Progress Report: Efforts to better record the afterlife, from underground maps of ancient Italy to digitized nonprofit newspapers in Nigeria.
Scientists grew plants that can alert growers when exposed to a toxin. One goal of the research is to enable a field of plants to signal the presence of a banned pesticide from a distance by turning red. In its new study, a team successfully engineered this environmental sensor in the lab, and did it without impairing the normal functions of the plant.
In an herbal formula of hormones and stress receptors, the abscisic acid hormone is produced through a plant and binds to dry receptors, helping the plant close its pores to retain more water. Previous studies have shown that those receptors can also be trained to bind to other substances.
The team “hacked” the receptors and created sensors for a wide variety of chemicals, adding azinphos-ethyl, an insecticide poisonous to humans. Scientists have also discovered a similar ability in yeast to react to two other chemicals simultaneously.
“We’re about to encounter any chemical in the environment,” said Sean Cutler, who worked on the study. “Not only pesticides, but also drugs like prescription drugs and antibiotics in the water supply, things that other people are concerned about will be exposed to. These types of programs are now within your reach. Source: University of California, Riverside
Dominica reserves 304 square miles of ocean to protect the endangered sperm whale. The world’s first marine reserve for sperm whales is aimed at the so-called Eastern Caribbean clan, whose members do not reach as far as the maximum number of sperm whales and who use the country’s coastal waters as critical habitat for feeding and care. In unprotected waters, whales are threatened by entanglement in fishing gear, pollution, and shipping attacks. The new reserve will enforce regulations for shipping routes and regulate tourism such as whale watching and snorkeling. Traditional fishing will still be allowed.
A whale can give birth to an unmarried calf within one to five to seven years, and the region’s sperm whale population has declined by 3% in one year since 2010. The new reserve will be home to about 35 whale families and will take advantage of the entire ecosystem. , according to the researchers. Whale droppings promote the production of phytoplankton, which in turn absorbs carbon dioxide from the seas.
“The approximately two hundred sperm whales that inhabit our sea are valued citizens of Dominica,” said Roosevelt Skerrit, the country’s prime minister. “We need to make sure that those majestic, highly intelligent animals are safe and remain in our waters. and healthy climate. Sources: Associated Press, Mongabay
Archaeologists create maps of the ancient world without having to put a shovel in the ground. Amid urbanization, climate change, and conflict, the speed at which rugged electromagnetic devices can collect data is helping uncover hidden history before it disappears entirely.
When COVID-19 lockdown measures left the cathedral in Siena, Italy, empty of tourists, researchers scanned internal equipment developed to examine glaciers, mines and oil deposits. The search exposed evidence suggesting that an older church would possibly have been on the site as early as 1,200 years ago. Along with ground-penetrating radar, which allows surveyors to temporarily scan layers of the Earth, geophysicists use magnetometry to measure minute differences in magnetic box strength between objects. Visualization software is helping scientists overlay ancient structures on satellites. Maps. Skeptics warn that misinterpretations can occur and that it is more productive to use this technique in small excavations.
One geophysicist compares what he sees as the need for complete archaeological records to what taxpayers spend on exploring the area. “I’m happy to pay the price. . . every year to see thousands of people hunting down than up. “Immo said Trinks. Si we don’t, Dr. Trinks added, “our grandchildren will ask us, ‘Why haven’t you done more to map what’s still there?’He’s gone. Source: Wired
In Bangladesh, a crusade to eliminate the addition of poisonous lead to turmeric, a commonly used spice, is proving incredibly effective. Global fitness experts say there is no safe point of lead for humans, and South Asians are the most exposed to lead among populations. all over the world. In Bangladesh, researchers looked at the source chains and found that much of the contamination came from the lead chromate used for turmeric’s color.
But in less than two years, a campaign led by the government and Bangladeshi and American researchers managed to decrease the prevalence of lead-adulterated turmeric in the country’s markets from 47% to zero percent.
Researchers attribute this good fortune to cooperation between the country’s food and fitness government and government officials eager to solve the problem. The adulteration of turmeric was declared a criminal offense and a multifaceted media crusade extended from the prime minister’s television shows discussing the challenge to an undercover agent. Operation at a street market that fined spice merchants who tested positive for lead.
The impact on Bangladeshi people was almost immediate – lead levels among workers at turmeric mills dropped by 30% on average. According to a study by the Center for Global Development, lead poisoning accounts for 20% of the learning gap between children in poor countries and children in richer countries. The Stanford University team that in 2015 began investigating high levels of lead hopes to replicate its campaign in India and Pakistan.Sources: The Economist, Stanford Medicine
A nonprofit called Archivi.ng is working to digitize every pre-online Nigerian newspaper, information that will help serve as historical context for the country in the age of artificial intelligence.
The initial goal is to capture about 700,000 stories from the years between Nigeria’s independence in 1960 and 2010. The archive will be an open online library and source of knowledge for AI, in which data about Africa is underrepresented, it says the startup’s founder, Fu ‘ad Lawal. He notes that the existing reliance on Internet search effects means that expanding the amount of online data about Nigeria will lead to a greater understanding of existing problems.
Mr. Lawal first discovered the lack of ancient Nigerian data online while working as a journalist. “We want to put our ancient knowledge online for maximum and accurate representation in the era of generative modeling,” Mr. Lawal said. A serious and inclusive AI strategy will need to take a look at digitalization efforts like ours and those in emerging markets. Sources: Rest of the world, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
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