1,152 research outputs found
The evolution of extraordinary self-sacrifice
From a theoretical perspective, individuals are expected to sacrifice their welfare only when the benefits outweigh the costs. In nature, however, the costs of altruism and spite can be extreme, as in cases of irreversible sterility and self-destructive weaponry. Here we show that “extraordinary” self-sacrifice—in which actors pay costs that exceed the benefits they give or the costs they impose on recipients—can evolve in structured populations, where social actions bring secondary benefits to neighboring kin. When given information about dispersal, sedentary actors evolve extraordinary altruism towards dispersing kin. Likewise, when given information about dispersal and kinship, sedentary actors evolve extraordinary spite towards sedentary nonkin. Our results can thus be summed up by a simple rule: extraordinary self-sacrifice evolves when the actor’s neighbors are close kin and the recipient’s neighbors are not
A search for transit timing variation
Photometric follow-ups of transiting exoplanets (TEPs) may lead to
discoveries of additional, less massive bodies in extrasolar systems. This is
possible by detecting and then analysing variations in transit timing of
transiting exoplanets. In 2009 we launched an international observing campaign,
the aim of which is to detect and characterise signals of transit timing
variation (TTV) in selected TEPs. The programme is realised by collecting data
from 0.6--2.2-m telescopes spread worldwide at different longitudes. We present
our observing strategy and summarise first results for WASP-3b with evidence
for a 15 Earth-mass perturber in an outer 2:1 orbital resonance.Comment: Poster contribution to Detection and Dynamics of Transiting
Exoplanets (Haute Provence Observatory Colloquium, 23-27 August 2010
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Food System Transformation: Integrating a Political-Economy and Social-Ecological Approach to Regime Shifts.
Sustainably achieving the goal of global food security is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. The current food system is failing to meet the needs of people, and at the same time, is having far-reaching impacts on the environment and undermining human well-being in other important ways. It is increasingly apparent that a deep transformation in the way we produce and consume food is needed in order to ensure a more just and sustainable future. This paper uses the concept of regime shifts to understand key drivers and innovations underlying past disruptions in the food system and to explore how they may help us think about desirable future changes and how we might leverage them. We combine two perspectives on regime shifts-one derived from natural sciences and the other from social sciences-to propose an interpretation of food regimes that draws on innovation theory. We use this conceptualization to discuss three examples of innovations that we argue helped enable critical regime shifts in the global food system in the past: the Haber-Bosch process of nitrogen fixation, the rise of the supermarket, and the call for more transparency in the food system to reconnect consumers with their food. This paper concludes with an exploration of why this combination of conceptual understandings is important across the Global North/ Global South divide, and proposes a new sustainability regime where transformative change is spearheaded by a variety of social-ecological innovations
Three red giants with substellar-mass companions
We present three giant stars from the ongoing Penn State-Toru\'n Planet
Search with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which exhibit radial velocity
variations that point to a presence of planetary --mass companions around them.
BD+49 828 is a K0 giant with a = minimum mass companion in
AU (d),
orbit. HD 95127, a log/=,
, K0 giant has a = minimum mass companion in
AU (d), orbit.
Finally, HD 216536, is a K0 giant with a minimum mass companion in
AU (d),
orbit. Both, HD 95127 b and HD 216536 b in their
compact orbits, are very close to the engulfment zone and hence prone to
ingestion in the near future. BD+49 828 b is among the longest period planets
detected with the radial velocity technique until now and it will remain
unaffected by stellar evolution up to a very late stage of its host. We discuss
general properties of planetary systems around evolved stars and planet
survivability using existing data on exoplanets in more detail.Comment: 47 pages, 11 figures. Accepted by Ap
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