASA-led lunar Gateway. The program, with a planned budget of $150 million over five years, is intended to support a wide range of science and technology initiatives associated with lunar exploration.

In addition to the science awards, CSA issued contracts worth $3.3 million Oct. 29 to two companies, Canadensys Aerospace Corporation and NGC Aerospace Ltd., for development of lunar technology payloads. Canadensys will develop a 360-degree camera to provide panoramic images of the lunar surface while NGC Aerospace will demonstrate a navigation system.

CSA is also in the initial phases of a “microrover” that it plans to develop and fly in cooperation with NASA. The agency published a letter of interest Oct. 23 announcing it would formally issue a request for proposals for the rover by early 2021, awarding two contracts for Phase A feasibility studies in the summer. CSA will then select one for full-scale development.

The rover will have a mass of 30 kilograms and carry two payloads, one provided by CSA and the other by NASA. “The idea is that we want this mission to demonstrate Canadian lunar mobility technology on the moon and to gather science data,” said Erick Dupuis, director of space exploration development at CSA, during a session of the Canadian Space Summit online conference Nov. 27.

Dupuis said CSA has negotiated a ride to the moon on a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) lander mission. “In exchange for launching us, we are providing accommodations for a U.S. instrument on our rover,” he said. He said that the agreement with NASA also includes flying additional Canadian lunar science payloads on CLPS missions, fixed to landers.

He did not disclose the estimated cost of the rover mission, but said it would launch no sooner than late 2024, and more likely in 2025. The goal is for the rover to operate for at least one lunar day, and possibly a second if it can survive the two-week lunar night.

Canada is not alone in looking to other countries to fly lunar rovers. The United Arab Emirates announced in September it planned to build a small rover, weighing only about 10 kilograms, carrying three science instruments. Officials said they will seek either to partner with another space agency, or purchase space on a commercial lunar lander, to transport their rover to the moon.

While the CSA rover project is tied to NASA’s CLPS program, Dupuis said the agency was open to other partnerships for flying its payloads to the moon. “We have a pre-negotiated agreement with CLPS to get the launch of our payloads to the moon, so that is under our belt, but other opportunities could be out there,” he said, such as partnerships with the European Space Agency. “We are open to all mechanisms.”

#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/canada-developing-lunar-rover-and-science-payloads/

Our Solar System is going to totally disintegrate sooner than we thought

Although the ground beneath our feet feels solid and reassuring (most of the time), nothing in this Universe lasts forever.

One day, our Sun will die, ejecting a large proportion of its mass before its core shrinks down into a white dwarf, gradually leaking heat until it's nothing more than a cold, dark, dead lump of rock, a thousand trillion years later.

But the rest of the Solar System will be long gone by then. According to new simulations, it will take just 100 billion years for any remaining planets to skedaddle off across the galaxy, leaving the dying Sun far behind.

Astronomers and physicists have been trying to puzzle out the ultimate fate of the Solar System for at least hundreds of years.

"Understanding the long-term dynamical stability of the solar system constitutes one of the oldest pursuits of astrophysics, tracing back to Newton himself, who speculated that mutual interactions between planets would eventually drive the system unstable," wrote astronomers Jon Zink of the University of California, Los Angeles, Konstantin Batygin of Caltech and Fred Adams of the University of Michigan in their new paper.

But that's a lot trickier than it might seem. The greater the number of bodies that are involved in a dynamical system, interacting with each other, the more complicated that system grows and the harder it is to predict. This is called the N-body problem.

Because of this complexity, it's impossible to make deterministic predictions of the orbits of Solar System objects past certain timescales. Beyond about five to 10 million years, certainty flies right out the window.

But, if we can figure out what's going to happen to our Solar System, that will tell us something about how the Universe might evolve, on timescales far longer than its current age of 13.8 billion years.

In 1999, astronomers predicted that the Solar System would slowly fall apart over a period of at least a billion billion - that's 10^18, or a quintillion - years. That's how long it would take, they calculated, for orbital resonances from Jupiter and Saturn to decouple Uranus.

According to Zink's team, though, this calculation left out some important influences that could disrupt the Solar System sooner.

Firstly, there's the Sun.

In about 5 billion years, as it dies, the Sun will swell up into a red giant, engulfing Mercury, Venus and Earth. Then it will eject nearly half its mass, blown away into space on stellar winds; the remaining white dwarf will be around just 54 percent of the current solar mass.

This mass loss will loosen the Sun's gravitational grip on the remaining planets, Mars and the outer gas and ice giants, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Secondly, as the Solar System orbits the galactic centre, other stars ought to come close enough to perturb the planets' orbits, around once every 23 million years.

"By accounting for stellar mass loss and the inflation of the outer planet orbits, these encounters will become more influential," the researchers wrote.

"Given enough time, some of these flybys will come close enough to disassociate - or destabilise - the remaining planets."

With these additional influences accounted for in their calculations, the team ran 10 N-body simulations for the outer planets (leaving out Mars to save on computation costs, since its influence should be negligible), using the powerful Shared Hoffman2 Cluster. These simulations were split into two phases: up to the end of the Sun's mass loss, and the phase that comes after.

Although 10 simulations isn't a strong statistical sample, the team found that a similar scenario played out each time.

After the Sun completes its evolution into a white dwarf, the outer planets have a larger orbit, but still remain relatively stable. Jupiter and Saturn, however, become captured in a stable 5:2 resonance - for every five times Jupiter orbits the Sun, Saturn orbits twice (that eventual resonance has been proposed many times, not least by Isaac Newton himself).

These expanded orbits, as well as characteristics of the planetary resonance, makes the system more susceptible to perturbations by passing stars.

After 30 billion years, such stellar perturbations jangle those stable orbits into chaotic ones, resulting in rapid planet loss. All but one planet escape their orbits, fleeing off into the galaxy as rogue planets.

That last, lonely planet sticks around for another 50 billion years, but its fate is sealed. Eventually, it, too, is knocked loose by the gravitational influence of passing stars. Ultimately, by 100 billion years after the Sun turns into a white dwarf, the Solar System is no more.

That's a significantly shorter timeframe than that proposed in 1999. And, the researchers carefully note, it's contingent on current observations of the local galactic environment, and stellar flyby estimates, both of which may change. So it's by no means engraved in stone.

Even if estimates of the timeline of the Solar System's demise do change, however, it's still many billions of years away. The likelihood of humanity surviving long enough to see it is slim.

Sleep tight!

The research has been published in The Astronomical Journal.

#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/our-solar-system-is-going-to-totally-disintegrate-sooner-than-we-thought/