Assessment of the influence of intrinsic environmental and geographical factors on the bacterial ecology of pit latrines

Funding Information: This research received financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (grant number OPP52641). AWW and JP were supported by the Wellcome Trust [grant number 098051]. AWW and the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Aberdeen, receive core funding support from the Scottish Government Rural and Environmental Science and Analysis Service (RESAS). UZ is funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Independent Research Fellowship (NE/L011956/1). CQ is funded through an Medical Research Council fellowship (MR/M50161X/1) as part of the MRC Cloud Infrastructure for Microbial Bioinformatics consortium (MR/L015080/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Does Large-Scale Ocean Circulation Structure Life History Connectivity in Antarctic Toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni)?

A multidisciplinary approach incorporating otolith chemistry, age data, and numerical Lagrangian particle simulations indicated a single, self-recruiting population of Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) in the Southeast Pacific Basin (SPB) and Ross Sea, with a life history structured by the large-scale circulation. Chemistry deposited prior to capture along otolith edges demonstrated strong environmental heterogeneity, yet the chemistry in otolith nuclei, deposited during early life, showed no differences. Age data showed only adult fish in catches on the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge in the SPB and structuring of life stages consistent with transport pathways from the northern Ross Sea. Lagrangian particle simulations predicted that early life stages following the flow in the SPB would be transported to areas in the Ross Sea where juveniles are caught, whereas the circulation would facilitate adult movement along the shelf slope and back into the SPB where spawning adults are caught. These results suggest that successfully spawning fish spend only a part of their adult life history in the Ross Sea, areas in the eastern Ross Sea contribute disproportionately to the spawning population, and areas in the southwestern Ross Sea may supply fisheries in the southern Indian Ocean

The chronology of reindeer hunting on Norway's highest ice patches.

The melting of perennial ice patches globally is uncovering a fragile record of alpine activity, especially hunting and the use of mountain passes. When rescued by systematic fieldwork (glacial archaeology), this evidence opens an unprecedented window on the chronology of high-elevation activity. Recent research in Jotunheimen and surrounding mountain areas of Norway has recovered over 2000 finds-many associated with reindeer hunting (e.g. arrows). We report the radiocarbon dates of 153 objects and use a kernel density estimation (KDE) method to determine the distribution of dated events from ca 4000 BCE to the present. Interpreted in light of shifting environmental, preservation and socio-economic factors, these new data show counterintuitive trends in the intensity of reindeer hunting and other high-elevation activity. Cold temperatures may sometimes have kept humans from Norway's highest elevations, as expected based on accessibility, exposure and reindeer distributions. In times of increasing demand for mountain resources, however, activity probably continued in the face of adverse or variable climatic conditions. The use of KDE modelling makes it possible to observe this patterning without the spurious effects of noise introduced by the discrete nature of the finds and the radiocarbon calibration process

Cucurbit[8]uril-derived graphene hydrogels

The scalable production of uniformly distributed graphene (GR)-based composite materials remains a sizable challenge. While GR-polymer nanocomposites can be manufactured at large scale, processing limitations result in poor control over the homogeneity of hydrophobic GR sheets in the matrices. Such processes often result in difficulties controlling stability and avoiding aggregation, therefore eliminating benefits that might have otherwise arisen from the nanoscopic dimensions of GR. Here, we report an exfoliated and stabilized GR dispersion in water. Cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8])-mediated host guest chemistry was used to obtain supramolecular hydrogels consisting of uniformly distributed GR and guest-functionalized macromolecules. The obtained GR-hydrogels show superior bioelectrical properties over identical systems produced without CB[8]. Utilizing such supramolecular interactions with biologically-derived macromolecules is a promising approach to stabilize graphene in water and avoid oxidative chemistry.Marie Sklodowska-Curie individual research grant (H2020-MSCAIF- 2017, P.ID: 797106) The Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States EPSRC Doctoral Training Grant EP/N509620/1 EPSRC Programme Grant NOtCH (EP/L027151/1

Analysis of pit latrine microbiota reveals depth-related variation in composition, and key parameters and taxa associated with latrine fill-up rate

Funding statement This research received financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (grant number OPP52641 to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine). AWW and JP were supported by the Wellcome Trust [grant number 098051]. AWW and the Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen, receive core funding support from the Scottish Government Rural and Environmental Science and In review Analysis Service (RESAS). UZI is funded by NERC Independent Research Fellowship (NE/L011956/1) and further supported by EPSRC (EP/P029329/1 and EP/V030515/1). CQ is funded through an MRC fellowship (MR/M50161X/1) as part of the MRC Cloud Infrastructure for Microbial Bioinformatics consortium (MR/L015080/1). Acknowledgements In review Pit latrine microbiota associated with depth and fill-up rate. We would like to thank all the field and laboratory teams and to all the pit latrine owners who participated in this study. We also thank Paul Scott, Richard Rance and members of the Wellcome Sanger Institute's sequencing team for generating 16S rRNA gene data.Peer reviewedPublisher PD