Rethinking Trust, Reconnecting Us

Advancements in online platforms can lead to a more widely informed public, but they also create room for false information. Misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine has become a public safety issue. Our team created a project that contributes to solving this global problem. Our project’s mission is to tackle vaccine related misinformation. The project utilizes a human-centered method to design a solution. Based on our literature review the main problem is skepticism about getting vaccinated. Our solution is to create an online portal targeted at college students, highlighting the benefits of vaccination, examining examples of misinformation, providing trusted sources for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals and persuading misinformation receivers to improve their media literacy. Our understanding of the target audience increased via QR code stickers that directed unvaccinated individuals to a survey. This data, alongside student and expert interviews, helped design our platform. The site’s tailored to the concerns of those less likely to receive the vaccine due to misinformation. Part of our campaign is to use Facebook to direct people to our website, which has had nearly 433 views since its launch in February. A stronger future in a virtual world requires sharpening the world\u27s ability to spot misinformation. Our project called upon our target audience to engage in 4 Rs: rethink COVID vaccine information they receive, re-evaluate information by fact-checking, reconsider getting vaccinated so that they can reconnect with their family and friends safely. We built an internationally accessible website, fostered an accepting online environment for education and asking questions to a healthcare professional, increased awareness of COVID-19 misinformation, connected individuals with different perspectives on vaccinations, encouraged young people to improve their media literacy, developed an appealing brand for vaccine-hesitant young people, contributed to research about campaign strategies for reducing vaccine hesitancy, and we’ve sparked a global conversation

Evidence for distinct coastal and offshore communities of bottlenose dolphins in the north east Atlantic.

Bottlenose dolphin stock structure in the northeast Atlantic remains poorly understood. However, fine scale photo-id data have shown that populations can comprise multiple overlapping social communities. These social communities form structural elements of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) [corrected] populations, reflecting specific ecological and behavioural adaptations to local habitats. We investigated the social structure of bottlenose dolphins in the waters of northwest Ireland and present evidence for distinct inshore and offshore social communities. Individuals of the inshore community had a coastal distribution restricted to waters within 3 km from shore. These animals exhibited a cohesive, fission-fusion social organisation, with repeated resightings within the research area, within a larger coastal home range. The offshore community comprised one or more distinct groups, found significantly further offshore (>4 km) than the inshore animals. In addition, dorsal fin scarring patterns differed significantly between inshore and offshore communities with individuals of the offshore community having more distinctly marked dorsal fins. Specifically, almost half of the individuals in the offshore community (48%) had characteristic stereotyped damage to the tip of the dorsal fin, rarely recorded in the inshore community (7%). We propose that this characteristic is likely due to interactions with pelagic fisheries. Social segregation and scarring differences found here indicate that the distinct communities are likely to be spatially and behaviourally segregated. Together with recent genetic evidence of distinct offshore and coastal population structures, this provides evidence for bottlenose dolphin inshore/offshore community differentiation in the northeast Atlantic. We recommend that social communities should be considered as fundamental units for the management and conservation of bottlenose dolphins and their habitat specialisations

Persistent Deficits in Heart Rate Response Habituation Following Neonatal Binge Ethanol Exposure

Background: We have previously shown that the rate of habituation of the heart rate orienting response to a novel odor in rats is negatively affected by neonatal ethanol exposure. Thus far, however, only young rats (16 days of age) have been tested. Given the persistence of attention and memory problems evident in humans exposed to ethanol in utero, the purpose of this experiment was to examine the longer-term consequences of ethanol exposure on response habituation. Methods: Ethanol (5.25 g/kg/d) was administered intragastrically to male and female Sprague-Dawley rats on postnatal days (PD) 4 to 9, and controls were given sham intubations. Animals were tested for heart rate orienting and response habituation to a novel olfactory stimulus (amyl acetate) on PD 16, 23, or 30. Results: Animals tested on PD 16 or 23 showed normal heart rate deceleration to the novel odor, a measure of the orienting response. However, ethanol-treated subjects showed impaired response habituation compared with sham controls. While controls exhibited complete habituation within 4 to 5 trials, ethanol-treated animals continued to respond throughout the testing session, with little decrement in heart rate response magnitude across 10 stimulus presentations. A different pattern of responding was observed in animals tested during adolescence (PD 30). Control animals failed to show the typical heart rate decrease indicative of orienting, and instead showed a tendency toward tachycardia. In contrast, ethanol-treated animals tested on PD 30 showed orienting bradycardia that persisted for several trials. Conclusions: These data suggest that there are relatively long-term consequences of neonatal ethanol exposure on nonassociative memory. This impairment in habituation may be relevant to the distractibility and poor focused attention that is pervasive among humans diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

"Like a throne of glory" : the apotropaic potential of Ṣîṣîṯ in the Hebrew Bible and early rabbinic literature

Although at first glance ṣîṣîṯ meet the definitional criteria of an amulet, there are just three passages in the early rabbinic literature that only indirectly suggest such an interpretation. Yet, as it turns out, the tassels feature strong connections with the priestly clothes, and given the protective role played by the latter inside the Tabernacle, ṣîṣîṯ can be interpreted as a lay functional equivalent of the sacerdotal garment. The present paper has three main purposes: first, to scrutinize the passages from B. Men. (41a, 43b and 44a) that are often taken as witnessing to the apotropaic function of fringes; second, to contextualize tassels in the network of the priestly objects: teḵēlęṯ, ša‘aṭnēz and ṣîṣ; third, to advance a hypothesis regarding the implicit apotropaic potential of ṣîṣîṯ

Dramatic Rise in Plasma Viremia after CD8+ T Cell Depletion in Simian Immunodeficiency Virus–infected Macaques

To determine the role of CD8+ T cells in controlling simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) replication in vivo, we examined the effect of depleting this cell population using an anti-CD8 monoclonal antibody, OKT8F. There was on average a 99.9% reduction of CD8 cells in peripheral blood in six infected Macaca mulatta treated with OKT8F. The apparent CD8 depletion started 1 h after antibody administration, and low CD8 levels were maintained until day 8. An increase in plasma viremia of one to three orders of magnitude was observed in five of the six macaques. The injection of a control antibody to an infected macaque did not induce a sustained viral load increase, nor did it significantly reduce the number of CD8+ T cells. These results demonstrate that CD8 cells play a crucial role in suppressing SIV replication in vivo

On the differences in the vertical distribution of modeled aerosol optical depth over the southeastern Atlantic

The southeastern Atlantic is home to an expansive smoke aerosol plume overlying a large cloud deck for approximately a third of the year. The aerosol plume is mainly attributed to the extensive biomass burning activities that occur in southern Africa. Current Earth system models (ESMs) reveal significant differences in their estimates of regional aerosol radiative effects over this region. Such large differences partially stem from uncertainties in the vertical distribution of aerosols in the troposphere. These uncertainties translate into different aerosol optical depths (AODs) in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and the free troposphere (FT). This study examines differences of AOD fraction in the FT and AOD differences among ESMs (WRF-CAM5, WRF-FINN, GEOS-Chem, EAM-E3SM, ALADIN, GEOS-FP, and MERRA-2) and aircraft-based measurements from the NASA ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) field campaign. Models frequently define the PBL as the well-mixed surface-based layer, but this definition misses the upper parts of decoupled PBLs, in which most low-level clouds occur. To account for the presence of decoupled boundary layers in the models, the height of maximum vertical gradient of specific humidity profiles from each model is used to define PBL heights. Results indicate that the monthly mean contribution of AOD in the FT to the total-column AOD ranges from 44 % to 74 % in September 2016 and from 54 % to 71 % in August 2017 within the region bounded by 25∘ S–0∘ N–S and 15∘ W–15∘ E (excluding land) among the ESMs. ALADIN and GEOS-Chem show similar aerosol plume patterns to a derived above-cloud aerosol product from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) during September 2016, but none of the models show a similar above-cloud plume pattern to MODIS in August 2017. Using the second-generation High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL-2) to derive an aircraft-based constraint on the AOD and the fractional AOD, we found that WRF-CAM5 produces 40 % less AOD than those from the HSRL-2 measurements, but it performs well at separating AOD fraction between the FT and the PBL. AOD fractions in the FT for GEOS-Chem and EAM-E3SM are, respectively, 10 % and 15 % lower than the AOD fractions from the HSRL-2. Their similar mean AODs reflect a cancellation of high and low AOD biases. Compared with aircraft-based observations, GEOS-FP, MERRA-2, and ALADIN produce 24 %–36 % less AOD and tend to misplace more aerosols in the PBL. The models generally underestimate AODs for measured AODs that are above 0.8, indicating their limitations at reproducing high AODs. The differences in the absolute AOD, FT AOD, and the vertical apportioning of AOD in different models highlight the need to continue improving the accuracy of modeled AOD distributions. These differences affect the sign and magnitude of the net aerosol radiative forcing, especially when aerosols are in contact with clouds.</p

The cooperative sex: Sexual interactions among female bonobos are linked to increases in oxytocin, proximity and coalitions

In some species habitual same-sex sexual behavior co-occurs with high levels of intra-sexual alliance formation, suggesting that these behaviors may be linked. We tested for such a link by comparing behavioral and physiological outcomes of sex with unrelated same- and opposite-sex partners in female bonobos (Pan paniscus). We analyzed behavioral outcomes following 971 sexual events involving n = 19 female and n = 8 male adult and sub-adult members of a wild, habituated bonobo community. We additionally collected n = 143 urine samples before and after sexual interactions to non-invasively measure oxytocin (OT), which modulates female sexual behavior and facilitates cooperation in other species. The majority of sexual events (65%) consisted of female same-sex genito-genital rubbing (or GG-rubbing). Female dyads engaged in significantly more sexual interactions than did inter-sexual dyads, and females were more likely to remain within close proximity to their partners following GG-rubbing. Females also exhibited greater increases in urinary OT following GG-rubbing compared with copulations, indicating a physiological basis for increased motivation to cooperate among females. The frequency of coalitionary support among non-kin was positively predicted by the frequency of sexual interactions for female as well opposite-sex dyads, although coalitionary support tended to be more frequent among females. The emergence of habitual same-sex sexual behavior may have been an important step in the evolution of cooperation outside of kinship and pair-bonds in one of our closest phylogenetic relatives

The Thickness of the Mantle Lithosphere and Collision-Related Volcanism in the Lesser Caucasus

The Lesser Caucasus mountains sit on a transition within the Arabia–Eurasia collision zone between very thin lithosphere (<100 km) to the west, under Eastern Anatolia, and a very thick lithospheric root (up to 200 km) in the east, under western Iran. A transect of volcanic highlands running from NW to SE in the Lesser Caucasus allows us to look at the effects of lithosphere thickness variations on the geochemistry of volcanic rocks in this continental collision zone. Volcanic rocks from across the region show a wide compositional range from basanites to rhyolites, and have arc-like geochemical characteristics, typified by ubiquitous negative Nb–Ta anomalies. Magmatic rocks from the SE, where the lithosphere is thought to be thicker, are more enriched in incompatible trace elements, especially the light rare earth elements, Sr and P. They also have more radiogenic ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, and less radiogenic ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd. Across the region, there is no correlation between SiO₂ content and Sr–Nd isotope ratios, revealing a lack of crustal contamination. Instead, ‘spiky’ mid-ocean ridge basalt normalized trace element patterns are the result of derivation from a subduction-modified mantle source, which probably inherited its subduction component from subduction of the Tethys Ocean prior to the onset of continent–continent collision in the late Miocene. In addition to the more isotopically enriched mantle source, modelling of non-modal batch melting suggests lower degrees of melting and the involvement of garnet as a residual phase in the SE. Melt thermobarometry calculations based on bulk-rock major elements confirm that melting in the SE must occur at greater depths in the mantle. Temperatures of melting below 1200°C, along with the subduction-modified source, suggest that melting occurred within the lithosphere. It is proposed that in the northern Lesser Caucasus this melting occurs close to the base of the very thin lithosphere (at a depth of ∼45 km) as a result of small-scale delamination. A striking similarity between the conditions of melting in NW Iran and the southern Lesser Caucasus (two regions between which the difference in lithosphere thickness is ∼100 km) suggests a common mechanism of melt generation in the mid-lithosphere (∼75 km). The southern Lesser Caucasus magmas result from mixing between partial melts of deep lithosphere (∼120 km in the south) and mid-lithosphere sources to give a composition intermediate between magmas from the northern Lesser Caucasus and NW Iran. The mid-lithosphere magma source has a distinct composition compared with the base of the lithosphere, which is argued to be the result of the increased retention of metasomatic components in phases such as apatite and amphibole, which are stabilized by lower temperatures prior to magma generation

Evaluating the Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Mutation D614G on Transmissibility and Pathogenicity.

Global dispersal and increasing frequency of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variant D614G are suggestive of a selective advantage but may also be due to a random founder effect. We investigate the hypothesis for positive selection of spike D614G in the United Kingdom using more than 25,000 whole genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences. Despite the availability of a large dataset, well represented by both spike 614 variants, not all approaches showed a conclusive signal of positive selection. Population genetic analysis indicates that 614G increases in frequency relative to 614D in a manner consistent with a selective advantage. We do not find any indication that patients infected with the spike 614G variant have higher COVID-19 mortality or clinical severity, but 614G is associated with higher viral load and younger age of patients. Significant differences in growth and size of 614G phylogenetic clusters indicate a need for continued study of this variant