'Opihi age, growth, and longevity influenced by Hawaiian intertidal environment

Crashing waves and water temperature along rocky shorelines strongly influence the growth patterns of the yellowfoot limpet (Cellana sandwicensis), or 'opihi linalina, an intertidal species endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. That is the primary conclusion of a study published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment by researchers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) and College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR).

There are three species of 'opihi commonly observed on Hawaiian rocky shorelines. These species occupy different vertical zones of intertidal habitats and eat crustose coralline algae and microorganisms from rocks. For the study, growth increments were identified from a cross-section of opihi shells with corresponding oxygen isotope measurements used to examine environmental differences.

Erik Franklin, Associate Research Professor at SOEST's Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, said the study represents a breakthrough for studying the population dynamics of 'opihi in Hawaii that can be used to better develop sustainable fishing approaches for the species.

"'Opihi are a culturally valuable marine resource in Hawaii," Franklin said. "Developing effective strategies to sustainably harvest these populations depends on accurate information about their life history traits such as age, growth, and longevity. Our understanding of 'opihi biology just took a big step forward with the results of this study."

Importance for Hawaii

Historically, 'opihi were highly prized and served as a traditional delicacy within the Native Hawaiian subsistence diet. Today, the fishery operates with fishers collecting 'opihi from rocky intertidal habitats around the main Hawaiian Islands and selling directly to local commercial vendors, but non-commercial fishers also collect for subsistence purposes and important cultural events. Over the past century, harvest amounts of 'opihi have declined dramatically suggesting an opportunity to rebuild this fishery through further research and community-based management actions.

"Our results suggest that 'opihi linalina are fast growers, reaching a size that corresponds to maturity within 8-9 months of settlement and can live to 5 years old," said lead author and UH Manoa's Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering Department doctoral student Anthony Mau. "That is critical information to better inform fishing practices for 'opihi. We were only able to collect such high-resolution temporal data for aging the 'opihi through a collaboration with the SOEST's Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology that provided access to cutting edge technology. We're excited about these results which are just one aspect of an ongoing collaboration to learn more about the biology and ecology of 'opihi and identify community-driven options for sustainable harvests."

Study details

The study reconstructed the life-history of the yellowfoot 'opihi limpet Cellana sandwicensis from three shells, two modern and one historical, by investigating oxygen isotope variation in the tropical intertidal environment using near-daily spatial scale secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) analysis. Further, the team determined seasonal growth and longevity from major, minor, and micro shell growth increments, which reflect the influence of temperature, wave exposure and daily lunar cycles, respectively.

Mau said the research resulted in the first study on a tropical limpet species using the SIMS methodology which demonstrated the utility of the approach for other tropical intertidal molluscan species. The analyses used statistical methods to assess the relationship between oxygen isotopes in the shells and seawater temperatures. The growth, age, and longevity were determined from fitting a growth model to the back-calculated dates from the SIMS analysis and the observed shell increments.

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa. Original written by Marcie Grabowski. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

#Nature | https://sciencespies.com/nature/opihi-age-growth-and-longevity-influenced-by-hawaiian-intertidal-environment/

Hurricane Ida Rapidly Evolved Into a Monster Storm. An Oceanographer Explains Why

As Hurricane Ida headed into the Gulf of Mexico, a team of scientists was closely watching a giant, slowly swirling pool of warm water directly ahead in its path.

That warm pool, an eddy, was a warning sign. It was around 125 miles (200 kilometers) across. And it was about to give Ida the power boost that in the span of less than 24 hours would turn it from a weak hurricane into the dangerous Category 4 storm that slammed into Louisiana just outside New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2021.

Nick Shay, an oceanographer at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, was one of those scientists. He explains how these eddies, part of what's known as the Loop Current, help storms rapidly intensify into monster hurricanes.

How do these eddies form?

The Loop Current is a key component of a large gyre, a circular current, rotating clockwise in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Its strength is related to the flow of warm water from the tropics and Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico and out again through the Florida Straits, between Florida and Cuba. From there, it forms the core of the Gulf Stream, which flows northward along the Eastern Seaboard.

In the Gulf, this current can start to shed large warm eddies when it gets north of about the latitude of Fort Myers, Florida. At any given time, there can be as many as three warm eddies in the Gulf. The problem comes when these eddies form during hurricane season. That can spell disaster for coastal communities around the Gulf.

Subtropical water has a different temperature and salinity than Gulf common water, so its eddies are easy to identify. They have warm water at the surface and temperatures of 78 degrees Fahrenheit (26 °C) or more in water layers extending about 400 or 500 feet deep (about 120 to 150 meters).

Since the strong salinity difference inhibits mixing and cooling of these layers, the warm eddies retain a considerable amount of heat.

When heat at the ocean surface is over about 78 F (26 °C), hurricanes can form and intensify. The eddy that Ida passed over had surface temperatures over 86 °F (30 °C).

How did you know this eddy was going to be a problem?

We monitor ocean heat content from space each day and keep an eye on the ocean dynamics, especially during the summer months. Keep in mind that warm eddies in the wintertime can also energize atmospheric frontal systems, such as the "storm of the century" that caused snowstorms across the Deep South in 1993.

To gauge the risk this heat pool posed for Hurricane Ida, we flew aircraft over the eddy and dropped measuring devices, including what are known as expendables.

An expendable parachutes down to the surface and releases a probe that descends about 1,300 to 5,000 feet (400 to 1,500 meters) below the surface. It then send back data about the temperature and salinity.

This eddy had heat down to about 480 feet (around 150 meters) below the surface. Even if the storm's wind caused some mixing with cooler water at the surface, that deeper water wasn't going to mix all the way down. The eddy was going to stay warm and continue to provide heat and moisture.

That meant Ida was about to get an enormous supply of fuel.

When warm water extends deep like that, we start to see the atmospheric pressure drop. The moisture transfers, also referred to as latent heat, from the ocean to atmosphere are sustained over the warm eddies since the eddies are not significantly cooling.

As this release of latent heat continues, the central pressures continue to decrease. Eventually the surface winds will feel the larger horizontal pressure changes across the storm and begin to speed up.

That's what we saw the day before Hurricane Ida made landfall. The storm was beginning to sense that really warm water in the eddy. As the pressure keeps going down, storms get stronger and more well defined.

When I went to bed at midnight that night, the wind speeds were about 105 miles per hour. When I woke up a few hours later and checked the National Hurricane Center's update, it was 145 miles per hour, and Ida had become a major hurricane.

Is rapid intensification a new development?

We've known about this effect on hurricanes for years, but it's taken quite a while for meteorologists to pay more attention to the upper ocean heat content and its impact on rapid intensification.

In 1995, Hurricane Opal was a minimal tropical storm meandering in the Gulf. Unknown to forecasters at the time, a big warm eddy was in the center of the Gulf, moving about as fast as Miami traffic in rush hour, with warm water down to about 150 meters.

All the meteorologists saw in the satellite data was the surface temperature, so when Opal rapidly intensified on its way to eventually hitting the Florida Panhandle, it caught a lot of people by surprise.

Today, meteorologists keep a closer eye on where the pools of heat are. Not every storm has all the right conditions. Too much wind shear can tear apart a storm, but when the atmospheric conditions and ocean temperatures are extremely favorable, you can get this big change.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, both in 2005, had pretty much the same signature as Ida. They went over a warm eddy that was just getting ready to be shed form the Loop Current.

Hurricane Michael in 2018 didn't go over an eddy, but it went over the eddy's filament – like a tail – as it was separating from the Loop Current. Each of these storms intensified quickly before hitting land.

Of course, these warm eddies are most common right during hurricane season. You'll occasionally see this happen along the Atlantic Coast, too, but the Gulf of Mexico and the Northwest Caribbean are more contained, so when a storm intensifies there, someone is going to get hit.

When it intensifies close to the coast, like Ida did, it can be disastrous for coastal inhabitants.

What does climate change have to do with it?

We know global warming is occurring, and we know that surface temperatures are warming in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere. When it comes to rapid intensification, however, my view is that a lot of these thermodynamics are local. How great a role global warming plays remains unclear.

This is an area of fertile research. We have been monitoring the Gulf's ocean heat content for more than two decades. By comparing the temperature measurements we took during Ida and other hurricanes with satellite and other atmospheric data, scientists can better understand the role the oceans play in the rapid intensification of storms.

Once we have these profiles, scientists can fine-tune the computer model simulations used in forecasts to provide more detailed and accurate warnings in the futures.

Nick Shay, Professor of Oceanography, University of Miami.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

#Environment | https://sciencespies.com/environment/hurricane-ida-rapidly-evolved-into-a-monster-storm-an-oceanographer-explains-why/

Space agencies support space traffic management but differ on how it should be developed

COLORADO SPRINGS — Leaders of national space agencies agree that space traffic management (STM) should be a priority but have differing views on who should be responsible for it.

During a panel discussion at the 36th Space Symposium Aug. 25, the heads of space agencies in Europe and North America emphasized the importance of space traffic management given the growing amount of space objects in orbit and the threat they pose to space activities.

“Space traffic management is, from our point of view, a very important topic,” said Walther Pelzer, head of the German space agency DLR.

He argued, though, against “quick” solutions at a national level. “From a German point of view, this is not the right way,” he said. “If everyone comes up with their own ideas, is will not be sustainable.”

He supported instead an approach led by the United Nations. “To get United Nations and the word ‘speed’ into one sentence is kind of hard, and we are aware of it,” he acknowledged. “Nevertheless, we have to do space traffic management within the United Nations to have this issue sorted out sustainably.”

Later in the panel, Pelzer cited as an example the ongoing discussions about STM at the UN’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). “I think this is the right way to discuss it, within the United Nations and the most important players, to find a common solution.”

But Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency, said relying on the UN alone was not enough. “We need to act urgently,” he said. “We also need to find other means, because if we wait for those processes to finalize, as Walther was saying very eloquently, we cannot wait that long.”

He supported alternative approaches that could be done in parallel with the long-term UN-led approach but could be implemented sooner. “We need to find another mechanism, which is among the major players,” he said, “to really regulate and make sure our environment remains a safe place to operate our satellites.”

“We do need a strong international regulation because there will be many new actors from new countries,” said Philippe Baptiste, head of the French space agency CNES. He said the fact that current private space operators are responsible “is great” but that alone was not sufficient. He didn’t explicitly endorse an approach led by the UN or other multinational alternatives.

“Collaborating on space missions is fundamental but ensuring a strong international governance framework is equally important. It’s a priority for us,” said Lisa Campbell, president of the Canadian Space Agency. She supported development of guidelines for long-term sustainability of space at the UN but also noted Canada is one of the original signatories of the Artemis Accords, the U.S.-led effort to develop guidelines for sustainable space exploration.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson didn’t take a stand on how STM should be developed. “Space traffic management becomes much easier if spacefaring nations will stop polluting, particularly with ASAT tests,” he said.

“I think it’s a must to have regulations that are applicable everywhere,” said Giorgio Saccoccia, president of the Italian space agency ASI. “We cannot talk about sustainability of our planet if we don’t also talk about sustainability of what is around our planet. Regulation on STM is part of that.”

#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/space-agencies-support-space-traffic-management-but-differ-on-how-it-should-be-developed/

Hong Kong's marine ecosystem over the last 100 years

The skyscrapers and urban development that have made Hong Kong the "Pearl" have also generated pollutants that affect the marine species that live in Hong Kong's coastal waters. On-going climate change and dams along the Pearl River have also altered these coastal ecosystems. However, it is largely unknown in what ways they are altered, because we lack information about baseline conditions back then. "What were marine environments and organisms like in Hong Kong, say, 50 -- 100 years ago, when human activity was much more limited? How were they different from what we see today?" Dr Yuanyuan HONG, a postdoctoral fellow from the School of Biological Sciences, the Research Division for Ecology & Biodiversity, and The Swire Institute of Marine Science at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) raised the question.

Fortunately, young fossils can help to provide the answers. Dr Hong and her team used tens of thousands of small fossil shells preserved in sediment on the seafloor to reconstruct Hong Kong's marine ecosystem over the last ~50 -- 100 years. Using sophisticated biodiversity measures recently developed by co-lead author Professor Anne CHAO from National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, Dr Hong discovered that climate and metal pollution have played major roles in shaping present-day marine communities in Hong Kong. The finding has recently been published in Anthropocene.

"Climate change, specifically weakening of the East Asian Summer Monsoon, has resulted in less rain and less discharge of freshwater from the Pearl River, and this has substantially impacted marine life in Hong Kong's eastern waters, such as in Mirs Bay and Sai Kung. In addition, metal pollution from wastewater and the antifouling paints used on ships have greatly altered marine communities in the central part of Hong Kong, such as Victoria Harbour," said the lead author Dr Hong.

Significant impact on rare species

"Hong Kong's eastern waters are much less polluted than the central and western waters. However, these ecosystems are also much more sensitive to climate change. Future anthropogenic warming may reduce global ocean circulation and this may enhance the East Asian Summer Monsoon. So, organisms in Hong Kong's eastern waters may be confronted by enhanced discharge from the Pearl River and resulting lower salinity, higher turbidity, and muddier environments in the near future. Our research indicates that these environmental changes will especially affect rare species. Most species in tropical and subtropical places like Hong Kong are rare, so the anticipated changes may have a profound impact," co-lead author Dr Moriaki YASUHARA from the School of Biological Sciences, the Research Division for Ecology & Biodiversity, and The Swire Institute of Marine Science at HKU explained.

Hong Kong is one of the largest coastal cities in the world and has one of the world's busiest ports. Metal pollution, most likely generated from wastewater and the antifouling paints used on ships, has affected marine life in Victoria Harbour, which is surrounded by Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay (two of the biggest downtowns) . "Hong Kong's western waters of the Pearl River estuary is resistant and resilient from climatic and anthropogenic changes rather surprisingly. It is also surprising that eutrophication and deoxygenation did not show any substantial effect on Hong Kong's marine ecosystem in our study. This may be because the Pearl River estuary and South China Sea in general are naturally rich in organic matter and nutrients from mega rivers and high precipitation, and also deoxygenation in Hong Kong is not too serious compared to other urbanised sea areas such as Chesapeake bay next to Washington DC, Tokyo Bay next to Tokyo, and Baltic Sea surrounded by many European cities." Dr Hong further elaborated.

"Hong Kong remains 'The Pearl' even in the sea, as these regions continue to harbour tremendously diverse marine life, but our research has shown that climate and human activities have changed our local marine ecosystem substantially in just 50 -100 years. Underwater change is more difficult to see, compared with deforestation or other modifications of the land," Dr Hong concluded.

Yet, small fossils can reveal the history of underwater change over past decades, centuries, or longer. "Empty shells on the seafloor allow us to 'time travel' to past marine ecosystems and determine the ways in which natural and anthropogenic environmental change have shaped marine communities." co-lead author Dr Paul HARNIK from Colgate University pointed out.

Story Source:

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

#Nature | https://sciencespies.com/nature/hong-kongs-marine-ecosystem-over-the-last-100-years/

This is How Tardigrades Walk, And We Were Not Ready for The Footage

Tardigrades are undoubtedly weird. Dehydrate them into glass, then fire them out of a gun, and once you rehydrate them you can still have a living creature. Their outsides aren't the only thing that's tough either, with scientists finding last year that they also have special DNA armor proteins.

But if we take a step back from their immense capacity for being beaten up, there are many other mysterious things about them. For starters, how do these tiny creatures walk?

After all, they're one of the only animals with soft little bodies like this that can walk, plus they're one of the smallest animals with legs that we know of.

Tardigrade walking on a soft gel. (Nirody et al., PNAS, 2021)

"One of the coolest – and initially most surprising – things about tardigrades walking to me was how... good they were at it," Rockefeller University mechanical biologist Jasmine Nirody wrote on Twitter.

"They have a regular gait, and it looks remarkably like those of much, much larger animals!"

So, Nirody and colleagues recorded walking tardigrades of the Hypsibius dujardini species to analyze their gait and leg coordination, and we get to enjoy the results.

A tardigrade walking on a stiffer gel. (Lisset Duran)

"We didn't force them to do anything. Sometimes they would be really chill and just want to stroll around the substrate," says Nirody. "Other times, they'd see something they like and run towards it."

The team took tardigrades and walked them across different surfaces, finding that their stepping pattern is very similar to insects – despite the two groups being incredibly different sizes and made of completely different stuff.

Tardigrade walking on a stiff gel with claws visible. (Nirody et al., PNAS, 2021)

The team also recorded the little guys trying to walk on smooth glass (they didn't get very far on the smooth surface), and on gels with two different levels of stiffness, to work out how that changed their walk in the different conditions.

An assumedly unhappy tardigrade on glass. (Nirody et al., PNAS, 2021)

"We find that tardigrades adapt their locomotion to a 'galloping' coordination pattern when walking on softer substrates," the team writes in a new paper.

"This strategy has also been observed in arthropods to move efficiently on flowing or granular substrates."

Why tardigrades walk so much like insects is still an open question. The researchers aren't sure if there could be a potential common ancestor with insects, or whether the walking trait evolved separately in both organisms.

The research has been published in PNAS.

#Nature | https://sciencespies.com/nature/this-is-how-tardigrades-walk-and-we-were-not-ready-for-the-footage/

Aerospace Corp. CEO sees winds of change in space procurement

The rapid commercialization of space and the establishment of the U.S. Space Force have created ideal conditions for change in the national security space business, says Steve Isakowitz, CEO of the Aerospace Corp. and former president of Virgin Galactic.

Aerospace Corp. CEO Steve Isakowitz previously held senior  positions at the White House Office of Management and Budget, NASA, the Department of Energy and Virgin Galactic.

Aerospace, based in El Segundo, California, is a federally funded research and development center focused on analysis and assessment of space programs for the Defense Department, NASA and the National Reconnaissance Office.

In an interview with SpaceNews, Isakowitz says unprecedented opportunities are emerging for national security space organizations to capture commercial innovation. Defense programs won’t transform overnight, he says, but change is definitely in the air. 

What in particular is driving change in national security space programs?

The stand-up of the Space Force certainly was big. Creating an organization that’s now empowered to make the kinds of decisions that before had been more fractured is a significant development. The Space Force just stood up a Space Systems Command [which replaced the former Space and Missile Systems Center]. I think this is going to enhance the coordination across the entire space enterprise that also includes the Space Rapid Capabilities Office and the Space Development Agency. 

Aerospace Corp. worked closely with SMC and now with Space Systems Command. Do you think they will do business differently? 

Not much will change immediately because SMC already had undergone a significant amount of reorganization over the past two years. An important step taken by SMC was to establish the “program integration council” that includes representatives from DoD and intelligence agencies that acquire space systems. The council, known as PIC, is a great venue to get all the players around the table, and to talk about unity of effort in a better way than they had in the past. 

Everyone recognizes that technology is moving fast. The question now is what do we need to do to move faster, adopt the technologies in these emerging companies, and most importantly, outpace the threat.

What does all this mean for companies that sell products and services to the military? 

The way companies compete for contracts will not be the same. With satellites, for example, in the past you competed through the normal phases of competition and if you won you pretty much locked that thing up for the next 10 to 20 years or even 30 years. That program was yours to grow with. I think it’s going to be much less of that going forward. What you’re going to find is that it’s going to be easier for newer companies and technologies to plug into programs. That could be done by adding new sensors to a satellite that we could try out, or trying smaller satellites in combination with the larger ones for greater resiliency. 

At Aerospace, a lot more of our effort will be towards the front end, working with the government and with industry, understanding where technology is going, because you don’t want to lock in things too early. We want programs that evolve much the same way as the internet where you have protocols and standards that allow you to plug in. I think that’s what we need to do for national security programs.

How can the military integrate government and commercial space systems? 

Space is becoming a hybrid architecture, not just in the way we often think about it, which is small satellites mixed with large satellites. It’s becoming much more of a hybrid architecture in terms of different orbits that now are going to be used. Frankly we’re even talking about going out to cislunar. I think it’s becoming much more hybrid in terms of satellites being able to talk to each other through optical links and so on. It’s not just for the same mission but across different missions. 

We used to build ground systems that were dedicated for a specific mission. I think now they’re going to be multipurpose. So from that standpoint, you’re going to see much more mixing and matching. And this can only happen if you get the kind of coordination and standardization that I talked about earlier.

There is a lot of talk about ‘space as a service’ provided by commercial firms. Should DoD consider buying services instead of hardware? 

I think the government recognizes the value of trying to leverage what’s happening in the commercial sector. When I joined Aerospace five years ago, I thought that the industry was going to transform itself quite a bit, with commercial activity and new technologies. I was actually wrong. Because it’s transformed itself much more than I would have ever predicted. And it is moving really fast and I think the government recognizes that. 

We are not the only one these days that talk about billions of dollars. Private industry is raising billions of dollars. These are big numbers, and the government would be short sighted not to take full advantage of that kind of capability going forward. 

#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/aerospace-corp-ceo-sees-winds-of-change-in-space-procurement/

Download your ‘News from the 36th Space Symposium’ special digital edition

The SpaceNews editorial team produced four show dailies, a nightly email newsletter and all-day web coverage during the 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs the week of Aug. 23.

We’ve compiled all our reporting into a special digital edition that’s free.

SN Digital Edition | News from the 36th Space Symposium

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This special digital edition of SpaceNews was made possible with support from Ball Aerospace

Powered by endlessly curious people with an unwavering mission focus, Ball Aerospace pioneers discoveries that enable our customers to perform beyond expectation and protect what matters most. We create innovative space solutions, deliver actionable environmental intelligence, strengthen connectivity, protect the nation’s critical space assets and deliver actionable data and intelligence. It’s all part of our collaborative approach as we work together to unlock the mysteries of our planet and universe and provide insight into the unknown. For more information, visit www.ball.com/aerospace or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.

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#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/download-your-news-from-the-36th-space-symposium-special-digital-edition/

ExoTerra to provide Blackjack satellite thrusters

SAN FRANCISCO – Blue Canyon Technologies selected ExoTerra Resources to provide electric propulsion for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s Blackjack Phase 2 and Phase 3 satellites.

Blue Canyon, a Raytheon subsidiary, won a $14.1 million DARPA contract in 2020 to manufacture four Blackjack satellites, with options to build 16 additional small satellites for a constellation in low Earth orbit to provide communications, missile tracking and navigation services.

In 2020, Blue Canyon tapped Orbion Space Technology to supply electric propulsion for its first four Blackjack satellites. ExoTerra was a secondary supplier of Hall effect propulsion systems for Blue Canyon’s first four Blackjack satellites. Littleton, Colorado-based ExoTerra expects its thrusters to fly on two Blue Canyon Blackjack satellites scheduled to launch in 2022.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Blue Canyon and DARPA on this project,” ExoTerra CEO Mike VanWoerkom said in a statement. “Being selected by Blue Canyon validates the hard work we’ve been doing to put the production capabilities in place to meet the growing demand for propulsion from constellations of microsatellites like Blackjack.”

ExoTerra has not yet flight proven its Halo Hall-effect thruster, which fits in one-quarter of a cubesat, VanWoerkom told SpaceNews. ExoTerra’s first thruster flight is scheduled for March.

In response to strong demand for the miniature thrusters, ExoTerra moved one year ago into a 1,022 square meter facility in Littleton, Colorado, where the firm has enough manufacturing capacity to produce 200 propulsion units per year in addition to solar arrays and radiation-tolerant electronic control systems.

ExoTerra also is preparing for a 2022 flight test of its own 12-unit cubesat equipped with a compact, high-impulse solar electric propulsion module. NASA is funding the cubesat flight through the Tipping Point program, which supports technologies for sustained moon and Mars exploration.

#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/exoterra-to-provide-blackjack-satellite-thrusters/

New cracks on the International Space Station stoke fears of fissures spreading

Russian cosmonauts discovered cracks on the Zarya module of the International Space Station (ISS) and are concerned that the fissures could spread over time, a senior space official reported on Monday (Aug. 30).

"Superficial fissures have been found in some places on the Zarya module," Vladimir Solovyov, chief engineer of rocket and space corporation Energia, told RIA news agency, according to Reuters.

"This is bad and suggests that the fissures will begin to spread over time."

The Zarya module, also called the Functional Cargo Block, was the first component of the ISS ever launched, having blasted into orbit on Nov. 20, 1998, according to NASA.

Solovyov recently stated that the ISS is beginning to show its age and warned that there could potentially be an "avalanche" of broken equipment after 2025, according to Reuters.

Related: 7 everyday things that happen strangely in space

The emergence of these new cracks follows several recent incidents on the ISS. In March, Russian cosmonauts sealed two small cracks – about as wide as human hairs – in the Zvezda module, Space.com reported.

The Zvezda module contains living quarters for two cosmonauts and supports the station's life support systems, along with backup life support systems in the US portion of the station.

The tiny cracks in the module were thought to be the source of an air leak that NASA and Russia's space agency Roscosmos had been investigating for months.

And in August, the jet thrusters on the Russian research module Nauka unexpectedly fired and pushed the entire station out of place, according to Space.com.

The module had just docked at the station hours before, and when the thrusters suddenly misfired, Nauka essentially tried to pull away from its docking point, pulling the ISS with it.

Russian officials said that a software glitch and a touch of human error likely led to the incident, according to Reuters.

Read more about the new cracks in the Zarya module in Reuters.

Related content:

Interstellar space travel: 7 futuristic spacecraft to explore the cosmos

10 animals that have been launched into space

Voyager to Mars Rover: NASA's 10 greatest innovations

This article was originally published by Live Science. Read the original article here.

#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/new-cracks-on-the-international-space-station-stoke-fears-of-fissures-spreading/

Female Octopuses Throw Things at Irritating Males, And Look, We Totally Get It

When it comes to getting rid of an annoying pest, sometimes subtlety just won't cut it. Sometimes you just have to throw everything or anything within reach, pelting the offender with shells and debris until they scuttle off back to their hole.

OK, that approach probably isn't great for humans. But for octopuses, it seems to work a treat, according to new research.

In a site off the eastern coast of Australia, where such large numbers of Sydney octopuses (Octopus tetricus) congregate that scientists have dubbed the region Octopolis, scientists first observed octopuses flinging objects at each other in a scene of heated argy-bargy in 2015.

Debris throwing by octopuses in the wild. (Godfrey-Smith et al., bioRxiv, 2021)

Now they have determined that the flingers are mostly female – and they're probably, at least in some instances, trying to ward off overly amorous males.

"The throwing of material by wild octopuses is common, at least at the site described here. These throws are achieved by gathering material and holding it in the arms, then expelling it under pressure," the researchers write in their pre-print paper.

"Force is not imparted by the arms, as in a human throw, but the arms organize the projection of material by the jet... Throwing in general is more often seen by females, and we have seen only one hit (a marginal one) from a throw by a male. Octopuses who were hit included other females in nearby dens, and males who have been attempting mating with a female thrower."

Many animals fling debris at others, and there are many reasons for doing so. It can be a threat or defensive behavior, or have to do with trapping prey. Most animals seen doing this, however, are flinging things at other species, not their own.

So, to determine why octopuses might like to throw shells, silt, and algae at each other, a team of researchers led by philosopher of science Peter Godfrey-Smith of the University of Sydney set out to observe the chucking in action.

Using non-invasive GoPro cameras left on-site, they recorded over 100 instances of the inhabitants of Octopolis flinging debris willy-nilly. The octopuses would hold material in their arms, and then use their siphons to blast a jet of water that would blow the material up to several body-lengths away.

As they analyzed their recordings, the researchers noticed that there seemed to be two main types of throwing. The first had to do with housekeeping, and keeping their cosy dens free of unwanted debris and food waste.

The second seemed a bit more targeted. Octopuses, determined to be (mostly) female, were observed throwing material at other octopuses in targeted attacks. Overall, shells were the most commonly thrown object, at 55 recorded instances.

For 33 percent of these targeted throws, the flung object actually hit the intended target, with silt being the best material for this task. The targets were either other nearby females, or males making attempts to mate.

In one notable instance, recorded in 2016, a female octopus threw material at a male 10 times over a period of 3 hours and 40 minutes, hitting it five times. Interestingly, octopuses that were hit with such ejecta made no attempt to retaliate, but did sometimes attempt to duck (although not always successfully).

Another, perhaps slightly more controversial explanation for this behavior could be that the throws are not always necessarily targeted, but could be a form of tantrum due to frustration.

After several dramatic interactions, the researchers observed that one octopus would throw things in a manner that didn't seem directed at the other octopus. Given how difficult it is to assign intent to animals, though, especially one as alien as octopuses, it is impossible to definitively conclude that this is the case.

Either way, it seems that the throwing does seem to play some sort of social role.

"Octopuses can thus definitely be added to the short list of animals who regularly throw or propel objects, and provisionally added to the shorter list of those who direct their throws on other animals," the researchers write.

"If they are indeed targeted, these throws are directed at individuals of the same population in social interactions – the least common form of nonhuman throwing."

The paper is available at the pre-print website bioRxiv.

#Nature | https://sciencespies.com/nature/female-octopuses-throw-things-at-irritating-males-and-look-we-totally-get-it/

How people respond to wildfire smoke

As wildfires become commonplace in the western U.S. and around the world, checking the daily air quality warning has become as routine as checking the weather. But what people do with that data -- whether it drives them to slip on a mask before stepping outside or seal up their homes against smoke -- is not always straightforward or rational, according to new Stanford research.

In a case study of Northern California residents, Stanford researchers explored the psychological factors and social processes that drive responses to wildfire smoke. The research, which ultimately aims to uncover approaches for helping people better protect themselves, shows that social norms and social support are essential for understanding protective health actions during wildfire smoke events. The findings appeared this month in the journal Climate Risk Management.

"It's important to understand how people behave so that public health communications professionals can potentially intervene and promote safer behavior that mitigates risk," said lead study author Francisca Santana, a PhD student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER). "This kind of qualitative work is a first step so that we can learn how people are using information and interacting to make decisions. We can then look at where there might be leverage points or opportunities to promote more protective behavior."

Exposure to wildfire smoke can irritate the lungs, cause inflammation, impact the immune system and increase susceptibility to lung infections, including the virus that causes COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While other studies have examined how people respond to evacuation orders, little has been done to understand what's happening with wildfire smoke exposure if people don't -- or can't -- leave the area, according to senior study author Gabrielle Wong-Parodi, an assistant professor of Earth system science at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth).

"It resonated with me, the things that people were doing to try to protect themselves in the absence of access to effective ways to reduce their wildfire smoke exposure," Wong-Parodi said, referring to a resident who breathed through a wet bandana in an attempt to filter out toxic smoke particles. "It's urgent that we come up with strategies that are realistic for what people are going through."

Study authors Santana and David Gonzalez, who worked on the study as a PhD student at Stanford, interviewed residents across age, race and income demographics who were affected by wildfire smoke from the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise, California, and subsequent fires in 2019 in Fresno, Santa Clara and Sacramento counties.

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They found that individuals responded to wildfire smoke events in three main ways: interpreting information together, protecting vulnerable others and questioning protective actions. Their responses were influenced not only by the Air Quality Index (AQI) but also by what they were personally experiencing -- whether they smelled, saw or tasted smoke in the air.

Just as important were the social factors at play, the researchers found. "Social norms and social support were really influencing how people chose to act on their perceptions of threat," Santana said. "For example, a lot of people talked about observing others wearing masks, and in some cases that observation was enough for them to act by wearing a mask themselves."

Their discussions revealed that the shared rules or standards of behavior within a social group -- social norms -- were a common pathway driving behavior change, in addition to the act of assisting or comforting others within your social group -- social support.

"There were only a handful of people who described looking at the AQI and then changing their behavior based on just that -- it was almost always a conversation they were having with one another," Santana said. "It was very much a social exercise of making sense of limited information or information that was not at the right scale for their community."

The study provides a framework for better understanding wildfire smoke responses by examining social processes while acknowledging that cultural and political contexts, as well as factors like demographics, health status and previous exposure to smoke and air pollution, may also influence individual behaviors.

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In the western U.S., climate change has contributed to the risk and extent of wildfires, bringing smoke to regions like the Bay Area, which has historically been less affected than the rest of the state. In some cases, the researchers found that residents were unable to protect themselves because they couldn't access N95 masks or air purifiers or properly seal their homes.

"This research is also important for epidemiologists trying to understand how wildfire smoke affects health," said Gonzalez, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. "This can help us to look at disparities in who's exposed to smoke and whether that leads to poorer health for some populations."

As these events become more common, there could be an opportunity to find policy synergies that help prepare communities for future smoke events, according to the co-authors. For example, programs that are designed to improve household comfort and increase energy efficiency could also include measures to reduce smoke intrusion during wildfire smoke events, Wong-Parodi suggested.

Some of the interviews revealed that residents simply didn't know what to do while experiencing a novel extreme event. But even that revealed how processing uncertainty is a social exercise, not just a cognitive one.

"This piece shows that social norms may be an effective lever for encouraging the pro-health change that we'd like to see," Wong-Parodi said. "That is actually a really promising sign for thinking about how to adapt and mitigate our risk as we're facing increasing threats from climate change."

#Environment | https://sciencespies.com/environment/how-people-respond-to-wildfire-smoke/

Lamborn and Crow propose establishment of Space Force National Guard

National Guard units have expertise in space operations such as strategic missile warning, space situational awareness and space control

WASHINGTON — Reps. Doug Lamborn (R) and Jason Crow (D), both from Colorado, announced Aug. 30 they are introducing legislation to establish a Space National Guard as a reserve component of the U.S. Space Force. 

Lamborn and Crow are members of the House Armed Services Committee and co-chairs of the House Space Force Caucus.  The HASC on Wednesday is scheduled to take up the National Defense Authorization Act for 2022. 

The issue of whether the Space Force should have its own Space National Guard has been debated since the Space Force was signed into law in December 2019. National Guard Bureau leaders have openly challenged DoD’s decision to stand up a U.S. Space Force without defining the role the National Guard would play in supporting the new service.

Eight states — Alaska, Hawaii, California, Colorado, Florida, New York, Arkansas and Ohio — and Guam have nearly 2,000 personnel who specialize in space operations. Most are from the Air National Guard and a small number are from the Army National Guard.

Guard units have expertise in space operations such as strategic missile warning, space situational awareness, space control, electronic warfare satellite command and control, satellite communications, space launch, and some support the National Reconnaissance Office.

“Colorado has more Guardsmen conducting space missions than any state in the Union. I am happy to join Rep. Crow on this important issue,” Lamborn said in a statement Aug. 30.

“With more than a third of all National Guard members assigned to space missions residing here in Colorado, our state will play a key role in providing a proven, ready, combat reserve to Space Force,” said Crow. 

Earlier this summer, Air Force and Space Force leadership told House Armed Services Committee members that they have completed a report required by the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act detailing how they would organize Guard and Reserve components within the Space Force. That report has not been publicly released. 

#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/lamborn-and-crow-propose-establishment-of-space-force-national-guard/

UN declares milestone victory as leaded petrol is officially eradicated

The use of leaded petrol has been eradicated from the globe, a milestone that will prevent more than 1.2 million premature deaths and save world economies over US$2.4 trillion annually, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) said Monday.

Nearly a century after doctors first issued warnings about the toxic effects of leaded petrol, Algeria – the last country to use the fuel – exhausted its supplies last month, UNEP said, calling the news a landmark win in the fight for cleaner air.

"The successful enforcement of the ban on leaded petrol is a huge milestone for global health and our environment," said Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP, which is headquartered in Nairobi.

Even as recently as two decades ago, more than 100 countries around the world were still using leaded petrol, despite studies linking it to premature deaths, poor health, and soil and air pollution.

Concerns were raised as early as 1924, when dozens of workers were hospitalized and five declared dead after suffering convulsions at a refinery run by US giant Standard Oil, nicknamed the 'looney gas building' by staff.

Nevertheless, until the 1970s almost all the gasoline sold across the globe contained lead.

When UNEP launched its campaign in 2002, many major economic powers had already stopped using the fuel, including the United States, China, and India. But the situation in lower-income nations remained dire.

'End of a toxic era'

By 2016, after North Korea, Myanmar, and Afghanistan stopped selling leaded petrol, only a handful of countries were still operating service stations providing the fuel, with Algeria finally following Iraq and Yemen in ending its reliance on the pollutant.

UNEP said in a statement that the eradication of leaded petrol would "prevent more than 1.2 million premature deaths per year, increase IQ points among children, save US$2.44 trillion (2.07 trillion euros) for the global economy, and decrease crime rates".

The agency said the dollar figure came from a 2010 study led by scientists at California State University at Northridge.

Its chief factors were the benefits of better health for the overall economy, lower medical costs, and a dip in criminal activity – higher crime rates have previously been linked to exposure to leaded fuel.

UNEP warned that fossil fuel use in general must still be drastically reduced to stave off the frightening effects of climate change.

Greenpeace hailed the news as "a celebration of the end of one toxic era".

"It clearly shows that if we can phase out one of the most dangerous polluting fuels in the 20th century, we can absolutely phase out all fossil fuels," said Thandile Chinyavanhu, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace Africa.

"Africa's governments must give no more excuses for the fossil fuel industry," she added.

Globally, vehicle sales are set to climb exponentially, particularly in emerging markets.

"The transport sector is responsible for nearly a quarter of energy-related global greenhouse gas emissions and is set to grow to one third by 2050," UNEP said, adding that 1.2 billion new vehicles would hit the streets in the coming decades.

"This includes millions of poor-quality used vehicles exported from Europe, the United States, and Japan, to mid- and low-income countries.

"This contributes to planet warming and air polluting traffic and (is) bound to cause accidents," the global body said.

Earlier this month, a bombshell report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that Earth's average temperature would be 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer around 2030 compared to pre-industrial times.

A decade earlier than projected, the rise has raised alarm bells about the use of fossil fuels.

© Agence France-Presse

#Environment | https://sciencespies.com/environment/un-declares-milestone-victory-as-leaded-petrol-is-officially-eradicated/

At least a quarter of all Sun-like stars may have devoured one of their own planets

Saturn – or Kronos – may be the one with a horrifying reputation for filial cannibalism in mythology, but when it comes to cosmic giants eating their own children, it turns out Sun-like stars have a lot to answer for.

According to a new study, at least a quarter of all stars like the Sun have engulfed one of their own planets at some point in their lives.

This doesn't mean we're going to lock them up in star jail for crimes against their kin, but it does show that many planetary systems are dynamically unstable, which makes the Solar System different - a finding that could have implications for our search for Earth-like worlds.

"The observational evidence that planetary systems can be very different from each other suggests that their dynamical histories were very diverse, probably as a result of a strong sensitivity to the initial conditions. Dynamical processes in the most chaotic systems have possibly destabilized planetary orbits, forcing them to plunge into the host star," wrote a team of researchers in a new paper appearing in Nature Astronomy.

"Unequivocal evidence of planet engulfment events and knowledge of their occurrence in Sun-like stars would shed light on the possible evolutionary paths of planetary systems, indicating how many of them have undergone complex phases of highly dynamical reconfiguration."

Our weird Sun

Believe it or not, our Sun is something of a rarity in the Milky Way. Most of our galaxy's stars – around 75 percent – are M-type stars, or red dwarfs: small and cool and very long-lived. Our Sun is a G-type star, what is known as a yellow dwarf; only 7 percent of the Milky Way's stars are G-type.

In addition, the Sun is a loner. Astronomers believe most stars are born in star systems with one or more siblings; indeed, most of the Milky Way's stars have at least one other companion, locked in a mutual orbit as a binary system. (And yes, the Sun may have a long-lost twin out there, somewhere.)

Here's how that works. When a dense knot in a cloud of molecular gas in space collapses under its own gravity and starts spinning, what you have is the beginning of a star, or protostar. The gas around the protostar forms into a disk, which feeds into the growing star. During this process, the disk can fragment, splitting off into a second protostar.

Once the stars are finished forming, the leftover material in the disk then forms planets and asteroid belts and comets - all the other stuff that makes up a planetary system. Depending on where in the disk these things form, they can have different ratios of the stuff that was in the initial cloud.

And, because they're formed from the same clump of material, the binary stars should then have very similar chemical compositions and even masses.

This is not always the case, though. So, a team of astronomers led by Lorenzo Spina of the Astronomical Observatory of Padua in Italy and Monash University in Australia decided to take a closer look at binary systems. They identified 107 pairs of stars with similar temperatures and surface gravities, and studied their chemical properties.

Interestingly, they found that a significant number of the binaries had mismatched chemistry.

"Although stars in binary systems are expected to share an identical chemical pattern, the stellar components of 33 pairs in our sample have iron abundances that are anomalously different at the 2-sigma level," the researchers wrote. This suggests that all Sun-like stars have a 20-35 percent chance of eating their planets.

They found that the odds of finding such a chemically anomalous binary increase with the temperature of the pair. This is unlikely to be the result of inhomogeneities within the protostellar cloud; instead, according to modelling, it's more likely the result of planetary material falling onto the star, and polluting the convective zone - the layer in which material is transported via heat flows.

"When planetary material enters the star and pollutes its convective zone, the stellar atmospheric composition changes in a way that mirrors the composition observed in rocky objects, namely, refractory elements [metals and silicates] are more abundant than volatiles," the researchers wrote.

"Therefore, stars that have engulfed planetary material should have abundance ratios of refractories over volatiles that are higher than the typical ratios found in stars of similar ages and metallicities."

Narrowing down exoplanet search

The discovery has very important implications for studying other planetary systems. Over 4,500 exoplanets have been confirmed to date, and there seems to be rather a great deal of variety in the architecture of their systems. This suggests that planetary systems are very sensitive to the initial conditions, early in their formation.

The research presents additional evidence that a significant percentage of systems orbiting Sun-like stars had a very turbulent start to life. Perhaps it also has implications for understanding how and why life emerged on Earth, since all the stars in the study were binary. The findings could suggest that binary systems are a bit too messy for the stable conditions that may be needed for life.

And it could help us narrow down where to search for Earth-like exoplanets. Although Sun-like stars are relatively rare in the Milky Way, there are still millions out there close enough for us to be looking at. Studying their atmospheres for refractory elements could help narrow down the planet-munchers.

It even works when applied to the Sun, which seems quite peculiarly low in refractory elements when compared to other Sun-like stars.

"The possibility of detecting chemical signatures of planet engulfment events implies that we can use the chemical composition of a star to infer whether its planetary system has undergone an extremely dynamical past, unlike our Solar System, which has preserved its planets on nearly circular orbits with very limited migrations," the researchers wrote.

"Therefore, we now have a potential 'upstream' method to identify those Sun-like stars that are less likely to host Earth-like planets, which could be useful as a criterion for planet searches."

The paper has been published in Nature Astronomy.

#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/at-least-a-quarter-of-all-sun-like-stars-may-have-devoured-one-of-their-own-planets/

Beavers are well established and moving through the Oregon Coast Range

Beavers are often translocated to restore populations in areas, reduce their conflicts with humans and to take advantage of their ability to improve ecosystems.

However, few studies have accessed the impacts of dispersing beavers, making it difficult to determine best practices for translocations. A new study from scientists at Oregon State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Wildlife Research Center begins to change that.

The scientists, who collected genetic samples from almost 300 beavers in the Coast Range of western Oregon, sought to understand whether landscape features, such as slope and distance to water, influenced gene flow among beavers.

They detected relatively strong genetic differentiation of beavers, which they believe is shaped by watershed boundaries and past relocations of the rodents. This led them to recommend that relocation efforts of beavers in topographically complex landscapes, like the Coast Range, occur within watersheds when possible.

"We wanted to see if there were things that are limiting beaver dispersal in western Oregon, whether they are not able to disperse because of geography or some physical limits," said Jimmy Taylor, a research wildlife biologist with the U.S.D.A's National Wildlife Research Center in Corvallis and a courtesy faculty member at Oregon State. "Our findings indicate that doesn't seem to be the case. They seem to be moving freely within watersheds, with at least occasional movements between watersheds."

The overharvest of beavers during the 16th to 19th centuries in North America is well documented. This legacy, however, sometimes overshadows the restoration of beaver populations throughout North America in the 20thcentury.

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Spurred by the population restoration, there has been growing interest in the western United States in using beavers for stream restoration projects that can restore floodplain connectivity, improve grazing opportunities for livestock, mitigate increasing aridity and provide habitat for threatened species, such as Oregon Coast coho salmon.

In the recently published paper, the researchers focused on beavers in the Coast Range of Oregon, a region characterized by multiple watersheds, dense forests and steep hillside slopes.

The team reviewed the limited scientific literature and historical documents about beavers in the region and concluded not much is known about beaver history or ecology in the area. They did, however, find records showing more than 700 beavers were released in the area between 1939 and 1951 by the state to provide optimal distribution of the species.

"Beavers are a really storied part of this landscape and they are an iconic species for Oregon," said Clint Epps, a wildlife biologist at Oregon State and co-author of the paper. "For me, it was kind of a mystery of how beavers have persisted in this Coast Range landscape. How much of that was influenced by translocation? How much of it was just beavers persisting on their own? I can't say we directly tested this. But from looking at the translocation records and the genetic structure it looks to me like they hung on in this landscape."

The researchers collected genetic samples from 292 beavers from 12 counties along the Oregon Coast. They live-trapped 232. The remainder were either road kill or supplied by trappers.

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They then mapped records of beaver translocations during the 20th century to consider the effect of those movements on the genetic structure of beavers.

They concluded that slope and distance to water did not strongly limit dispersal and gene flow by beavers in this system, but that dispersal is more common within watersheds, as opposed to between watersheds.

"This is a native species" Taylor said. "I'm pleased we see gene flow. This is an animal that's well established and dispersing in its native ecosystem."

Taylor is also hopeful that this research will lead to a greater appreciation of beavers in the Coast Range, where they are not as visible because they don't tend to build dams or lodges in that landscape.

"There are a lot of beavers on the landscape but people don't know that because they don't see the classic signs that they learned in children's books," he said. "Part of what I'm trying to do is politely, respectfully educate people that there are a lot more on the landscape out there, and they are not all providing the cascading series of dams that people are looking for, but they still contribute to ecosystem services."

Other authors of the paper are Vanessa Petro, a senior faculty research assistant in Oregon State's College of Forestry, who did most of the trapping; Rachel Crowhurst, a senior faculty research assistant in Oregon State's College of Agricultural Sciences, who did the genetic analysis; Tyler Creech, who worked with Epps at Oregon State and is now at the Center for Large Landscape Conservation in Bozeman, Montana; and Matthew Weldy, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Forestry, Ecosystems, and Society at Oregon State.

#Nature | https://sciencespies.com/nature/beavers-are-well-established-and-moving-through-the-oregon-coast-range/

Baby shark born in all-female tank could be the first 'virgin birth' for its species

Scientists say a rare shark "virgin birth" may be the first of its kind after a baby shark was born in an all-female tank in an Italian aquarium.

The baby smoothhound shark, named Ispera, which means hope in Sardianian, was born at the Acquario di Cala Gonone in Sardinia, Italy, according to Italian outlet AGI.

Its mother had spent ten years living in a tank with one other female, the outlet said, and scientists suspect the newborn could be the first documented case of shark parthenogenesis in that species.

Parthenogenesis is a rare phenomenon where an egg develops into an embryo without being fertilized by a sperm.

The process has been observed in more than 80 vertebrate species, according to Live Science, including sharks, fish, and reptiles.

"About 15 species of sharks and rays are known to do this," Demian Chapman, director of the sharks and rays conservation program at Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Florida, told Live Science.

He added that while sharks probably had the ability to do it, it was difficult to document in the wild.

Chapman told Live Science that in the wild, parthenogenesis might be the last resort for females that cannot find a mate in situations of low population density.

The response can also be triggered in captive sharks who are separated from males for long periods of time, he said.

There are two different types of parthenogenesis, according to National Geographic.

One is apomixis, a type of cloning most common in plants.

The other, documented in sharks, is automixis, which involves the slight shuffling of the mother's genes to create offspring similar to the mother but not exact clones.

Researcher Christine Dudgeon from the University of Queensland in Australia told Live Science how parthenogenesis worked.

"Rather than combining with a sperm cell to make an embryo, [the egg cell] combines with a polar body, which is essentially another cell that is produced at the same time that the egg cell is produced and has the complementary DNA," Dudgeon told Live Science.

"Parthenogenesis is essentially a form of inbreeding, as the genetic diversity of the offspring is greatly reduced," Dudgeon added.

As a result, parthenogenesis offspring could have a reduced chance of survival, she said.

Marine biologists at the Italian aquarium have sent DNA samples to a laboratory to confirm that Ispera was born through parthenogenesis, the New York Post reported.

This article was originally published by Business Insider.

More from Business Insider:

#Nature | https://sciencespies.com/nature/baby-shark-born-in-all-female-tank-could-be-the-first-virgin-birth-for-its-species/

Animal expert shares 5 things that will help your dog live a longer, healthier life

As anyone who has ever lived with a dog will know, it often feels like we don't get enough time with our furry friends. Most dogs only live around ten to 14 years on average – though some may naturally live longer, while others may be predisposed to certain diseases that can limit their lifespan.

But what many people don't know is that humans and dogs share many genetic similarities – including a predisposition to age-related cancer. This means that many of the things humans can do to be healthier and longer lived may also work for dogs.

Here are just a few ways that you might help your dog live a longer, healthier life.

1. Watch their waistline

One factor that's repeatedly linked with longevity across a range of species is maintaining a healthy bodyweight. That means ensuring dogs aren't carrying excess weight, and managing their calorie intake carefully.

Not only will a lean, healthy bodyweight be better for your dog in the long term, it can also help to limit the impact of certain health conditions, such as osteoarthritis.

Carefully monitor and manage your dog's bodyweight through regular weighing or body condition scoring – where you look at your dog's physical shape and "score" them on a scale to check whether they're overweight, or at a healthy weight. Using both of these methods together will allow you to identify weight changes and alter their diet as needed.

Use feeding guidelines as a starting point for how much to feed your dog, but you might need to change food type or the amount you feed to maintain a healthy weight as your dog gets older, or depending on how much activity they get.

Knowing exactly how much you are feeding your dog is also a crucial weight-management tool – so weigh their food rather than scooping it in by eye.

More generally, good nutrition can be linked to a healthy ageing process, suggesting that what you feed can be as important as how much you feed. "Good" nutrition will vary for each dog, but be sure to look for foods that are safe, tasty and provide all the nutrients your dog needs.

2. Plenty of walks

Exercise has many physiological and psychological benefits, both for our dogs (and us). Physical activity can help to manage a dog's bodyweight, and is also associated with anti-ageing effects in other genetically similar species.

While exercise alone won't increase your dog's lifespan, it might help protect you both from carrying excess bodyweight. And indeed, research suggests that "happy" dog walks lead to both happy dogs and people.

3. Teach them new tricks

Ageing isn't just physical. Keeping your dog's mind active is also helpful. Contrary to the popular adage, you can teach old dogs new tricks – and you might just keep their brain and body younger as a result.

Even when physical activity might be limited, explore alternative low-impact games and pursuits, such as scentwork that you and your dog can do together. Using their nose is an inherently rewarding and fun thing for dogs to do, so training dogs to find items by scent will exercise them both mentally and physically.

Other exercise such as hydrotherapy – a type of swimming exercise – might be a good option – especially for dogs who have conditions which affect their ability to exercise as normal.

4. Bonding

Like many companion animals, dogs develop a clear attachment to their caregivers. The human-dog bond likely provides companionship – and often, dog lovers describe them as a family member.

A stable caregiver-dog bond can help maintain a happy and mutually beneficial partnership between you and your dog. It can also help you recognize subtle changes in your dog's behavior or movement that might signal potential concerns.

Where there is compatibility between caregiver and dog, this leads to a better relationship – and even benefits for owners, too, including stress relief and exercise. Sharing positive, fun experiences with your dog, including playing with them, are great for cementing your bond.

5. Don't skip vet visits

Modern veterinary medicine has seen substantial improvements in preventing and managing health concerns in dogs. Successful vaccination and parasite management programs have effectively reduced the incidence of disease in both dogs and humans – including toxocariasis, which can be transmitted from dog feces to humans, and rabies, which can be transmitted dog-to-dog or dog-to-human.

Having a good relationship with your vet will allow you to tailor treatments and discuss your dog's needs. Regular health checks can also be useful in identifying any potential problems at a treatable stage – such as dental issues or osteoarthritis – which can cause pain and negatively impact the dog's wellbeing.

At the end of the day, it's a combination of our dog's genetics and the environment they live in that impacts their longevity. So while we can't change their genetics, there are many things we can do to improve their health that may just help them live a longer, healthier life.

Jacqueline Boyd, Senior Lecturer in Animal Science, Nottingham Trent University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

#Humans | https://sciencespies.com/humans/animal-expert-shares-5-things-that-will-help-your-dog-live-a-longer-healthier-life/

Delta II and SLC-2: A Remarkable Era

The launch of NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) on September 15, 2018, from Space Launch Complex-2 (SLC-2) at Vandenberg Air Force Base, now a Space Force base, marked the end of a remarkable era for the venerable Delta II launch vehicle and SLC-2. This was the 155^th launch overall for the Delta II, which made 153 successful flights for NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office, Missile Defense Agency, and the United States Air Force.

NASA used Delta II to fly missions to Mars, Mercury, comets, and asteroids and eventually assumed responsibility for SLC-2 to fly the Delta II’s last missions overlooking the Pacific Ocean, just northwest of the Vandenberg airfield.

SLC-2 began with the Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile, which was the predecessor of the Delta launch vehicle family. The complex, developed in 1958, was part of a group of seven launch installations at Vandenberg designed for the Thor.

The first Delta launch occurred on October 2, 1966, with the launch of the Environmental Science Services Administration’s ESSA-3 satellite. Later, when Delta launched the Cosmic Observatory Background Observer (COBE) satellite on November 18, 1989, it led to a six-year hiatus of launch activity to refurbish SLC-2, adding 12 feet to the Mobile Service Tower (MST). Launch activities at SLC-2 resumed on November 3, 1995, with the successful Delta II launch of the Canadian RADARSAT scientific Earth observation satellite. ICESat-2 was the final mission to use the MST and existing infrastructure.

Dematerialization began Aug 19, 2020, with the majority of it removed by Nov 3, and by Nov 20 the MST was completely gone. Photo credit: a.i. solutions/Rob Quigg

On August 17, 2020, a major shift in the Western Range landscape began with the removal of the MST and the Fixed Umbilical Tower (FUT). a.i. solutions partnered with NASA to ensure the safe removal of the 128-foot tall FUT and the 166-foot tall MST. The team recycled 646 tons of steel, 29 tons of aluminum, and 106 tons of concrete during the dematerialization project. a.i. solutions’ extensive experience with launch and ground systems proved invaluable during the effort. NASA Launch Services Program (LSP) specifically sited a.i. solutions “superior support of SLC-2 MST Hazardous Materials Assessment and Dematerialization preparation,” “efficient addition of the FUT dematerialization scope,” as well as accommodation of their request to “salvage two Delta II FUT umbilicals for future testing.” A time-lapse video of the project is available here.

Sign and plaque commemorating SLC-2. Photo credit:
a.i. solutions/Rob Quigg

As the team removed the FUT & MST, brand new infrastructure was built and installed by Firefly Aerospace to support the first of many launches using SLC-2 for their Alpha launch vehicle. By November of 2020, SLC-2 was ready to be turned over to Firefly for their use. The military and NASA legacy of SLC-2 will live on with future missions flown on Alpha.

a.i. solutions’ Director of Air & Space Force Programs, Rob Quigg, stated, “This project was a great team effort. Bedford Enterprises, our subcontractor, was superb, the Space Launch Delta 30 was extremely helpful, and our NASA LSP customer provided outstanding guidance. It was an honor to ready SLC-2 for a new commercial launch provider.”

To pay tribute to the men and women who worked at SLC-2,
a.i. solutions preserved the concrete NASA sign displayed in front of the NASA operations center at Vandenberg (Building 836) with a historical plaque.

a.i. solutions has 25 years of experience providing launch operations, systems engineering, communications & telemetry, and programmatic and launch vehicle-to-spacecraft integration services. They are currently the prime contractor for the NASA Expendable Launch Vehicle Integrated Support 3 (ELVIS 3) contract.

#Space | https://sciencespies.com/space/delta-ii-and-slc-2-a-remarkable-era/

5 Takeaways When Considering The Cosmos’ Remaining Mysteries

These days it’s been a struggle just to get from one week to the next; hoping against hope that we might see relief from the horrors of this global covid nightmare. Thus, mulling over the remaining mysteries of the universe seems like a day at the beach by comparison and certainly less stressful than fretting over when to get the next booster shot.

This is physicist and renowned author Paul Davies’ specialty —- providing interesting and provocative commentary on the most profound questions the universe has to offer. 

And in his compelling new book, “What’s Eating the Universe: and Other Cosmic Questions,” Davies excels in succinctly addressing the big intangibles; the cosmological conundrums that haven’t received as much attention as dark matter, dark energy, what triggered the big bang and the ultimate fate of the universe.  

Here are few underappreciated tidbits that Davies covers in “What’s Eating the Universe.”

—- Why is there something rather than nothing?

Davies touches on this age-old philosophical question and divides the explanations into two broad categories, he writes. The first is that some 13.8 billion years ago, the cosmos really popped into existence from nothing at all; the second, writes Davies, is that ‘something’ has always existed.

The existing big bang theory assumes the universe had a finite beginning usually from what is termed a hot, dense “infinite singularity” very quickly followed by an inflationary expansion of the cosmos into the expanding universe we now inhabit. 

But as Davies explains, there has always still been that nagging question of what happened before the big bang? The standard reply has usually been —- nothing. That’s a question that has no relevance if the universe sprang from a quantum fluctuation and nothing preceded it. However, this whole issue of what came before the big bang is beginning to arouse new interest from cosmologists who are devising ways to look beyond the current cosmic microwave background (CMB) which captures the universe as it was 380,000 years after the big bang. 

What's Eating the Universe

University of Chicago Press

—- Multiverse bubbles might play bumper cars

Laura Mersini-Houghton, a cosmologist and theoretical physicist, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has popularized the idea that multiverse bubbles may crash into each other continually, writes Davies. Since most cosmologists now think our cosmos is part of such a multiverse, it makes sense that if a wayward bubble bumps into ours, it might even swallow our own cosmic bubble universe whole, he notes.

If so, Davies writes that it would leave a fossilized scar on our images of the cosmic microwave background. A fossilized pattern of such an ancient collision would have generated huge amounts of gravitational waves as well as a ‘distinctive’ pattern of polarization within the CMB itself, he explains.

Thus far, Davies notes, searches for this collisional marker has come up empty. But he writes that there are other scenarios that would be just as catastrophic. 

—- Our cosmos might literally cannibalize itself.

This idea is what inspired the title of Davies’ book. It’s a notion that has been around since the 1970s, he writes.

This one is the cosmological equivalent of being hit full on by a speeding bus; it would happen so unexpectedly and so quickly that there would likely be no warning or even any inkling of impending catastrophe.

Our cosmos is at a low quantum vacuum energy level, but not the lowest and therein lies the rub. There’s always a chance, Davies writes, that our cosmos could decay into a lower energy state releasing a wave of energy in its wake.

If this happened anywhere in the universe, writes Davies, this new boundary of lower energy would destroy everything in its path.

—- An expanding bubble of ‘nothing’ might wipe us off the map

Davies notes in this scenario, first suggested in 1982 by theoretical physicist Edward Witten from the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, that an expanding bubble might contain nothing at all.

“It would be a hole in space, not a black hole, but a bubble of no-space, expanding uncontrollably, sweeping all before it and eventually gobbling up the entire universe, leaving only nothing: space totally engulfed by spacelessness,” writes Davies.

—- Why is the cosmos even remotely comprehensible to humans?

This question is probably among the most unappreciated of any in cosmology today. 

As Davies writes, “There is no absolute reason for nature to have a straightforward mathematical subtext in the first place. And even if it does, there is no reason why humans should be capable of comprehending it.”

As he notes, there’s no way that anyone could tell from routine daily experience that deep down the disparate physical systems that make up the natural world are all linked by “a network of coded mathematical relationships.”

Somehow, Davies notes, our universe has engineered its own comprehension and in doing so has enabled us to be privy to at least some of its innermost secrets. But hardly all.

Will the cosmos ever completely reveal its secrets?

Likely not completely, Davies notes. What the field of cosmology and astrophysics needs at this moment, he notes, is really another young Einstein —- someone who could help cobble all our disparate particle physics theories, quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of relativity in a way that would be unified enough to explain what’s really behind much of the missing mass of the universe. 

We really need new way of thinking about cosmology that would put an end to the need for a multiverse to explain a quantum fluctuation as the beginning of all that we know and all that encompasses this cosmos we call home. 

Perhaps some postdoctoral researcher is out there now who will help write the next chapters in theoretical cosmology. Until then, Davies and others like him are here to guide us through this current morass of astrophysics.

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