Sanaaq: An Inuit Novel by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk, translated by Bernard Saladin d’Anglure

Review of Sanaaq: An Inuit Novel by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk and translated by Bernard Saladin d’Anglure

Towards a circular economy and just transition to net-zero in rural Scotland:Resident perspectives on policy and practice

The circular economy and just transition are key dimensions of the sustainability challenges of the 21st century. These concepts are ambiguous and meanings differ among actors, sectors and contexts. This paper examines the circular economy and a just transition to net-zero in the Scottish context, where both are prominent in national policy discourses and central to the work of Zero Waste Scotland. It is based on qualitative research, co-designed with Zero Waste Scotland, to explore how rural residents in Scotland understand the circular economy and just transition, in their everyday lives and communities. This is an under-researched area and our findings add new knowledge useful for implementing sustainability policies in a rural context. Focus groups were carried out in three rural areas, engaging with a range of residents in a deliberative setting. The findings support the need for a more collaborative, whole systems approach that moves beyond siloed thinking and which focuses on local capacity and knowledge building for transitions to more sustainable rural communities.</p

Nitrogen Oxide Concentrations in Natural Waters on Early Earth

A key challenge in origins-of-life studies is estimating the abundances of species relevant to the chemical pathways proposed to have contributed to the emergence of life on early Earth. Dissolved nitrogen oxide anions (NO$_{X}^{-}$), in particular nitrate (NO$_{3}^{-}$) and nitrite (NO$_{2}^{-}$), have been invoked in diverse origins-of-life chemistry, from the oligomerization of RNA to the emergence of protometabolism. Recent work has calculated the supply of NO$_{X}^{-}$ from the prebiotic atmosphere to the ocean, and reported steady-state [NO$_{X}^{-}$] to be high across all plausible parameter space. These findings rest on the assumption that NO$_{X}^{-}$ is stable in natural waters unless processed at a hydrothermal vent. Here, we show that NO$_{X}^{-}$ is unstable in the reducing environment of early Earth. Sinks due to UV photolysis and reactions with reduced iron (Fe$^{2+}$) suppress [NO$_{X}^{-}$] by several orders of magnitude relative to past predictions. For pH$=6.5-8$ and $T=0-50^\circ$C, we find that it is most probable that NO$_{X}^{-}$]$<1~\mu$M in the prebiotic ocean. On the other hand, prebiotic ponds with favorable drainage characteristics may have sustained [NO$_{X}^{-}$]$\geq 1~\mu$M. As on modern Earth, most NO$_{X}^{-}$ on prebiotic Earth should have been present as NO$_{3}^{-}$, due to its much greater stability. These findings inform the kind of prebiotic chemistries that would have been possible on early Earth. We discuss the implications for proposed prebiotic chemistries, and highlight the need for further studies of NO$_{X}^{-}$ kinetics to reduce the considerable uncertainties in predicting [NO$_{X}^{-}$] on early Earth.Comment: In review for publication at Geochemistry, Geophysics, and Geosystems (G-cubed). Comments, questions, and criticism solicited; please contact corresponding author at [email protected]. SI at: https://web-cert.mit.edu/sukrit/Public/nox_si.pdf. GitHub at: https://github.com/sukritranjan/no

"This Is the Life” : Women’s Role in Food Provisioning in Paulatuuq, Northwest Territories

Publisher PD

Sex differences in the reward value of familiar mates in prairie voles

The rewarding properties of social interactions facilitate relationship formation and maintenance. Prairie voles are one of the few laboratory species that form selective relationships, manifested as “partner preferences” for familiar partners versus strangers. While both sexes exhibit strong partner preferences, this similarity in outward behavior likely results from sex-specific neurobiological mechanisms. We recently demonstrated that in operant trials, females worked hardest for access to familiar conspecifics of either sex, while males worked equally hard for access to any female, indicating a sex difference in social motivation. As tests were performed with one social target at a time, males might have experienced a ceiling effect, and familiar females might be more relatively rewarding in a choice scenario. Here we performed an operant social choice task in which voles lever-pressed to gain temporary access to either the chamber containing their mate or one containing a novel opposite-sex vole. Females worked hardest to access their mate, while males pressed at similar rates for either female. Individual male behavior was heterogeneous, congruent with multiple mating strategies in the wild. Voles exhibited preferences for favorable over unfavorable environments in a non-social operant task, indicating that lack of social preference does not reflect lack of discrimination. Natural variation in oxytocin receptor genotype at the intronic single nucleotide polymorphism NT213739 was associated with oxytocin receptor density, and predicted individual variation in stranger-directed aggressive behavior. These findings suggest that convergent preference behavior in male and female voles results from sex-divergent pathways, particularly in the realm of social motivation

Dataset for Pilot Randomized Trial to Reduce Urinary Bisphenols in Women With Obesity

Background: Bisphenol exposure is widespread and correlated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Previous intervention studies have effectively lowered bisphenol exposure among women of normal-weight. The purpose of this pilot study was to test the hypothesis that a 3-week bisphenol intervention would decrease urinary bisphenol A (BPA) bisphenol S (BPS), and bisphenol F (BPF) in women with obesity. Methods: Thirty women with obesity (31.1 ± 5.6 kg/m2, 21.1 ± 3.1 yrs) were randomly assigned to an intervention or control. The intervention included weekly face-to-face meetings to reduce bisphenol exposures from food, cosmetics, and packaged products. Fasting urinary bisphenols, creatinine, and weight were assessed at study entry and after 3-weeks. Results: From study entry to 3-weeks, there was a significant treatment x time (P0.05) effects on creatinine-corrected urinary BPA, BPF, and weight. Conclusion: In women with obesity, a 3-week intervention decreased urinary BPS concentrations. Future large-scale clinical trials are needed to confirm these result and determine whether intervention reductions in bisphenols positively impact diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk markers