Tag Archives: environment

Neuroscience

AI Weekly: Continual learning offers a path toward more humanlike AI – VentureBeat

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State-of-the-art AI systems are remarkably capable, but they suffer from a key limitation: statisticity. Algorithms are trained once on a dataset and rarely again, making them incapable of learning new information without retraining. This is as opposed to the human brain, which learns constantly, using knowledge gained over time and building on it as it encounters new information. While theres been progress toward bridging the gap, solving the problem of continual learning remains a grand challenge in AI.

This challenge motivated a team of AI and neuroscience researchers to found ContinualAI, a nonprofit organization and open community of continual and lifelong learning enthusiasts. ContinualAI recently announced Avalanche, a library of tools compiled over the course of a year from over 40 contributors to make continual learning research easier and more reproducible. The group also hosts conference-style presentations, sponsors workshops and AI competitions, and maintains a repository of tutorial, code, and guides.

As Vincenzo Lomonaco, cofounding president and assistant professor at the University of Pisa, explains, ContinualAI is one of the largest organizations on a topic its members consider fundamental for the future of AI. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic began, ContinualAI was funded with the idea of pushing the boundaries of science through distributed, open collaboration, he told VentureBeat via email. We provide a comprehensive platform to produce, discuss and share original research in AI. And we do this completely for free, for anyone.

Even highly sophisticated deep learning algorithms can experience catastrophic learning or catastrophic interference, a phenomenon where deep networks fail to recall what theyve learned from a training dataset. The result is that the networks have to be constantly reminded of the knowledge theyve gained or risk becoming stuck with their most recent memories.

OpenAI research scientist Jeff Clune, who helped to cofound Uber AI Labs in 2017, has called catastrophic forgetting the Achilles heel of machine learning and believes that solving it is the fastest path to artificial general intelligence (AGI). Last February, Clune coauthored a paper detailing ANML, an algorithm that managed to learn 600 sequential tasks with minimal catastrophic forgetting by meta-learning solutions to problems instead of manually engineering solutions. Separately, Alphabets DeepMind has published research suggesting that catastrophic forgetting isnt an insurmountable challenge for neural networks. And Facebook is advancing a number of techniques and benchmarks for continual learning, including a model that it claims is effective in preventing the forgetting of task-specific skills.

But while the past several years have seen a resurgence of research into the issue, catastrophic forgetting largely remains unsolved, according to Keiland Cooper, a cofounding member of ContinualAI and a neuroscience research associate at the University of California, Irvine. The potential of continual learning exceeds catastrophic forgetting and begins to touch on more interesting questions of implementing other cognitive learning properties in AI, Cooper told VentureBeat. Transfer learning is one example, where when humans or animals learn something previously, sometimes this learning can be applied to a new context or aid learning in other domains Even more alluring is that continual learning is an attempt to push AI from narrow, savant-like systems to broader, more general ones.

Even if continual learning doesnt yield the sort of AGI depicted science fiction, Cooper notes that there are immediate advantages to it across a range of domains. Cutting-edge models are being trained on increasingly larger datasets in search of better performance, but this training comes at a cost whether waiting weeks for training to finish or the impact of the electricity usage on the environment.

Say you run a certain AI organization that built a natural language model that was trained over weeks on 45 terabytes of data for a few million dollars, Cooper explained. If you want to teach that model something new, well, youd very likely have to start from scratch or risk overwriting what it had already learned, unless you added continual learning additions to the model. Moreover, at some point, the cost to store that data will be exceedingly high for an organization, or even impossible. Beyond this, there are many cases where you can only see the data once and so retraining isnt even an option.

While the blueprint for a continual learning AI system remains elusive, ContinualAI aims to connect researchers and stakeholders interested in the area and support and provide a platform for projects and research. Its grown to over 1,000 members in the three years since its founding.

For me personally, while there has been a renewed interest in continual learning in AI research, the neuroscience of how humans and animals can accomplish these feats is still largely unknown, Cooper said. Id love to see more of an interaction with AI researchers, cognitive scientists, and neuroscientists to communicate and build upon each of their fields ides towards a common goal of understanding one of the most vital aspects of learning and intelligence. I think an organization like ContinualAI is best positioned to do just that, which allows for the sharing of ideas without the boundaries of the academic or industry walls, siloed fields, or distant geolocation.

Beyond the mission of dissemination information about continual learning, Lomonaco believes that ContinualAI has the potential to become a reference points for a more inclusive and collaborative way of doing research in AI. Elite university and private company labs still work mostly behind close doors, [but] we truly believe in inclusion and diversity rather than selective elitiarity. We favor transparency and open-source rather than protective IP licenses. We make sure anyone has access to the learning resources she needs to achieve her potential.

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Thanks for reading,

Kyle Wiggers

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AI Weekly: Continual learning offers a path toward more humanlike AI - VentureBeat

Neuroscience

The path to deeper connections, even amidst a pandemic | Penn Today – Penn Today

For the past year, staying physically apart from others was crucial to keeping everyone safe in the face of a brand new, deadly virus. Though necessary, the social distancing also amplified an already troubling fact: Rates of loneliness have been rising for the past several decades in the United States.

Even before the pandemic, the increase in loneliness has been striking, says Edward Brodkin, a psychiatrist in Penns Perelman School of Medicine. And then along comes the pandemic, which of course separated us even more.

That separation made everyday communication and interaction challenging, says Ashley Pallathra, a clinical psychology doctoral candidate at The Catholic University of America and a former member of Brodkins lab. In person, wearing masks covers our ability to communicate through facial expressions, she says. And from the quarantining and isolation, people started to feel the loss of intimate, close relationships but also the loss of people on the commute to work or in the local coffee shop.

In their new book, Missing Each Other: How to Cultivate Meaningful Connections, Brodkin and Pallathra explore the science of attunement, the process necessary for relationships to move beyond the surface level to deeper and sometimes more emotional connections.

Broadly speaking, attunement describes an awareness thats both internal and external facing, of ones own state of mind and body and that of another person. Attunement involves an ability to get in sync with others, to engage with them effectively, not just in a single moment but over an interactions twists and turns.

It shows up in many aspects of life beyond personal relationships, for example, in team sports or music ensembles. Although its obviously most important in close relationships, it can also be helpful in our day-to-day interactions, Brodkin says. We could communicate better so were not talking past each other.

To elucidate this intricate process of connection, Brodkin and Pallathra propose a framework for understanding attunement, which they argue consists of four components: relaxed awareness, listening, understanding, and mutual responsiveness. They offer exercises for readers to develop each skill.

The idea for the book grew out of work from Brodkins lab, which focuses on autism, social neuroscience, and how the brain functions in social interactions. He and Pallathra were collaborating on a project aimed at supporting adults on the autism spectrum in their social functioning. The further into it they got, the more they realized they wanted their project to go beyond traditional social skills.

That type of program often includes suggested social scripts and rules, which can be useful sometimes, but they are also limited, Brodkin says. It dawned on us that we were really trying to teach attunement. Then we thought, maybe this program is not only useful for adults on the autism spectrum. Maybe it could be helpful for any of us. Its a difficult skill but one that, if you understand and develop it, can have a huge payoff.

Missing Each Other lays out the four components of attunement sequentially, with each one building on the last:

This means being aware of yourself as well as your environment, being aware of how you feel, your emotions, your reactions, but also aware of whats going on around you, of the conversation youre having, of the message another person is trying to communicate, all while staying fairly relaxed, Pallathra says. She describes it as a type of mindfulness involving awareness and emotional self-regulation, rather than a focus on emptying the mind.

This second step isnt just about hearing the words another person is saying, but broader, taking in all social cues from the pacing and tone of speech to body language and facial expression. Its about paying attention and synchronythe subconscious mirroring that takes place in a conversation, like when one person nods or crosses his legs after the other does. Its also about resonating with the other person emotionally, in other words, having emotional empathy.

This entails understanding another persons perspective but also your own, Pallathra says. There are a lot of pitfalls to understanding, things that get in the way like your biases and assumptions, your reactivity. Being able to recognize those will help create a balance between regulating yourself and staying open to the other person.

This is the natural back and forth of a lively and fulfilling conversation or interaction. Partners meet in the middle, responding to each others moods. Its paradoxical to think of meeting the other person where they are as a way of being powerful and getting your message across, Brodkin says. But if you cultivate this art of being open to the other person, listening, understanding, and initiating a connection where the other person is mentally and emotionally, youre in a better position to communicate what you want to communicate, too.

Brodkin and Pallathra offer a set of exercises that may help enhance each skill. For instance, stretches to release physical tension and mindfulness of posture and breath can help develop relaxed awareness. For listening, they suggest motor synchrony exercises based on tai chi or a simple how-was-your-day conversation.

Ask someone to tell you about their day, Brodkin explains. Then for three to five minutes, really try to listen. Give the other person an opportunity to talk. Focus on what shes communicating and occasionally check back with yourself. Take a breath to regulate yourself and then refocus on the other person. Practice regularly and you can develop this capacity, much like you develop your biceps at the gym.

All of these exercises can be adapted for at-home use, he adds. Develop these on your own or with people in your social bubble, so when we do come back together, well be better communicators.

Edward Brodkin is co-director of the Autism Spectrum Program of Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also founder and director of the Adult Autism Spectrum Program and an associate professor of psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine.

Ashley Pallathra is a clinical researcher and therapist and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She is a Penn alumna and former member of the Brodkin lab.

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The path to deeper connections, even amidst a pandemic | Penn Today - Penn Today

Physiology

The Psychology and Physiology of Brand Loyalty; an emerging perspective – ETBrandEquity.com

The Psychology and Physiology of Brand Loyalty; an emerging perspective.By S Ramesh Kumar

Brand loyalty is the ultimate dream of marketers. Is brand switching, a habit of consumers? The challenge for brand managers today is not just to create loyalty but to also sustain loyalty in a digital world that is replete with a variety of consumer dialog, mind shattering discounts and constant chatter on social media. Towards an understanding of brand loyalty in todays context, it is essential to understand the physiology based psychological process, that is associated with brand loyalty.

Various approaches to brand loyalty

Also Read: Priya Jayaraman steps down as CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Propagate

It is the Physiology and Psychology that makes or breaks Brand loyalty

Research often quoted on neuromarketing, explains how brain scans that involved Coke and Pepsi, with pre-frontal cortex associated with pleasure, self and decision making (unknown to the consumer) may play a significant role in the loyalty of millions who adore Coke. Dopamine, an enzyme associated with pleasure, also influences our sensory pleasure. And these mechanisms, may act, even without a consumer being conscious about it, during sensual consumption of brands!

Automaticity (explained in consumer behavior literature) that drives context based habitual behavior may be effective as it has a physiological origin. While the mind and the habit adapt, to familiarity (due the built-in mechanism of automaticity) the mind is also attracted to new behaviors and novel sensory inputs in a specific context. This is reason why brand loyalty is difficult to sustain. Neale Martin in his book Habit and Norman in his book Emotional Design provide insightful information to understand the interaction of psychology and physiology in terms of creating brand loyalty. Norman speaks of three layers of interaction with the incoming information/sensory inputs- visceral state, reflexive state and reflective state. The visceral state is almost involuntary and fast with no processing, the reflexive state is the habitual state of recalling the learning and the reflective state is the conscious state of thinking but the one that does not directly influence behavior.

Also Read: BE Exclusive: Vivo makes a new celeb call

Duke researchers report that 45% of the time, we do the same thing at the same time thinking about something else! The cerebellum, an important part associated with the mind is associated with habits. The reflective state may influence the mind of a married lady to use the detergent brand used by her mother for several years due to the nostalgia involved. Of course as the environment changes over time , new lifestyles/technology set in and consumers may adapt new behaviors (iPod sold millions of downloads of songs displacing CDs and other musical delivery systems).

Implications to Marketers

Is price the basic weapon to break the loyalty the success of online retailers like Amazon and Flipkart with its Big Billion Days or private labels offered in modern retail outlets may provide an impression that the price may make consumers think about breaking loyalty. The target segment matters, as thrifty consumers may form a significant proportion in most categories. Also all brands do not have the business model of large online retailers who may always have a strong acquisition base. And it may become worthwhile for online shops to specialize in special needs of consumers (there are several, for traditional delicacies) . Private label apparel online shops may open up specialized personalization.

Does consistent feel of the brand (includes the brand proposition too) promote automaticity?Lifebuoy, Santoor, Lux and Surf with consistent brand propositions have been able to sustain themselves for a long period of time. Apple (ipod, ipad and iPhone) with its user friendly interface (besides the symbolic appeal) has been able to sustain its success. It is interesting to note that Blackberry that popularized the mail on the move had not posed a challenge to several other follower brands. This does not mean that brand extension by itself would be sufficient to garner loyalty but a consistent feel of the brand is important. Brand revitalization and reinforcement that is required in a changing environment is important in striking a balance between adapting to the environment and projecting the consistent feel.

Wherever appropriate making the brand a part of the context can nurture loyalty (Red Bull became a part of the partying context and history was created).

Emerging interdisciplinary fields are likely to synergize with the historical knowledge on consumer behavior: that must herald new vistas, in the world of branding.

The author is a professor of marketing at IIM-Bangalore. Views expressed are personal.

Watch BE+ | Way forward mantras for post COVID world | Leading marketing leaders like Deepa Krishnan, Anurita Chopra, Samir Singh to Santosh Iyer, across sectors in the special video series

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The Psychology and Physiology of Brand Loyalty; an emerging perspective - ETBrandEquity.com

Human Behavior

‘The Adjustment Bureau’: The Death of Free Will and the Problem of Fate – The Great Courses Daily News

By David K. Johnson, Ph.D., Kings CollegeThe bureau is a secret organization that controls all world history by designing a plan for it. (Image: jgolby/Shutterstock)The Bureau at Work

The Adjustment Bureau is based on a short story by Philip K. Dick entitled Adjustment Team. The story is about the bureau: a secret organization that controls all world history by designing a detailed plan for it, and then makes sure no one deviates from that plan.

To prevent humans from deviating from the plan, they recalibrate peoplereconfiguring their neural pathwaysto get people to behave as they should. They have tried letting us do things on our own. The first time was toward the end of the Roman Empire. That led to the Dark Ages. The second time was around 1910, which led to two world wars, a Great Depression, Fascismbasically the worst horrors of the 20th century.

The story follows David Norris, a candidate for Senate, who accidentally finds out about the bureau. They threaten to reset himwipe his memories and personalityif he ever reveals their existence, and then tell him to stay away from a girl he has fallen in love with, Elise Sellas because their being together is not in the plan.

But David and Elise choose to be together despite the cost. And in the end, because of their persistence, the Chairmanwho created the plan in the first placedecides to change the plan so that they could stay with each other.

This is a transcript from the video series Sci-Phi: Science Fiction as Philosophy. Watch it now, on The Great Courses Plus.

At first glance, The Adjustment Bureau appears to be a movie about the triumph of free will, but upon closer examination, there is no reason to think humans in the movie actually have free will.

David doesnt choose to pursue or be with Elise despite being recalibrated by the bureau. In fact, the bureau never even touches Davids brain in the film. They just threaten to reset him and tell him the consequences of his actions.

Indeed, the reason David is so attracted to Elise is because a previous version of the plan meant for them to be together, and parts of it never got erased. Also, the film depicts humans as clearly not free. Their rational decision process is always predictable; thats how the agents know when they must make an adjustment.

Learn more about the enigma of free will.

In one scene, a Bureau agent called Thompson suggests that while humans have the free will to choose which toothpaste to use or which beverage to order, for the important things, they only have the appearance of free will.

But these ordinary not-important choices are, at best, based on impulse without direction or purpose. Decisions dictated by randomness are no freer than those that are determined. Furthermore, since these choices are predictable, they cannot be considered free.

The moral of the movie seems to be that a simple life with your true love is more important than the fulfillment of grandiose goals that will ultimately leave you empty. But on the other hand, this movie clearly illustrates how humans can lack free will without being fated.

Although the term is slippery and can mean many things, the most common understanding of being fated includes the notion of conscious control by an outside force, like the bureau. If you are fated, you are fated by something. If some event is fated, its included in some plana plan someone wrote. The word fate might sometimes just mean inevitable, but notice that, for example, once a person jumps off a cliff, hitting the ground is inevitable, but we usually wouldnt call it fated.

With this understanding in mind, we can see how humans could lack free will but not be fated to behave as they do. When the bureau steps back, human behavior is not fatedit is not forcibly aligned to the Chairmans plan. But if human nature is as it is depicted in the film, and our actions are either determined or random, then human behavior is still not free.

Even if our behavior is dictated by our environment and DNA, unless you think that our environment and DNA have a conscious will, we are not fated to behave as we do. So we can lack free will without being fated.

Learn more about the human free will in the sequels of The Matrix.

None of this means that humans are not fatedeither individually or collectivelyto behave as they do. It just means that humans lacking free will doesnt necessarily mean they are fated. But there are arguments that suggest fate can determine our actions.

One possibility is we consider the Chairman in the movie as God. In this case, the plan David is rebelling against in The Adjustment Bureau may simply be Gods. Indeed, at one point in the film, Agent Mitchell suggests that the Agents of the Chairman are sometimes called angels.

God is traditionally defined as a perfect beingthat is, a being with ultimate power, knowledge and goodness. Those who believe God exists are called theists. And many theists believe that God has a plan for their lifeindeed, for all of humanityand that God himself ensures that plan is brought to fruition.

Christian philosophers, like Clark Pinnock and Thomas Jay Oord, for example, believe that God has granted humans robust free will. Therefore, how our lives and human history pans out is totally up to us. Others believe that God doesnt dictate individual lives but is in control of the broad strokes of human history.

But many think that our actionsboth individually and collectivelyare fated by God. Indeed, denominational divisions in the church are often drawn along these lines. It should be pointed out that no major Christian philosopher holds the view that we are fated in a complete manner because such a view would be impossible to defend philosophically.

The most common understanding of being fated implies the notion of conscious control by an outside force, such as God. If some events are fated, it is part of some plana plan that will inevitably happen.

Some Christian philosophers believe that God has granted humans robust free will. Hence, how our lives and human history pans out is totally up to us. Others believe that God doesnt dictate individual lives but is in control of the broad strokes of human history.

No major Christian philosopher holds the view that our actions are fully fated because such a view would be impossible to defend philosophically.

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'The Adjustment Bureau': The Death of Free Will and the Problem of Fate - The Great Courses Daily News

Human Behavior

Plastic Recycling Experts, More Recycling, Rebrands As Stina Inc – PR Web

SONOMA, Calif. (PRWEB) March 10, 2021

More Recycling, a research and technology firm, which has delivered the Annual Plastic Recycling Study for the U.S. and Canada for over 10 years, rebrands as Stina Inc, its legal entity name, in a move that expands its mission to help organizations and individuals transition to a society that prioritizes the sustainable use of resources.

At the forefront of the plastic waste problem is an imbalance of systems from economic to environmental. Recycling is an essential part of shifting from the current linear to a circular economy, but more is needed to achieve the systemic changes necessary to reduce waste. The potential for innovation through inspiration from nature is as great as the risk we face by ignoring natures signals. We want to help unlock that innovation, said Butler, Principal and CEO of Stina Inc.

According to the U.S. EPA, over 91% of plastic is not currently recycled leaving tonnes of waste in the environment that nature cannot manage, and analysts forecast increases in virgin plastic production globally over the next 30 years. Plastics today both positively and negatively impact human health and climate change. Their properties reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to alternative materials yet contribute to global pollution.

With a thorough understanding of the plastic recycling landscape from production, collection, sortation, reclamation, end-use markets, and alternative disposal options Stina Inc positions itself to help accelerate the transition to a society that uses the worlds finite resources sustainably. Butler and Luddy believe tomorrows solutions call for stronger collaboration and deriving inspiration from natures own circular systems.

The company name originated from a combination of the founders first names. The Stina name quickly became a recognition of the essential need for differences honored through trust, respect, and collaboration, said Butler. Those values are the essential ingredients which allow for true progress in the pursuit of a more balanced, harmonious world. The Stina logo showcases the North Star in its center. Inspired by the geometrical symbol the Seed of Life, the logo is the outward, visual representation of the company founders' honed vision: to harmonize human behavior with the natural world.

Now is the time to truly place value on our resources and innovate to optimize the entire recovery ecosystem, said Luddy, Principal and COO of Stina Inc, As society moves further toward circularity, our services, decision support tools, and CORE projects [Creating an Optimized Recovery Ecosystem] will help clients navigate the trade-offs of plastics today, accelerating their own transition to the emerging circular economy.

ABOUT STINA

Stina Inc is a mission-based company striving to harmonize human behavior with the natural world. Often serving as liaison between industry, government and NGOs, the company helps organizations address and work through barriers to more sustainable management of resources. The companys information management system, relationships, and understanding of the plastics recycling landscape have made it the trusted organization to deliver the annual plastic recycling reports for the U.S. and Canada for more than 10 years. The team is committed to providing unbiased guidance in navigating the role plastics play in the movement towards circular supply chains, valuing carbon, and reducing GHG emissions.

The Stina team gathers and assesses critical data, facilitates engagement and collaboration, and raises awareness of key issues for better decision-making. They have developed resources for businesses and consumers to take actionable steps to transition to circularity such as PlasticsMarkets.org, Buy Recycled Plastics Directory, The Information Exchange, and CircularityInAction.com, as well as undertaken CORE Projects (Creating an Optimized Recovery Ecosystem) the latest resulted in a Roadmap to Plastic Recyclability. Learn more at StinaInc.com.

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Plastic Recycling Experts, More Recycling, Rebrands As Stina Inc - PR Web

Human Behavior

Hundreds of Fish Species, Including Many That Humans Eat, are Consuming Plastic – TheInertia.com

386 marine fish species are known to have ingested plastic debris, including 210 species that are commercially important. Photo: Unsplash

Trillions of barely visible pieces of plastic are floating in the worlds oceans, from surface waters to the deep seas. These particles, known as microplastics, typically form when larger plastic objects such as shopping bags and food containers break down.

Researchers are concerned about microplastics because they are minuscule, widely distributed and easy for wildlife to consume, accidentally or intentionally. We study marine science and animal behaviorand wanted to understand the scale of this problem. In a newly published study that we conducted with ecologist Elliott Hazen, we examined how marine fish including species consumed by humans are ingesting synthetic particles of all sizes.

In the broadest review on this topic that has been carried out to date, we found that, so far, 386 marine fish species are known to have ingested plastic debris, including 210 species that are commercially important. But findings of fish consuming plastic are on the rise. We speculate that this could be happening both because detection methods for microplastics are improving and because ocean plastic pollution continues to increase.

Its not news that wild creatures ingest plastic. The first scientific observation of this problem came from the stomach of a seabird in 1969. Three years later, scientists reported that fish off the coast of southern New England were consuming tiny plastic particles.

Since then, well over 100 scientific papers have described plastic ingestion in numerous species of fish. But each study has only contributed a small piece of a very important puzzle. To see the problem more clearly, we had to put those pieces together.

We did this by creating the largest existing database on plastic ingestion by marine fish, drawing on every scientific study of the problem published from 1972 to 2019. We collected a range of information from each study, including what fish species it examined, the number of fish that had eaten plastic and when those fish were caught. Because some regions of the ocean have more plastic pollution than others, we also examined where the fish were found.

For each species in our database, we identified its diet, habitat and feeding behaviors for example, whether it preyed on other fish or grazed on algae. By analyzing this data as a whole, we wanted to understand not only how many fish were eating plastic, but also what factors might cause them to do so. The trends that we found were surprising and concerning.

Leopard sharks swim past plastic debris in shallow water off southern California. Photo: Ralph Pace, CC BY-ND

Our research revealed that marine fish are ingesting plastic around the globe. According to the 129 scientific papers in our database, researchers have studied this problem in 555 fish species worldwide. We were alarmed to find that more than two-thirds of those species had ingested plastic.

One important caveat is that not all of these studies looked for microplastics. This is likely because finding microplastics requires specialized equipment, like microscopes, or use of more complex techniques. But when researchers did look for microplastics, they found five times more plastic per individual fish than when they only looked for larger pieces. Studies that were able to detect this previously invisible threat revealed that plastic ingestion was higher than we had originally anticipated.

Our review of four decades of research indicates that fish consumption of plastic is increasing. Just since an international assessment conducted for the United Nations in 2016, the number of marine fish species found with plastic has quadrupled.

Similarly, in the last decade alone, the proportion of fish consuming plastic has doubled across all species. Studies published from 2010-2013 found that an average of 15 percent of the fish sampled contained plastic; in studies published from 2017-2019, that share rose to 33 percent.

We think there are two reasons for this trend. First, scientific techniques for detecting microplastics have improved substantially in the past five years. Many of the earlier studies we examined may not have found microplastics because researchers couldnt see them.

Second, it is also likely that fish are actually consuming more plastic over time as ocean plastic pollution increases globally. If this is true, we expect the situation to worsen. Multiple studies that have sought to quantify plastic waste project that the amount of plastic pollution in the ocean will continue to increase over the next several decades.

While our findings may make it seem as though fish in the ocean are stuffed to the gills with plastic, the situation is more complex. In our review, almost one-third of the species studied were not found to have consumed plastic. And even in studies that did report plastic ingestion, researchers did not find plastic in every individual fish. Across studies and species, about one in four fish contained plastics a fraction that seems to be growing with time. Fish that did consume plastic typically had only one or two pieces in their stomachs.

In our view, this indicates that plastic ingestion by fish may be widespread, but it does not seem to be universal. Nor does it appear random. On the contrary, we were able to predict which species were more likely to eat plastic based on their environment, habitat and feeding behavior.

For example, fishes such as sharks, grouper, and tuna that hunt other fishes or marine organisms as food were more likely to ingest plastic. Consequently, species higher on the food chain were at greater risk.

We were not surprised that the amount of plastic that fish consumed also seemed to depend on how much plastic was in their environment. Species that live in ocean regions known to have a lot of plastic pollution, such as the Mediterranean Sea and the coasts of East Asia, were found with more plastic in their stomachs.

This is not just a wildlife conservation issue. Researchers dont know very much about the effects of ingesting plastic on fish or humans. However, there is evidence that that microplastics and even smaller particles called nanoplastics can move from a fishs stomach to its muscle tissue, which is the part that humans typically eat. Our findings highlight the need for studies analyzing how frequently plastics transfer from fish to humans and their potential effects on the human body.

Our review is a step toward understanding the global problem of ocean plastic pollution. Of more than 20,000 marine fish species, only roughly two percent have been tested for plastic consumption. And many reaches of the ocean remain to be examined. Nonetheless, whats now clear to us is that out of sight, out of mind is not an effective response to ocean pollution especially when it may end up on our plates.

This article was written by multiple authors: Alexandra McInturf, PhD Candidate in Animal Behavior, University of California, Davis and Matthew Savoca, Postdoctoral researcher, Stanford University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Hundreds of Fish Species, Including Many That Humans Eat, are Consuming Plastic - TheInertia.com

Neuroscience

5 compelling reasons to listen to the neuroscience to build a healthy workplace – CEOWORLD magazine

An innovative, creative, financially thriving workplace that supports excellent teamwork and workforce wellbeing is critical and yet can be elusive.

Recent advances in technology have changed our understanding of the brain, giving us practical insights into ways to elevate performance, productivity, workplace learning, culture and the wellbeing of employees, all necessary ingredients in building a thriving workplace.

Neuroscientists have proven that our brain is continually shaped by and adapting to our thoughts, interactions, experiences, and environment. The responsiveness of the brain, called neuroplasticity, can be intentionally optimised to support organisational success and a healthy workplace.

Understanding a little about the brain can be game-changing in achieving organisational success. The executive brain, located behind our forehead, is the source of our best thinking and psychological functioning. It enables us to be proactive, strategic, reflective, creative, make our best decisions and be mentally and psychologically agile. The executive brain is more available to us when we feel physically and psychologically safe, valued, connected and fulfilled.

The more primitive, or reptilian, parts of our brain, are vital for survival, continually scanning our environment to protect us from threats. When we feel unsafe, disconnected, devalued, or invalidated, the reptilian brain takes over, making it harder to access our best thinking. At these times well operate in self-protective mode, which can be through being reactive, aggressive, competitive or withdrawn. Were generally less considered in our actions and words.

How can the neuroscience guide us to build a healthy workplace?

If we want to build a healthy workplace, the neuroscience clearly directs us to feed the executive brain, rather than the reptilian brain of employees. This is achieved through our daily workplace interactions and behaviours, which can have a profound impact on brain functioning. Behaviours that are positive and feed the executive brain are above the line, negative behaviours feed the reptilian brain, and are below the line.

Above-the-line behaviours are acceptable, healthy and responsible from a human, psychological and interpersonal perspective. They feed the executive brain, are good for people, bringing out employees capacity to think, learn and relate effectively. Above-the-line behaviours generate positivity, kindness, appreciation, goodwill, respect, openness to learning, authenticity, trust and connection.

Below-the-line behaviours are not acceptable, healthy or responsible from a psychological and human perspective. They feed the reptilian brain, are not in the best interests of people, diminishing performance, productivity and employees mental health. Incivility, sarcasm, defensiveness, shaming, excluding, ignoring, bitching, unnecessary criticism, bullying, harassment and discrimination are examples of below-the-line behaviours.

If we listen to the neuroscience and feed the executive brain and not the reptilian brain, were far more likely to achieve:

Recent advances in neuroscience challenge us to critically evaluate how interpersonal behaviours directly influence workplace functioning and on building a healthy workplace.

Written by Michelle Bihary.

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5 compelling reasons to listen to the neuroscience to build a healthy workplace - CEOWORLD magazine

Genetics

Genetic ancestry linked to diabetes, heart failure and obesity among Native Hawaiians | Keck School of Medicine of USC – USC News

First-ever large-scale genetic study examining Hawaiian Polynesians and health risk is led by the Keck School of Medicine of USC

(Photo/iStock)

By Wayne Lewis

With advances in analyzing human DNA, some well-studied populations have benefited from insights about how their health is affected by their genetics. Others, however, have been left behind. Among them are people of Polynesian descent from Hawaii.

Although population studies of Native Hawaiians have shown a substantial increase in risk for obesity, type2 diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers compared to their neighbors of European and Asian descent, there has been little to no insight into how genetics contribute on top of environmental factors to influence these disparities.

In an attempt to begin rectifying that gap, a USC-led research team has conducted the first study to systematically investigate the genomes of Native Hawaiians and test the components for health risks associated with genetic ancestry. The findings, which appeared in the journal PLoS Genetics, show that, for example, Polynesian ancestry in Native Hawaiians is linked to increased risk of diabetes, heart failure and higher body-mass index, a measure of body fat.

(Charleston Chiang. USC Photo/Ricardo Carrasco III)

Native Hawaiians really have been understudied from a genetic perspective, said corresponding author Charleston Chiang, PhD, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and of quantitative and computational biology at USC Dornsife College. Health disparities are a major research emphasis at USC in general, and my team focuses on looking at the genetic component of health risk within geographically diverse populations.

Characterizing Hawaiian Polynesian genetics to understand health risk

Chiang and his colleagues correlated health data (from questionnaire, laboratory measurements, and hospital Medicare claims) and the genetics of 3,940 people who identify as Native Hawaiian from the Multiethnic Cohort Study, a joint project of USC and the University of Hawaii. The research team found that for each 10% increase in estimated Polynesian ancestry, there is on average an 11% increase in risk of heart failure, an 8.6% increase in risk of type2 diabetes and a 0.35 unit increase in body-mass index.

Further studies may be able to identify genetic variants and underlying biological factors specific to Polynesian populations, knowledge that could help reduce these health risks. Chiang also hopes to test a hypothesis outlining a combination of nature and nurture.

For example, its possible that Native Hawaiians had adapted to a traditional diet, and the introduction of the Western diet has led to all kinds of health problems, he said. Thats actually an interaction between their genetics and their environment.

There was a unique challenge for the studys authors to overcome: Researchers focusing on the genetics of people with roots in Europe, Africa and Asia are able to call upon publicly available genomic references for those populations. No such resource exists for Polynesian ancestry. Native Hawaiians are characterized by a mixture of Polynesian, Asian, European and African ancestry. Using the existing references from other populations to run two analyses, the scientists searched for known origins as reflected both across each participants entire genome and location by location along their chromosomes. The research team essentially constructed a genomic model for Polynesian ancestry among Native Hawaiians by identifying a subsample of roughly 150 participants with the least amount of external heritance.

Genomics cant define ethnicity, and biology is not destiny

As should be expected with research charting new territory in biomedical science, the studys authors urge that their findings be interpreted with care and clarity on a few fronts.

Chiang pointed out that race and ethnicity are socially constructed concepts, and distinct from the issues explored in this study that is how certain genes shared among a population contribute to specific health metrics and outcomes. Ethnicity instead is, and should be, defined by genealogical records or how a person self-identifies.

Geneticists should not try to quantize a persons ancestry and use that to define whether that person belongs to a particular ethnic group, he said. While we needed to quantify the proportion of Polynesian ancestry in order to perform our research, we do not want to give the impression that this is a way for people to define their membership in the community based on some arbitrary threshold.

Additionally, Chiang emphasized that the model for Polynesian heritance among Native Hawaiians does not necessarily apply perfectly to populations in other islands such as Samoa.

Perhaps most important, the links between genetics and health revealed in this study should not be construed to mean that being part of any particular population automatically relegates a person to poor health in and of itself.

Genetics is a window into understanding the biology behind these diseases, Chiang said. Genetics does not determine everything, and it doesnt necessarily even amount to the majority of the disparity in risk. I want people to know there are modifiable components to your lifestyle, such as a healthy diet and regular hula dancing, that will absolutely help.

About the studies

The studys co-first authors are Hanxiao Sun, a former masters student in Chiangs research group, and Meng Lin, a former postdoctoral researcher in the group. Other authors are Tsz Fung Chan, Bryan Dinh and Christopher Haiman of USC; Emily Russell and Ryan Minster of the University of Pittsburgh; Take Naseri of the Government of Samoas Ministry of Health; Muagututia Sefuiva Reupena of Lutia i Puava ae Mapu i Fagalele, a nongovernmental organization based in Samoa; Annette Lum-Jones, Lynne Wilkens and Loc Le Marchand of the University of Hawaii; the Samoan Obesity, Lifestyle, and Genetic Adaptations Study Group; and Iona Cheng of the University of California, San Francisco.

The study was supported by the National Cancer Institute (U01CA164973, P01CA168530) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (U01HG007397).

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Genetic ancestry linked to diabetes, heart failure and obesity among Native Hawaiians | Keck School of Medicine of USC - USC News

Cell Biology

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Human Behavior

Hundreds of Fish Species, Including Many That Humans Eat, Are Consuming Plastic – EcoWatch

By Alexandra McInturf and Matthew Savoca

Trillions of barely visible pieces of plastic are floating in the world's oceans, from surface waters to the deep seas. These particles, known as microplastics, typically form when larger plastic objects such as shopping bags and food containers break down.

Researchers are concerned about microplastics because they are minuscule, widely distributed and easy for wildlife to consume, accidentally or intentionally. We study marine science and animal behavior, and wanted to understand the scale of this problem. In a newly published study that we conducted with ecologist Elliott Hazen, we examined how marine fish including species consumed by humans are ingesting synthetic particles of all sizes.

In the broadest review on this topic that has been carried out to date, we found that, so far, 386 marine fish species are known to have ingested plastic debris, including 210 species that are commercially important. But findings of fish consuming plastic are on the rise. We speculate that this could be happening both because detection methods for microplastics are improving and because ocean plastic pollution continues to increase.

It's not news that wild creatures ingest plastic. The first scientific observation of this problem came from the stomach of a seabird in 1969. Three years later, scientists reported that fish off the coast of southern New England were consuming tiny plastic particles.

Since then, well over 100 scientific papers have described plastic ingestion in numerous species of fish. But each study has only contributed a small piece of a very important puzzle. To see the problem more clearly, we had to put those pieces together.

We did this by creating the largest existing database on plastic ingestion by marine fish, drawing on every scientific study of the problem published from 1972 to 2019. We collected a range of information from each study, including what fish species it examined, the number of fish that had eaten plastic and when those fish were caught. Because some regions of the ocean have more plastic pollution than others, we also examined where the fish were found.

For each species in our database, we identified its diet, habitat and feeding behaviors for example, whether it preyed on other fish or grazed on algae. By analyzing this data as a whole, we wanted to understand not only how many fish were eating plastic, but also what factors might cause them to do so. The trends that we found were surprising and concerning.

Leopard sharks swim past plastic debris in shallow water off southern California. Ralph Pace / CC BY-ND

Our research revealed that marine fish are ingesting plastic around the globe. According to the 129 scientific papers in our database, researchers have studied this problem in 555 fish species worldwide. We were alarmed to find that more than two-thirds of those species had ingested plastic.

One important caveat is that not all of these studies looked for microplastics. This is likely because finding microplastics requires specialized equipment, like microscopes, or use of more complex techniques. But when researchers did look for microplastics, they found five times more plastic per individual fish than when they only looked for larger pieces. Studies that were able to detect this previously invisible threat revealed that plastic ingestion was higher than we had originally anticipated.

Our review of four decades of research indicates that fish consumption of plastic is increasing. Just since an international assessment conducted for the United Nations in 2016, the number of marine fish species found with plastic has quadrupled.

Similarly, in the last decade alone, the proportion of fish consuming plastic has doubled across all species. Studies published from 2010-2013 found that an average of 15% of the fish sampled contained plastic; in studies published from 2017-2019, that share rose to 33%.

We think there are two reasons for this trend. First, scientific techniques for detecting microplastics have improved substantially in the past five years. Many of the earlier studies we examined may not have found microplastics because researchers couldn't see them.

Second, it is also likely that fish are actually consuming more plastic over time as ocean plastic pollution increases globally. If this is true, we expect the situation to worsen. Multiple studies that have sought to quantify plastic waste project that the amount of plastic pollution in the ocean will continue to increase over the next several decades.

While our findings may make it seem as though fish in the ocean are stuffed to the gills with plastic, the situation is more complex. In our review, almost one-third of the species studied were not found to have consumed plastic. And even in studies that did report plastic ingestion, researchers did not find plastic in every individual fish. Across studies and species, about one in four fish contained plastics a fraction that seems to be growing with time. Fish that did consume plastic typically had only one or two pieces in their stomachs.

In our view, this indicates that plastic ingestion by fish may be widespread, but it does not seem to be universal. Nor does it appear random. On the contrary, we were able to predict which species were more likely to eat plastic based on their environment, habitat and feeding behavior.

For example, fishes such as sharks, grouper and tuna that hunt other fishes or marine organisms as food were more likely to ingest plastic. Consequently, species higher on the food chain were at greater risk.

We were not surprised that the amount of plastic that fish consumed also seemed to depend on how much plastic was in their environment. Species that live in ocean regions known to have a lot of plastic pollution, such as the Mediterranean Sea and the coasts of East Asia, were found with more plastic in their stomachs.

This is not just a wildlife conservation issue. Researchers don't know very much about the effects of ingesting plastic on fish or humans. However, there is evidence that that microplastics and even smaller particles called nanoplastics can move from a fish's stomach to its muscle tissue, which is the part that humans typically eat. Our findings highlight the need for studies analyzing how frequently plastics transfer from fish to humans, and their potential effects on the human body.

Our review is a step toward understanding the global problem of ocean plastic pollution. Of more than 20,000 marine fish species, only roughly 2% have been tested for plastic consumption. And many reaches of the ocean remain to be examined. Nonetheless, what's now clear to us is that "out of sight, out of mind" is not an effective response to ocean pollution especially when it may end up on our plates.

Alexandra McInturf is a PhD Candidate in Animal Behavior at the University of California, Davis. Matthew Savoca is a Postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University.

Disclosure statement: Alexandra McInturf is affiliated with The Ethogram. Matthew Savoca receives funding from The National Geographic Society and the National Science Foundation.

Reposted with permission from The Conversation.

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Hundreds of Fish Species, Including Many That Humans Eat, Are Consuming Plastic - EcoWatch