US Air Force tests exoskeleton to give cargo-loading porters a boost

The Forge System exoskeleton is designed to augment the leg strength of aerial porters, who are in charge of managing and loading passengers and cargo on and off mobility aircraft, with pneumatically-powered leg braces and a backpack.

They might not be as elaborate as the exosuit Sigourney Weaver used in the classic movie “Aliens,” but the overall concept — using tech to give human muscles and bones a boost during strenuous labor — is not far off.

Aerial porters’ cargo-loading duties are physically demanding, and they often suffer injuries to their muscles and bones from overuse.

The cargo that aerial porters push and pull onto planes can range from pallets of equipment, gear and food weighing thousands of pounds to drones to even more massive tanks or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System trucks. A 2019 Transportation Department study found disability benefits for aerial porters cost the government $31 million each year. 

Last year, the Air Force said that 2019 study prompted it to start looking at exoskeleton technology that could cut down on porters’ injuries. A previous exoskeleton developedby Arizona State University, Air Mobility Command and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, dubbed the Aerial Port Exoskeleton, was tested at Travis Air Force Base in California last year.

The Army has also developed various models of exoskeletons to lessen soldiers’ injuries from lifting ammunition or moving other heavy loads. And U.S. Special Operations Command has experimented with an Iron Man-like armored tactical exoskeleton for special operators, though making that concept a reality has proven challenging.

The Forge System, the latest version of the exoskeleton, was developed by California-based Roam Robotics as part of a Direct to Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant, with the help of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Center for Rapid Innovation.

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Who’s responsible for roadside rubbish?

Source:

University of California - Riverside

New research reveals that items in litter typically originate less than two miles from where they're found -- and unless humans remove them, most of these items will never leave the environment.                        

For the study, researchers from the University of California, Riverside spent a month collecting trash from seven sites across the Inland Empire. They examined its composition, discerned the manufacturers of many items, and thanks to receipts, were also able to determine where the items were purchased.

Most trash items end up on streets only a short distance from where someone bought them. In other words, the majority of litter comes from local sources. This finding could help cities prevent plastic litter that will eventually taint water and air.

"A lot of people say, 'it's not my trash,'" said Win Cowger, a UCR environmental scientist and first author on the study. "I want to dispel that notion with the evidence we have, at least here in the Inland Empire."

Some people have theorized that wind, water or other factors are responsible for moving litter through urban areas. This study, published in the journal Environmental Research, was the first of its kind to study local litter in such close detail and identified that humans were the primary means by which it moves from sellers to streets.

To reach these conclusions, 18 undergraduate and graduate students trained in data collection surveyed up to 3,280 feet of roadside several times a week in Riverside, Moreno Valley, Loma Linda, San Dimas and Palm Desert.  

Nearly 60 percent of the materials they found were plastic. Most were food related, followed by tobacco products. Correspondingly, the top producers of these items, when they were identifiable, were Philip Morris, Mars Incorporated, RJ Reynolds and Jack in the Box.

Because people are responsible for the flow of items from stores onto streets, it can be tempting to blame bad behavior for litter. However, the researchers feel individuals, policy makers, and manufacturers must all work together to solve the problem.

"There has been a lot of emphasis on individual human behavior as the way to decrease rates of littering," said Andrew Gray, a UCR environmental scientist and study author. "In reality, it's just as easy or even more accurate to say that if we didn't produce the stuff in the first place, it wouldn't get into the environment."

On the local level, the researchers conclude that cities have a variety of tools to address the issue. These could include bans on items that frequently end up outside, or an increase in the frequency of street sweeping.

Bans and other preventative measures are suggested because the study also determined that cleaning up litter does not prevent it from reoccurring. Every time researchers came to survey, they also cleaned the sites up, only to find a similar volume of trash when they returned.

There's a broken window theory some people subscribe to, that trash begets trash. However, we find even if you keep a place clean the accumulation is really consistent so other actions to prevent litter in the first place are needed," Cowger said.

To further understand how trash moves onto roadsides and how to clean it up, the researchers are planning additional studies in Long Beach, California and in Oregon. In addition, Cowger is working on a universal index of trash survey terminology to help connect this study with others like it.

One of the issues with connecting similar trash data sets is the difference in language used to describe garbage. For example, 'sachet' is the term East Asian countries use for what Americans refer to as wrappers -- an item frequently represented in litter piles. Cowger's index would help unify the terms, so the worldwide causes and impacts of litter could be better understood.

Action on this issue is of critical importance. Plastic can release harmful chemicals into the surrounding soil, which can make their way into ground water and surface water. While larger plastics harm animals and decrease the aesthetic appeal of the built and natural environment, microplastics also shed from larger items as they break down. These are emerging contaminants of concern with a wide range of potential adverse effects on human health.

"There's a more systematic approach we need to take as humans to decide what gets produced, because eventually, it all gets into the environment," Gray said.

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Mechanical devices to clear the ocean of plastics may not be the answer

A new study suggests that while mechanical devices do remove plastics and other items of litter from marinas and harbors, the quantities of litter removed can be comparatively low and they can also trap marine organisms. 

The study was led by researchers from the International Marine Litter Research Unit at the University of Plymouth, who have been studying the issue of marine microplastics for more than two decades.

Their research was conducted in Plymouth (UK), and provides the first formal independent evaluation of the performance of a Seabin device.

The devices are designed to continuously suck water inwards using a submersible pump which is then filtered, and the cleaned water is returned to the surrounding area leaving the litter in the catch bag.

Hundreds have been installed globally and are reported to have captured over 2.5million kg of litter from calm sheltered environments such as marinas, ports, and yacht clubs. This study found that a total of 1,828 items, 0.18kg of litter, was retained by the Plymouth device during 750 hours of operation between April and June 2021. This was equivalent to 58 items a day, and was mainly comprised of plastic pellets, polystyrene balls and plastic fragments.

However, the Seabin also captured one marine organism for every 3.6 items of litter, around 13 organisms a day including species such as sandeels, brown shrimp and crabs. Around 60% of those organisms were found to be dead upon retrieval, and the study indicates some organisms died after entering the device.

During the deployment, five manual trawls were conducted at the same marina using nets from pontoons or vessels. Manual cleaning collected an average of 19.3g of litter during cleans of up to five minutes. By comparison, the Seabin only captured the equivalent of 0.0059g in a similar timeframe.

Writing in the study, the researchers say that -- based on their findings -- the device was of minimal benefit in terms of marine litter removal in this particular location.

They also warn that the presence of such devices could also precipitate techno-optimism, a reliance on technological innovations, rather than systemic changes in our production, use, and disposal of plastics.

The research was supported by the European Union INTERREG France (Channel) England funded project Preventing Plastic Pollution, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

Florence Parker-Jurd, Research Assistant at the University of Plymouth and the study's lead author, said: "At its current state of development, this study suggests that manual cleaning of ports, harbours and marinas, is more efficient and cost-effective. Notably manual cleans are selective, and this could lessen any potential risk to marine life. Given the increasing reliance on technological innovations, formal evaluations are necessary to their efficiency as similar may apply to other types of device."

Professor Richard Thompson OBE, Head of the International Marine Litter Research Unit, added: "The UN Treaty to end plastic pollution presents an amazing opportunity to start to use plastics more responsibly, halting their accumulation in the environment. Ultimately, the best way to achieve that is by preventing the issue at its source rather than clean-up. However, The Treaty sets an urgent ambitious timeline and this could lead to increased investment in clean up as opposed to longer term systemic change. This study and others from my team highlight the critical importance of evidence to inform decisions about which type of intervention to invest in as we move to tackle this global environmental challenge.

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Child poverty hit record low in 2021

 

Child poverty in America has dropped by more than 80% since 1993.

The child poverty rate was 27.9% in 1993, but fell to a record low of 5.2% in 2021, according to new census data. Growing up poor affects every facet of adult life, from health to wealth.

• "Fewer children growing up in poverty is good for the future," says Renee Ryberg, a co-author of a new report from Child Trends that digs into the data. "It's as simple as that."
• Not only are there immediate improvements to the well-being of kids and families, there are also long-term benefits for society, like lower rates of crime, lower health care costs and more tax revenue.
• Academics and advocates have raised concerns that some of those additional gains may be erased now that the expanded child tax credit has expired.

Still, many of the driving factors behind the drop in child poverty are longer term.

• They include lower unemployment, state-level minimum wage increases, a rise in single mothers' participation in the workforce, and expansions of the safety net, the New York Times reports.

The big picture: The reduction in child poverty has affected all poor kids in the U.S., per the Child Trends report.

• The child poverty rate has decreased in every state.
• And it's fallen by about the same amount for Black kids, white kids, Hispanic kids, Asian kids, immigrants, and kids in one- or two-parent households.

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Air pollution during pregnancy may affect growth of newborn babies

 Maternal exposure to air pollution during pregnancy has often been linked to adverse effects on the health of the newborn. However, there are very few studies on the subject. A study has just concluded that the stages most sensitive to air pollution are the early and late months of pregnancy.

According to studies in recent years, air pollution affects the thyroid. Thyroid hormones are essential for regulating fetal growth and metabolism, and play an important role in neurological development. Thyroxine (T4) is the main thyroid hormone that is circulating and the thyroid stimulating hormone is TSH. At 48 hours newborn babies undergo a heel prick test in which thyroxine and TSH levels in the blood are measured. In fact, if the balance of these thyroid hormones is not right, the risk of developing serious diseases increases. That is why, "this study set out to analyse the relationship between atmospheric pollution during pregnancy and the level of thyroxine in the newborn," explained Amaia Irizar-Loibide, a researcher in the UPV/EHU's Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter less than 2.5 micra in diameter (PM2.5) are two of the main pollutants related to air pollution and vehicle traffic. PM2.5 particles for example are very fine and easily enter the respiratory tract. "In this work we specifically analysed the effect of maternal exposure to these fine particles and to nitrogen dioxide during pregnancy and the link existing with thyroxine levels in newborn babies. We have been monitoring on a weekly basis, as the development of the fetus varies greatly from one week to the next. So we tried to conduct the most detailed research possible in order to find out which the most sensitive weeks of pregnancy are," added the UPV/EHU researcher.

So the sample of the INMA (Environment and Childhood) project in Gipuzkoa was analysed. Data on the air pollutants PM2.5 and NO2, data on TSH and T4 levels from neonatal heels, etc. collected in the project were also used.

According to Amaia Irizar, "the results obtained in this study have revealed the direct relationship between exposure to fine particles during pregnancy and the level of thyroxine in newborns. However, we have not observed a clear link with exposure to nitrogen dioxide." These results therefore coincide with the limited previous research. "What we have seen in this work," stressed Irizar, "is that exposure during the first months of pregnancy has a direct influence on the balance of thyroid hormones. These babies tend to have a lower level of thyroxine. As the pregnancy progresses, we found that this relationship gradually diminishes, i.e. the mother's exposure gradually becomes less important. In late pregnancy, however, this link becomes apparent again, but displays an opposite effect: as the concentration of these fine particles increases, we have seen that the level of thyroid hormones also increases, which has the opposite effect on the balance." "It is not clear what mechanism lies behind all this. In any case, we have come to the conclusion that the most sensitive periods of pregnancy in terms of atmospheric pollution are the early and late months," the UPV/EHU researcher stressed.

The next task would be to study the mechanisms by which these fine particles cause opposing effects in early and late pregnancy. In fact, these particles are nothing more than small spheres made up of carbon, and it is not clear whether the effect these spheres exert is because they pass from the placenta to the baby, whether other components attached to the particles are released once they have entered the body...," she explained. "We need to continue to investigate whether exposure during pregnancy affects not only thyroid hormones, but also other aspects such as neuropsychological development, growth, obesity, etc.," explained Amaia Irizar.

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Stress can turn hair gray

 

A new study offers quantitative evidence linking psychological stress to graying hair in people.

Though the legend is inaccurate -- hair that has already grown out of the follicle does not change color -- a new study from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons is the first to offer quantitative evidence linking psychological stress to graying hair in people.

And while it may seem intuitive that stress can accelerate graying, the researchers were surprised to discover that hair color can be restored when stress is eliminated, a finding that contrasts with a recent study in mice that suggested that stressed induced gray hairs are permanent.

The study, published June 22 in eLife, has broader significance than confirming age-old speculation about the effects of stress on hair color, says the study's senior author Martin Picard, PhD(link is external and opens in a new window), associate professor of behavioral medicine (in psychiatry and neurology) at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

"Understanding the mechanisms that allow 'old' gray hairs to return to their 'young' pigmented states could yield new clues about the malleability of human aging in general and how it is influenced by stress," Picard says.

"Our data add to a growing body of evidence demonstrating that human aging is not a linear, fixed biological process but may, at least in part, be halted or even temporarily reversed."

The investigators immediately noticed that some gray hairs naturally regain their original color, which had never been quantitatively documented, Picard says.

When hairs were aligned with stress diaries by Shannon Rausser, second author on the paper and a student in Picard's laboratory, striking associations between stress and hair graying were revealed and, in some cases, a reversal of graying with the lifting of stress.

"There was one individual who went on vacation, and five hairs on that person's head reverted back to dark during the vacation, synchronized in time," Picard says.

Blame the mind-mitochondria connection

To better understand how stress causes gray hair, the researchers also measured levels of thousands of proteins in the hairs and how protein levels changed over the length of each hair.

Changes in 300 proteins occurred when hair color changed, and the researchers developed a mathematical model that suggests stress-induced changes in mitochondria may explain how stress turns hair gray.

"We often hear that the mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell, but that's not the only role they play," Picard says. "Mitochondria are actually like little antennas inside the cell that respond to a number of different signals, including psychological stress."

The mitochondria connection between stress and hair color differs from that discovered in a recent study of mice, which found that stress-induced graying was caused by an irreversible loss of stem cells in the hair follicle.

"Our data show that graying is reversible in people, which implicates a different mechanism," says co-author Ralf Paus, PhD, professor of dermatology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "Mice have very different hair follicle biology, and this may be an instance where findings in mice don't translate well to people."

Hair re-pigmentation only possible for some

Reducing stress in your life is a good goal, but it won't necessarily turn your hair to a normal color.

"Based on our mathematical modeling, we think hair needs to reach a threshold before it turns gray," Picard says. "In middle age, when the hair is near that threshold because of biological age and other factors, stress will push it over the threshold and it transitions to gray.

"But we don't think that reducing stress in a 70-year-old who's been gray for years will darken their hair or increasing stress in a 10-year-old will be enough to tip their hair over the gray threshold."

More information

The study is titled "Quantitative Mapping of Human Hair Greying and Reversal in Relation to Life Stress."

All contributors (all from Columbia unless noted): Ayelet Rosenberg, Shannon Rausser, Junting Ren, Eugene V. Mosharov, Gabriel Sturm, R. Todd Ogden, Purvi Patel, Rajesh Kumar Soni, Clay Lacefield (New York State Psychiatric Institute), Desmond J. Tobin (University College Dublin), Ralf Paus (University of Miami, University of Manchester, UK, and Monasterium Laboratory, Münster, Germany), and Martin Picard.

The research was funded by grants from the Wharton Fund and the National Institutes of Health (grants GM119793, MH119336, and AG066828).

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Revelation – Jesus Out Everywhere

 

Revelation – Jesus Out  Everywhere  – Revelation  is back with yet another masterpiece, which he entitles “Jesus Out Everywhere ”.

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African great apes to suffer massive range loss in next 30 years

 A new study predicts massive range declines of Africa's great apes -- gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos -- due to the impacts of climate change, land-use changes and human population growth.

For their analysis, the authors compiled information on African ape occurrence held in the IUCN SSC A.P.E.S. database, a repository that includes a remarkable amount of information on population status, threats and conservation for several hundred sites, collected over 20 years.

The first-of-its-kind study quantifies the joint effects of climate, land-use, and human population changes across African ape ranges for the year 2050 under best- and worst-case scenarios. "Best case" implies slowly declining carbon emissions and that appropriate mitigation measures will be put in place. "Worst case" assumes that emissions continue to increase unchecked -- business as usual.

Under the best-case scenario, the authors predict that great apes will lose 85 percent of their range, of which 50 percent will be outside national parks and other areas protected by legislation. Under the worst-case scenario, they predict a 94 percent loss, of which 61 percent will be in areas that are not protected.

This paper examines whether great apes can or cannot disperse away from where they are currently found, and the best- and worst-case scenarios in each case. For example, mountains are currently less suitable than lowland areas for some great ape species. However, climate change will render some lowlands less suitable -- warmer, drier, perhaps less food available -- but the nearby mountains will take on the characteristics that those lowlands currently have. If great apes are able to physically move from the lowlands to the mountains, they may be able to survive, and even increase their range (depending on the species, and whether it is the best- or worst-case scenario). However, they may not be able to travel (disperse) away from the lowlands in the time remaining between today and 2050.

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Train your brain with computer game to eat less sugar

A recent study shows that a computer game can be used to train its players to eat less sugar, as way of reducing their weight and improving their health.

More than half of American adults consume excess added sugars, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Major dietary guidelines recommend limiting foods high in added sugars. A recent study led by Evan Forman, PhD, a psychology professor in Drexel University's College of Arts and Sciences, shows that a computer game can be used to train its players to eat less sugar, as way of reducing their weight and improving their health.

"Added sugar is one of the biggest culprits of excess calories and is also associated with several health risks including cancer," said Forman, who also leads the Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Science (WELL Center) at Drexel. "For these reasons, eliminating added sugar from a person's diet results in weight loss and reduced risk of disease."

As part of their study, which was recently published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, the researchers developed and evaluated a "brain training" game targeting the part of the brain that inhibits impulses with the hope that it would improve diet, specifically by decreasing the consumption of sweet foods. Think: Lumosity for your diet.

"Cognitive, or 'brain, training' games have been used to help people reduce unhealthy habits, like smoking," said Forman. "We were also seeing positive results from labs using computer training programs."

This research is the first to examine the impact of this type of "highly personalized and/or gamified inhibitory control training" on weight loss using repeated, at-home trainings, according to Forman.

Forman's group conceptualized a game based on cognitive training and worked with Michael Wagner, a professor and head of the Digital Media department in Drexel's Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, and a group of digital media students to develop it into a computer-based game, called "Diet DASH," for purposes of the study.

The game automatically customized the training to focus on the sweets that each participant tended to eat and adjusted the difficulty according to how well they were resisting the temptation of sweets.

The trial randomized 109 participants who were overweight and ate sweets. Participants attended a workshop prior to starting the game to help them understand why sugar is detrimental to their health and to learn which foods to avoid and methods for doing so.

"The workshop helped give participants strategies for following a no-sugar diet. However, we hypothesized that participants would need an extra tool to help manage sweets cravings," said Forman. "The daily trainings could make or break a person's ability to follow the no-added sugar diet. They strengthen the part of your brain to not react to the impulse for sweets."

Participants then played the game on a computer for a few minutes every day for six weeks and then again once a week for two weeks.

In the game, players move as quickly as possible through a grocery store with the goal of putting the correct food (healthy foods) in a grocery cart, while refraining from choosing the incorrect foods (their preferred sweet). Points were awarded for correct items placed in carts.

For over half of the participants, who showed higher preferences toward sweets, playing the game helped them lose as much as 3.1 percent of their body weight over eight weeks. Participants also indicated that they found the daily training satisfactory, that it became part of their daily routine and that they wished to continue the trainings if they were available.

"The study's findings offer qualified support for the use of a computerized cognitive training to facilitate weight loss," said Forman.

The study also randomized whether participants received a highly gamified (enhanced graphics and sounds) or a less-gamified versions of the training. While the difference between the level of gamification did not matter, overall, to whether participants reduced sugar consumption and lost weight, they did find that the few men in the study reacted better to the highly gamified version than the women in the study. The WELL Center is now conducting a new trial with the highly gamified version of this training specifically for men and is actively recruiting participants.

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Climate change is giving old trees a growth spurt

Larch trees in the permafrost forests of northeastern China -- the northernmost tree species on Earth -- are growing faster as a result of climate change. A new study of growth rings from Dahurian larch in China's northern forests finds the hardy trees grew more from 2005 to 2014 than in the preceding 40 years.

A new study of growth rings from Dahurian larch in China's northern forests finds the hardy trees grew more from 2005 to 2014 than in the preceding 40 years. The findings also show the oldest trees have had the biggest growth spurts: Trees older than 400 years grew more rapidly in those 10 years than in the past 300 years, according to the new study.

The study's authors suspect warmer soil temperatures are fueling the growth spurts by lowering the depth of the permafrost layer, allowing the trees' roots to expand and suck up more nutrients.

The increased growth is good for the trees in the short-term but may be disastrous for the forests in the long-term, according to the authors. As the climate continues to warm, the permafrost underneath the trees may eventually degrade and no longer be able to support the slow-growing trees.

No other tree species can survive the permafrost plains this far north, so if the larch forests of northern Asia disappear, the entire ecosystem would change, according to the study's authors.

"The disappearance of larch would be a disaster to the forest ecosystem in this region," said Xianliang Zhang, an ecologist at Shenyang Agricultural University in Shenhang, China, and lead author of the new study in AGU's Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.

Earth's hardiest trees

Dahurian larch is Earth's northernmost tree species and its most cold-hardy: These larches are the only trees that can tolerate the frigid permafrost plains of Russia, Mongolia and northern China. Chinese locals refer to Dahurian larch as "thin-old-trees," because they grow slowly in the thin active layer of soil above the permafrost and can live for more than 400 years.

Permafrost regions around the world have been thawing in recent decades due to rising temperatures, sometimes degrading into swamps and wetlands. In the new study, Zhang and his colleagues analyzed growth rings from more than 400 Dahurian larch in old-growth forests of northeastern China, the southernmost portion of the tree's range, to see how the trees are faring in a warming climate.

Tree rings allow scientists to measure how much trees grow from year to year. Much like people, trees do most of their growing while young. Dahurian larch generally grow rapidly until they become around 150 years old, at which point their growth slows. When the trees hit 300 years old, their growth basically stalls.

The researchers used the width of each tree's growth rings to calculate how much area each tree gained in cross-section each year over the course of its lifetime.

The results show Dahurian larch trees grew more from 2005 to 2014 than from 1964 to 2004. Interestingly, the effect was most pronounced in the oldest trees: Trees older than 300 years grew 80 percent more from 2005 to 2014 than in the preceding 40 years. Trees between 250 and 300 years old grew 35 percent more during that time period, while trees younger than 250 years grew between 11 and 13 percent more.

The old trees' growth is unusual -- it's akin to a 100-year-old person suddenly getting taller, according to Zhang. The authors suspect older trees are growing more than younger trees because they have more developed root systems that can harvest resources from the soil more efficiently.

The researchers compared the trees' growth rates to climate factors like soil temperatures and precipitation data over the past 50 years to see what was causing the unusual growth. They found increased soil temperatures, especially in winter, are likely powering the growth spurts. They suspect the warmer temperatures lower the depth of the permafrost layer, providing the trees' roots more room to expand and access to more nutrients.

While this initial soil warming has benefitted Dahurian larch, further permafrost thaw could likely decrease tree growth and even cause the forest to decay, according to the authors. Dahurian larch can't survive in wet conditions, so permafrost changing to wetlands or peatlands would be detrimental to the forest as a whole, they said.

"If the larch forest retreat in this region in the future, it is also not a good sign for the whole boreal forest," Zhang said.

While other research has examined the effects of a warming climate on temperature-sensitive trees in North America, the new study examined temperature-sensitive trees in permafrost areas, which have been less widely studied but are a vast component of the boreal forest, said Erika Wise, an associate professor of geography at the University of North Carolina -- Chapel Hill, who was not involved in the new study. Additionally, previous studies on these larch trees have focused on the effects of air temperature and precipitation, but the new study looked at the influence of ground surface temperatures, which has also not been studied widely, she added.

"Their arguments make a lot of logical sense in terms of why the trees might benefit from the increased winter ground surface temperatures, which is that especially things like an earlier spring thaw could really help trees get growing earlier, more ability to have root activity in the cold months, these sort of things would make sense in why trees would benefit from warmer winters in particular," Wise said. new study of growth rings from Dahurian larch in China's northern forests finds the hardy trees grew more from 2005 to 2014 than in the preceding 40 years. The findings also show the oldest trees have had the biggest growth spurts: Trees older than 400 years grew more rapidly in those 10 years than in the past 300 years, according to the new study.

The study's authors suspect warmer soil temperatures are fueling the growth spurts by lowering the depth of the permafrost layer, allowing the trees' roots to expand and suck up more nutrients.

The increased growth is good for the trees in the short-term but may be disastrous for the forests in the long-term, according to the authors. As the climate continues to warm, the permafrost underneath the trees may eventually degrade and no longer be able to support the slow-growing trees.

No other tree species can survive the permafrost plains this far north, so if the larch forests of northern Asia disappear, the entire ecosystem would change, according to the study's authors.

"The disappearance of larch would be a disaster to the forest ecosystem in this region," said Xianliang Zhang, an ecologist at Shenyang Agricultural University in Shenhang, China, and lead author of the new study in AGU's Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.

Earth's hardiest trees

Dahurian larch is Earth's northernmost tree species and its most cold-hardy: These larches are the only trees that can tolerate the frigid permafrost plains of Russia, Mongolia and northern China. Chinese locals refer to Dahurian larch as "thin-old-trees," because they grow slowly in the thin active layer of soil above the permafrost and can live for more than 400 years.

Permafrost regions around the world have been thawing in recent decades due to rising temperatures, sometimes degrading into swamps and wetlands. In the new study, Zhang and his colleagues analyzed growth rings from more than 400 Dahurian larch in old-growth forests of northeastern China, the southernmost portion of the tree's range, to see how the trees are faring in a warming climate.

Tree rings allow scientists to measure how much trees grow from year to year. Much like people, trees do most of their growing while young. Dahurian larch generally grow rapidly until they become around 150 years old, at which point their growth slows. When the trees hit 300 years old, their growth basically stalls.

The researchers used the width of each tree's growth rings to calculate how much area each tree gained in cross-section each year over the course of its lifetime.

The results show Dahurian larch trees grew more from 2005 to 2014 than from 1964 to 2004. Interestingly, the effect was most pronounced in the oldest trees: Trees older than 300 years grew 80 percent more from 2005 to 2014 than in the preceding 40 years. Trees between 250 and 300 years old grew 35 percent more during that time period, while trees younger than 250 years grew between 11 and 13 percent more.

The old trees' growth is unusual -- it's akin to a 100-year-old person suddenly getting taller, according to Zhang. The authors suspect older trees are growing more than younger trees because they have more developed root systems that can harvest resources from the soil more efficiently.

The researchers compared the trees' growth rates to climate factors like soil temperatures and precipitation data over the past 50 years to see what was causing the unusual growth. They found increased soil temperatures, especially in winter, are likely powering the growth spurts. They suspect the warmer temperatures lower the depth of the permafrost layer, providing the trees' roots more room to expand and access to more nutrients.

While this initial soil warming has benefitted Dahurian larch, further permafrost thaw could likely decrease tree growth and even cause the forest to decay, according to the authors. Dahurian larch can't survive in wet conditions, so permafrost changing to wetlands or peatlands would be detrimental to the forest as a whole, they said.

"If the larch forest retreat in this region in the future, it is also not a good sign for the whole boreal forest," Zhang said.

While other research has examined the effects of a warming climate on temperature-sensitive trees in North America, the new study examined temperature-sensitive trees in permafrost areas, which have been less widely studied but are a vast component of the boreal forest, said Erika Wise, an associate professor of geography at the University of North Carolina -- Chapel Hill, who was not involved in the new study. Additionally, previous studies on these larch trees have focused on the effects of air temperature and precipitation, but the new study looked at the influence of ground surface temperatures, which has also not been studied widely, she added.

"Their arguments make a lot of logical sense in terms of why the trees might benefit from the increased winter ground surface temperatures, which is that especially things like an earlier spring thaw could really help trees get growing earlier, more ability to have root activity in the cold months, these sort of things would make sense in why trees would benefit from warmer winters in particular," Wise said.

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The oceans contain nearly 200,000 kinds of viruses

Nearly 200,000 different kinds of viruses swirl in the world’s oceans, according to a new study, Quanta Magazine reports. 

The new count is 12 times higher than what the previous census of marine viruses recorded in 2016. The reasons for the jump, researchers says, include extensive expeditions to collect samples and improved tools for genetic analysis. Roughly 90% of the viruses identified were new to science, they report today in Cell. This new appreciation of the viral diversity of the seas could help clarify the role of such microbes in the ocean’s carbon cycle, where they can kill or manipulate bacteria that might otherwise capture or release carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

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DRC expands Ebola vaccine campaign as cases mount rapidly

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will expand its use of the experimental Ebola vaccine that more than 110,000 have already received to try to stop an unusually stubborn outbreak of the disease. New vaccination strategies will attempt to reduce the security risks faced by health care workers in the outbreak region, which is home to nearly two dozen rebel groups—some of which have attacked response teams.

There’s also a bit of good news in this bleak situation: A new analysis of the vaccine dose needed to protect people found that the amount can be substantially reduced—by more than half for some people—essentially eliminating a long-standing concern about a potential vaccine shortage.

The changes follow recommendations made today by a group of vaccine experts that advises the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The 9-month-old outbreak in the northeastern region of the DRC as of 6 May had sickened 1506 people, 1045 of whom have died. (Only the Ebola outbreak that exploded in West Africa in 2014 had more cases and deaths.) The outbreak has spiked over the past month, with more than 400 new cases in April alone—a doubling from March—which WHO says reflects the recent disruption of the response because of violence.

A preliminary report issued last month by WHO showed the vaccine has been extremely effective in people who received it, and it has become a cornerstone in the effort to contain the outbreak. But so far, response teams have only offered the vaccine to people who came in direct contact with a known case or were a contact of a contact. Vaccinating only these two “rings” of people around cases—as opposed to, say, entire towns or regions—theoretically can stop spread with a limited vaccine campaign. But it hasn’t so far in the DRC. In its report released today, WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization expresses its “grave concern” about the worsening epidemiology and recommends adding a third protective ring: everyone in a community—defined as a village or a neighborhood in a city—where a case occurs, regardless of contact history.

WHO’s Ana Maria Restrepo, who leads the vaccine effort in conjunction with the DRC’s Ministry of Health, says she hopes doing so will also reduce tensions about the shot, which some communities have resisted in part because of confusion about why some were eligible and others were not. Rather than going house to house, Restrepo says, vaccination teams will now work at special sites, protected by security teams, like the health center in an affected village or city neighborhood. This will also simplify the informed consent process by allowing health care workers to educate groups of people, instead of individuals, about the jabs’ risks and benefits. “So instead of using, for example, 15, 20 minutes per person, now you use 15, 20 minutes for 15 people,” she says.

Merck of Kenilworth, New Jersey, makes the vaccine, which contains a harmless vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) engineered to carry a gene for an Ebola virus surface protein. One month ago, Merck said it had shipped 145,000 doses of the vaccine to WHO and had another 195,000 doses in its stockpile. In addition to the DRC, health care workers in neighboring Uganda and South Sudan have been receiving the vaccine in case the virus jumps borders. Merck has applied for regulatory approval of the vaccine, which first proved its worth in a clinical trial staged in Guinea 3 years ago, near the end of West African epidemic.

To Restrepo’s surprise, a recent analysis revealed that WHO, in effect, has “much more vaccine” than it had calculated, she says. As part of the approval process, Merck submitted the vaccine to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which the company optimized to improve its shelf life. FDA found the vials had twice the dose that was given in Guinea, which means the existing stockpile will go twice as far.

With SAGE’s approval, WHO now plans to use an even lower dose for the third ring, extending the vaccine even further. The VSV in the vaccine copies itself, and the Guinean study found that with a dose of 0.5 milliliters, it takes 10 days to properly immunize someone. But studies have shown that a 0.2-milliliter dose will trigger the same level of protective antibodies in 28 days, which WHO thinks is sufficient for people in that third ring.

All told, says Restrepo, these new strategies mean WHO has about 1 million doses of the vaccine available. “I had a glass of wine last week to celebrate that,” she says.

A broader vaccine program for people at lower risk still may soon launch, too, with a different experimental product. The SAGE recommendations call for offering an Ebola vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson of New Brunswick, New Jersey, to everyone in a DRC “health zone” that has a case of the disease, or even those in neighboring health zones. This will potentially protect even more people without affecting the stockpile of Merck vaccine, and also offers a real-world chance to test the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The vaccine requires two shots of different formulations that researchers hope trigger a more durable immunity than the Merck vaccine, potentially helping to thwart future outbreaks in the region.

Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, stresses that political and religious leaders in the area have to compel the insurgents in the area to stop attacking health care workers and the facilities where they treat people. On 19 April, Richard Valery Mouzoko Kiboung, a Cameroonian epidemiologist working for WHO, was shot and killed, and Doctors Without Borders in February had to evacuate staff from two of its Ebola treatment centers after they were attacked. The insurgents, Ryan says, “have to stop playing games with our lives and the lives of their own people.”

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