Neuroscience

Neuroscience Market Analysis By Top Leaders 2020- Global Industry Growth By Size, Share, Revenue And Value Chain, Emerging Technologies Future Trends…

The Neuroscience research report covers the current scenario and the growth prospects of the global Neuroscience industry forecast 2020 2027. The report enlists several important factors, starting from the basics principal to advanced market intelligence which play a vital part in strategizing. Neuroscience manufacturers and is a important source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the Neuroscience industry.

The research presents a complete assessment of the market and contains Future trend, Current Growth Factors, attentive opinions, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry validated market data. The market report proposes complete synopsis of the market, covering several characteristics such as product definition, market breakdown based on several constraints, supply chain analysis, and the fundamental Key Players outlook.

Download FREE PDF Brochure Of This Report @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/2487

Market-research techniques encompass qualitative techniques. The report helps the user to strengthen decisive power to plan their strategic moves to launch or expand their businesses by offering them a clear picture of this market. Neuroscience Market Research Report gives current competitive analysis and also valuable insights to clients/industries, which will assist them to prepare a new strategy to expand or penetrate in a global Neuroscience market.

The Neuroscience Market report provides valuable and unique information which is very essential. Further it also covers key players, application and future market condition. This information is extremely important for new and growing company to mark themself over the market

This report is segmented into several key Regions, consumption, revenue and market growth with high frequency pivot in these regions, from2020 to 2027 (forecast), covering United States, Europe, China, Japan, India, and Southeast Asia and focused on different aspects like market revenue, consumption, production, market share besides the growth pace.

Competitive Analysis:

The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies. Company profile section of players includes its basic information like legal name, website url, headquarters, its market position, historical background and top 5 closest competitors by Market capitalization / revenue along with contact information. Each player/ manufacturer revenue figures, growth rate and gross profit margin is provided in easy to understand tabular format for past 5 years and a separate section on recent development like mergers, acquisition or any new product/service launch etc.

Major Players Are: Alpha Omega, Inc., GE Healthcare, Axion Biosystems, Inc., Siemens Healthineers, Blackrock Microsystems LLC, Femtonics Ltd., Intan Technologies, LaVision Biotec GmbH, Mediso Medical Imaging Systems, Neuralynx Inc., NeuroNexus Technologies, Inc., Newport Corporation, Plexon Inc., Noldus Information Technology, Scientifica Ltd., Sutter Instrument Corporation, Thomas Recording GmbH, and Trifoil Imaging Inc.

Important Features of the Neuroscience Market:

Buy This Research Study Report For Quick [emailprotected] https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/buy-now/2487

About Coherent Market Insights:

Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.

Contact Us:

Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #3200Seattle, WA 98154Phone: US +12067016702 / UK +4402081334027Email: [emailprotected]

See the article here:
Neuroscience Market Analysis By Top Leaders 2020- Global Industry Growth By Size, Share, Revenue And Value Chain, Emerging Technologies Future Trends...

Neuroscience

This Brain Region Predicts the Consequences of Our Actions – Technology Networks

Our minds can help us make decisions by contemplating the future and predicting the consequences of our actions. Imagine, for instance, trying to find your way to a new restaurant near your home. Your brain can build a mental model of your neighborhood and plan the route you should take to get there.

Scientists have now found that a brain structure called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), known to be important for decision making, is involved in using such mental models to learn. A new study of mice published today in Neuron highlights sophisticated mental machinery that helps the brain simulate the results of different actions and make the best choice.

"The neurobiology of model-based learning is still poorly understood," said Thomas Akam, PhD, a researcher at Oxford University and lead author on the new paper. "Here, we were able to identify a brain structure that is involved in this behavior and demonstrate that its activity encodes multiple aspects of the decision-making process."

Deciphering how the brain builds mental models is essential to understanding how we adapt to change and make decisions flexibly: what we do when we discover that one of the roads on the way to that new restaurant is closed for construction, for example.

"These results were very exciting," said senior author Rui Costa, DVM, PhD, Director and CEO of Columbia's Zuckerman Institute, who started this research while an investigator at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, where most of the data was collected. "These data identify the anterior cingulate cortex as a key brain region in model-based decision-making, more specifically in predicting what will happen in the world if we choose to do one particular action versus another."Model or model-free?

A big challenge in studying the neural basis of model-based learning is that it often operates in parallel with another approach called model-free learning. In model-free learning, the brain does not put a lot of effort into creating simulations. It simply relies on actions that have produced good outcomes in the past.

You might use a model-free mental approach when traveling to your favorite restaurant, for example. Because you've been there before, you don't need to invest mental energy in plotting the route. You can simply follow your habitual path and let your mind focus on other things.

To isolate the contributions of these two cognitive schemes - model-based and model-free - the researchers set up a two-step puzzle for mice.

In this task, an animal first chooses one of two centrally located holes to poke its nose into. This action activates one of two other holes to the side, each of which has a certain probability of providing a drink of water.

"Just like in real life, the subject has to perform extended sequences of actions, with uncertain consequences, in order to obtain desired outcomes," said Dr. Akam.

To do the task well, the mice had to figure out two key variables. The first was which hole on the side was more likely to provide a drink of water. The second was which of the holes in the center activated that side hole. Once the mice learned the task, they would opt for the action sequence that offered the best outcome. However, in addition to this model-based way of solving the puzzle, mice could also learn simple model-free predictions, e.g. "top is good," based on which choice had generally led to rewarding in the past.

The researchers then changed up the experiment in ways that required the animals to be flexible. Every now and then, the side port more likely to provide a drink would switch - or the mapping between central and side ports would reverse.

The animals' choices as things changed revealed what strategies they were using to learn.

"Model-free and model-based learning should generate different patterns of choices," said Dr. Akam. "By looking at the subjects' behavior, we were able to assess the contribution of either approach."

When the team analyzed the results, about 230,000 individual decisions, they learned that the mice were using model-based and model-free approaches in parallel.

"This confirmed that the task was suitable for studying the neural basis of these mechanisms," said Dr. Costa. "We then moved on to the next step: investigating the neural basis of this behavior."

A neural map of model-based learning

The team focused on a brain region called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).

"Previous studies established that ACC is involved in action selection and provided some evidence that it could be involved in model-based predictions," Dr. Costa explained. "But no one had checked the activity of individual ACC neurons in a task designed to differentiate between these different types of learning."

The researchers discovered a tight connection between the activity of ACC neurons and the behavior of their mice. Simply by looking at patterns of activity across groups of the cells, the scientists could decode whether the mouse was about chosen one hole or another, for example - or whether it was receiving a drink of water.

In addition to representing the animal's current location in the task, ACC neurons also encoded which state was likely to come next.

"This provided direct evidence that ACC is involved in making model-based predictions of the specific consequences of actions, not just whether they are good or bad," said Dr. Akam.

Moreover, ACC neurons also represented whether the outcome of actions was expected or surprising, thereby potentially providing a mechanism for updating predictions when they turn out to be wrong.

The team also turned off ACC neurons while the animals were trying to make decisions. This prevented the animals from responding flexibly as the situation changed, an indicator that they were having trouble using model-based predictions.

Understanding how the brain controls complex behaviors like planning and sequential decision making is a big challenge for contemporary neuroscience.

"Our study is one of the first to demonstrate that it is possible to study these aspects of decision-making in mice," said Dr. Akam. "These results will allow us and others to build a mechanistic understanding of flexible decision making."

Reference: Akam T, Rodrigues-Vaz I, Marcelo I, et al.The Anterior Cingulate Cortex Predicts Future States to Mediate Model-Based Action Selection. Neuron. 2020. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2020.10.013

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

Continue reading here:
This Brain Region Predicts the Consequences of Our Actions - Technology Networks

Immunology

Immunology researcher Kingston Mills named as SFI Researcher of the Year – The Irish Times

Kevin OSullivan

Environment & Science Editor

The virologist Prof Kingston Mills, who is based at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), has received the prestigious Science Foundation Ireland Researcher of the Year Award for 2020.

Prof Kingston specialises in immunology, inflammation and infection research and co-leads TCDs Covid-19 research hub.

He heads a research team focusing on T cells in infection, and has published more 300 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters that have been cited over 31,000 times.

He is also a member of a number of international scientific advisory panels on vaccines and immunotherapeutics, including two at the World Health Organisation.

Prof Mills said: I am absolutely delighted to receive this prestigious award... I have been committed to the fascinating field of immunology for nearly 40 years, but my research achievements would not have been possible without the financial support from SFI, the commitment and dedication of my research team and the support of colleagues, especially those at Trinity College Dublin.

The winners were announced by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris at the annual SFI Science Summit on Thursday.

SFI director Prof Mark Ferguson commended this years award winners for their inspiring success and dedication in an eventful and challenging year for Irelands research community.

He paid tribute to the level of collaboration within the Irish research community which continues to be impactful, inspirational and world-leading.

The Early Career Researcher of the Year Award was won jointly by Dr Matthew Campbell of TCD neurovascular genetics laboratory and Dr Lorna Lopez of Maynooth University department of biology, a leading researcher on using genetic technologies to understand the genetic basis of mental illness.

The Industry Partnership Award went to Prof Fergal OBrien of RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, AMBER SFI Research Centre and Integra LifeSciences. He specialises in bioengineering and regenerative medicine including nerve repair treatments.

UCC chair of energy engineering Prof Brian OGallachoir, who is also director of MaREI SFI Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine, won the Best International Engagement Award. An adviser to the International Energy Agency, he has also presented at the annual UN climate talks.

The SFI Entrepreneurship Award was awarded jointly to Prof Fergal McCaffery of Dundalk IT, founder and director of the Regulated Software Research Centre, and to Dr Anita Finnegan, chief executive and founder of Nova Leah, a world leader in the provision of cybersecurity risk management solutions for connected medical devices.

The immunologist and noted science communicator Prof Luke ONeill of TCD school of biochemistry and immunology, who has been prominent in media coverage during the Covid-19 pandemic, won the SFI Outstanding Contribution to Stem Communication Award.

Joint winners of the SFI Mentorship Award were Prof Pat Guiry director of UCD Centre for Synthesis and Chemical Biology and Prof Patricia Maguire of UCD director of UCD Institute for Discovery.

Here is the original post:
Immunology researcher Kingston Mills named as SFI Researcher of the Year - The Irish Times

Immunology

Call in the T Cells When Waging War on Zika – Technology Networks

Where Aedes mosquitoes fly, Zika virus may not be far behind. Although the explosive 20152016 Zika epidemics in the Americas are behind us, Zika may re-emerge, and in many countries, Zika may be spreading in silence, says Sujan Shresta, Ph.D., a professor at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI). We need to develop effective vaccines.

In a new Science Advances study, Shresta and her colleagues at LJI report that the immune systems T cells have the power to prevent Zika infection in mice. This finding suggests that effective Zika vaccines need to activate T cells to work alongside antibodies.

If we combine T cells and antibodies, we have even stronger protection and longer-term protection, says Annie Elong Ngono, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at LJI and first author of the new study.

Zika virus cases are usually mild, but the virus can cause serious congenital malformations in infants and neurological complications in adults and children. Since Zika made headlines in 2016, when cases of the virus peaked in the Americas, researchers have developed more than 40 Zika vaccine candidates. The vast majority of these vaccines are designed to prompt the body to make antibodies that target one specific protein on the virus.

Unfortunately, there is a drawback to this neutralizing antibody approach. In many parts of the world, Zika virus spreads alongside related mosquito-borne viruses, such as dengue. Scientists have found that the presence of anti-Zika antibodies can make a subsequent case of dengue much, much worse. In a 2018 study, Shrestas lab showed that newborn mouse pups harboring anti-Zika antibodies were more vulnerable to death from dengue exposure than mice that lacked anti-Zika antibodies.

Theoretically, similar cases of antibody-dependent enhancement may lead to cases where lingering anti-Zika antibodies in a patient will actually make it easier for dengue to enter host cellsleading to especially devastating consequences in pregnant patients. This means that a Zika vaccine that prompts only antibody production may be risky in areas where both dengue and Zika are common. Luckily, the immune system can make more than antibodies.

For the new study, Shresta and Elong Ngono tested an experimental Zika vaccine in a mouse model. The vaccine was designed to elicit the arm of the immune system that makes T cells. The mice were given the vaccine, given a second vaccine boost four weeks later, and then exposed to Zika six weeks after that.

The team found that the vaccine could induce a strong immunity against a potentially lethal Zika virus infection by inducing mainly CD8+ T cells, also called killer T cells, against the virus. The vaccine also prevented Zika transmission through the placenta from mother to fetus in pregnant mice.

This vaccine approach was even more effective when combined with a vaccine candidate that induced neutralizing antibodies. We found that it is better to have a vaccine that induces both T cells and antibodies than either one alone, says Elong Ngono.

The new research also shows the importance of targeting more than one viral protein when fighting flaviviruses, the group of viruses that include Zika, dengue, yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis. By getting T cells and antibodies to recognize key sites on these related viruses, researchers may be closer to developing a pan-flavivirus vaccine to protect people in areas where several of these diseases are common.

We think this approach can be used against other infectious diseases, Elong Ngono says. For example, recent research from LJI scientists suggests that COVID-19 vaccines may also need to elicit T cells to work alongside antibodies.

Now the challenge is finding how best to elicit appropriately balanced antibody and T cell responses, says Shresta. We also dont know how durable the vaccine protection isif its fairly short, we want to figure out how to enhance it.

The study, titled CD8+ T cells mediate protection against Zika virus-induced by an NS3-based vaccine, was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants AI116813, AI140063 and NS106387) and a grant from the Chiba-UCSD Center for Mucosal Immunology, Allergy, and Vaccine Development.

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

See original here:
Call in the T Cells When Waging War on Zika - Technology Networks

Immunology

My path to a PhD in Immunology – Science at ANU

Doing a PhD can be a long and difficult journey. Make sure you prepare yourself for the challenge and try to find a good support system to help you through the rough times.

I am currently doing a PhD in Immunology at the John Curtin School of Medical Research. This will be my final year after four years of research in the lab. In short, my project involves investigating how processes in the immune system can be affected by a mutation in a protein, leading to sickness in a patient.

Medical research typically involves the use of lab mice. I realise that using animals for research can be a contentious issue but there is so much about the immune system we have yet to uncover. The mutation I am studying was initially identified in a patient, which we have now successfully genetically replicated in a mouse model. This allows us to investigate how this single mutation alters the immune system of a living creature. Observing these changes in the context of a functioning immune system is something we cannot replicate in a test tube. All research involving animals is reviewed and approved by a dedicated ANU Animal Ethics Committee. Researchers adhere to strict policies, which ensures the mice we use are provided with utmost care and the animals are not in distress or suffering.

Prior to commencing my studies at ANU, I undertook my undergraduate degree in the Philippines and worked in a clinical diagnostic lab in Singapore. Working in that lab environment provided me with exposure to an array of fascinating equipment and technologies, leading to the realisation that I wanted to learn more and expand my horizons. This brought me to ANU where I completed a Master of Biotechnology (Research), which I enjoyed so much that I stayed on and am now completing a PhD.

ANU students are very fortunate to have access to high-end facilities and resources. For example when I was studying in the Philippines, many under-resourced labs used bleach to clean and reuse disposable equipment to reduce costs. This really makes me appreciate what we often take for granted here in Australia, especially in scientific research.

If you are considering undertaking a PhD, my advice is to think hard about it before making any decisions. Do not start one just because you do not know what else to do after graduation but do it because you are genuinely interested in, and have a passion for the topic. Doing a PhD can be mentally, emotionally and physically draining, however, the training and life skills it provides can be very rewarding. If you do decide to pursue a PhD, remember to maintain a work-life balance. Always take notes when doing experimentswrite everything down (your future self will thank you later). Practice a lot of self-care and surround yourself with supportive people to keep you sane.

Kristy is a current ANU student. She is currently in the fourth year of her PhD at the John Curtin School of Medical Research.

Originally published onFaces of ANU.

Go here to see the original:
My path to a PhD in Immunology - Science at ANU

Immunology

Examining the relationship of nitrogen dioxide and obesity on asthma outcomes – Contemporary Pediatrics

Nitrogen dioxide is a common air pollutant and many air pollutants can impact asthma symptoms. A report looks at the relationship between nitrogen dioxide, asthma symptoms, and body mass index.

Nitrogen dioxide is a common air pollutant and can be found in elevated levels in metropolitan areas due to traffic congestion. Air pollutants have been shown to impact the development of asthma in childhood. A report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology examines the relationship between nitrogen dioxide and asthma symptoms and morbidity by body mass index category as well as the impact of the asthma symptoms.1

The researchers used the School Inner-City Asthma Study, which enrolled students aged 4 to 13 years who had asthma and attended 37 inner-city schools. There was a baseline determination of each students body mass index percentile. Following enrollment into the study, asthma symptoms, lung function, pulmonary inflammation, and morbidity were watched through the next academic year. Classroom nitrogen dioxide data, which was linked to enrolled students, were collected twice per year.

There were 271 students included in the analyses and the cohort was predominantly Black and hispanic. In the cohort, 50% of the children were normal weight (5-84th body mass index percentile); 15% were overweight (85-94th body mass index percentile); and 35% obese (95th body mass index percentile). The investigators found that for each 10-part per billion increase in nitrogen dioxide, students who were obese had a significant increase in the odds of having an asthma symptom day (odds ratio [OR], 1.86; 95% CI, 1.15-3.02) as well as in days that a caregiver had to change plans(OR, 4.24; 95% CI, 2.33-7.70). This was quite different from students who were normal weight and showed no link between nitrogen exposure and symptom days (OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.57-1.42; pairwise interaction P = .03) as well as change in caregiver plans (OR, 1.37; 95% CI, 0.67-2.82; pairwise interaction P = .02). Additionally, the relationship between lung function, fractional exhaled nitric oxide, and nitrogen dioxide levels had no difference between body mass index.

The researchers concluded that it seems like children who have an obese body mass index are more vulnerable to the effects of classroom exposure to nitrogen dioxide in the classroom and the impact on asthma symptoms. Targeting indoor levels of nitrogen dioxide in schools could help improve asthma outcomes for children who are obese.

Reference

1. Permaul P, Gaffin J, Petty C, et al. Obesity may enhance the adverse effects of NO2 exposure in urban schools on asthma symptoms in children. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2020;146(4):813-820. doi:10.1016/j.jaci.2020.03.003

Read the rest here:
Examining the relationship of nitrogen dioxide and obesity on asthma outcomes - Contemporary Pediatrics

Immunology

Midlands Immunologist Named Research Scientist Of The Year – Midlands103

Friday, November 6th, 2020 8:41am

The Mullingar is being celebrated for his work by the Science Foundation of Ireland.

A midlands immunologist has been named Research Scientist of the Year.

Professor Kingston Mills has received the accolade from the Science Foundation of Ireland.

The Mullingar man - who's been working in immunology for almost 40 years - is currently director of Trinity College's Biomedical Sciences Institute.

The SFI says he's contributed significantly to the Irish research community, with exceptional research outputs and a clear ability to communicate his research.

Commenting on theaward Professor Mills said, I am absolutely delighted to receive this prestigious award from Science Foundation Ireland. I have been committed to the fascinating field of Immunology for nearly 40 years, but my research achievements would not have been possible without the financial support from SFI, the commitment and dedication of my research team and the support of colleagues, especially those at Trinity College Dublin.

Read more from the original source:
Midlands Immunologist Named Research Scientist Of The Year - Midlands103

Immunology

T-cell study adds to debate over duration of COVID-19 immunity – Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - A small but key UK study has found that cellular immunity to the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 virus is present after six months in people who had mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 - suggesting they might have some level of protection for at least that time.

FILE PHOTO: Convalescent plasma samples in vials are seen before being tested for COVID-19 antibodies at the Bloodworks Northwest Laboratory during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Renton, Washington, U.S. September 9, 2020. Picture taken September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo

Scientists presenting the findings, from 100 non-hospitalised COVID-19 patients in Britain, said they were reassuring but did not mean people cannot in rare cases be infected twice with the disease.

While our findings cause us to be cautiously optimistic about the strength and length of immunity generated after SARS-CoV-2 infection, this is just one piece of the puzzle, said Paul Moss, a professor of haematology at Britains Birmingham University who co-led the study.

There is still a lot for us learn before we have a full understanding of how immunity to COVID-19 works.

Experts not directly involved with the study said its findings were important and would add to a growing body of knowledge about potential protective immunity to COVID-19.

The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed by other experts but was published online on bioRxiv, analysed the blood of 100 patients six months after they had had either mild or asymptomatic COVID-19. It found that while some of the patients antibody levels had dropped, their T-cell response - another key part of the immune system - remained robust.

(Our) early results show that T-cell responses may outlast the initial antibody response, said Shamez Ladhani, a consultant epidemiologist at Public Health England who co-led the work.

The study also found the size of T-cell response differed, and was considerably higher in people who had had symptomatic COVID-19 than those who had no symptoms when infected.

The researchers said this could be interpreted in two ways: It is possible that higher cellular immunity might give better protection against re-infection in people who had symptoms, or equally, that asymptomatic patients are better able to fight off the virus without the need to generate a large immune response.

These results provide reassurance that, although the titre of antibody to SARS-CoV-2 can fall below detectable levels within a few months of infection, a degree of immunity to the virus may be maintained, said Charles Bangham, chair of immunology at Imperial College London.

This ... bodes well for the long term, in terms of both vaccine development and the possibility of long-term protection against re-infection, said Eleanor Riley, an immunology and infectious disease professor at Edinburgh University. She stressed, however, that we dont yet know whether the people in this study are protected from re-infection.

While more than 46 million people worldwide have been infected with COVID-19, confirmed cases of re-infection are so far very rare.

(Fixes typo in name in para 7)

Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Steve Orlofsky and Nick Macfie

See the original post here:
T-cell study adds to debate over duration of COVID-19 immunity - Reuters

Human Behavior

Funding the Quiet Good: Gifts that Support the Humanities and Social Sciences – BU Today

Of the $42 billion the federal government spends on research and development each year, less than 5 percent ($1.9 billion) goes to social and behavioral science research. Photos courtesy of iStock, Unsplash, and Wikimedia

HumanitiesTheyre often small, but they change the world in big ways

When Jack Dorsey, the cofounder and CEO of Twitter and Square, donated $10 million to Boston Universitys Center for Antiracist Research in mid-August, the gift was remarkable in the world of philanthropy for two reasons: the speed with which it arrivedonly six weeks after the BU center openedand the choice of the beneficiaryan academic center dedicated to research in the humanities.

Put simply, research gifts of that magnitude typically go to cure cancer. They dont go to improve human behavior.

When it comes to funding for academic research, the humanities and social sciences have long been the poor cousins to traditional sciences like engineering, computer science, and mathematics, and even to nonsciences like business management and law.

In fiscal 2019, the social sciences accounted for approximately one percent of all research expenditures at Boston University, and the humanities accounted for another one percent. The nonsciences, which include business management, communications, and law, among other areas of study, accounted for 4 percent. Meanwhile, the traditional sciencescomputer science, life sciences, and engineering, to name a fewaccounted for the remaining 94 percent.

When money is given to academic centers that focus on research in the humanities and social sciences, like the antiracist center that Ibram X. Kendi, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and a College of Arts & Sciences professor of history, launched at BU on July 1, it has the potential to improve the lives of millions of people, and even to change society as we know it. But that work, unlike, say, the study of Alzheimers disease or breast cancer or robotics or business management practices, frequently happens with little fanfare. And because societal change might take decades, or even generations, to achieve, its difficult for the public to grasp the importance of the work because they might never reap the benefits of it.

But examples of social and behavioral sciences touching lives abound. It was social science research that revealed how the walkability of neighborhoods influences obesity rates, which in turn impacts the incidence of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other health outcomes. Psychology and economics research concluded that people are too passive about saving for retirement, a finding that led the federal government to enact the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which encourages employers to adopt automatic enrollment, employer contribution, contribution escalation, and qualified default investment alternative practices. And political science research has mined foreign language data to yield a better understanding of international strife and inform decisions on conflict resolution.

Anthony Petro, a CAS associate professor of religion, a Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program faculty member, and a National Endowment of the Humanities Distinguished Teaching Professor, says humanities research is especially crucial in times like these. Scientific research helps us save lives, says Petro. Research in the humanities asks why we save some lives and not others, shows us how to bring meaning to our lives and to the overwhelming number of lives lost. It teaches us how to imagine better futures.

Despite those virtues, social science funding can seem like an afterthought when compared to overall spending by the federal government. Of the $42 billion the federal government spends on research and development each year, less than 5 percent ($1.9 billion) goes to social and behavioral science research. One note on the bright side: Boston University generally garners a fair amount of that money. In FY 2018, according to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics Higher Education Research and Development Survey, BU ranked 9th out of 530 colleges and universities ranked by the Consortium of Social Science Associations in terms of social science funding, which includes combined federal research and development expenditures for social sciences, psychology, law, communications, and social work.

James Uden, a CAS associate professor of classical studies and a 2019 winner of an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellowship, says the humanities help us understand the how and why of our own culture.

Its never been more important for us to learn how the actions and ideas of the past have shaped the present, and how to communicate with each other, says Uden. We have to train ourselves to do it. Thats where the humanities come in.

Karl Kirchwey, a CAS professor of English and associate dean of the faculty, humanities, says foundation grant and fellowship support is crucial in a moment when the work of the humanitiesexploring the moral, spiritual, historical, and creative dimensions of living a fully human lifebecomes only more relevant to the challenges now confronting us.

Research in the humanities asks why we save some lives and not others, shows us how to bring meaning to our lives and to the overwhelming number of lives lost. It teaches us how to imagine better futures.

Gifts to centers for social science are particularly important because of their potential to use research to make positive, long-lasting changes to the world says Anna Pruitt, managing editor of Giving USA, an annual report on philanthropic giving in the United State. Pruitt knows that potential well. She is also a researcher at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana UniversityPurdue University Indianapolis, which was established in 2012 with help from an $8 million bequest from Ruth Lilly, whose great-grandfather founded Eli Lilly and Company.

Previously known as the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the academic center helped Indiana University establish the field of philanthropic studies, which included starting the nations first bachelors, masters, and PhD degrees in the field. In 2015, the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy established the Mays Family Institute on Diverse Philanthropy, which seeks to understand the perceptions, practices, and needs of underrepresented communities.

When BU Today looked for other examples of private gifts that support social science and humanitarian research with the potential to make our society safer, healthier, and more equitable, we didnt have to look far or too deep in the past. On August 13, the City University of New York (CUNY) received $10 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to expand several COVID-19related initiatives and advance social and racial justice. Of that gift, $3 million will support the development of programs in Black, race, and ethnic studies; $2.5 million is earmarked for the Chancellors Emergency Relief Fund and will help students who have experienced job losses and other financial setbacks during the pandemic, putting the completion of their degrees in jeopardy; and another $2 million will help expand the CUNY Cultural Corps, which was created in 2016 as a pipeline to careers in New York City arts and arts administration for students from underrepresented communities. Other monies will fund a program called Transformative Learning in the Humanities, which will train humanities faculty in ways to make their classes more participatory, and will bolster the number of humanities course offerings.

Another $10 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a perennial funder of the humanities and social sciences, awarded to the University of California in January 2018, marked the first stage of a $30 million permanent endowment to sustain the core activities of the UC Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI) and the UC Humanities Network, which is intended to advance collaborative, interdisciplinary humanities research and education throughout the UC system. The UCHRI is a nationally known and highly regarded humanities institute that hosts residential fellows and projects and sponsors a system-wide consortium of interconnected campus humanities centers and multicampus research groups that foster interdisciplinary and collaborative research.

UCHRIs Horizons of the Humanities initiative explores ways that changes in technology and society shape humanistic inquiry and knowledge. It seeks answers to questions such as how advances in digital technology are shaping our thoughts about what makes us human, and how people adopt disparate identities across public, private, and digital interfaces. The initiative also explores the challenges and opportunities of supercharged cultural, religious, and political differences and the consequences of those differences for democracy.

In January 2017, MITs Media Lab and Harvards Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society jointly received $5.9 million from the Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund, which was created with initial support of $27 million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Omidyar Network, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, and others. The grant designated the two centers as the founding academic institutions of the fund, whose purpose is to help bridge the gap between the humanities, the social sciences, and computing by addressing the global challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) from a multidisciplinary perspective. The funds projects address such things as the global governance of AI, and the ways the use of AI may reinforce existing biases, particularly against underserved and underrepresented populations.

Since then the Miami Foundation, fiscal sponsor of the fund, has issued dozens of grants for projects aimed at ensuring that AI is used in the public interest. In July 2017, it gave $7.6 million to nine projects that aim to bolster the voice of civil society in shaping the development of AI in the public interest.One project is investigating questions regarding the safe and ethical use of AI to promote social good in Asia; another is looking at how AI is being developed in Brazil and Latin America. A New Yorkbased project is studying the integration of AI into critical infrastructures, looking specifically at bias, data collection, and healthcare. Others will work with data protection authorities to develop practical guidelines that protect user rights, educate public and private authorities about rights, and conduct case studies on data protection issues relating to algorithms and AI in France and Hungary.In 2019, it funded seven projects, including an initiative to help newsrooms and researchers analyze documents through crowdsourcing and machine learning, an effort to train journalists to produce articles about the impact of technology on low-income communities, and a project aimed at combating misinformation on WhatsApp and other chat apps in India.

Sometimes a gift to the humanities is just that: a gift to the humanities. Thats the case with a $10 million gift that the University of Wisconsin received from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2010. The gift to the Universitys Strengthening the Core Humanitiesprogram, which was matched by the state, has enabled the university to hire new faculty and support postdoctoral and graduate students in the humanities. The university used $2.5 million to create an endowed chair in ancient Greek philosophy, and aimed other monies at two-year fellowships for graduate students who were writing their dissertations.

At BUs Center for Antiracist Research, $9 million of Start Smalls $10 million gift goes to the centers endowment, and $1 million is available for immediate use, allowing the center to hire staff and fund its first research and policy teams on COVID-19 racial disparities. Start Smalls gift is the second of three significant contributions to the center. In June, it received $1.5 million from the Vertex Foundation, a long-term source of charitable giving and part of the corporate giving commitment of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. And in October, the Rockefeller Foundation, a global science-driven philanthropy founded more than a century ago, committed $1.5 million to the center over the next two years.

Kendi envisions the center as a place where researchers from many fields, including law, social work, the humanities, computer science, communication, medicine, and public health will collaborate with researchers from other universities, as well as data analysts, journalists, and policy experts. His goal, he says, is to help create racial change, change that is about creating equity and justice for all, and a human community that values equity and justice for all.

Read this article:
Funding the Quiet Good: Gifts that Support the Humanities and Social Sciences - BU Today

Human Behavior

New global archive logs changes in behavior of Arctic animals – UW News

Environment | News releases | Research | Science

November 5, 2020

A moose in Denali National Park.Laura Prugh/University of Washington

The Arctics dramatic changes warmer winters, earlier springs, shrinking ice and more human development are impacting native animals. Researchers have long been observing the movements and behavior of animals in this region, but its been difficult to discover and access these data for meaningful collaborations.

Now scientists from around the world have established the Arctic Animal Movement Archive, an online repository for data documenting the movements of animals in the Arctic and Subarctic. With this archive, scientists can share their knowledge and collaborate to ask questions about how animals are responding to a changing climate.

So far, researchers from more than 100 universities, government agencies and conservation groups, including the University of Washington, are involved in the archive. The project currently contains over 200 projects with the movement data of more than 8,000 marine and terrestrial animals from 1991 to the present.

The global archive and several case studies on wildlife movement and behavior are described in a paper published Nov. 5 in Science. The archive project is led by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany and the Ohio State University.

In terms of recent calls for more open science, platforms likethis are a major leap forward in making valuable data discoverable anduseful for researchers to address far more science questions than wouldotherwise be possible, said project collaborator and co-author Laura Prugh, associate professor in the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.

One of the case studies, led by Prughs lab at the UW, looked at the movement speeds of bears, caribou, moose and wolves from 1998 to 2019 and found that all species changed their movement rates in response to climate conditions but with no consistent pattern. This inconsistency shows that responses of large mammals to climate change in the Arctic may not be straightforward to predict.

This work has highlighted strong changes in movement rates in responseto climate, but the reasons why animals are moving more or less arestill not understood, Prugh said. I hope the work spurs future research tounderstand the why behind our findings, and whether these changes areindicative of positive or negative climate change impacts.

Movement rates are important to track because they can influence how effective animals are at finding food and other resources, when animals encounter predators, and how much energy they expend during different seasons. Additionally, large mammals in the Arctic are adapted to cold conditions and may experience heat stress due to warming temperatures, the authors explained.

How animals respond to variable weather conditions through movement will have interesting implications for species competition and predator-prey dynamics, said co-author Peter Mahoney, who conducted this research as a UW postdoctoral researcher and is now a wildlife biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

To create the case study of two decades of movements of bears, caribou, moose and wolves that is included in the new archive, Prugh and Mahoney relied on data from nine national and international institutions. The case study was funded by a grant from NASAs Arctic and Boreal Vulnerability Experiment program.

In related work, Prugh currently is leadinga new NASA-funded project to understand how changing snow conditions areaffecting ungulates such as deer, moose and elk, and carnivores like wolves, cougars and coyotes in northern Washington and Alaskas Denali National Park. The UW team will examine how changes in snow affect movement and predator-prey interactions.

While hundreds of studies are already included in the animal-movement archive, the resource is continually growing as data are transmitted from animals in the field and as more researchers join. This should help to detect changes in the behavior of animals and ultimately in the entire Arctic ecosystem.

We are also providing a much-needed baseline of past behaviors and movements, said Sarah Davidson, project co-lead and data curator at Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. This can be used to improve wildlife management, address critical research questions and document changes in the Arctic for future generations.

See a related press release from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.

See the original post:
New global archive logs changes in behavior of Arctic animals - UW News