Every day, astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics depend on computers to help them solve the mysteries of the universe, just as they did […]

The post Underpaid women “computers” mapped the universe in the 19th century appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Su Ming Sun, Amandine Batte, Mireille Tittel-Elmer, Sophie van der Horst, Tibor van Welsem, Gordon Bean, Trey Ideker, Fred van Leeuwen, and Haico van Attikum

Eukaryotic chromosomes are replicated in interphase and the two newly duplicated sister chromatids are held together by the cohesin complex and several cohesin auxiliary factors. Sister chromatid cohesion is essential for accurate chromosome segregation during mitosis, yet has also been implicated in other processes, including DNA damage repair, transcription and DNA replication. To assess how cohesin and associated factors functionally interconnect and coordinate with other cellular processes, we systematically mapped genetic interactions of 17 cohesin genes centered on quantitative growth measurements of >52,000 gene pairs in budding yeast. Integration of synthetic genetic interactions unveiled a cohesin functional map that constitutes 373 genetic interactions, revealing novel functional connections with post-replication repair, microtubule organization and protein folding. Accordingly, we show that the microtubule-associated protein Irc15 and the prefoldin complex members Gim3, Gim4 and Yke2 are new factors involved in sister chromatid cohesion. Our genetic interaction map thus provides a unique resource for further identification and functional interrogation of cohesin proteins. Since mutations in cohesin proteins have been associated with cohesinopathies and cancer, it may also identify cohesin interactions relevant in disease etiology.

Bruce Campbell, of the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, is at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, W. Va., to make a radar map of the Moon.

The post Smithsonian geophysicist Bruce Campbell explains his work of making a detailed radar map of the Moon appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Su Ming Sun
Apr 16, 2020; 0:jcs.237628v1-jcs.237628
Articles

Efforts to convert civilian research reactors from weapon-grade highly enriched uranium (HEU) to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuels are taking significantly longer than anticipated, says a congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) programmes are frameworks to systemically develop sustainability. New research has analysed three national SCP programmes in the UK, Sweden and Finland and concluded that, rather than provide a strong roadmap for sustainability, they tend to be a toolbox of good but scattered initiatives.

Scientists involved in a pan-European project to develop better methods of risk assessment say maps that show such cumulative risks geographically are easy to interpret and should be considered as practical tools for conveying risk information to decision makers and the general public.

A new tool for mapping the sensitivity of seafloor habitats to fishing activities has been developed. Researchers combined data on the resistance of habitats to damage from fishing practices, and how quickly they are able to recover, to produce a widely applicable tool that can be easily understood by stakeholders and used for different locations.

Integrated environmental modelling (IEM) is an organised approach to streamlining the movement of scientific information from its research sources to its application in problem solving, according to a study that envisions a global-scale IEM community. The researchers present a roadmap for the future of IEM, describing issues that could be addressed to develop its potential even further, such as how best to integrate diverse stakeholder perspectives and appropriate guidelines for ‘problem statements’.

A map of science could assist research planning strategies by helping to identify emerging topics. The map — which is based on links to almost 20 million scientific articles that have been published over the past 16 years — clusters and links scientific disciplines by citation-based relationships and serves as a highly detailed and scalable infographic. The authors hope it will be used by research planners to help distinguish — and potentially forecast — the research areas in science which have longevity, and also those which are innovative.

Geography and ecology are key factors that have influenced the genetic makeup of human groups in southern Africa, according to new research discussed in the journal GENETICS, a publication of the Genetics Society of America. By investigating the ancestries of twenty-two KhoeSan groups, including new samples from the Nama and the ≠Khomani, researchers conclude that the genetic clustering of southern African populations is closely tied to the ecogeography of the Kalahari Desert region.

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A new Pan-European landscape map (LANMAP) has been developed that allows a common classification of landscapes across Europe.

Over 8% of land in Europe could be at moderate-to-high risk of wind-driven soil erosion, a new study has estimated. In the first assessment of its kind, the researchers produced maps which show wind erosion risk across 36 countries. This information could help guide actions to tackle land degradation.

Where agricultural policies are in conflict with environmental and social issues, a 'roadmap' can provide a way forward as part of a sustainable rural development planning process. New research describes an approach used in the Netherlands, which brings together stakeholders to create a mutually desirable vision of the future.

A global cropland percentage map and a global field size map have been created for the first time to guide scientists and policymakers interested in global agricultural modelling and assessment. Both maps are for the baseline year 2005 and combined multiple data sets from global, regional and national levels to achieve a high level of accuracy and 1 km2 resolution.

Soil erosion is an important issue in Europe, with consequences for water quality, ecosystem services supply and crop production. In this study, researchers enhanced an existing model to estimate soil loss and create an updated map of soil erosion across the EU. The authors say the tool can simulate the effects of land use changes and management practices and will support effective policy decisions.

Scientists involved in a pan-European project to develop better methods of risk assessment say maps that show such cumulative risks geographically are easy to interpret and should be considered as practical tools for conveying risk information to decision makers and the general public.

Nearly 85% of residents in central Dublin, Ireland, could be exposed to damaging levels of night-time traffic noise, according to a recent study. The researchers explain how they assessed population exposure to noise and calculate the impacts of several noise reduction measures, providing information that could help EU Member States meet the Environmental Noise Directive’s requirements.

Major roads, railways, airports and industrial areas can be a major source of noise nuisance for local communities. To help city planners and architects determine the most appropriate sound insulation design for the exterior of buildings, Turkish researchers have developed a new method that transforms noise maps into insulation maps.

Researchers in Greece have added a new dimension to noise level mapping by including data on residents’ perception and value of different sounds. This consideration of the experiences of residents in this way could lead to more effective policy implementation.

Digital noise maps developed under the EU’s Environmental Noise Directive (END) are a useful way of assessing traffic noise exposure for local residents, according to a recent Swedish study. The END maps could also be used to standardise noise exposure information in noise and health research.

Researchers have developed a new energy map that traces the flow of global energy from the fuel sources to the final services provided. The study provides new insight into the potential of energy efficiency measures by focusing on technologies rather than economic sectors.

A new study provides an approach for estimating the risk of antibiotic contamination associated with different soils and different antimicrobial products. The researchers estimated and mapped soil contamination risk across Europe and suggest that their methods could be used to inform antibiotic resistance monitoring or policies designed to reduce contamination.

Research from the US helps paint a clearer picture of the extent of global sea level rise, by considering new satellite data on the Earth’s gravity. Its findings support reports of accelerating ice melt and suggest that most of the change in sea levels is caused by receding polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers.

A new study has assessed the vulnerability of 571 European cities to heatwaves, droughts and flooding caused by climate change. The causes of vulnerability differ across Europe and the researchers say the results could be used to design policies to mitigate the impacts.

Satellite observations are valuable aids to detect and monitor fire activity. A recent study has investigated how satellite images of fire activity, together with information on vegetation cover and fire risk associated with long and short-term atmospheric conditions could be used to help authorities better manage the risk of wildfires in Mediterranean Europe.

A new mobile phone application which can help monitor traffic-noise exposure is presented in a recent study. The app, ‘2Loud?’, can measure indoor night-time noise exposure and, given large-scale community participation, could provide valuable data to aid urban planning, the researchers say. In an Australian pilot study, nearly half of participants who used the app found that they were exposed to potentially unhealthy levels of night-time noise.

An inventory of carbon footprints has been developed for 177 regions across 27 EU Member States. The map is the first to quantify greenhouse gas emissions associated with household consumption across the EU. It reveals significant regional differences based on income, household size and urban versus rural living.

In the real-time economy, the demand for cloud services keeps growing with the hybrid cloud as the optimal architecture for handling the inevitable complexity of the agile company’s IT infrastructure.

A study of two forest ecosystems in Spain has found that land-cover maps of watersheds, ecosystems hosting key interactions between vegetation, wildlife, and water, are made more accurate by the inclusion of LiDAR data — a type of remote sensing that pulses laser light at a target to measure vertical distances for use in 3D-mapping an environment. This has important implications for ecosystem monitoring, flood mitigation, and forest management, fields in which accurately characterising an environment is key.

A new tool has been developed to map the sensitivity of seabirds to offshore wind farm development. The Seabird Mapping and Sensitivity Tool (SeaMaST), currently for use in English waters, combines information on the sensitivity of seabird species to wind turbines with data on the birds’ distribution. It provides maps that can be used for both the offshore wind farm industry and marine spatial planning.

Despite groundwater’s importance to ecosystems, little is known about its global distribution. Researchers have now developed a model to map groundwater, revealing that ecosystems covering 22-32% of the Earth’s surface rely on this important resource.

As part of the EU’s Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Waters1, a new study from the Joint Research Centre has mapped the water requirements of livestock across Europe for 2005. The maps and data can help quantify total European water use but also inform sustainable management by making use of ecosystem services (ESSs).

A new methodology for mapping the global distribution of drought risk has been proposed, which should provide guidance on which locations should be further assessed to improve drought preparedness and management policies.

New Europe-wide maps show the potential of landscapes to provide ecosystem goods and services over the next 20-30 years.

A recent study has developed a mapping system to show the impact on habitats and species caused by construction projects, such as dams, near Natura 2000 conservation areas. Using a Greek case study, the system was able to identify risks from a dam construction project to species including otters, toads and tortoises.

A new method for mapping long-term changes in habitat over large areas and in fine detail has been developed, which could help inform conservation plans to restore biodiversity to previous states. In a UK case study, researchers have used it to demonstrate the dramatic effects of intensive agriculture and afforestation on rural habitats since the 1930s.

As bee populations decline, exposure of pollinators to pesticides is of increasing concern. Italian research has now demonstrated that an index of exposure which accounts for insect behaviour, as well as pesticide application, provides a valuable tool for assessing the realistic risk of pesticides to pollinators.

Researchers have developed a new method of mapping seafloor habitats, which uses easily measured environmental properties to infer the type and extent of seafloor ecosystems. It could help in the effective implementation of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the researchers suggest.

Monitoring and assessment of habitats is essential to evaluate biodiversity policy and improve the condition of valuable ecosystems. A new study has reviewed the value of remote sensing — using information from satellite or airborne imagery — for this purpose, and the authors make a series of key recommendations, including the importance of tailoring remote sensing output for policymakers.

Free-flowing rivers (FFRs) support a complex, dynamic and diverse range of global ecosystems, and provide important economic and societal services. However, infrastructure built to use these services — most notably 2.8 million dams worldwide — has caused many rivers to become fragmented and disconnected, affecting river biodiversity and ecosystem services. This study constructed a global information system with which to map the fine-scale dynamics and fragmentation of FFRs and to determine how human pressures affect the world’s river systems.

Ecological risk maps showing 'hotspots' of risk to wildlife from single or combined soil pollutants have been developed. These maps can be used to improve risk analysis and stakeholder communications.

As bee populations decline, exposure of pollinators to pesticides is of increasing concern. Italian research has now demonstrated that an index of exposure which accounts for insect behaviour, as well as pesticide application, provides a valuable tool for assessing the realistic risk of pesticides to pollinators.

A new tool has been developed which highlights ‘hot spots’ of pharmaceutical pollution in Europe, where human health and aquatic environments could potentially be affected. The results suggest that the substances and locations posing the greatest risk are not the same for the aquatic environment as for human health.

A new method for mapping the spread of oil released by ships is presented in a recent study, where it is applied to the Adriatic and Ionian Seas of the Mediterranean. The method pulls together a range of data, including information on shipping routes, oil particle behaviour, currents and climate. In this case study, it reveals pollution hotspots in the south-western Adriatic Sea and north-eastern Ionian Sea.

A species of mussel has been used to investigate the connectivity of two marine protected areas (MPAs) along the central Portuguese west coast in a new study. The chemistry of mussel shells was used to trace the dispersal routes for larval mussels, demonstrating that the Arrábida MPA is an important source population in the area.