The LED Paradox: How Light Pollution Challenges Experts to Reconsider Sustainable Lighting

In the 21st century, the notion of “sustainable lighting” is closely associated with LED technology. In the past ten years, municipalities and private light users worldwide have installed light-emitting diodes in urban spaces and public streets to save energy. Yet an increasing body of interdisciplinary research suggests that supposedly sustainable LED installations are in fact unsustainable, because they increase light pollution. Paradoxically, blue-rich cool-white LED lighting, which is the most energy-efficient, also appears to be the most ecologically unfriendly. Biologists, physicians and ecologists warn that blue-rich LED light disturbs the circadian day-and-night rhythm of living organisms, including humans, with potential negative health effects on individual species and whole ecosystems. Can the paradox be solved? This paper explores this question based on our transdisciplinary research project Light Pollution—A Global Discussion. It reveals how light pollution experts and lighting professionals see the challenges and potential of LED lighting from their different viewpoints. This expert feedback shows that “sustainable LED lighting” goes far beyond energy efficiency as it raises complex design issues that imply stakeholder negotiation. It also suggests that the LED paradox may be solved in context, but hardly in principle

Provoking Taste: Experimenting With New Ways of Sensing

A man sits at a table in a museum and tastes something he has never seen before. He is not sure what it is, but he is prompted to taste orange-red jelly-like cubes—and to do so as if it were an honor to eat such a thing. He hesitates, he looks at it, then, he closes his eyes and slowly takes a bite. He writes down some notes. He takes another bite. He reads along in a document, where he is told to taste again, but this time as if he were ashamed. After completing a series of other, similar experiments, he creates a new dish from the ingredients assembled in front of him, and writes down a title for the dish in his tasting notes. This is the setting of an exhibition called “Schmeck!” (German for “taste!”), that we set up in autumn 2020 at the Museum of Natural History (MfN) in Berlin.1 Why did we create an exhibition in which we asked people to taste unknown foods as if they were honored or ashamed? We sought to first explore how taste changes in relation with various elements of the eating situation (such as sounds, previous knowledge about ingredients and expectations) and, secondly, to use these experiences to provoke participants to create new tasting practices and dishes. In the introduction to this volume, the editors develop the notion of “sensing collectives” to study the intertwining of aesthetic and political practices. In this chapter, we discuss the exhibition as a case of engaging visitors in experiments that were at the same time aesthetic (i.e. inducing and shaping sensory perceptions) as well as political (i.e. inducing and shaping collective subjectivity)

Large-scale analysis of Drosophila core promoter function using synthetic promoters

The core promoter plays a central role in setting metazoan gene expression levels, but how exactly it “computes” expression remains poorly understood. To dissect its function, we carried out a comprehensive structure–function analysis in Drosophila. First, we performed a genome-wide bioinformatic analysis, providing an improved picture of the sequence motifs architecture. We then measured synthetic promoters’ activities of ~3,000 mutational variants with and without an external stimulus (hormonal activation), at large scale and with high accuracy using robotics and a dual luciferase reporter assay. We observed a strong impact on activity of the different types of mutations, including knockout of individual sequence motifs and motif combinations, variations of motif strength, nucleosome positioning, and flanking sequences. A linear combination of the individual motif features largely accounts for the combinatorial effects on core promoter activity. These findings shed new light on the quantitative assessment of gene expression in metazoans

Everyday tasting – 4 experiments. A course for schools

Im Rahmen des zweieinhalbjährigen Forschungsprojekts „Schmeck!“ der Technischen Universität Berlin wurde eine partizipative Ausstellung konzipiert, die im Museum für Naturkunde Berlin im Oktober 2020 realisiert wurde. Nach begeistertem Feedback, besonders von jüngeren Besucher*innen, entstand die Idee, dieses Konzept zu vereinfachen und auch für Schulen fruchtbar zu machen. Das Thema „Schmecken“ im Rahmenlehrplan Obwohl das Thema „Ernährung“ im Rahmenlehrplan fest verankert ist, wurde es in den letzten Jahrzehnten unzureichend in Schulmaterialien aufbereitet, wie eine Studie des Bildungsministeriums für Ernährung (2019) feststellte. Dieses wichtige Thema wird im WAT-, Biologie- und Sachunterricht angeboten. Leider folgt daraus, dass nur bestimmte Lehrer*innen dieser Fächer (WAT, Biologie, Sachunterricht) in ihrer Ausbildung mit diesem Thema konfrontiert und infolgedessen für dieses Unterrichtsthema sensibilisiert werden. Das Praxiswissen über den Umgang und die Herstellung von Lebensmitteln spielt in dem anderen Fachunterricht allgemein eine untergeordnete bis gar keine Rolle, so die Studie. „Schmecken“ neu erleben Dabei bietet das Thema „Schmecken“ viele Möglichkeiten: neben der Auseinandersetzung mit dem Geschmack von Lebensmitteln und ihrer Herkunft, können Schüler*innen über ihren Geschmackssinn das Zusammenwirken mehrerer Sinne erfahren und durch den Austausch mit anderen ihr individuelles Schmecken kennenlernen. So hat das Forschungsprojekt Schmeck! gezeigt, dass Schmecken keineswegs eine passive und rein naturwissenschaftliche Angelegenheit ist, sondern dass jede*r sein*ihr Schmecken individuell beeinflussen und damit aktiv eine eigene Situation gestalten kann, in der er*sie isst und schmeckt. Das Ziel Der vorliegende Leitfaden bietet eine Orientierung für die Durchführung von Schmeck-Experimenten in der Schule. Es werden vier Experimente vorgestellt und hinsichtlich ihrer Vorbereitung und Durchführung erläutert. Dafür bietet dieser Leitfaden auch Arbeitsmaterialien. So sollen verschiedene Einflüsse auf das Schmecken konkret erfahrbar gemacht werden: unter anderem die Herstellungsweise der Produkte, verschiedene Geräusche beim Essen, der Bruch mit Gewohnheiten, der Fokus auf verschiedene Gefühle in Bezug auf Essen, die Farbe und Form von Zutaten, oder auch der Einfluss der Lebensmittelindustrie (und ihrer Werbung) auf unser Schmecken. Das Ziel ist es, zusammen mit Schüler*innen während einer Projektwoche vier Schmeck-Experimente vorzubereiten, z.T. zu konzipieren und schließlich zu durchlaufen. Die Experimente sind an die partizipative Ausstellung „Schmeck! Experimente für die Sinne“ im Museum für Naturkunde Berlin angelehnt

The LED Paradox: How Light Pollution Challenges Experts to Reconsider Sustainable Lighting

In the 21st century, the notion of “sustainable lighting” is closely associated with LED technology. In the past ten years, municipalities and private light users worldwide have installed light-emitting diodes in urban spaces and public streets to save energy. Yet an increasing body of interdisciplinary research suggests that supposedly sustainable LED installations are in fact unsustainable, because they increase light pollution. Paradoxically, blue-rich cool-white LED lighting, which is the most energy-efficient, also appears to be the most ecologically unfriendly. Biologists, physicians and ecologists warn that blue-rich LED light disturbs the circadian day-and-night rhythm of living organisms, including humans, with potential negative health effects on individual species and whole ecosystems. Can the paradox be solved? This paper explores this question based on our transdisciplinary research project Light Pollution—A Global Discussion. It reveals how light pollution experts and lighting professionals see the challenges and potential of LED lighting from their different viewpoints. This expert feedback shows that “sustainable LED lighting” goes far beyond energy efficiency as it raises complex design issues that imply stakeholder negotiation. It also suggests that the LED paradox may be solved in context, but hardly in principle

Lighting Professionals versus Light Pollution Experts? Investigating Views on an Emerging Environmental Concern

Concerns about the potential negative effects of artificial light at night on humans, flora and fauna, were originally raised by astronomers and environmentalists. Yet, we observe a growing interest in what is called light pollution among the general public and in the lighting field. Although lighting professionals are often critical of calling light ‘pollution’, they increasingly acknowledge the problem and are beginning to act accordingly. Are those who illuminate joining forces with those who take a critical stance towards artificial light at night? We explore this question in more detail based on the results of a non-representative worldwide expert survey. In our analysis, we distinguish between “lighting professionals„ with occupational backgrounds linked to lighting design and the lighting industry, and “light pollution experts„ with mostly astronomy- and environment-related professional backgrounds, and explore their opposing and shared views vis-à-vis issues of light pollution. Our analysis reveals that despite seemingly conflicting interests, lighting professionals and light pollution experts largely agree on the problem definition and problem-solving approaches. However, we see diverging views regarding potential obstacles to light pollution mitigation and associated governance challenges