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Human Behavior

We’ve Been Transforming the Earth for at Least 10000 Years – The Good Men Project

By KEITH RANDALL-TEXAS A&M

The study synthesizes data from 255 archaeologists to provide the first global survey of the Earths transformation through human land use over the past 10,000 years. The findings challenge the commonly held view that large-scale, human-caused environmental change is a relatively recent phenomenon. It also shows how the overall impact of human behavior has been growing exponentially since the end of the last Ice Age.

Our team synthesized archaeological data provided by experts from around the world to establish a timeline for when people in different parts of the world began to intensify land use in different ways, says Heather Thakar, assistant professor in the anthropology department at Texas A&M University.

This time-lapse map shows how extensive agriculture (noncontinuous cultivation, or the beginnings of farming) spread as a percentage of land use. To highlight land use in Oceania, four groups of islands are represented by icons. (Credit: Nicolas Gauthier/Arizona State)

The ArchaeoGLOBE project analyzed land use from roughly 10,000 years ago, the time of hunters and gatherers, to the year 1850, after the Industrial Revolution.

I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL ALSO FIND A WAY TO ENSURE THAT OUR HOME REMAINS HABITABLE FOR OUR SPECIES.

The new study adds an archaeological perspective to existing models of historical land use. Based on researchers expertise of land use on six continents, the crowdsourced map shows that agriculturean extraction of environmental resources that leaves a complex mark on the landscapebegan earlier, and in more parts of the world, than more recent studies have reported.

There are archaeologists working all over the world, but they aggregate data differently, and it can be difficult to find larger patterns, says coauthor Ben Marwick, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Washington. By asking archaeologists a series of questions rather than combining datasets, weve created a brilliant workaroundessentially, what were people doing, and how much, in different parts of the world?

The researchers looked at how human global land use has transformed the surface of the Earth, especially in the last 10,000 years. They divided Earth into 146 regions and used 10 time periods, from 10,000 years ago to 1850.

They found that about 42% of the regions examined had some form of agriculture by about 6,000 years ago, and that the beginnings of agriculture occurred earlier than previously believed.

The researchers conclude that foragers, farmers, and herders had transformed the planet by 3,000 years agomuch earlier than the timeframe derived from the most common land-use reconstructions used by earth scientists. In some regions, the survey showed effects of intensive land-use more than 1,000 earlier than previous estimates.

The industrial revolution and large-scale agriculture often spring to mind when people think about human impact on the environment, but these findings show that humans have been transforming the landscape going back at least 10,000 years, says coauthor Jessica Thompson, an anthropologist at Yale University. The line that separates the pristine natural world from one transformed by people is blurrier and goes further back in time than what is commonly believed.

The map is covered in dark green at the beginning of the time span (10,000 years ago) but the green gets lighter across the map as foraging becomes rarer

The survey found that foraging, which includes hunting, gathering, and fishing, was commonplace 10,000 years ago in 120, or 82%, of the 145 regions. However, foragers were not passive occupants; they also drastically changed landscapes, such as through extensive burning, to improve conditions for hunting and gathering, according to the study.

WE ARE AT A CRITICAL TURNING POINT.

Certainly foragers had significant impacts on the plant and animal communities where they lived, Thompson says. They manipulated the landscape to enhance their chances of survival. They might burn land to increase its productivity or influence how vegetation grows to attract animals to hunt.

We need to start thinking more seriously about that activity when we consider what constitutes an environment or landscape transformed by people. And that requires archaeologists to be a part of the conversation about modern-day human impacts.

Think of it this way: when humans began to intensify land use in different ways, often times associated with increased food production, they also began to alter the local landscape and ecology in significant and lasting ways, such as human driven extinctions and deforestation, Thakar says.

We have established that intensive human impacts on local environments begin much earlier than many researchers had previously assumed. This work provides important historical context for our rapidly accelerating impacts on the Earth.

The teams research also examines the origins of the Anthropocene, which is a term used to mark how people shaped the world and continue to shape it through their actions. The word combines anthropo, meaning human, and cene, meaning an epoch of geologic time.

I would say the Anthropocene Era is already widely accepted by the scientific community, Thakar says. The idea that human activity has become a dominant influence on the global environment during recorded history is well-established. What is debated, across disciplines, is not whether the Anthropocene exists, but the point at which our actions as a species became a climatic-driving force on par with that of major geologic processes.

Thakar notes that the project contributes a global assessment of how far we can push scientific evidence of human-induced landscape transformations.

The Anthropocene includes major milestones in human history, among them the invention of the wheel 3,500 years ago; the printing revolution that began in 1439; the scientific revolution from 1543 to 1687; the invention of the steam engine in 1712; the worlds population reaching 1 billion in 1804; the first electric motor in 1822; the first modern oil well built in 1859; World War I and World War II; the atomic age in 1945; the Great Accleration of knowledge that began in 1950 and continued for the next 60 years with unprecedented discoveries; and to 2011 when the world population hit 7 billion.

It raises the question: what do the next thousand years hold for humankind?

I think that we need to be concerned, not just about some distant future (1000 years), but the very near future (10-100 years) which offers our greatest opportunity to consciously, critically, and deliberately influence the Earths climate, Thakar says. Our past does help predict our future, and our past documents humanitys incredible capacity for innovation and collective action. Once we accept the truth of our role as climate-drivers, I believe that we will also find a way to ensure that our home remains habitable for our species.

She adds that archaeological data demonstrates humans ability to adapt to changing conditions, giving hope that we can find ways to adapt to global climatic changes in our future.

But, what we face today is unprecedented in both pace and scope, Thakar says. We are at a critical turning point. In order to land safely in the future, we must change outdated and destructive habits and replace them with new, future-oriented solutions.

The research appears in Science.

The National Science Foundation funded the work.

Source: Texas A&M University, University of Washington, Yale University

Original Study DOI: 10.1126/science.aax1192

Previously published on futurity.org.

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We've Been Transforming the Earth for at Least 10000 Years - The Good Men Project

Human Behavior

Robots that admit mistakes foster better conversation in humans – Yale News

Three people and a robot form a team playing a game. The robot makes a mistake, costing the team a round. Like any good teammate, it acknowledges the error.

Sorry, guys, I made the mistake this round, it says. I know it may be hard to believe, but robots make mistakes too.

This scenario occurred multiple times during a Yale-led study of robots effects on human-to-human interactions.

The study, which published on March 9 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that the humans on teams that included a robot expressing vulnerability communicated more with each other and later reported having a more positive group experience than people teamed with silent robots or with robots that made neutral statements, like reciting the games score.

We know that robots can influence the behavior of humans they interact with directly, but how robots affect the way humans engage with each other is less well understood, said Margaret L. Traeger, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the Yale Institute for Network Science (YINS) and the studys lead author. Our study shows that robots can affect human-to-human interactions.

Because social robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in human society, she said, people are encountering them in stores, hospitals and other everyday places. This makes understanding how they shape human behavior important.

In this case, Traeger said, we show that robots can help people communicate more effectively as a team.

As we create hybrid social systems of humans and machines, we need to evaluate how to program the robotic agents so that they do not corrode how we treat each other.

Nicholas A. Christakis

The researchers conducted an experiment in which 153 people were divided into 51 groups composed of three humans and a robot. Each group played a tablet-based game in which members worked together to build the most efficient railroad routes over 30 rounds. Groups were assigned to one of three conditions characterized by different types of robot behavior. At the end of each round, robots either remained silent, uttered a neutral, task-related statement (such as the score or number of rounds completed), or expressed vulnerability through a joke, personal story, or by acknowledging a mistake; all of the robots occasionally lost a round.

People teamed with robots that made vulnerable statements spent about twice as much time talking to each other during the game, and they reported enjoying the experience more compared to people in the other two kinds of groups, the study found.

Conversation among the humans increased more during the game when robots made vulnerable statements than when they made neutral statements. Conversation among the humans was more evenly distributed when the robot was vulnerable instead of silent.

The experiment also showed more equal verbal participation among team members in groups with the vulnerable and neutral robots than among members in groups with silent robots, suggesting that the presence of a speaking robot encourages people to talk to each other in a more even-handed way.

We are interested in how society will change as we add forms of artificial intelligence to our midst, said Nicholas A. Christakis, Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science. As we create hybrid social systems of humans and machines, we need to evaluate how to program the robotic agents so that they do not corrode how we treat each other.

Understanding the social influence of robots in human spaces is important even when the robots do not serve an intentionally social function, said Sarah Strohkorb Sebo, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Computer Science and a co-author of the study.

Imagine a robot in a factory whose task is to distribute parts to workers on an assembly line, she said. If it hands all the pieces to one person, it can create an awkward social environment in which the other workers question whether the robot believes theyre inferior at the task. Our findings can inform the design of robots that promote social engagement, balanced participation, and positive experiences for people working in teams.

Other co-authors on the study are Yales Brian Scassellati, professor of computer science, cognitive science, and mechanical engineering; and Cornells Malte Jung, assistant professor in information science.

The research was supported by grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

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Robots that admit mistakes foster better conversation in humans - Yale News

Human Behavior

Because of coronavirus were doing things differently. How long will that last? – San Francisco Chronicle

It isnt easy to change habits, as those who have tried to go a day without touching their face have found, but the coronavirus outbreak is threatening to modify human behavior, culture, business and yes habits in ways that could permanently alter our way of life.

The COVID-19 pandemic has already disrupted American society, causing the stock market to plummet, and workplaces, theaters and sports leagues to close down as people across the country stockpile food and hole up at home.

Locally, ridership on BART and other mass transit has declined, and movie theaters, bars and restaurants are virtually empty. Handshakes, hugs, high-fives and kisses on the cheek have become almost taboo. Even the untidy among us have become germophobes, incessantly washing our hands and wiping down surfaces.

The impacts of the growing pandemic are far reaching, but the biggest changes are in the business realm, where experts say increased teleconferencing, automation and e-commerce could become standard even after the virus threat is gone.

Companies will put in infrastructure to enable remote working, to make sure people can operate seamlessly and communicate well regardless of where they are on the planet, said Darren Murph, head of remote for GitLab, a software company whose 1,150-plus employees all work remotely.

He thinks the coronavirus will make telecommuting the norm for people who now only occasionally work from home when they are waiting for a repair person or attending a childs school event.

This is like a get-out-of-jail-free card that every major city in the world never saw coming but will be so grateful for, Murph said. Were already way oversubscribed with people on public transit and in cars on the road. This will reduce strain on the infrastructure without spending any money.

The changes will be necessary, given that it could take 12 months or longer before a vaccine is developed. And restrictions could get more draconian as the number of infections grow, including mandatory home quarantines.

It is unlikely that many cities and regions could be isolated, like has happened in China and New Rochelle, N.Y. But the fast-spreading disease has forced Italy into a lockdown and the United States is, by all accounts, still in the beginning stages of infection.

Experts say the disease is likely to have long-term implications on how much people fly or take mass transit and even whether they greet people with a handshake or the newly fashionable elbow bump.

But major changes in our personal habits are unlikely, said Russell Poldrack, a neuroscientist at Stanford University and an expert on habit-forming behavior. Once the threat is over, he said, people will probably go back to touching their faces, shaking hands, hugging, kissing and failing to wash their hands frequently.

Whether (new behaviors) become permanent depends on how long this lasts and how bad it gets, Poldrack said. Take handshakes. They are so deeply ingrained in our fabric, but it could well be that the virus drives people to worry enough about disease transmission that they change to some other greeting.

New technologies, if not new habits, are more likely to catch on and become permanent as the virus spreads, said Ken Goldberg, a professor of engineering and robotics at UC Berkeley.

I think it will accelerate that tendency to order things online, especially things like food and groceries, Goldberg said. That, in turn, will increase a demand for robots to fulfill these orders.

An example of a technology that could boom during the crisis, he said, are robots that collect items in warehouses and package them for online shoppers, an industry that is now booming in China as a result of the new coronavirus.

Fear of infection among health care workers could also drive innovations in telemedicine, including remote-control robots that can help doctors examine patients without having to be there in person, he said. An Israeli startup, TytoCare, has developed such a system, allowing doctors to guide patients from afar as they perform medical tests on themselves using a handheld exam kit.

Similarly, the reluctance of people to go to large meetings and conferences will likely increase demand for tele-robots, with video screens and microphones, that could attend a conference in a persons place, allowing virtual delegates to network while lounging at home in their pajamas. Such robots are available now, but they are rare.

I think its a game changer in that (telecommuting) may be our new normal, said Bernard Coleman, head of employee engagement at Gusto, a payroll, benefits and human resources platform for small businesses.

One offshoot could be rethinking work hours.

Do the hours of 9 to 5 even make sense anymore? Coleman said. What if people are more productive from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.?

A reduction of in-person conferences could force many professional societies to develop new business models, since the income from annual meetings helps fund their advocacy, training, research and other activities. But replacing large annual meetings with virtual conferences isnt all bad, said Dr. Dan Diekema, director of the infectious disease division at the University of Iowa.

There has been pressure building on this from an environmental standpoint because of the emissions produced by travel, Diekema said in an email. Now perhaps a tipping point will be reached.

Another example of a potentially permanent change is happening at UC Berkeley, Stanford and many other major universities around the country, where classes are being taught exclusively online as a result of the COVID-19 scare.

The technology obviously is never going to be as good as being there, but as people get used to going to classes, religious services and other places remotely, it could catch on, Goldberg said. Maybe we will adapt and in 20 years, it will be normal for people to have remote meetings.

A range of domino effects could occur if working from home becomes more commonplace. Some would benefit society: less traffic and thus fewer emissions. But the flip side would be fewer people on public transit, hurting agencies that depend on fare revenues. There would also be fewer patrons at restaurants that depend on workers for lunchtime business, and fewer customers in stores.

Businesses also might need less office space if there is a permanent increase in telecommuting, causing building vacancies and reducing rents. That could actually help San Francisco, which has a serious office space shortage, said Jay Cheng, public policy director of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

Paid sick leave could be a long-lasting legacy of the coronavirus pandemic. Currently, the U.S. has no mandate for employers to offer paid sick leave, or paid family medical leave, which typically is longer. As a result, one quarter of workers about 30 million people who lack the benefit must decide whether to forgo a paycheck or risk going to work and transmitting or contracting disease.

The crisis has ignited debate on Capitol Hill and elsewhere, with proponents highlighting studies that mandatory paid leave decreases flu rates. Historically, Democrats have pushed for paid sick leave, while Republicans have opposed it as hurting businesses.

Now, folks on both sides of the aisle are talking about the need to do something, said Ruth Martin, chief workplace justice officer for MomsRising, a nationwide advocacy group pushing the Healthy Families Act, which would require businesses with at least 15 employees to provide seven days a year of paid sick leave.

In fact, the emergency relief plan that Congress passed early Saturday with broad bipartisan support includes two weeks of paid sick leave and up to three months of paid family and medical leave, as well as expanded unemployment insurance. While they are temporary and only for people affected by the coronavirus, those benefits lay the groundwork for similar future legislative action.

David Levine, a professor at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, said change usually happens slowly, and even in this situation probably needs a push.

This (disease) is forcing many places and schools to try something new, and once the fixed cost of learning new software, new routines and changing the norm is over, some of them are going to say, Hey, this is a better way, Levine said. But the way to make necessary changes systematic is not to rely on individuals. To the extent that organizations institute safe routines there can be lasting change. When you walk into a doctors office, they should ask you to wash your hands.

Peter Fimrite and Carolyn Said are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com, csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite, @CSaid

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Because of coronavirus were doing things differently. How long will that last? - San Francisco Chronicle

Human Behavior

5 Reasons Why Bitcoin Price Crashed Amid The Coronavirus Financial Crisis – CryptoPotato

Along with every other financial instrument led by the global stock markets, Bitcoin plummeted in the past two weeks following the worldwide spread of the coronavirus.

Following their desire to see Bitcoin emerging as the next generations safe-haven asset, this latest severe Bitcoin plunge felt like a nightmare for many Bitcoiners.

The following article will try to examine what led to the massive sell-off and will end in a little hope that Bitcoin might not have said its final word yet regarding its role in the monetary world.

Wall Street recorded some of its worst trading weeks; the main indexes are already 20-25% away from their all-time highs reached just a month ago. The hit was so intense that the New York Stock Exchange had to halt trading on a few occasions to minimize the damages, for the first time since 2008.

The drop didnt skip the cryptocurrency market. Still generally accepted as a riskier investment, Bitcoin, and most coins, dropped by as much as 50% in a matter of days.

The most brought up reason for those sell-offs is the basic human need for stable liquid assets also known as cash. When the financial situation is at risk, people revert to a more state-of-survival mode. As such, they need to cover their essential needs, such as housing, food, and, yes, toilet paper. Investing is no longer a priority.

As of writing these lines, you cant buy toilet paper or food with Bitcoin. Only with cash.

Among the sellers, there were large portions of institutional money. As the crypto community was blessing the institutional money and hedge funds that came to buy Bitcoin lately, we have to remember that they are buying Bitcoin for investment purposes only. These were also rushing to cash out their crypto portfolio along with their global markets equities.

The cryptocurrency market is very young in the financial world. Additionally, its still relatively small, and there is no central authority behind it since Bitcoin is decentralized.

Thus, violent moves and fluctuations are a natural way of life for BTC, which also raises concerns among some investors about the value of their assets. This could also lead to mass sales in times of panic.

Besides, the list of Bitcoin leveraged trading exchanges, such as BitMEX and Binance Futures, has been continuously growing in numbers to cope with the increasing demand for speculative traders who want to utilize margin trading. As such, Bitcoin has become more of a speculative asset, instead of an actual store of value.

The effects are evident and received proof last week. While the price of BTC was tumbling, the Futures trading volume skyrocketed, ultimately leading to record-breaking liquidations. Such developments could quickly accelerate the price drop.

Interestingly, at the precise time of Bitcoins most severe drop to $3,600, BitMEX went offline due to technical issues. Yet, members of the community, including another popular exchange FTX asserted doubts if there were any technical problems at all.

This reason is actually not related to the coronavirus crisis; however, since the Bitcoin price was declining lately, it might have seen a boost in its selling process.

The PlusToken was a Ponzi scheme, which was abandoned in 2019. It was another classic pyramid scheme, just like Bitconnect.

The Ponzi promised its investors double-digits monthly returns; hence it was a matter of time until the fraudulent project, originated in China and Korea, had disappeared with the money.

The wallets of the company had cryptocurrencies worth over $3 billion on the date the project was abandoned. Later that year, and only recently, blockchain transactions proved that the founders are mixing their coins in order to sell them and cash out.

The most recent PlusToken transaction was on March 8, 2020, when 13,000 Bitcoins worth $105 million at that time were mixed in their way to be dumped on the market.

Its still unknown whether the PlusToken founders had sold all their coins, however, eventually, it will end someday.

According to an ongoing investigation of blockchain transactions, many of the recent Bitcoin sales came from investors who have acquired the coins in the past 1-2 years. They are cashing out mostly in a loss. Human behavior is fed from the fear of losing some.

The HODLers have been around for many years and have experienced other significant price drops, such as the 2018 crypto bubble burst that brought the price of Bitcoin from a high of $20,000 to $3,200 in less than a year. The early adopters are aware that, generally, when Bitcoin goes down, it recovers over time.

The precious metal is often regarded as the ultimate safe-haven asset. Consequently, it should have been performing rather well during the latest financial crisis, the Sub-Prime, one could assume.

The situation, though, is slightly more complicated. During the last global financial crisis in 2008, and more specifically in March that year, when the Federal Reserve had to rescue the corporate bank Bear Stearns, Gold exploded to over $1,000 per troy ounce. Later on, however, when the recession worsened, instead of continuing its decisive run, the precious metal tumbled.

Then, on Monday, September 15th, 2008, the crisis reached its climax when the U.S. bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. In those six months, Gold plummeted to $775 and even lower in the following weeks. Only after the recession ended and investors returned to the markets, Golds price skyrocketed before it eventually exceeded $1,200 in January 2010.

None of the above, though, shook Golds perception as a safe haven. It only means that when push comes to shove, most investors panic sell their assets leading to price descends, and this includes Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies.

Born dues to the 2008 recession, Bitcoin is yet to reach its real purpose. Its supposed to be an electronic peer-to-peer cash system, but so far, it has been used mostly for a speculative form of investment.

All of this could change as quickly in case the peoples trust in the current banking system deteriorates. Banks were behind the 2008 recession mentioned above. Governments were forced to bail a lot of them out, but the mass opinion has already been shaken.

Today, the outbreak of the coronavirus seems like only the pin to pop the inflated bubble, which will expose many dirty secrets.

In a situation where banks will continue printing money, which will deflate its value, people might eventually start looking for alternative means of payments outside of governments and banks. That could be the glory moment Bitcoin had been waiting for.

However, this situation is far from reality, as of now, and no one guarantees the price of Bitcoin wont continue to tumble even more.

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5 Reasons Why Bitcoin Price Crashed Amid The Coronavirus Financial Crisis - CryptoPotato

Human Behavior

[OPINION] I’m a psychologist here’s how I manage my worries about the coronavirus – Rappler

Are you checking your social media feed for coronavirus updates a lot? Did you buy toilet paper or rubbing alcohol more than you need? Are you wondering if you counted 20 seconds when washing your hands but forgot and so decided to start all over again? Are you giving the evil eye to that woman who didnt cover her mouth when she coughed? Did you flinch when she coughed? If youre fearful of catching the coronavirus, youre not alone.

My training as a clinical psychologist gave me the hands-on understanding of human behavior, including individual disorders. However, it was my training in public health, especially health policy, and later in psychiatric epidemiology that gave me the bird's eye view of how policy interventions at the sociocultural and systems levels can improve our mental health and wellbeing as a population.

Our individual worries about the virus is normal but can hurt others. We might feel some relief that we got a whole box of rubbing alcohol, but we forget that others need to clean their hands, too, for us to be protected. (READ: 'Customer not always right': Alcohol hoarders should be sent out of stores, says DTI)

Here are some ways I manage my own worries.

Yes, I am worried.

I admit to myself that I am nervous. I can feel a sense of impending panic. I am overthinking what may or may not happen. I am presenting at a conference in Tokyo later this month. Should I go? I was just invited to another one in Singapore in July. It might be better by then, right? My body feels tense. (READ: Questions Filipinos are asking about the coronavirus lockdown)

When I acknowledge these thoughts and feelings, I am able to manage the worries better and shift my attention towards something healthier.I know my strengths and vulnerabilities.

There is a lot we do not yet know about the coronavirus. Older people and people with severe underlying health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease are at higher risk for the more serious symptoms of the illness.

So, I do feel some relief (though cautious) of my own risks. I am only in my late 30s, and according to a recent doctors visit, I seem to be in good health, although truth be told, I need to lose a bit of weight.

I am not immune to the virus, of course. It does not discriminate. But even the most basic information offers me some relief.

I get my news updates and then dont.

I only watch the news in the morning (before work) and at the end of the day (but not before bed). I might watch again in the middle of the day. I also watch at most the first 10-15 minutes and only at the top of the hour, when the most recent updates are likely to be broadcast. Then, I stop watching.

The news tends to recycle. It is the same every hour. The more I watch, the more I needlessly worry.

I limit my social media use.

I follow and rely on two sources the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Philippines. Thats it, no one else. You and many others (including this news organization) will post, share, like, etc., many other information, including those posted by the DOH and WHO. They will end up in my feed. For me, these are not helpful because you will have reinterpreted the original message in one way or another. Theyre noise.

I also deliberately unfollow 10 people (though were still friends) from my social media accounts. I do this every day. This limits how much and what kind of information I see. And these days, we get a lot of virus-related information. More details and statistics, more worries. I also turn off the comments or notifications. I rarely respond to comments, even positive ones. (READ: Staying compassionate in the time of coronavirus)

I do not share or like others posts regarding the virus. I do not want to add to the anxiety-focused algorithm.

My worries are softened with honest, simple, and forthright facts from reliable sources.

I reallocate my attention.

I become more anxious when I shift my attention to those things that are, well, anxiety-provoking, instead of those things that could offer me something more enjoyable or purposeful. I want to be more relaxed, but I am paying attention to things that dont make me feel that way. So, the more helpful solution is to reallocate my attention.

According to the WHO, most people (about 80%) recover from the disease, and they dont require special treatment. About 1 out of every 6 will develop serious symptoms, including difficulty breathing, but this also means 5 of them will not. Since the outbreak in December, the overwhelming majority of people have recuperated. Of the nearly 81,000 confirmed cases in China, nearly 62,000 have recovered. The odds seem to be in our favor.

I can choose to pay attention to the bad news and make myself miserable. Or I can shift that attention towards more hopeful things. I choose the latter, and I feel better.And finally, I stick to routine.

I do what I did even before the outbreak, as safely as possible. I run in the mornings but probably not as close to people. I go to my favorite caf but sit far away from others. The gym is less tempting these days, but there are a lot of online videos complete with attractive people who teach no-equipment workouts. Classes are suspended this week, but virtual learning is within reach perhaps to the disappointment of my students. A lot of my work can be done remotely.

I wash my hands. I use rubbing alcohol. I keep a distance. I eat as healthy as I can and drink plenty of water. I watch streaming videos, read books, and plan trips. I stay in touch with friends and loved ones.

I take deep breaths and say, This will pass. We will all be alright. Rappler.com

Dr Ronald Del Castillo is professor of psychology, public health, and social policy at the University of the Philippines Manila. The views here are his own.

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[OPINION] I'm a psychologist here's how I manage my worries about the coronavirus - Rappler

Genetics

From Iceland First Results Of General Population Screening: About 1% Of Icelanders With Coronavirus – Reykjavk Grapevine

The first results of the deCODE Genetics voluntary screening indicate that about 1% of all Icelanders have the novel coronavirus, Vsir reports. Chief epidemiologist for the Directorate of Health rlfur Gunason told reporters that this is good news, as it shows that the measures which the government has taken have yielded good results.

As reported, deCODE Genetics CEO Kri Stefnsson has been wanting to offer screening to the entire Icelandic population and received the green light to do so earlier this week. Registration for that screening launched last Friday.

While Icelandic authorities have been screening people considered especially at risk, namely those Icelanders returning to the country from high-risk areas, deCODE has sought to screen everyone else. deCODE took samples from 510 people on Friday, with 1,049 coming in yesterday and it is predicted that another thousand will go in for screening today. Of those samples which have thus far been taken, 700 have been tested. Kri says that about half of those who tested positive have shown no symptoms, and the other half show symptoms have having a regular cold.

rlfur told reporters earlier today that if the results of the deCODE screening indicated that incidents of novel coronavirus in the general population were low, that authorities would likely continue with the operations which have already been initiated. If infection in the general society is very low then its an indication that we have been doing good things and achieving good results in keeping this infection contained, he said.

As reported, amongst the operations that Icelandic government has initiated is a public gatherings ban of numbers greater than 100, and the closures of universities and secondary schools, beginning at midnight tonight. The country remains open to visitors, and the gatherings ban does not apply to the international airport in Keflavk.

The Directorate of Health and the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management have launched a helpful and informative website on COVID-19 containing everything you could possible need or want to know about the virus, including how to protect yourself, how Iceland is responding, and special information for tourists. We highly recommend giving it a look.

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From Iceland First Results Of General Population Screening: About 1% Of Icelanders With Coronavirus - Reykjavk Grapevine

Genetics

Police May Not Need a Warrant to Rummage Through Your Trash, But Warrantless Collection of DNA Is Unconstitutional – EFF

This week, we filed anamicus brief in a South Dakota case arguing that the Fourth Amendment prohibits the police from surreptitiously collecting our DNA without a warrant. This case is one of the first to challenge the collection of DNA from a free person after results of a genetic genealogy database search linked her to a crime.

In the case, prosecutors have charged Teresa Bentaas, a lifelong Sioux Falls resident, with first degree murder for abandoning a newborn 39 years ago. To link Ms. Bentaas to the baby, police secretly collected her DNA from items they found in her trash, extracted and sequenced it, and then compared it to the babys. Ms. Bentaas was not under arrest or in police custody at the time they collected and searched her DNA, so, unlike an arrestee, there can be no argument her Fourth Amendment rights were in any way diminished.

Ms. Bentaass attorneys have filed amotion to suppress the DNA evidence and all evidence collected by the police after that, arguing this secret and warrantless rummaging and data collection violates the Fourth Amendment and South Dakotas state constitutional equivalent. EFF, joined by the ACLU and ACLU of South Dakota, filed a brief in support.

Prosecutors claim that the Fourth Amendment doesnt apply in this context because Ms. Bentaas abandoned her privacy interest in her DNA when she left it behind on the items she threw out in her trash. However, we argue the Fourth Amendment creates a high bar against collecting DNA from free people, even if its found on items the person has voluntarily discarded. In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment does not protect the contents of peoples trash left for pickup because they have abandoned an expectation of privacy in the trash. But unlike a gum wrapper or a cigarette butt, our DNA contains so much private information that the data contained in a DNA sample can never be abandoned. Even if police dont need a warrant to rummage through your trash (and many states disagree on this point), Police should need a warrant to rummage through your DNA.

A DNA samplewhether taken directly from a person or extracted from items that person leaves behindcontains a persons entire genetic makeup. It can reveal intensely sensitive information about us, including our propensities for certain medical conditions, our ancestry, and our biological familial relationships. Some researchers have also claimed that human behaviors such as aggression and addiction can be explained, at least in part, by genetics. And private companies have claimed they can use our DNA for everything from identifying our eye, hair, and skin colors and the shapes of our faces; to determining whether we are lactose intolerant, prefer sweet or salty foods, and can sleep deeply; to discovering the likely migration patterns of our ancestors and the identities of family members we never even knew we had.

Despite the uniquely revealing nature of DNA, we cannot avoid leaving behind the whole of our genetic code wherever we go. Humans are constantly shedding genetic material; In less time than it takes to order a coffee, most humans lose nearly enough skin cells to cover an entire football field. The only way to avoid depositing our DNA on nearly every item we touch out in the world would be to never leave ones home. For these reasons, as we argue in our brief, we can never abandon a privacy interest in our DNA.

The Bentaas case also raises thorny Fourth Amendment issues related to law enforcement use of genetic genealogy databases, which South Dakota police used earlier in their investigation to try to find a genetic connection to the deceased baby. Weve written about these issues before. In the Bentaas case, the police exhumed the body of the infant, extracted a DNA sample from the remains, and then worked with a private company called Parabon Nanolabs to search through the consumer genetic genealogy database GEDmatch, to try to find a connection between the infants DNA and GEDmatch users. Parabon wasnt able to find a close relative but did identify two individuals who could have been between sixth to eighth degree relations. A police officer then did his own research on public data websites to try to find a potential suspect. He settled on Ms. Bentaas and her husband, both potential biological matches, and then surreptitiously collected DNA samples from items he found in their trash.

This process of searching genetic genealogy databases in criminal investigations has become quite common. More than 26 million people have used genetic genealogy databases like GEDmatch to identify biological relatives and build a family tree, and law enforcement officers have been capitalizing on all that freely available data in criminal investigations across the country. Estimates are that genetic genealogy sites were used in around 200 cases just last year. For many of those cases, like this one, officers never sought a warrant or any legal process at all before searching that private database.

Police access to this data creates immeasurable threats to our privacy. It also puts us at much greater risk of being accused of crimes we didnt commit. For example, in 2015, a similar forensic genetic genealogy search led police to suspect an innocent man. Even without genetic genealogy searches, DNA matches may lead officers to suspectand jailthe wrong person, as happened in a California case in 2012. That can happen because our DNA may be transferred from one location to another, possibly ending up at the scene of a crime, even if we were never there.

Even if you yourself never upload your genetic data to a genetic genealogy website, your privacy could be impacted by a distant family members choice to do so. Although GEDmatchs 1.3 million users only encompass about 0.5% of the U.S. adult population, research shows that their data alone could be used to identify 60% of white Americans. And once GEDmatchs users encompass just 2% of the U.S. population, 90% of white Americans will be identifiable. Other research has shown that adversaries may be able to compromise these databases to put many users at risk of having their genotypes revealed, either at key positions or at many sites genome-wide.

This is why this case is so importantand why we need strong rules against police access to genetic genealogy databases. Our DNA can reveal so much about us that our genetic privacy must be protected at all costs. We hope the South Dakota court and other courts addressing this issue will recognize that the Fourth Amendment protects us from surreptitious collection and searches of our DNA.

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Police May Not Need a Warrant to Rummage Through Your Trash, But Warrantless Collection of DNA Is Unconstitutional - EFF

Physiology

Snakes make good food. Banning farms won’t help the fight against coronavirus – The Conversation AU

The wildlife trade has long been closely linked to disease outbreaks. It has been implicated in the SARS epidemic of 2002, Ebola in 2013 and now in the COVID-19 coronavirus.

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, China has tentatively banned the farming of many wildlife species. The move has been celebrated by many in the international community.

But our work in Asia over the past ten years tells a different story. Banning legitimate snake farms might prove counterproductive to disease suppression.

Though snakes were early suspects as the source of the Wuhan coronavirus, reptiles have never been linked to any of the World Health Organisations top ten infectious diseases which pose the greatest threat of epidemics.

One reason is straightforward. Snakes are cold-blooded (more correctly ectothermic) and have a very different physiology to humans. Viruses co-evolve highly specialised relationships with their hosts and are often species-specific.

Occasionally, a chance mutation might allow a virus to infect another species, but the more different the new and old hosts are to each other, the less likely that is.

Compared with transmission between mammals, or even from birds to mammals, the probability of a virus crossing from a cold-blooded reptile to a warm-blooded human is remote.

In parts of Asia where H5N1-type viral outbreaks such as bird and swine flu are now endemic, hundreds of snake farmers rely on waste protein such as pork and poultry by-products as feed.

Read more: How to feed nine billion people, and feed them well

Disease outbreaks regularly wreak havoc with conventional livestock industries but never, to our knowledge, with snake farming.

In this context, reptiles represent a natural biological barrier to viral diseases.

They enable farmers to build financial resilience through diversity, dampening the many risks associated with livestock monocultures.

And the benefits dont end there.

Commercial snake farming has developed rapidly in China. The first experimental farms were set up in 2007; by 2019 the industry was producing large-scale high-quality protein.

Some snakes have highly desirable agricultural traits including rapid growth, early maturation and rapid reproduction. They are comparatively simple cognitively, and do not suffer the complex behavioural stresses seen in many caged birds and mammals.

Many are semi-arboreal, spending time in trees, allowing farms to maximise available space.

They do require a high-protein diet but, since their cold-blooded metabolic demands are very low (less than 10% of similar-sized mammals), food can be more directly channelled to growth.

The energy efficiency is achieved mainly by employing solar energy (e.g., basking) to drive metabolic processes, and by powerful digestive systems capable of breaking down even bone.

It means they produce low volumes of biological waste and greenhouse gases, and require minimal fresh water.

Read more: Chinas growing footprint on the globe threatens to trample the natural world

Chinese snake farms rely on two principal sources of feed inputs: waste protein from agricultural food chains, and natural prey such as harvested rodents.

This means they both recycle agricultural waste and control economically important rodent pests.

Their cold-blooded physiology allows them to survive for considerable time without food and water far longer than similarly-sized warm blooded animals.

This allows farmers to effectively exploit seasonal abundances during times of plenty, and downscale inputs during times of famine.

Snake farming therefore provides a resilient livelihood in the face of economic volatility and the extremes of Climate Change.

It would be a shame if concern about coronavirus snuffed out an industry that is unlikely to be the problem, but could very well be a solution.

Go here to read the rest:
Snakes make good food. Banning farms won't help the fight against coronavirus - The Conversation AU

Physiology

Marianne Neifert: Find a need and fill it – The Denver Channel

This is one of a series of stories about the ten women being inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame. Click here to learn more about this year's honorees and the women being inducted.

Tell us a little bit about your upbringing and family. How did your childhood shape who you are today?

I was the middle of five children--a boy, three girls, and a boy. People often talk about the middle child syndrome. However, I thought I was the luckiest one in the family, since I was the only child who had both an older brother and sister and a younger brother and sister. My middle position age-wise also helped me to be closer to each sibling, which was another bonus.

I was born at Bethesda Naval Hospital and grew up in a military family. My father was a WWII veteran and a Navy JAG officer. We didnt move as often as many military families do, although we re-located every 2-4 years during my childhood. When I was 9, while we were living in Northern Virginia outside Washington DC, my Dad was reassigned to the island of Guam in the Western Pacific for 2 years. I cherished that unique experiencethe local customs, diverse ethnicities, breathtaking setting, and recent WWII history. Even as a young child, I was keenly aware how fortunate I was to have such a unique cultural experience.

Education was a very high priority in my family. My mother not only was a college graduate, she earned a Masters Degree in 1941 from the University of Michigan at a time when very few women achieved such educational milestones. She was a high school English teacher, and could teach other subjects, as needed. My father was the youngest of five surviving boys, born to immigrant parents. His mother was widowed when he was 9 months old and struggled to provide for her 5 sons, 10 years and younger. Like my mom, my dad placed a high value on education and was the only one of his brothers who graduated college, and then earned a law degree.

As a middle child, I carved out a unique identity by striving to excel academically, with strong support from my parents. I have many fond memories of my father reviewing my homework, helping me find a show-and-tell item, and reassuring me that I could achieve any academic goal that I set. Although transferring to a new school can be challenging for children, I actually enjoyed the adventure of moving, crossing the country from coast to coast for our trips to Guam and later to Hawaii, which was the last place my father was stationed.

I completed the last two years of high school in Hawaii, where I loved being exposed to the diverse ethnicities, as well as living with other military families on a Naval base. After high school, I enrolled as a premedical student at University of Hawaii and had completed the first year of college when my father retired from military service. This was a decisive moment for me, since I had become engaged to another military dependent, Larry, during my first year of college. We met through the Navy bases chapter of DeMolay, where I had been selected as their Chapter Sweetheart. Larry, who was both Master Councilor of the chapter and Hawaii State Master Councilor, was my escort for the State Sweetheart Ball. That evening I was selected as State Sweetheart, based on the speech I had written and delivered on my chosen topic, How DeMolay Builds Self-Esteem in Boys.

Larry and I hit it off right away. You just know when its the right match. We met in July, and by Christmas Eve we were engaged. My family moved back to the Washington D.C. area the next Summer and Larrys family relocated to California. With only each other, we decided to get married on the anniversary of our engagement. I was just 18. By this time, Larry had joined the Navy Reserves, and his unit was being activated during the Vietnam War.

Meanwhile, I continued my pre-med studies at University of Hawaii in earnest. I began taking a very heavy course load so that I could graduate a year early and start medical school. As long as I can remember I had wanted to be a physician. Whenever I saw others who were dealing with disabilities, illness, or loss, I felt profound empathy. I wished I could somehow enter into their lives, appreciate what they were experiencing, and learn how I might alleviate their suffering. However, attending medical school on the mainland was no longer realistic, due to Larrys enlistment and our extremely limited financial resources. Miraculously, University of Hawaii opened a brand new, 2-year medical school the year before I graduated college.

Not long after marrying, my maternal instinct intensified, and I longed to become a mother. However, shortly after I became pregnant, Larry was deployed to the West Pacific aboard a Navy destroyer, and I was left alone. We had moved to a new neighborhood 3 days before he departed, and I felt more alone than I had ever been. I didnt yet have a drivers license and took public transportation everywhere, including to the University. It was a really low point in my life.

While Larry was deployed, I continued my studies and applied to the new U.H. Medical School. I was visibly pregnant for my interviews--all with male physicians. As my pre-med friends began receiving letters of admission, I received no response. When I inquired about my application status, I was told that the admissions committee was uncertain how to handle my application due to my pregnancy and that they preferred to defer my application until next year. I petitioned to address the committee members, and at this meeting, I explained that I had met all of the academic requirements to date and felt that I deserved to be admitted. I reasoned that if I could give birth in the middle of the semester, complete my courses, and attend Summer school to fulfill the final requirements to graduate early, that I deserved the right to start medical school in the Fall. Furthermore, if I failed to do all that, I knew there was a lengthy waiting list of applicants to fill my spot, and thus, the committee had nothing to lose by betting on me. A couple days later, I found a letter of acceptance in my mail box!

I learned several lessons that day: never underestimate the power of appeal; when you really want something, perseverance and dogged determination are required; and youthful exuberance can be a powerful asset! Fortunately, Larry returned home shortly before Peter was born. I got my drivers license two weeks later, attended summer school, graduated from U.H., and started medical school a month later.

I LOVED being a mom, and our second baby was born early in my second year of medical school. I had her induced after class on a Friday, and was back in class on Monday. This irrational birth plan was the result of a professors insensitive comment to me days earlier: When I was in medical school, pregnant women were expelled. I decided that it was imprudent to ask for time off and that I would have my baby without missing a beat. However, I am not proud of that decision today.

Since U.H. medical school did not yet have the clinical years of training, I transferred to University of Colorado School of Medicine (UC SOM) for the 3rd and 4th years of medical school. I chose UC SOM due to its strong reputation in pediatrics and because of the many Neifert extended family members who had lived here for several generations. I gave birth to our 3rd child during the 4th year of medical school, and our 4th child was born late in my Internship year. Our 5th baby arrived on the final day of my pediatric residency training.

The privilege of attending medical school at a time when women comprised only 10% of medical students nationwide was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. To this day, I remain deeply grateful to have been awarded a Bernice Piilani Irwin (a friend of Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani) Scholarship after high school that paid my tuition for University of Hawaii and U.H. Medical School, and also helped offset the cost of my UC SOM tuition for the 3rd and 4th clinical years. We each owe a great debt to all those who smoothed lifes paths for us.

Early in your career you developed an interest in lactation challenges and breastfeeding education. What inspired that?

I knew that my mother had been breastfed, so I always imagined that I would breastfeed my own babies. However, breastfeeding in the US was relatively uncommon during the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, due to a combination of influences, including: the development of infant formulas, the influx of women into the workforce, and the belief that bottle-feeding of formula was convenient, scientific, and modern. By 1968, when my first baby was born, only 18% of US infants were being solely breastfed at hospital discharge. By the 1970s, when US breastfeeding rates began to rise, a generation of unsupportive hospital maternity practices kept women from getting an optimal start breastfeeding after giving birth. Furthermore, health professionals received little to no training in the art of breastfeeding or the physiology of lactation so they were not equipped to knowledgeably counsel breastfeeding mothers or manage their lactation challenges. As a 3rd year medical student, I was expected to know about various specialty formulas, but was taught almost nothing about breastfeeding.

I was deeply committed to breastfeeding all of my children. However, I was unable to sustain breastfeeding as long as I would have liked, due to inadequate maternity leave; long separations from my babies, including overnight call; the lack of effective breast pumps or break times; and essentially no workplace support or knowledge about maintaining lactation when separated from an infant. Although I was grateful for the months of breastfeeding I was able to achieve with each of my first four babies, I experienced the intense disappointment and loss of untimely weaning. My 5th baby was born on the last day of my pediatric residency training, and I finally was able to make breastfeeding my high priority. By this time, I had already been helping mothers maintain lactation for their premature and sick infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) at University Hospital and Childrens Hospital. I had immersed myself in learning about the physiology of lactation and the management of breastfeeding challenges and had read countless books and articles about breastfeeding and lactation published in medical journals.

A 2012 CWHF inductee, Mary Ann Kerwin, was one of the founding mothers of La Leche League, International (LLLI) in 1956, and she had moved to Colorado shortly thereafter. Mary Ann was a powerful and inspirational role model for me and helped advance my career by recommending me to speak at national LLLI conferences, thereby launching my educational and thought leadership. During this era, LLLI was the preeminent source of breastfeeding information and support, and I rapidly became part of their movement to empower women to trust their own bodies and restore breastfeeding as a community norm.

Your nomination states that you were the first physician to identify and widely publicize examples of women who are unable to produce enough milk and newborns who may be at-risk for ineffective breastfeeding. This seems like a big deal. What do you think made other physicians miss, or dismiss, these observations?

As breastfeeding was making a comeback in the 1970s after 3 decades of a formula-feeding norm, breastfeeding proponents emphasized that every woman can breastfeed and every nursing baby will get exactly what s/he needs. If a breastfed baby wasnt thriving, it was believed that nursing more often would solve the problem (the more you nurse, the more you make.) This overly simplistic dogma was helpful in building womens confidence in their ability to nurse their baby. However, it contributed to baseless guilt among many disappointed women, who for legitimate medical reasons, were unable to produce enough milk. Furthermore, it placed babies in peril when they were unable to obtain sufficient milk by breastfeeding.

Early in my pediatric career, as I began helping breastfeeding mothers struggling with low milk supply, I conducted in-depth interviews and began examining womens breasts. I learned so much from my detailed conversations with mothers and by following their breastfeeding experience over time. One of the first key observations I made was the link between breast surgeries, marked breast asymmetry, and other breast variations and an increased risk of insufficient milk.

When my close colleague, Joy Seacat, and I co-founded the first center for comprehensive breastfeeding services in 1985, our learning curve increased dramatically. We had begun using highly accurate infant scales to measure an underweight babys milk intake when breastfeeding. The results were startling, as some babies who appeared to be nursing effectively actually transferred very little milk. The rule of supply and demand translates to the more milk that is removed, the more a mother makes. The converse also is true: If milk is not removed, the supply will dwindle. Thus, when a newborn is unable to remove milk effectively, mothers milk supply declines, making it even harder for the baby to obtain enough milk.

When the highly accurate infant scales showed that infants were not effectively removing milk, we began advising mothers to express any remaining milk with an effective electric breast pump to help maintain, and even increase, their milk supply. Plus, the extra milk expressed could be used to supplement the baby, thereby minimizing the use of essential formula.

Initially, many breastfeeding proponents argued that using accurate infant scales to measure an at-risk infants milk intake while breastfeeding would be intimidating for mothers. However, today the infant test-weighing procedure is standard practice in many settings, including in NICUs to monitor premature infants progress transferring milk as they gradually learn to breastfeed. It is now commonly recognized that many newborns are at risk for ineffective breastfeeding, such as late-preterm infants born at 34-36 weeks of gestation, early term newborns born at 37-38 weeks of gestation, newborns with even moderate jaundice, or smaller newborns, weighing less than 6 or 6 lbs. at birth.

Perhaps what I have enjoyed most in my career is sharing what I have learned about breastfeeding with diverse lactation care providers throughout Colorado and nationwide. I have been privileged to educate health professionals about breastfeeding management across Colorado and in all 50 states at diverse venues, ranging from presenting Grand Rounds at prestigious medical schools and lecturing to large audiences at national meetings of professional associations to speaking to staff at community hospitals in rural areas and health care workers on Native American reservations. I have been inspired and informed by dedicated breastfeeding champions and devoted nursing mothers wherever my travels have taken me.

When I first got involved in helping women overcome their breastfeeding challenges, breastfeeding was considered an individual womans personal choice. Today, I am proud to say that the maternal and infant health benefits of breastfeeding are so widely recognized that breastfeeding has been elevated to a public health priority, warranting society-wide support! In Colorado 90% of mothers begin breastfeeding their newborns, and more than 60% are still breastfeeding by 6 months. Early in my career, breastfeeding was not considered a legitimate topic in medical academia. Today, breastfeeding medicine increasingly is taught in medical schools, and physician experts in breastfeeding medicine are commonly represented on prestigious medical school faculties. When I first got involved in helping women overcome their breastfeeding challenges, breastfeeding was considered an individual womans personal choice. Today, I am proud to say that the maternal and infant health benefits of breastfeeding are so widely recognized that breastfeeding has been elevated to a public health priority, warranting society-wide support! In Colorado 90% of mothers begin breastfeeding their newborns, and more than 60% are still breastfeeding by 6 months. Early in my career, breastfeeding was not considered a legitimate topic in medical academia. Today, breastfeeding medicine increasingly is taught in medical schools, and physician experts in breastfeeding medicine are commonly represented on prestigious medical school faculties. You co-founded the Denver Mothers Milk Bank (MMB) in 1984. How did you come up with the idea, and what challenges did you have getting it started?

Well, like so much of my career, this was a very collaborative effort and another find a need and fill it story. In the early 1980s, a Denver mother, Joyce Ann, had given birth to a premature infant at a major local maternity hospital. She was unable to produce sufficient milk for her sick newborn. However, she knew human milk was superior to formula and had heard of donor human milk banks, so she asked the hospital staff about using donor milk. When she learned there was no MMB in Colorado, she met with me to inquire about starting one. I learned that the nearest MMB was in San Jose, CA, so we contacted staff there and began collaborating with them. My close colleague and I enlisted experts in infectious diseases, neonatology, and pathology, and we began meeting at Joyce Anns house to develop safe milk banking protocols.

When the Denver MMB opened its doors in 1984, I was the first Medical Director, and I continue to serve on the Advisory Committee. Today, the Denver MMB is the largest non-profit human milk bank in North American, and has distributed more than 6 million ounces of human milk from more than 14,000 donors who have come from every state, and has served hospitals in 33 states. As their vulnerable babies are helped by receiving donor human milk, mothers of recipient infants gain peace of mind and a sense of kinship with an unseen community of selfless women. When donor mothers express and share their surplus milk, they help ensure that they continue to produce more than enough for their own baby, making donation a win for everyone.When the Denver MMB opened its doors in 1984, I was the first Medical Director, and I continue to serve on the Advisory Committee. Today, the Denver MMB is the largest non-profit human milk bank in North American, and has distributed more than 6 million ounces of human milk from more than 14,000 donors who have come from every state, and has served hospitals in 33 states. As their vulnerable babies are helped by receiving donor human milk, mothers of recipient infants gain peace of mind and a sense of kinship with an unseen community of selfless women. When donor mothers express and share their surplus milk, they help ensure that they continue to produce more than enough for their own baby, making donation a win for everyone.What do you see as the biggest challenge for todays generation of breastfeeding mothers?

Women today not only want to breastfeed their babies, many experience intense pressure to do so in order to be a good mother. Ideal infant feeding recommendations include an emphasis on achieving exclusive breastfeeding until solid foods are introduced around 6 months and continuing breastfeeding for at least a year. Enthusiastic promotion of breastfeeding is often coupled with the maligning of infant formulas and a campaign to promote the risks of feeding artificial baby milk. Yet, insufficient breastmilk remains an all-too-common lactation challenge, and less than a quarter of mothers actually achieve the 6-month exclusive breastfeeding ideal. This dilemma for mothers has led to a dramatic rise in informal milk sharing, whereby mothers who have a surplus of milk share (or sell) their milk among mothers who dont produce enough. Although the FDA discourages the use of unscreened, unprocessed milk from another mother, the practice appears to be growing.

Our modern electric breast pumps with dual collection kits allow mothers to express milk from both breasts faster than they can nurse their baby. For a variety of personal reasons, at least 5% of women exclusively pump and feed expressed milk. Since employed mothers are separated from their infants for many hours each day, expressed milk is often fed by another caretaker. The dramatic rise in feeding expressed breast milk and informal milk sharing suggest that our society values the product, human milk, more than the relational process of breastfeeding. I want to remind mothers that breastfeeding is both a source of nutrition and an intimate relationship. Even moms who are unable to supply all of their babies nutritional needs by nursing, and thus need to offer supplements to their infant, can reap the significant mutual rewards of the cherished, intimate breastfeeding relationship.

I fear that breastfeeding has become one more source of pressure on women, many of whom still fall victim to the Superwoman Syndromethe unrealistic expectation that we must achieve perfection in every life arena, and that anything less than perfection is equated with failure. The widespread use of social media further exacerbates the pressure many women experience to be viewed as perfect. A new term, Breastfeeding Guilt, has been coined to described the profound sense of loss, sadness, and even shame that can result from a disappointing breastfeeding experience. Rather than increasing the pressure on women to breastfeed, we need to further increase society-wide breastfeeding support and services to enable women to reach their personal breastfeeding goals.

Is there a message you want to make sure we are sharing with others?

When I was young, I thought I had to do everything at once. Now, I have learned the value of doing things more sequentially, and I recognize that there are different seasons of life. Being a mom is an awesome, indeed a sacred, privilege. If I could go back, I would take more time to integrate each baby into our family. I would work part-time, instead of full-time, when my children were young. I would savor more precious moments, and say no to the requests of others more often in order to say yes to my own priorities. I want to make sure other women are encouraged to live authentically within their personal value system.

Each one of us has unique signature strengths, and its important to get in touch with those special, individual attributes. We are richly blessed when we find a way to use those signature strengths in as many life arenas as possible (family, career, community), and in service to something greater than ourselves. In my own journey, it has been an immense privilege to find a need and fill it and to be fulfilled in the process. I consider my work with breastfeeding mothers to be integrally linked with launching families, with helping new parents navigate such a precarious transitionin a way, giving other mothers what I would have loved to receive as an, often overwhelmed, new mother myself. Looking back, I can say with immense satisfaction, Hasnt it been great!?

Read more:
Marianne Neifert: Find a need and fill it - The Denver Channel

Biochemistry

Mercury’s 400 C heat may help it make its own ice – Space Daily

It is already hard to believe that there is ice on Mercury, where daytime temperatures reach 400 degrees Celsius, or 750 degrees Fahrenheit. Now an upcoming study says that the Vulcan heat on the planet closest to the sun likely helps make some of that ice.

As with Earth, asteroids delivered most of Mercury's water, the scientific consensus holds. But the extreme daytime heat could be combining with the minus 200-degree Celsius cold in nooks of polar craters that never see sunlight to act as a gigantic ice-making chemistry lab, say researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The chemistry is not too complicated. But the new study models it onto complex conditions on Mercury, including solar winds that pelt the planet with charged particles, many of which are protons key to that chemistry. The model presents a feasible path for water to arise and collect as ice on a planet rife with all the necessary components.

"This is not some strange, out of left field idea. The basic chemical mechanism has been observed dozens of times in studies since the late 1960s," said Brant Jones, a researcher in Georgia Tech's School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the paper's first author. "But that was on well-defined surfaces. Applying that chemistry to complicated surfaces like those on a planet is groundbreaking research."

Hot, simple chemistryMinerals in Mercury's surface soil contain what are called hydroxyl groups (OH), which are generated mainly by the protons. In the model, the extreme heat helps to free up the hydroxyl groups then energizes them to smash into each other to produce water molecules and hydrogen that lift off from the surface and drift around the planet.

Some water molecules are broken down by sunlight or rise far above the planet's surface, but other molecules land near Mercury's poles in permanent shadows of craters that shield the ice from the sun. Mercury does not have an atmosphere and thus no air that would conduct heat, so the molecules become a part of the permanent glacial ice housed in the shadows.

"It's a little like the song Hotel California. The water molecules can check in to the shadows but they can never leave," said Thomas Orlando, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the study's principal investigator. Orlando co-founded the Georgia Tech Center for Space Technology and Research.

"The total amount that we postulate that would become ice is 1013 kilograms (10,000,000,000,000 kg or 11,023,110,000 tons) over a period of about 3 million years," Jones said. "The process could easily account for up to 10 percent of Mercury's total ice."

The researchers will publish their results in Astrophysical Journal Letters on Monday, March 16, 2020. The research was funded by the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) program and the NASA Planetary Atmospheres program.

Spacecraft confirms iceIn 2011, a NASA probe began orbiting Mercury and confirmed signals typical of glacial ice near the poles. The MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) spacecraft sent back images and data that corroborated previous signatures for ice picked up years earlier by Earth-based radar.

The ice was dingy and lurked in permanent shadows in polar craters on Mercury, which is pocked by meteorite and asteroid scars much like Earth's moon. In fact, similarities between the two orbs, including their sizes, have led to many comparisons, including the probability of water ice on both.

Humans have found faint signs of possible ice on the moon but have found ice with near absolute certainty and in comparative abundance on Mercury. That has triggered some head-scratching: If asteroids, comets, and meteorites pummeled Mercury and the moon with water, what accounts for the difference in ice present? Did Mercury receive some water in a way that wouldn't work on the moon?

"The process in our model would not be anywhere near as productive on the moon. For one, there's not enough heat to significantly activate the chemistry," Jones said.

In a separate project, Orlando's lab is engineering a system based on the same chemistry to create water on the moon for future astronaut stations to be located there.

'Big magnetic tornados'Protons from solar winds are more plentiful on Mercury than on Earth, where a mighty magnetic field whips solar wind particles, including protons, back out into space. Mercury's field is only about 1 percent as strong, and it swirls protons down onto the surface.

"These are like big magnetic tornados, and they cause huge proton migrations across most of the surface of Mercury over time," Orlando said.

The protons implant themselves into the soil all over the planet about 10 nanometers deep, forming in the minerals the hydroxyl groups (OH), which diffuse to the surface, where the heat does the rest.

"I would concede that plenty of the water on Mercury was delivered by impacting asteroids," Jones said. "But there's also the question of where asteroids laden with water got that water. Processes like these could have helped make it."

"A comet or asteroid actually doesn't need to carry water because the collision alone with a planet or moon can also make water," Orlando said. "Mercury and the moon are always being hit by small meteoroids, so this is happening all the time."

Related LinksGeorgia Institute Of TechnologyNews Flash at MercuryMars News and Information at MarsDaily.comLunar Dreams and more

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