Countries agreed to ban ozone-depleting chemicals in the 1980s – but we found five CFCs increasing to record levels in the atmosphere

Luke Western, University of Bristol and Johannes Laube, University of East Anglia

Despite a global ban in place since 2010, atmospheric concentrations of five ozone-depleting chemicals have reached a record high.

Chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, are entirely man-made gases used in a variety of applications, including refrigeration, air conditioning or as chemical solvents. They have been increasingly regulated by a series of international treaties since the 1980s. The 1987 Montreal protocol, which has been universally ratified, restricted the release of CFCs to the atmosphere where they contribute to the destruction of the ozone layer: a region high up in the stratosphere which absorbs harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation and protects life below.

The goal of the Montreal protocol was to induce a decline in the atmospheric CFC concentration through controlling, and increasingly restricting, the production of these chemicals. This has worked well for many ozone-depleting substances, which is why the ozone layer is slowly recovering. And so the recent increase in atmospheric concentrations of five CFCs is quite surprising.

The Montreal protocol has succeeded in eliminating the biggest sources of CFCs. Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock

Our findings, while worrying, should be considered an early warning. The impact of all five CFCs on the recovery of the ozone layer is still small. Nevertheless, we do not fully understand where they are coming from, so this could change in the future, and we should not ignore the cumulative effect of these emissions on human health and the environment.

The global picture

Our team has been analysing air samples from all over the world, focusing on so-called “background” sites that are far away from the sources of these CFCs, or in fact any industrial emissions. An example is the Cape Grim observatory on the remote west coast of Tasmania. This is the basis for our assessment of the threat these chemicals pose, as it reveals global trends in their atmospheric concentration.

Our main findings for the period 2010-2020 were twofold. First, concentrations of CFC-13 and CFC-113a continued their previously observed – and puzzling – increase. Rising concentrations of CFC-113a even accelerated around 2016. Second, concentrations of CFC-114a and CFC-115 were stable since the 2000s, while those of CFC-112a had even started to decrease. However, all of them began increasing around 2013-2014.

Global emissions of the five CFCs weighted by their impact on ozone depletion (a) and the climate (b). Western et al. (2023)/Nature Geoscience

These observations, combined with additional knowledge about atmospheric circulation and how CFCs are removed from the atmosphere through chemical reactions, allowed us to estimate the global emissions of these five gases. Their damage to the ozone layer can be expressed through their ozone depletion potential, which states how much ozone would be destroyed compared to the same quantity of CFC-11, which is different for each CFC.

The result is a relief. Emissions between 2010 and 2020 only resulted in a very small loss of around 0.002% of global stratospheric ozone.

There is no time to relax, though, for two reasons. All five CFCs are also potent greenhouse gases and, once emitted, will remain in the atmosphere for decades to centuries. Their warming effect in 2020 was already approximately that of Switzerland’s total CO₂ emissions. And if those emissions continue on their upwards trajectory, their contribution to climate change will expand too. The persistence of these gases in the atmosphere must be taken seriously: all emissions are a legacy for future generations to contend with.

Tracking down the sources

The first step towards avoiding future emissions is to find out where the current ones are coming from. There were already some hints in previous studies, which we gathered and combined with our own information, such as on the exact timing of when emissions started accelerating.

We found that three of the five CFCs (CFC-113a, CFC-114a and CFC-115) can be produced during the manufacture of other chemicals, which is allowed under the Montreal protocol, most notably hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs. HFCs have replaced CFCs for many applications as an ozone-friendly alternative. However, like CFCs, they are greenhouse gases and their production is now being reduced in many countries under the 2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which could reduce climate-related warming by 0.5°C.

It’s likely that the CFCs are leaking out during the production process, where they are either used as a feedstock (a chemical ingredient to make another chemical) or as a result of incomplete conversion of the feedstock to the target chemical. The production of HFCs really took off in developing countries after CFCs were banned in 2010, which is around the same time as the increase in emissions of these five CFCs.

The production of HFCs is predicted to further increase over the next few years, which could result in increasing emissions of these CFCs. CFC-113a is used to make at least one hydrofluoroolefin or HFO, which are alternatives to HFCs that don’t heat the climate and may be used long into the future. Despite HFCs and HFOs being more benign alternatives to CFCs, there may still be some cost to ozone during their production if CFCs continue to leak into the atmosphere.

We were unable to find a plausible source for the other two CFCs, CFC-13 and CFC-112a. The fact that their emissions are increasing and we don’t know why is a concern in itself.

Time to revisit Montreal?

The Montreal protocol has been a huge success in mitigating emissions of ozone-depleting substances. Total CFC emissions are now only around 5% of their peak in the late 1980s. Yet an increase in the atmospheric abundance of some CFCs is still at odds with the treaty’s goals – and their elimination, by clogging leaks in industrial processes, could present an easy win to reduce these country-sized emissions of ozone-depleting and climate-warming gases.

It will take careful consideration by countries signed up to the protocol to find the necessary controls for quashing these trend-bucking emissions. In the meantime, we will continue to use our eyes in the sky to monitor the progress of a whole host of Earth-damaging gases.

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Luke Western, Research Associate in Atmospheric Science, University of Bristol and Johannes Laube, Honorary Lecturer, Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of East Anglia

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

Sustainability in Schools: 7 ideas for engaging students, communities in green initiatives

As the center of many communities, schools can play an important role in promoting sustainable behaviors. Teaching earth-friendly behaviors is one aspect, but schools can also take steps to facilitate sustainable practices within the school system and the community.

Beyond protecting the climate and environment, sustainable practices offer multiple benefits, including improving student health and enhancing the community. These green changes can make a meaningful and lasting impact.

Start a Recycling Club
For communities without a city-wide recycling program, a student-run operation can be highly successful. Engaging students in the planning and oversight of a social service project equips them with leadership experience while showing them firsthand the impact a small group can make.

Look at Propane Buses
Diesel school buses are not only expensive to operate, but they pose a risk to children’s health and the environment. According to the Propane Education & Research Council, with propane school buses, the classic cloud of black smoke emitted from the tailpipe is nonexistent. Propane school buses also provide a quieter ride than diesel buses, which means it’s a safer ride. What’s more, propane reduces harmful emissions that cause asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses by up to 94% compared to diesel.

There are two practical energy choices for clean student transportation: propane and electric. However, a propane bus costs one-third the price of an electric bus, allowing school districts to replace their aging diesel fleets three times faster than with electric. In addition, propane has a range of 400 miles, meaning even sizable vehicles, like buses, can go the distance to provide a reliable ride.

Clean with Natural Products
Especially in the wake of a global pandemic, cleaning standards in most schools are exceptionally high. However, many of the heavy-duty disinfectants and other cleaning agents used in schools and other public areas can be filled with chemicals that negatively affect air quality and further harm the environment when they wash into surrounding areas, including streams and rivers.

Plant a School Garden
Locally sourced produce offers numerous benefits, from providing an affordable food source for families in the area to minimizing costs associated with food production, including transportation and packaging. Beyond the social and environmental perks, gardening is a valuable life skill that can also be easily woven into academic lessons such as science, math, social studies and even art.

Take Advantage of Natural Light
In many cases, classrooms that are well-illuminated by natural light filtering through windows don’t need to run overhead lights throughout the day. Leveraging the warmth of the sun’s rays can also be helpful in providing natural heat during colder months.

Replace Light Bulbs
In areas where the school does rely on energy-based lighting, environmentally friendly bulbs make a lot of sense. Not only do eco-friendly bulbs align with a school’s commitment to sustainability, but they’re also generally more cost-efficient to operate, which means the district can save money on energy expenses.

Celebrate Environmental Holidays
Engaging students and capturing their interest can also mean tapping into the delight that comes with classroom parties and special events that offer a break from the regular school routine. Hosting assemblies or organizing special events in honor of environmental holidays can pique students’ interest and inspire them to take a greater interest in adopting sustainable habits.

A Program Geared for Sustainability

In an effort to provide school districts with more environmentally friendly transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program is providing $5 billion over five years (2022-2026) to replace existing school buses with zero-emission and low-emission models.

The program prioritizes high-need, low-income, rural and tribal school districts. As an affordable, available energy source that provides fleets with a range of up to 400 miles on a single refuel, propane autogas is a viable option for each of these prioritized demographics.

In 2022, the EPA solicited rebate applications for $1 billion for zero-emission and low-emission school bus rebates as the first funding opportunity. The $1 billion paid for 2,350 electric school buses. The funding also awarded 109 low-emissions propane buses.

However, the same amount of money distributed for electric buses could have helped fund as many as 29,000 propane buses, assuming each bus received the $30,000 incentive from the program.

The 2,350 diesel buses the grant replaced with electric will reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 665 metric tons per year and carbon dioxide emissions by 36,870 metric tons. If the funds went toward the 29,000 propane buses to replace diesel, it would have reduced nearly 10 times the amount of nitrogen oxide emissions and three times the amount of carbon dioxide emissions.

This year, parents can start the conversation with their school transportation officials about clean propane buses so they’ll be ready to apply when the time comes. Learn more about how parents can start the conversation at BetterOurBuses.com.

 

SOURCE:
Propane Education & Research Council

Carmakers are mistaken if they think chip shortages are over – they need to reinvent themselves while there’s time

The chips are down. Ju Jae-Young

Howard Yu, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)

Finally, carmakers got a break. Those in the UK boosted their output by over 13% in February as supply-chain pressures subsided, especially the persistent global shortage in microchips, also known as semiconductors. This “signals an industry on the road to recovery”, declared UK motoring trade association the SMMT. Well, up to a point.

Early in the pandemic, carmakers slashed sales forecasts as demand for cars evaporated, falling 47% in US and 80% in Europe in the first couple of months of lockdowns. Carmakers couldn’t see how sales could rebound quickly, which was a reasonable assumption at the time. In an industry where everyone has their own version of lean or just-in-time manufacturing, where unsold inventories are seen as tantamount to incompetence, they quickly scaled back orders from their supply chain.

Car parts suppliers such as Bosch and Continental reacted by scaling back their production – and naturally, their own suppliers, such as NXP and Infineon, also reduced their forecasts. These second-order effects went deep into the supply chain, eventually converging on the great and mighty semiconductor manufacturer in Taiwan, TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company).

A modern car can easily contain more than 3,000 microchips. These control brakes, doors, airbags and windscreen wipers; they even support advanced functions like driver assistance and navigation control. Chipsets are like golden screws.

Yet obviously, many other industries depend on chips too. At the same time as carmakers were reducing their orders, manufacturers of gadgets such as games consoles, TVs and home appliances were seeing orders surging as consumers were forced to stay at home. They increased their chip requirements, and TSMC was more than happy to oblige.

It then became apparent to carmakers later in 2020 that they had overreacted. But by the time they woke up to this and ramped up orders, it was too late. TSMC was running all of its factories at maximum capacity to meet the surge in gadget demand, and there were no more chips available for carmakers.

As a result of this global semiconductor scarcity, worldwide vehicle production was approximately 11 million units, or about 12%, lower in 2021 than it would otherwise have been.

What carmakers got wrong

No one could have predicted the outbreak of COVID. Nor could anyone have foreseen the ramifications on the supply chain as the virus receded. Still, every executive in the car industry knows the importance of computing power in a modern car. A car is a supercomputer on wheels, they’ll say. And yet they didn’t treat chipsets as a critical area. In other words, they were happy to let their suppliers worry about chip requirements and not have any direct involvement with chipmakers.

Why? Because chips don’t involve mechanical engineering. From the boardroom to the shop floor, carmakers generally focus on final assembly. Chipset design and fabrication is one of many things that gets outsourced.

So during the pandemic, most carmakers had little choice but to perfect the art of triaging their chips: for example, General Motors hoarded them for expensive models, temporarily shutting down factories that produce lower-priced sedans.

The flagship BMW X3: now with reduced capabilities. Rising Star

Others instead removed features from vehicles that rely on microprocessors. BMW did away with parking assistance and even touchscreen capabilities in various models. It also withdrew semi-autonomous driving functionality from the X3, its top-selling model. Mercedes-Benz eliminated features such as high-end audio and wireless phone-charging from a number of vehicles.

The future threat

Car production is now increasing as the high pandemic demand for chips for household gadgets has fallen away. Still, it would be unwise to conclude that things are back to normal. Demand for chips is likely to look so different in future as we see the rollout of technologies like AI, the internet of things, and 5G/6G.

Major chipmakers are boosting capacity to meet this extra demand, with big new US facilities in the offing, for example. Yet it will take time for this to come on stream, and it’s still difficult to predict whether it will meet demand.

New product categories can appear unexpectedly, in a similar way to how bitcoin mining suddenly led to unforeseen chip demand. As Professor Rakesh Kumar in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Illinois observes: “The exact nature, speed and magnitude of the increase in demand is still unknown.”

As we saw during the pandemic, chip factories also typically run close to maximum capacity, leaving production extremely susceptible to disruptions. Natural disasters like earthquakes and floods can cause problems, as can accidents such as fires and power outages. In March 2021, for instance, a fire at a Renesas Electronics chip factory in Japan caused a significant disruption to supplies over and above the pandemic-related problems. Geopolitical or military tensions, including those between the US and China, could also affect production in future.
The implication is clear: carmakers must cultivate in-house expertise in this area. Rather than relying on suppliers or their sub-suppliers for semiconductors, they need to directly engage with chipmakers and do the relevant designs in-house. For example, Ford announced a collaboration with US chipmaker GlobalFoundries in 2021 to create chips for its vehicles while exploring the prospect of expanding domestic chip production.

Ford is trying to get ahead of the curve. OVKNHR

This approach is already common practice among newer, more self-sufficient carmakers such as Tesla and China’s BYD and NIO, who all have extensive operations dedicated to designing or even producing their own chipsets.

These changes will not be easy. Yet the cost of clinging to the status quo will far outweigh the difficulties in the transition. For any company dependent on semiconductors, their resilience and future success hinge on getting this right. The correct response to the end of the pandemic is not to say “back to normal” but “never again”.

Howard Yu, Professor of Management and Innovation, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)

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

‘Swarm’ is a dark, satirical look at how the absence of meaningful relationships can spawn a serial killer

Dre finds comfort in the fantasy that she’ll befriend her favorite pop star. Amazon Studios

Jenae Harris, Kennesaw State University

Editor’s note: This article contains plot spoilers for “Swarm.”

“Swarm,” the new streaming series created by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, centers on a deranged superfan named Dre who becomes a serial killer.

Dre longs to meet a global pop star named Ni’Jah, who’s based on Beyoncé, and Dre’s obsession with the singer sparks a multistate murder spree that begins after the death of her only friend, Marissa.

As a criminologist, I look to understand what causes people to commit crimes, and I see more driving Dre than her extreme fixation on a celebrity. As the story unfolds, viewers learn about Dre’s childhood. To me, these early experiences explain a lot more about her crimes than her fandom does.

Social isolation and criminal behavior

In 1969, criminologist Travis Hirschi came up with what he called Social Bond Theory to explain delinquency in adolescents.

His theory, also known as Social Control Theory, suggests that criminal behavior is much more likely to happen when a person fails to develop normal societal bonds, which Hirschi divides into four categories: attachment to parents, peers and school; occupational and educational commitment; academic involvement; and belief in social rules and convention.

From the start of the series, it becomes clear that Dre has few friends outside of her foster sister, Marissa. After Marissa dies by suicide, Dre is truly alone in the world. She resorts to exotic dancing and living out of a cheap motel.

Then, in the series’ pivotal sixth episode, viewers learn that Dre is a product of the foster care system and was severely bullied in school.

Dre was taken in by Marissa’s parents as a foster child. However, Marissa’s parents struggled when Dre began exhibiting violent outbursts. So they returned her to state custody. It becomes clear that Dre has lived in at least three homes as a child, and she was already exhibiting symptoms of failure to develop normal bonds.

A 2008 study examining the delinquency in adolescents who grew up in foster care suggests that children who jump from home to home are more likely to engage in criminal behavior than adolescents with stable homes and permanent placements. Strong attachments play a large role as a foundation for receiving and giving care and contribute to healthy psychological development.

Fleeting relationships

Given this troubled upbringing and the death of Marissa, Dre’s fixation on Ni’Jah represents the last existing person who hasn’t abandoned her. Holding on to the fantasy that she would one day meet Ni’Jah and befriend her gives Dre something to believe in and connect to.

Throughout the series, Dre encounters a number of people who seem to offer potential for the formation of healthy relationships. Each relationship is elusive, however, as Dre fails to overcome her fixation on Ni’Jah. A fellow stripper named Hailey seems to want to bond with Dre, but the feeling is not reciprocated. Dre also meets a caring man with loose connections to Ni’Jah. That connection is short-lived as well. Dre even inadvertently joins an all-female cult but ends up murdering the cult leader, who tries to keep Dre from seeing Ni’Jah perform at a festival.

Why did these budding relationships all fall apart?

Because the damage, according to Hirschi’s theory, had already been done. The ability to form healthy bonds is meant to be cultivated in adolescence. For Dre, that ship had already sailed.

People with unstable childhoods like Dre’s often end up suffering from an attachment disorder, which refers to the inability to form meaningful relationships as an adult, often due to the failure to establish proper bonds as a child.

On Beyhive and Barbz

The underlying narrative in “Swarm” is exaggerated, but not far-fetched.

Stories of fans-cum-stalkers are relatively commonplace. Justin Beiber can lay claim to one of the creepier stalkers. That man, who is now serving a life sentence in prison on unrelated charges, has a tattoo on his leg devoted to the singer and masterminded an elaborate plan to kill Bieber after the singer failed to respond to his fan mail.

Fans of singer Justin Bieber at a 2022 concert in Rio de Janeiro. Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images

Super fans have long been a prominent feature of popular culture, but social media has facilitated the emergence of full-fledged communities dedicated to celebrating, tracking – and protecting – stars. Beyonce has her Beyhive. The Swifties belong to Taylor Swift. Rihanna’s Navy comes to her defense, while Nicki Minaj has the Barbz in her corner.

Of course, the overwhelming majority of these fans are passionate but harmless. However, for those who lack strong social connections, superfandom can evolve into blind, unquestioning devotion to the celebrity. That sense of belonging can transform into a menacing adoration.

Towards the end of the series, Dre is arrested in her last desperate attempt to meet Ni'Jah. However, an idyllic ending ensues, even though what play out appears to be Dre’s fantasy.

In the last scene, Ni’Jah – whose face has been replaced with Marissa’s – saves Dre from security and the two leave the concert together.

Though Dre doesn’t say much, she radiates, for the first time in the series, a sense of calm, comfort and connection.

Jenae Harris, Lecturer in Criminal Justice, Kennesaw State University

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

How does RNA know where to go in the city of the cell? Using cellular ZIP codes and postal carrier routes

Cells move their genetic material from one place to another in the form of RNA. Christoph Burgstedt/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

Matthew Taliaferro, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Before 2020, when my friends and acquaintances asked me what I study as a molecular biologist, their eyes would inevitably glaze over as soon as I said “RNA.” Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the power and promise of this molecule to the world at large, their eyes widen.

Despite growing recognition of the importance of RNA, how these molecules get to where they need to be within cells remains largely a mystery.

RNA is a chemical cousin of DNA. It plays many roles in the cell, but perhaps it’s most well-known as the relay messenger of genetic information. RNA takes a copy of the information in DNA from its storehouse in the nucleus to sites in the cell where this information is decoded to create the building blocks – proteins – that make cells what they are. This transport process is critical for animal development, and its dysfunction is linked to a variety of genetic diseases in people.

In some ways, cells are like cities, with proteins carrying out specific functions in the “districts” they occupy. Having the right components at the right time and place is essential.

For example, it makes little sense to put a high-security vault in the fashion district. Instead, it needs to be in the financial district, where there are tellers to fill it with currency. Similarly, proteins devoted to energy production for the cell are most functional not when they are confined to the nucleus but when they are in the cell’s power plant, the mitochondria, surrounded by the raw materials and accessories needed for their job.

The inside of a cell is much like a city.

So how do cells ensure the millions of proteins they contain are where they are supposed to be? One way is as simple as it sounds: transport them directly. However, every transport step costs energy. Dragging a heavy vault across town isn’t easy. An alternative strategy is to instead take the instructions for making the vault directly to the bank so it’s already in the correct location immediately after construction.

The instructions for making a given protein are contained within RNA. One way to ensure proteins are where they are supposed to be is to transport their RNA blueprint to where their specific functions are needed. But how does RNA get where it needs to be?

My research team focuses on this very question: What are the molecular mechanisms that control RNA transport? Our recently published research hints that some of the molecular language governing this process may be universal across all cell types.

The molecular language of RNA transport

For a handful of mRNAs – or RNA sequences coding for specific proteins – researchers have an idea about how they’re transported. They often contain a particular string of nucleotides, the chemical building blocks that make up RNA, that tell cells about their desired destination. These sequences of nucleotides, or what scientists refer to as RNA “ZIP codes,” are recognized by proteins that act like mail carriers and deliver the RNAs to where they are supposed to go.

My team and I set out to discover new ZIP codes that send RNAs to neurites, the precursors to the axons and dendrites on neurons that transmit and receive electrical signals. We reasoned that these ZIP codes must lie somewhere within the thousands of nucleotides that make up the RNAs in neurites. But how could we find our ZIP code needle in the RNA haystack?

Neurites are long, thin branches extending from the body of a neuron.

We started by breaking eight mouse neurite-localized RNAs into about 10,000 smaller chunks, each about 250 nucleotides long. We then appended each of these chunks to an unrelated firefly RNA that mouse cells are unlikely to recognize, and watched for chunks that caused the firefly RNA to be transported to neurites. To extend the mail analogy, we took 10,000 blank envelopes (firefly RNAs) and wrote a different ZIP code (pieces of neurite-localized RNA) on each one. By observing which envelopes were delivered to neurites, we were able to discover many new neurite ZIP codes.

We still didn’t know the identity of the protein that acted as the “mail carrier,” however. To figure this out, we purified RNAs containing the newly identified ZIP codes and observed what proteins were purified along with them. The idea was to catch the mail carrier in the act of transport while bound to its target RNA.

We found that one protein that regulates neurite production, named Unkempt, repeatedly appeared with ZIP code-containing RNAs. When we depleted cells of Unkempt, the ZIP codes were no longer able to direct RNA transport to neurites, implicating Unkempt as the “mail carrier” that delivered these RNAs.

Toward a universal language

With this work, we identified ZIP codes that sent RNAs to neurites (in our analogy, the bank). But where would an RNA containing one of these ZIP codes end up if it were in a cell that didn’t have neurites (a city that didn’t have a bank)?

To answer this, we looked at where RNAs were in a completely different cell type, epithelial cells that line the body’s organs. Interestingly, the same ZIP codes that sent RNAs to neurites sent them to the bottom of epithelial cells. This time we identified another mail carrier, a protein called LARP1, responsible for the transport of RNAs containing a particular ZIP code to both neurites and the bottom end of epithelial cells.

How could one ZIP code and mail carrier transport an RNA to two different locations in two very different cells? It turns out that both of these cell types contain structures called microtubules that are oriented in a very particular way. Microtubules can be thought of as cellular streets that serve as tracks to transport a variety of cargo in the cell. Importantly, these microtubules are polarized, meaning they have ingrained “plus” and “minus” ends. Cargo can therefore be transported in specific directions by targeting to one of these ends.

Microtubules are the roads proteins called kinesin use to transport materials from one cellular location to another.

In neurons, microtubules stretch through to and have their plus ends at the neurite tip. In epithelial cells, microtubules run from top to bottom, with their plus ends toward the bottom. Given that both of these locations are associated with the plus ends of microtubules, is that why we saw one ZIP code direct RNAs to both of these areas?

To test this, we inhibited the cell’s ability to transport cargo to the plus end of microtubules and monitored whether our ZIP code-containing RNAs were delivered. We found that these RNAs made it to neither the neurites in neurons nor to the bottom end of epithelial cells. This confirmed the role of microtubules in the transport of RNAs containing these particular ZIP codes. Rather than directing RNA to go to specific locations in the cell, these ZIP codes direct RNA to go to the plus ends of microtubules, wherever that might be in a given cell type.

We could compare this process to a mailing address. While the top line (“The Bank”) tells us the name of the building, it’s really the address and street name (“150 Maple Street”) that contains actionable information for the mail carrier. These RNA ZIP codes send RNAs to specific places along microtubule streets, not to specific structures in the cell. This allows for a more flexible yet uniform code, as not all cells share the same structures.

Moving mRNA into the clinic

Our research uncovers a new piece of how ZIP code sequences and proteins work together to get RNAs where they need to be. Our findings and methods can also be generalized to discover other new facets of the genetic ZIP code that direct RNAs to other locations in the cell.

Understanding how ZIP code sequences work can help researchers design RNAs that deliver their payload instructions to precise locations in the cell. Given the growing promise of RNA-based therapeutics, ranging from vaccines to cancer therapies, knowing how to make an RNA go from point A to point B is more important than ever.

Matthew Taliaferro, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

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

Buildings left standing in Turkey offer design guidance for future earthquake-resilient construction

Turkey’s Adana Hospital survived February 2023 earthquakes with no damage because of its seismic isolation system. Earthquake Protection Systems, Inc., CC BY-ND

Osman Ozbulut, University of Virginia

The Feb. 6, 2023, earthquakes in Turkey and Syria damaged over 100,000 buildings, caused more than 10,000 collapses and killed more than 50,000 people. These earthquakes also put to the test advanced building technologies that can minimize damage and keep buildings functioning after a quake.

Several hospitals built with one such technology – called a seismic isolation system – survived the earthquakes with almost no harm, according to local news reports, even while surrounding buildings sustained heavy damage.

Adana City Hospital was built to record both ground shaking and the building’s response. Thanks to its seismic isolation system, the building saw a 75% reduction in shaking, according to the company that designed the isolation system, compared with neighboring structures. This system allowed the building to stay up and running after the earthquake.

Engineers aren’t surprised that the hospitals with seismic isolation systems survived with minimal damage, but through my work as a civil engineer, I’ve been hearing people in Turkey and abroad ask why more buildings don’t use these smarter engineering technologies.

A year after the 1999 İzmit earthquake in Turkey killed over 17,000 people, I moved to Istanbul for a bachelor’s in civil engineering. I moved to the U.S. for my graduate studies in 2005, and since then, I have been working on advanced technologies and materials that can ensure rapid recovery and reoccupation of buildings after a strong earthquake.

Although we’ve seen the effectiveness of seismic protection technologies during past major earthquakes, these technologies have been installed in only a tiny fraction of the places where they could potentially be useful.

Earthquake-resilient building technology

Engineers can control how structures respond to earthquakes in several ways.

Traditional approaches rely on having certain components of the building, like columns or beams, absorb the earthquake’s energy. However, this method can lead to damage accumulating in these structural features that may render the building uninhabitable.

Earthquake-resilient systems such as seismic isolation devices and seismic dampers minimize the seismic energy that goes into these columns or beams by either absorbing it or diverting it. As a result, the building experiences less motion and damage and is more likely to remain functional after an earthquake.

Seismic isolation systems prevent seismic energy from entering buildings in the first place by using devices made from rubber or steel plates coated with a friction-generating material that slide over one another to minimize an earthquake’s impact. These isolation devices are installed between the building’s foundation and the building itself. Alternatively, seismic dampers, installed in each story of a building, absorb earthquake energy the way shock absorbers work in a car and convert it into heat energy to minimize damage.

The left shows a building without seismic isolation, while the right image shows a building with a seismic isolation system, which minimizes how much damage the building sustains during an earthquake. The red lines denote how much motion the building could experience during an earthquake. Ozbulut Lab, CC BY-ND

Both seismic isolation systems and seismic dampers can help a building achieve “functional recovery” – a performance objective whereby buildings are constructed to prevent damage and enable reoccupancy. Designing such buildings will not only save people and buildings but also keep the earthquakes from collapsing communities and economies.

While functional recovery is an emerging idea for building earthquake-resilient structures, global modern building codes stipulate that, at a minimum, structures must have measures in place to keep the building from collapsing – called the life safety objective. Buildings following a life safety objective are engineered to sustain damage in a controlled way, to keep the building standing and protect those inside.

While these buildings likely won’t collapse, they may not be safe to use after a quake. While this is not the same as functional recovery, if more buildings had been built to a life safety threshold in Turkey and Syria, thousands of lives could have been saved.

The case in Turkey

Much of the damage in Turkey occurred in nonductile concrete buildings constructed under a pre-1998 Turkish building code. Ductile concrete building elements, required by newer building codes, are more flexible, thanks to steel reinforcing bars at critical locations. They can accommodate the building motions induced by earthquakes. The older nonductile buildings also tended to have poorly arranged steel reinforcements, leaving them vulnerable to the sudden collapse of building columns.

This video, from The Associated Press, shows some of the buildings that collapsed in the aftermath of the Turkey earthquakes.

Similarly, many so-called soft-story buildings were damaged during these earthquakes. A soft story is a level that is significantly more vulnerable to lateral earthquake forces than the other stories in a multistory building. The first floor of these buildings – commonly used for commercial purposes like retail, garage or office space – tend to have more open areas and fewer structural components, like beams and columns, making them vulnerable to collapse.

An example of a soft-story building, where the first story collapsed, leaving the rest of the floors relatively stable. AP Photo/Emrah Gurel

These types of buildings are found all over the world, including in highly populated, seismically at-risk areas like Istanbul, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Vancouver — all located near active fault lines.

Buildings designed under old codes can be strengthened to meet a life safety performance threshold. However, these upgrades can cost lots of money, and enforcing these upgrades, especially for private buildings, requires well-planned policies.

Learning lessons

While buildings designed for a life safety objective can protect thousands of lives, the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand revealed the limitations of modern seismic codes centered solely on this design goal. The damage to buildings designed under a life safety goal was so extensive that thousands had to be demolished after the quake.

It was this earthquake that led engineers to focus on “functional recovery” and to implement seismic protective technologies more widely. The additional cost of such seismic protection technologies is typically less than 5% of the initial construction costs and pales in comparison to the cost of the social and economic disruptions caused by a major earthquake. In addition, securing lower insurance premiums may recoup most of these initial costs.

Total economic losses after the Christchurch earthquake was estimated at US$32 billion, not accounting for inflation, of which $24 billion was construction costs. The cost of the recent earthquakes in Turkey is estimated to be more than $84 billion and still counting.

The earthquakes in Turkey have shown that seismic protection technologies work. To avoid high economic and social consequences, local authorities can update the provisions and codes for designing new buildings to enable post-earthquake reoccupancy and functional recovery. Additionally, policies, financial incentives and tax benefits that promote enhanced building design could improve seismic safety on a larger scale.

Osman Ozbulut, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Virginia

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

Migrant deaths in Mexico put spotlight on US policy that shifted immigration enforcement south

Mourners gather outside a detention center in Ciudad Juarez. David Peinado/picture alliance via Getty Images

Raquel Aldana, University of California, Davis

The fire-related deaths of at least 39 migrants in a detention facility in Ciudad Juarez, just across the U.S. border with Mexico, will likely be found to have had several contributing factors.

There was the immediate cause of the blaze, the mattresses apparently set alight by desperate men in the center to protest their imminent deportation. And then there is the apparent role of guards, seen on video walking away from the blaze.

But as an expert on immigration policy, I believe there is another part of the tragedy that can’t be overlooked: the decadeslong immigration enforcement policies of the U.S. and Mexican governments that have seen the number of people kept in such facilities skyrocket.

In the aftermath of the fire, Felipe González Morales, the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights of migrants, commented on Twitter that the “extensive use of immigration detention leads to tragedies like this one.”

And the United States is a big part of that “extensive use” on both sides of the border.

Lengthy stays and fear of deportation

Today Mexico maintains a very large detention system. It comprises several dozen short- and long-term detention centers, housing more than 300,000 people in 2021.

By comparison, the U.S. immigration detention system is the world’s largest. It maintains 131 facilities comprised of government-owned Service Processing Centers, privately run Contract Detention Facilities, and a variety of other detention facilities, including prisons.

Mexico has laws in place that are supposed to guarantee that migrants in detention only endure brief stays and are afforded due process, such as access to lawyers and interpreters. The law also states that they should have adequate conditions, including access to education and health care.

But in reality, what migrants often face at these detention centers is poor sanitary conditions, overcrowding, lengthy stays and despair over the near certainty of deportation.

The fire in Ciudad Juárez was started after the migrants – men from Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, El Salvador, Colombia and Ecuador – learned that they were to be sent back to those nations, according to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Deportation would have ended their hopes of asylum in the U.S.

US immigration enforcement shifts south

Why Mexico was doing the deporting, not the U.S., has a great deal to do with how the two nations have collaborated to control illegal migration headed to the U.S., especially since the turn of the century. In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001, U.S. authorities increasingly viewed immigration as a security issue – a pivot that affected not only U.S. domestic legislation on immigration but its bilateral relations with Mexico.

In 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderón joined efforts with President George W. Bush on the Merida Initiative to wage a war on drugs in Mexico, build a “21st Century U.S.-Mexican border” and shift immigration enforcement into Mexican territory.

These efforts, supported by massive U.S. funding, continue today.

With this money, Mexico established naval bases on its rivers, security cordons and drone surveillance. It also set up mobile highway checkpoints and biometric screening at migrant detention centers, all with the goal of detecting, detaining and deporting largely Central American migrants attempting to reach the United States.

The intent was to shift U.S. immigration enforcement south of the border. In that respect, the policy has been successful. Figures from the Guatemalan Institute of Migration show that of the 171,882 U.S.-bound migrants deported to the Northern Triangle region of Central America – El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala – in 2022, Mexico sent back 92,718, compared to the U.S.‘s 78,433.

Prevention through deterrence is not working

Mexico’s detentions and deportations have done little to stop the flow of migrants entering the country en route to the U.S.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin estimate that from 2018 to 2021, an annual average of 377,000 migrants entered Mexico from the Northern Triangle region. The vast majority were headed to the U.S. to escape violence, drought, natural disasters, corruption and extreme poverty.

Migrants are passing through Mexico in the thousands from multiple other countries as well, fleeing conditions in countries such as Haiti and Venezuela, as well as African nations.

Meanwhile, recent years have seen a toughening of border enforcement policies targeting asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. This started under the Trump administration but has been continued by President Joe Biden despite the Democrat’s campaign promises of a more “humane” immigration system.

Since 2019, Washington has adopted a series of policies that have either forced migrants presenting themselves at the U.S. southern border to apply for asylum while remaining in Mexico or expelled them back to their countries of origin.

This has created a bottleneck of hundreds of thousands of migrants at Mexico’s border towns and swelled the numbers entering detention facilities in Mexico.

By 2021, the number of immigration detainees in such centers had reached 307,679, nearly double what it had been in 2019.

As a result, many centers, including the one implicated in the fire, have suffered from overcrowding and deterioration conditions. A 2021 report by the immigration research center Global Detention Project extensively documented how the conditions and practices of Mexico’s immigration centers had led to widespread protest by detained migrants. Rioting and protests have become more common, with incidents taking place at facilities in Tijuana and the southern city of Tapachula in recent months.

No end in sight

The tragedy in Ciudad Juárez is unlikely to affect the steady flow of migrants entering Mexico in the hope of making it north of the border. For many, the options to take a different path to safety in the U.S. are simply not there.

Only a few can apply for refugee status in the U.S. from abroad, and the waits are long. Biden’s “humanitarian parole” program – which allows entry to the U.S. for up to 30,000 people a month – is only an option for those living in a handful of nations. It is also being challenged in court. And for the lucky few who manage to file for U.S. asylum, denial rates remain high – 63% in 2021 – while immigration court backlogs mean that fewer cases are being decided. Only 8,349 asylum seekers were actually granted asylum by U.S. immigration judges in 2021.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s incoming “transit ban” will mean anyone seeking asylum at the U.S. southern border from May 11, 2023 without having first applied for asylum en route, will be rapidly deported, many to Mexico.

The likelihood is the policy will only worsen the migrant processing bottleneck in Mexico, and add pressure on the country’s already volatile detention facility system.

Raquel Aldana, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity and Professor of Law, University of California, Davis

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

Go with the Gut: 6 tips for promoting pet health

When four-legged friends are feeling under the weather, pet parents may feel helpless pinpointing exactly what’s wrong. Nurturing your pet’s gut health is one way to protect his or her immune system and to promote overall well-being.

Improve your pooch’s gut health with these tips from the pet experts at Solid Gold:

Recognize the Signs of a Potential Gut Health Problem
While many problems are readily apparent, gut health isn’t one of them. There may be some tell-tale signs like diarrhea or vomiting, but other symptoms like bloating or constipation may be harder to spot. Other signs of gut trouble might include fatigue, frequent licking, restlessness, changes in coat quality and luster, and weight fluctuations. Be sure to talk with your vet promptly if you observe any concerning symptoms.

Pay Attention to Ingredients
Choose a dog food with ingredients that promote gut health. For example, Solid Gold’s Hund-N-Flocken dog food is powered by NutrientBoost, a proprietary blend of ingredients packed with protein and nutrients that help canines thrive. It features crave-worthy taste and ingredients like amino acids, probiotics and proteins that support digestion, immunity and nutrient absorption. Each bite is made with a blend of high-fiber ingredients such as carrot, pumpkin and pearled barley to support digestive health.

Be Conscious of Allergens and Food Intolerance
Dogs can experience allergies just like people. Allergies that affect a dog’s skin are common, but you might also find your dog has trouble digesting certain foods, which can create inflammation and irritation in the gut. Allergy testing or an elimination diet (removing one potential allergen source at a time) can help pinpoint the problem.

Feed Probiotics to Promote Good Bacteria
Just like humans, dogs need a well-balanced microbiome. Probiotics build the microflora in your dog’s system, promoting the good bacteria that wages war on infections and harmful bacteria when needed. Probiotics can be especially helpful if your dog is prone to diarrhea or gas, or if he or she has recently received an antibiotic treatment that may have affected the natural gut flora. You can find probiotics in the form of food or supplements like Solid Gold’s Mellow Belly Gut Health Supplement, which is made with a powerful combination of natural digestive enzymes and probiotics to aid in proper digestion. The entire collection of food and supplements are made with superfoods and probiotics to help support your pet’s immunity and get the most out of every day to keep him or her thriving.

Don’t Forget the Prebiotics
Many people are at least somewhat familiar with the role probiotics play in gut health, but not everyone knows about prebiotics. Prebiotics, which are a form of dietary fiber, function as a fertilizer or food source for probiotics, allowing helpful bacteria to multiply. Look for prebiotic treats, capsules, drops, powder and even specially formulated foods.

Manage Stress with Play and Exercise
If you’ve ever experienced digestive issues as a result of stress, you know mental and physical health go hand in hand. The same is true for dogs, so managing your dog’s stress level is an important step in helping regulate his or her gut health. Exercise is beneficial for your pet’s health in a variety of ways, including suppressing cortisol, which is an inflammatory hormone that may weaken the immune system.

Find more tips and nutritional information to support your pet’s health at instagram.com/solidgoldpets.

 

SOURCE:
Solid Gold

Food forests are bringing shade and sustenance to US cities, one parcel of land at a time

The Uphams Corner Food Forest in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood was built on a vacant lot. Boston Food Forest Coalition, CC BY-ND

Karen A. Spiller, University of New Hampshire and Prakash Kashwan, Brandeis University

More than half of all people on Earth live in cities, and that share could reach 70% by 2050. But except for public parks, there aren’t many models for nature conservation that focus on caring for nature in urban areas.

One new idea that’s gaining attention is the concept of food forests – essentially, edible parks. These projects, often sited on vacant lots, grow large and small trees, vines, shrubs and plants that produce fruits, nuts and other edible products.

Atlanta’s Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill is the nation’s largest such project, covering more than 7 acres.

Unlike community gardens or urban farms, food forests are designed to mimic ecosystems found in nature, with many vertical layers. They shade and cool the land, protecting soil from erosion and providing habitat for insects, animals, birds and bees. Many community gardens and urban farms have limited membership, but most food forests are open to the community from sunup to sundown.

As scholars who focus on conservation, social justice and sustainable food systems, we see food forests as an exciting new way to protect nature without displacing people. Food forests don’t just conserve biodiversity – they also promote community well-being and offer deep insights about fostering urban nature in the Anthropocene, as environmentally destructive forms of economic development and consumption alter Earth’s climate and ecosystems.

Community stewards planting a tree at Boston’s Edgewater Food Forest at River Street, July 2021. Boston Food Forest Coalition/Hope Kelley, CC BY-ND

Protecting nature without pushing people away

Many scientists and world leaders agree that to slow climate change and reduce losses of wild species, it’s critical to protect a large share of Earth’s lands and waters for nature. Under the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, 188 nations have agreed on a target of conserving at least 30% of land and sea areas globally by 2030 – an agenda known popularly as 30x30.

But there’s fierce debate over how to achieve that goal. In many cases, creating protected areas has displaced Indigenous peoples from their homelands. What’s more, protected areas are disproportionately located in countries with high levels of economic inequality and poorly functioning political institutions that don’t effectively protect the rights of poor and marginalized citizens in most cases.

In contrast, food forests promote civic engagement. At Beacon Food Forest in Seattle, volunteers worked with professional landscape architects and organized public meetings to seek community input on the project’s design and development. The city of Atlanta’s Urban Agriculture Team partners with neighborhood residents, volunteers, community groups and nonprofit partners to manage the Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill.

Block by block in Boston

Boston is famous for its parks and green spaces, including some designed by renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. But it also has a history of systemic racism and segregation that created drastic inequities in access to green spaces.

And those gaps still exist. In 2021, the city reported that communities of color that had been subjected to redlining in the past had 16% less parkland and 7% less tree cover than the citywide median. These neighborhoods were 3.3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.8 degrees Celsius) hotter during the day and 1.9 F (1 C) hotter at night, making residents more vulnerable to urban heat waves that are becoming increasingly common with climate change.

Encouragingly, Boston has been at the forefront of the national expansion of food forests. The unique approach here places ownership of these parcels in a community trust. Neighborhood stewards manage the sites’ routine care and maintenance.

The nonprofit Boston Food Forest Coalition, which launched in 2015, is working to develop 30 community-driven food forests by 2030. The existing nine projects are helping to conserve over 60,000 square feet (5,600 square meters) of formerly vacant urban land – an area slightly larger than a football field.

Neighborhood volunteers choose what to grow, plan events and share harvested crops with food banks, nonprofit and faith-based meal programs and neighbors. Local collective action is central to repurposing open spaces, including lawns, yards and vacant lots, into food forests that are linked together into a citywide network. The coalition, a community land trust that partners with the city government, holds Boston food forests as permanently protected lands.

Aerial view of the Ellington Community Food Forest in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. Boston Food Forest Coalition, CC BY-ND

Boston’s food forests are small in size: They average 7,000 square feet (650 square meters) of reclaimed land, about 50% larger than an NBA basketball court. But they produce a wide range of vegetables, fruit and herbs, including Roxbury Russet apples, native blueberries and pawpaws, a nutritious fruit native to North America. The forests also serve as gathering spaces, contribute to rainwater harvesting and help beautify neighborhoods.

The Boston Food Forest Coalition provides technical assistance and fundraising support. It also hires experts for tasks such as soil remediation, removing invasive plants and installing accessible pathways, benches and fences.

Hundreds of volunteers take part in community work days and educational workshops on topics such as pruning fruit trees in winter. Gardening classes and cultural events connect neighbors across urban divides of class, race, language and culture.

Boston residents explain what the city’s food forests mean to them.

A growing movement

According to a crowd-sourced repository, the U.S. has more than 85 community food forests in public spaces from the Pacific Northwest to the Deep South. Currently, most of these sites are in larger cities. In a 2021 survey, mayors from 176 small cities (with populations under 25,000) reported that long-term maintenance was the biggest challenge of sustaining food forests in their communities.

From our experience observing Boston’s approach close up, we believe its model of community-driven food forests is promising. The city sold land to the Boston Food Forest Coalition’s community land trust for $100 per parcel in 2015 and also funded initial construction and planting operations. Since then, the city has made food forests an important part of the city’s open spaces program as it continues to sell parcels to the community land trust at the same price.

Smaller cities with much lower tax bases may not be able to make the same sort of investments. But Boston’s community-driven model offers a viable approach for maintaining these projects without burdening city governments. The city has adopted innovative zoning and permitting ordinances to support small-scale urban agriculture.

Building a food forest brings together neighbors, neighborhood associations, community-based organizations and city agencies. It represents a grassroots response to the interconnected crises of climate change, environmental degradation and social and racial inequity. We believe food forests show how to build a just and sustainable future, one person, seedling and neighborhood at a time.

Orion Kriegman, the founding executive director of the Boston Food Forest Coalition, contributed to this article.

Karen A. Spiller, Thomas W. Haas Professor in Sustainable Food Systems, University of New Hampshire and Prakash Kashwan, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Brandeis University

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