Tag Archives: environment

Human Behavior

Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test: How Behavior Evolves and Why it Matters – Next Big Idea Club Magazine

Marlene Zuk is an evolutionary biologist and a professor of biology at the University of Minnesota, where she researches animal behavior.

Below, Marlene shares 5 key insights from her new book, Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test: How Behavior Evolves and Why it Matters. Listen to the audio versionread by Marlene herselfin the Next Big Idea App.

When people think about behavior in either humans or animals, they often want to know if that behavior is genetic or whether its learned. Thats especially true when headlines are full of declarations like Our politics are in our DNA.

This is the old nature-nurture debate. Traits as complex as intelligence or aggression have to be affected by both genes and the environment. And yet, we keep resurrecting this notion of it being nature or nurture. The nature-nurture controversy has become a zombie idea that keeps springing back to life but deserves to die once and for all.

The problem is that if people genuinely believe that, for example, men will always grow up with dominating tendencies because its in their genes, then interventions to prevent aggression are worthless. In reality, its the interplay, the entanglement, between genes and environment thats important.

We can illustrate that with a human disorder thats often called a genetic disease, phenylketonuria (PKU). Its screened for in infants with a heel prick at birth. Babies with two copies of a defective gene cannot properly metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine, which then builds up in the bloodstream, leading to severe intellectual disability. Seems obviously genetic, right? Nopeit turns out that if these babies are given a special diet, then they develop normally, so one could argue that the disease is environmental. The interaction of genes and the environ-ment is what matters. The outcome of whether the child grows up intellectually disabled or not depends on which diet they receive only if they have the defective genes.

A greater cause cannot be ascribed to genes or environment. And thats true for all traits. Next time you read that theres a gene for a behavior, whether its dog ownership or intelligence, think zombie.

Many people have tried connecting brain size and intelligence, with the assumption that a big brain is a prerequisite for complex or flexible behavior. But few have drawn this comparison out to its logical conclusion: are there animals that are so tiny that they are almost too stupid to live or do complicated tasks?

To figure this out, a scientist named William Eberhard studied extremely small spiders (including one kind that weighs less than a milligram) or about as much as an inch of sewing thread. Yet the spiders still produce orb webs, the silky wheel that entraps their even tinier prey. Eberhard measured whether the difficult process of weaving and adjusting a web was more of a challenge to the minuscule spiders than to three other kinds of spiders that weighed anywhere from 10 to 10,000 times more. The small spiders are just as capable as larger ones.

How do they manage that? Some tiny species cram brain tissue into places where it is not usually found, like into their legs, giving, as Eberhard and his colleague Bill Wcislo say, new meaning to the phrase thinking on your feet. This begs the question of how little tissue is required to run an animal at all, since nerve cells are limited by the laws of physics in how small they can become. Recent work suggests that the tiny spiders reduce neuron size and increase their relative brain size, so they have essentially equal numbers of neurons compared with larger orb weavers.

All nervous systems, and all brains, are success stories; you cant draw conclusions simply based on size. This should make us wary of generalizing intelligence, and what is meant by intelligenceespecially in insects. Insects have surprisingly large behavioral repertoires given their small brains, with flexibility that rivals that of some vertebrates. Maybe the question should be not how insects do so much with tiny brains, but why vertebrates bother with big ones?

Dr. Stephen Lea is a brave man. An emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Exeter in England, he published a paper with Britta Osthaus titled, In what sense are dogs special? The conclusion was that they arent.

The reception to their work was not appreciative. Your Dog Is Probably Dumber Than You Think, a New Study Says, smirked a typical headline from Time magazine. Lea tried to pacify the dog people in an interview by saying, Dog cognition may not be exceptional, but dogs are certainly exceptional cognitive research subjects. No one seemed placated.

The study didnt show that dogs were stupid. It asked whether they were smarter than you would expect. To answer this, Lea and Osthaus picked three groups for comparison. First, they looked at other species that are related to dogs evolutionarilymembers of the group Carnivora, meaning meat-eaters, including African wild dogs and cats. Then, they considered dogs as social hunters, alongside dolphins and chimpanzees. Finally, they examined horses and domestic pigeons, both of which are domesticated like dogs and which share characteristics like being subject to training.

The result was that dogs do well at discriminating complex visual patterns, like telling human faces apart, but so do chimps and pigeons. Dogs are good at smells, but they are bested by pigs, which can even distinguish between the odors of familiar and unfamiliar people. Dogs are not especially skilled at what Lea and Osthaus term physical cognitionrecognizing the consequences of manipulating objects like strings attached to food. Despite the heartwarming nature of movies like Homeward Bound, dogs arent particularly good at navigating over long distances.

But it doesnt make sense to pick on an animal, no matter how beloved, and rank it according to a scale that only works in a single dimension or on human-centric traits. For the most part, nonhuman animals are not considered smart unless theyve passed a test designed by humans, like making a tool or recognizing themselves in a mirror. But dogs are good at things that make sense for dogs, not things that make sense for humans. Though an unsatisfying answer, it makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint.

Early humans used medicine and treated injuries such as fractures, but where did their knowledge come from? Do animals help themselves feel better when they are sick?

Yes. Chimpanzees in Africa eat a variety of plants, but some individuals have been seen to select the young shoots of one particular plant, stripping the stems of their bark, and chewing the bitter pith and juice. These individuals often seemed sick with diarrhea, weight loss, and a lack of energy. Researchers found that the use of the plant was associated with a drop in intestinal parasites. Chimps will also swallow entire leaves from a different plant whole (without chewing) and here the leaves had tiny hairs that seem to scrape worms from the gut and allow them to be expelled.

This kind of behavior doesnt necessarily require a sophisticated level of cognition. Animals have many ways of changing their behavior to deal with infection, and not all of the animals that do so are those we consider smart, as we do apes. For instance, goats supposedly eat anything, from tin cans to laundry off the line, but they are remarkably sensitive foragers. If infected with roundworms, they will eat more of a shrub containing a chemical that fights the worms.

Many birds nests are plagued by lice, fleas, and other parasites. These suck blood from the young birds and can lead to slower growth or even death. The parent birds cant physically remove the pests, but some species place aromatic leaves inside the nest. The plants act as a natural fumigant, reducing the number of fleas and other external parasites. House finches have even adapted to urban environments by weaving fibers from cigarette butts into their nests, also for its fumigant effect. The butts contain nicotine, which is often used as an insecticide, and it keeps fleas and lice away. The use of tobacco, however, carries a cost: in nests with nicotine, both the nestlings and their parents showed signs of DNA damage.

Darwin thought that insanity in animals demonstrated how all living things are related, so he thought they did get mentally ill. On the other hand, some scientists think that animals can serve as models for us to understand mental illness, but dont get the disorders themselves. Yet others think animals are only mentally ill when they are mistreated by humans.

I agree with Darwin, and one of the best places to see the continuity of mental disorders in humans and animals is in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, OCD. People have noticed for many years that some characteristics of OCD are also seen in animals, particularly dogs. The disorder means doing normal behaviorshand-washing, turning in circles before lying downtoo much. In dogs, we call it CCD, Canine Compulsive Disorder, because we cant know what dogs are or arent obsessing over.

A scientist named Elinor Karlsson and her team have identified genes that affect a dogs risk of showing the disorder. These genes govern the way nerve cells communicate. But knowing a dogs genetic makeup wont tell you definitively whether or not they will exhibit the disorder. Dogs, like humans, inherit one copy of any particular gene from their mother and one copy from their father, so both can be the same or they can have one normal and one abnormal gene. Of the dogs with two normal copies, 10% have CCD anyway; of the ones with one copy of each type, 25% have it; and of the dogs with two abnormal copies, 60% show CCD, but not all of them. Knowing the dogs genetic profile doesnt tell you for sure whether the dog has the disorder.

This shows us two things. First, entanglement of genes and the environment because the gene doesnt cause the disorder unless the environment favors it. Second, mental disorders can illustrate the common evolutionary roots in our brains and bodies that give rise to amazingly different behaviors.

To listen to the audio version read by author Marlene Zuk, download the Next Big Idea App today:

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Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test: How Behavior Evolves and Why it Matters - Next Big Idea Club Magazine

Human Behavior

What can furbearers past and present teach us about future conservation efforts? – EurekAlert

NORMAN, OKLA. Over the years, humans have had a profound effect on biodiversity. Whether through population, land use, exploitation or lifestyle, everywhere people go, they have an impact on the environment and ecosystem services that we all rely on.

This pattern is exemplified by the beaver and its extirpation (local extinction) in the northeastern part of the country, a result of the fur trade industry between roughly 1600-1900. European demand for mammal pelts, such as the beaver, altered life for Indigenous North Americans and shifted thousands of years of traditional harvest practices.

While existing research has given us some insight, scientists hope the eager beaver and its furry cohorts will improve our understanding of the past, and better manage current and future conservation efforts for these furbearers.

Courtney Hofman, Presidents Associates Presidential Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma, is leading a project studying how human management schemes and Indigenous relationships influenced furbearers, specifically beaver, mink and muskrat.

Hofmans work is the focus of a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The four-year study uses ancient DNA samples derived from archaeological specimens housed at the Smithsonian Institutes Natural History Museum and among other museums, as well as samples from modern beaver, mink and muskrat provided by wildlife managers and fur-trappers, to better understand the relationship between people and these animals. The study incorporates a diverse group of collaborators, including the Smithsonian, Middlebury College, the University of Maine and tribal partners.

Interestingly, despite those species being really important commercially, like fur farms, there really hasnt been much genetic study at all of their native ranges in North America, Hofman said. Especially with something like the beaver that almost went extinct due to overharvest and is now recovering, there is a lot of potential to estimate how many beavers were on the landscape in the past before euro-colonial harvest and explore questions of how ecosystems have changed due to human action and human behavior over the last several thousand years.

Hofman said shifting baselines the idea that as resources decline, each new generation accepts that what the previous generation experienced was normal often make it hard to determine what should be considered normal in the area of ecological restoration. By extracting DNA from archaeological and historic specimens, scientists can get closer to the truth.

We can use the archaeological record as a time machine to go back and see how much genetic diversity has been lost due to the fur trade and then think about how that impacts the management of these species today, she said.

Hofman hopes working with wildlife managers will help guide future conservation efforts. Beaver managers with whom she works in Maine are interested in what the beaver landscape used to be and what it could support. By partnering with fur trappers, she and other researchers hope to collect tissue samples that will help paint an accurate picture and guide current fur trappers.

Theres a difference between the environmental carrying capacity, or how many beavers can be maintained in the environment, and the cultural carrying capacity, or how many beavers people think or want to be there because they can mess up their fields or do things that are destructive to their landscapes or farms, Hofman said. Having an estimate of what was there can guide them a little bit as they manage fur trapping, which is still an important activity today. It provides information on what was, so we can think about what could be.

As part of this research, Hofman is also studying what the extinct sea mink can tell her about the fur trade and the modern mink.

Sea mink, now extinct, lived on the coast of Maine. It was larger and probably smellier than the American mink. It went extinct in the late 1800s, probably due to overharvesting, she said. The larger sea mink was more attractive because for the same amount of effort you could get a bigger skin to sell.

Hofman said most of what we know about sea mink is from the archaeological record. Theres not much other information available except in museums.

We have been sequencing the DNA of extinct sea mink to figure out what this extinct species was and how it relates to the modern mink that live in North America today, she said. But theres a shifting baselines question here because the sea mink went extinct and on the coastal islands where it used to live theres a great interest in protecting sea birds and nesting sea birds. Closely related American mink from the mainland have been swimming out to these islands and predating on the sea birds living on the islands. Right now, managers are removing mink when they find them on these islands to protect the birds. But there used to be sea mink that lived on these islands that went extinct before our recent memory. Perhaps the sea birds on these islands, instead of being in decline, are fluctuating to population levels when the sea mink existed on the landscape.

Sara Williams, a University of Oklahoma dual major in human health and biology as well as microbiology, and Elizabeth Austin, an environmental science and earth and climate science major at Middlebury College in Vermont, spent time interning at the Smithsonians Natural History Museum, where they helped identify specimens for use in Hofmans project, including the sea mink.They blogged about the experiencebefore presenting their internship findings at the Furbearers Conference at Shoals Marine Lab in Maine, organized by Hofman and project co-investigator Alexis Mychajliw. This workshop brought together wildlife managers, fur trappers, archaeologists and Indigenous community members to help direct future research.

Not only does the study detail the effect of the classic Euro-American fur trade on beaver, mink and muskrat, it also delves into the historical exploitation of Indigenous peoples.

This past June, Hofman and Mychajliw attended an archaeological field school led by Bonnie Newsom, a Penobscot Nation citizen, assistant professor at the University of Maine and senior personnel on the project. Newsom has done extensive work on Indigenous archaeological methods, utilizing language experts in her workshops to connect objects to the language.

Were using archaeological material from Wabanaki ancestors, so we want to make sure this project is inclusive of the people who lived on these landscapes and continue to live on these landscapes and seascapes, Hofman said. Were looking at the human influence on the furbearers as part of this project, so making sure that those communities are represented is incredibly important.

The project, DISES: Cultural Resilience and Shifting Baselines of the North American Fur Trade, is funded by the National Science Foundation Division of Research, Innovation, Synergies and Education, Award no. 2109168. The project began on Sept. 21, 2021, and is expected to be complete by Aug. 31, 2025. Principal investigator is Courtney Hofman. Co-principal investigators are Torben Rick (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History) and Alexis Mychajliw (Middlebury College).

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What can furbearers past and present teach us about future conservation efforts? - EurekAlert

Anatomy

Nine Brains, Three Hearts and Other Octopus Anatomy Facts – Now. Powered by Northrop Grumman.

Octopus anatomy is strikingly different from the human body, unless youre Dr. Otto Gunther Octavius. Eight arms are the most obvious trait, but beneath the mottled skin theres actually an array of brains, one for each tentacle. And just how many hearts does an octopus have? The answer is a surprising three, and each has an important function, so theyre not just spares.

These facts are just the tip of the iceberg for one of the more specialized creatures under the sea.

With such a uniqueness in octopus anatomy, youd expect these cephalopods to live forever. Sadly, no. The usual life span in the wild is only around one to two years for most species, according to National Geographic.

The Nature Conservancy Council of Canada notes that the largest species, the Northern Giant Pacific octopus, is also the longest lived. It reaches up to around five meters in length and between 20 and 50 kilograms in weight (about 16.5 feet and between 44 and 110 pounds), and dies at around five years old, usually after mating or laying and caring for eggs.

Scientific American blogged about the loss of the National Zoos resident octopus, Pandora, who had been entertaining visitors in her tank for 27 months, which is quite a record for an octopus.

An octopus has not one, but three hearts.

Two of them the branchial hearts pump blood to the gills where it picks up oxygen. The third, or systemic heart, pumps the oxygenated blood around the body, fueling up the eight tentacles for whatever they and their suckers plan to do.

Octopuses are quite active as cephalopods, and its thought that the three hearts are necessary to maintain their power. However, when swimming, the octopus does not use its systemic heart and can tire quite easily. It creates water jets with its body mantle instead to power propulsion.

Octopus blood is blue due to the copper-based, oxygen-carrying hemocyanin it contains. Hemocyanin doesnt carry oxygen as well as a humans iron-based hemoglobin, and New Scientist explains this might be why octopuses need more than one heart. Unfortunately, hemocyanin doesnt carry oxygen so well in acidic conditions. Since climate change is gradually lowering the pH of the worlds oceans, the environment here may not be ideal for octopus anatomy in the future.

Another reason for the impressive array of hearts is due to another peculiar feature of octopus anatomy: They have a mini brain in each of the eight tentacles, which helps each arm act independently with speed and sharp reflexes. A ninth brain oversees the entire nervous system and can also somewhat override the mini brain to operate each tentacle.

The brain-to-body ratio for an octopus is the largest for any invertebrate, and they have around the same number of neurons as a dog. They are known to be extremely intelligent, learning to solve puzzles in lab simulations and are also able to recognize people.

Having such a powerful and extensive nervous system takes a lot of energy, hence the three hearts to pump blood around the octopus.

Tentacles, each covered in an array of powerful suckers, are used for locomotion and gathering food. Although octopuses can swim, their preferred locomotion is to crawl along the seabed. Octopuses can also use their tentacles to manipulate objects, unscrewing jars and holding food. Male octopuses use a specialized grooved tentacle called a hectocotylus to pass a spermatophore to the female during mating. The National History Museum describes how some male octopuses also leave the appendage with the female.

Octopus anatomy has inspired robot development; using biomimicry, researchers at Harvard developed a soft tentacle bot that can carefully grasp irregular objects. There have even been attempts to develop climbing robots based on their ability to grasp surfaces such as ladder rungs and rough walls.

Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

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Anatomy

Anatomy of a DIB Hack: Feds Share Methods, Mitigations – MeriTalk

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Security Agency (NSA) released anadvisorythis week detailing how multiple nation-state hacking groups potentially targeted a Defense Industrial Base (DIB) sector organizations enterprise network as part of a cyber espionage campaign.

The joint advisory explains that the hacking groups used the open-source toolkit, Impacket, to gain a foothold within the environment, and the data exfiltration tool, CovalentStealer, to steal the victims sensitive data.

CISA observed the attacks between November 2021 and January 2022. They did not identify the victim organization.

During incident response activities, CISA uncovered that likely multiple [advanced persistent threat (APT)] groups compromised the organizations network, and some APT actors had longterm access to the environment, the advisory reads.

Some APT actors reportedly gained initial access to the organizations Microsoft Exchange Server as early as midJanuary 2021. Later, they returned and used Command Shell to learn about the organizations environment and to collect sensitive data before implanting two Impacket tools.

In April 2021, APT actors used Impacket for network exploitation activities, the advisory reads. From late July through midOctober 2021, APT actors employed a custom exfiltration tool, CovalentStealer, to exfiltrate the remaining sensitive files.

The security agencies recommended that organizations monitor logs for connections from unusual virtual private networks, suspicious account use, anomalous and known malicious command-line usage, and unauthorized changes to user accounts.

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Anatomy of a DIB Hack: Feds Share Methods, Mitigations - MeriTalk

Human Behavior

Once and for all: should we feed the squirrels? – The Michigan Daily

From wading through the fountain by the bell tower the first week of freshman year to cautiously avoiding the M on the Diag, to be a Michigan student is to participate in a rich array of traditions. To some, these customs include feeding squirrels on a sunny day. So, the question stands, once and for all, should we feed the squirrels?

Nursing senior Autumn Farnum is the co-president of The Squirrel Club at the University of Michigan, an organization of students, alumni and members of the Ann Arbor community that feed squirrels during the school year every Sunday. Farnum said they believe feeding squirrels is a good way to build a campus community, as long as they are fed healthy food.

Having the connection between the wildlife and our students here kind of builds that friendly campus environment that we have and also makes sure that (the squirrels) have a nice treat once in a while, Farnum said.

While Farnum and campus tour guides embrace squirrel feeding, animal welfare organizations have raised concerns over feeding the furry creatures. Squirrels who are fed by people can become dependent on handouts occasionally never regaining self-sufficiency. Feeding squirrels can also contribute to their overpopulation in certain areas as the squirrels adapt to reside in areas where human handouts are popular, such as parks and urban areas.

When humans feed squirrels, whether on campus or in other areas, squirrels can lose their natural fear of humans. Ann Arbors fearless squirrels often approach students, especially around the Diag, because they are so often fed there.

LSA sophomore Alanna Carlo-Pagan is a member of the Animal Ethics Society, an organization dedicated to furthering discussion about the ethical treatment of animals through philosophy, and often volunteers for The Creature Conservancy in Ann Arbor. Carlo-Pagan said it is important to think about the impact humans actions have on animal behavior when feeding animals like squirrels.

What you have to take into account when youre measuring the impact of human behavior on the environment is how its gonna affect humans, how its gonna affect other species and how it might affect that species, Carlo-Pagan said. What people are mostly concerned about is how it just rubs patterns of migration and food seeking behavior and how it might lead animals to become so trusting of humans or imprinted on humans that theyre unable to actually go out and look for food on their own.

Squirrels can also cause problems for local residents, as they can destroy property and carry disease in highly populated areas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says while it is extremely unlikely for squirrels to contract rabies or carry the rabies virus, they can carry other diseases like typhus and ringworm.

Despite these concerns, many students actively partake in feeding the squirrels on campus and befriending the creatures. LSA freshman Julia Holden said feeding squirrels on campus is fun for her and her friends, and it is a nice way for students to get outside.

Its just fun, honestly, Holden said. Its just nice to be around animals. Its a good way to get outside. They obviously arent antsy about being around people. So, I mean, theyre here anyways. Why not?

Holden said squirrels might often be fed the wrong foods, but she is careful to feed them healthy nuts that the animals can digest.

Im sure they get enough not good food, Holden said. I have organic, unsalted walnuts. So, I think if youre feeding them the right thing, its probably okay.

Farnum echoed Holdens emphasis on feeding squirrels nutritional foods.

The peanuts we give (squirrels) help them control their teeth growth because gnawing on stuff helps their teeth, Farnum said. I just think its specifically like what is decided to feed them (that is important) because a lot of foods that are salty overload their kidneys, and its just not good for them.

Carlo-Pagan said she believes since U-M students have been feeding the squirrels on campus for so long, its almost impossible to imagine how to discontinue campus squirrels imprint on humans.

I have seen the way the Diag squirrels literally come up to and sit on top of people, Carlo-Pagan said. So, what Im thinking is were well past the point where it would matter (if students fed them or not).

As a new student on campus, Holden said she thinks feeding the squirrels gives students a break from their campus activities and a moment to relax outdoors.

They come up to you and theyre looking at you like, do you have anything for me? Holden said. And I was like, Im just gonna go buy some snacks, and I took my friend to do it. She was like, this is like the happiest I felt in weeks.

Daily News Reporter Rachel Mintz can be reached at mintzrac@umich.edu.

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Once and for all: should we feed the squirrels? - The Michigan Daily

Immunology

University of Kentucky Equine Research Hall of Fame announces awardees – DVM 360

Esteemed award is an international forum celebrating noteworthy achievements in equine research and individuals who have significantly impacted equine health

The University of Kentucky (UK) Gluck Equine Research Center unveiled the 2022 inductees to the Equine Research Hall of Fame. The winners include Lisa Fortier, DVM, PhD, DACVS; Katrin Hinrichs, DVM, PhD; Jennifer Anne Mumford, DVM; and Stephen M. Reed, DVM.

The scientists were nominated by their fellow peers and past awardees. Nominees may be living or deceased, active in or retired from the field of equine research.

In research, we always stand on the shoulders of those who go before us with great discoveries. This years recipients have made substantial contributions that will ensure an excellent future for equine research, expressed Nancy Cox, UK vice president for land-grant engagement and College of Agriculture, Food and Environment dean, in a university release.1

The success of Kentuckys horse industry is inseparable from the decades of hard work by outstanding equine researchers, added Stuart Brown, chair of the Gluck Equine Research Foundation. Though impossible to measure, it is a unique privilege to recognize the impact made by these four scientists in advancing the health and wellbeing of the horse and, on behalf of the entire equine community, show our appreciation.

Below are the details of each awardee1:

Throughout the past 30 years, Fortier has been renowned for her substantial contributions in equine joint disease, cartilage biology, and regenerative medicine. Her research focuses on early diagnosis and treatment of equine orthopedic injuries to prevent permanent damage to joints and tendons. She is most well-known for her work in regenerative medicine, spearheading the use of biologics such as platelet rich plasma, bone marrow concentrate, and stem cells for use in horses and humans. Additionally, Fortiers lab has been key in strides associated with cartilage damage diagnosis and clinical orthopedic work.

Fortier achieved her bachelors degree and doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Colorado State University. She finished her residency at Cornell, where she also earned a PhD and was a postdoctoral fellow in pharmacology. Currently, she serves as the James Law Professor of Surgery at Cornells College of Veterinary Medicine. She is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association and serves on the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority Racetrack Safety Standing Committee.

Hinrichs dedicates her career to research mainly in equine reproductive physiology and assisted reproduction techniques. Her focus has consisted of equine endocrinology, oocyte maturation, fertilization, sperm capacitation, and their application to assisted reproduction techniques.

Her 40 years of research have resulted in various notable basic and applied research accomplishments. The applied achievements include generating the first cloned horse in North America and creating the medical standard for effective intracytoplasmic sperm injection and in vitro culture for equine embryo production. She has mentored over 85 veterinary students, residents, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows in basic and applied veterinary research. Her laboratories have hosted about 50 visiting scholars worldwide.

Hinrichs achieved her bachelors degree and doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the University of California, Davis. She finished residency training in large animal reproduction at the University of Pennsylvanias New Bolton Center and received a PhD at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mumford is a posthumous inductee who received international respect as among the most prominent researchers of equine infectious diseases, specifically equine viral diseases. Her career at the Animal Health Trust, Newmarket, United Kingdom, began when she was deemed the first head of the newly established equine virology unit. Her work focused on the leading causes of acute infectious respiratory disease in the horse, mainly equine herpesvirus and equine influenza virus, and to a lesser extent,Streptococcus equi.

Mumford impacted several of these realms, including developing enhanced vaccines, diagnostics, and international surveillance. Additionally, she helped create research groups in the related fields of equine genetics and immunology.

Throughout Mumfords over 30 year-career, she helped the Animal Health Trust be recognized as one of the worlds leading centers for the study of the biology, epidemiology, immunology and pathology of diseases.

Reeds nominators deemed his as the last word in equine neurology. He is known as among the most prominent equine neurologists worldwide. His list of 180 peer-reviewed publications feature important contributions to equine medicine, neurology, physiology and pathophysiology. He has shared in his accomplishments as a mentor and role-model for hundreds of aspiring equine practitioners.

Reed received his bachelors degree and doctor of veterinary medicine degree from The Ohio State University. He finished his internship and residency training in large animal medicine at Michigan State University.

The UK Gluck Equine Research Foundation will induct the 4 winners into the UK Equine Research Hall of Fame October 26, 2022 at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky.

Reference

Wiemers H. UK Equine Research Hall of Fame inductees announced. UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. News release. September 13, 2022. Accessed September 20, 2022. https://news.ca.uky.edu/article/uk-equine-research-hall-fame-inductees-announced-1

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University of Kentucky Equine Research Hall of Fame announces awardees - DVM 360

Human Behavior

Biometrics: Why Are They Needed and Top Practical Applications – Spiceworks News and Insights

Companies have used passwords to secure their data and assets for a long time. But password security has grown less effective as processing speeds have accelerated and cryptanalysis methods have improved. Consequently, a more advanced authentication technique is required. Biometrics is one such method. This article delves deep into biometrics, discussing its challenges, applications, and why we need to implement it as a critical authentication method. Read on.

Biometrics is an authentication factor that uses human behavior and physical attributes to identify a user. We can use several physical characteristics, but not all provide the same level of protection for an organizations resources. Nor are all scanning technologies suited for all business environments.

In this article, we have examined each approach to measuring biometric characteristics, the challenges with each, and the role of biometrics in overall identity management.

For decades, organizations relied on passwords to protect information resources. However, the increase in processor speed and improvements in cryptanalysis have made passwords weak protection, as the NIST describes in their password use guidelines.

The need for something more resulted in the creation of other approaches and divided all associated authentication factors into three types.

Type I Something you know (passwords, PINs, passphrases, etc.)

Type II Something you have (token, certificate, one-time password generator, )

Type III Something you are (biometrics: fingerprint, vein pattern, iris pattern, )

Each type has advantages and disadvantages, often resulting in higher than the acceptable risk when protecting highly classified systems and data, making using two or more factors necessary.

Biometrics is just one factor, a factor that has challenges of its own. Consequently, it is not an authentication silver bullet, often requiring an additional factor, depending on solution characteristics and the risk you are trying to mitigate.

See More: Deepfakes: Can Biometric Authentication Defeat the New Cybersecurity Nightmare?

Before looking at specific biometrics solutions, it is essential to understand their common characteristics and challenges, including error rates, effectiveness, advantages, and disadvantages.

First, each biometrics solution has three associated error rates, as shown in Figure 1. False rejection rates (FRRs), known as Type I errors, are the rate at which an authentication system fails to verify the identity of an authorized user. A Type II error, the false acceptance rate (FAR), is the rate at which the authentication system incorrectly authenticates unauthorized users. The crossover error rate, or CER, is the point at which the FAR and the FRR are the same.

Figure 1: Biometrics Error Rates

As we increase the sensitivity of the biometrics sensors, the sensors scan and measure user characteristics, the FRR increases, and the FAR decreases. In other words, as we try harder to prevent unauthorized users from getting authenticated, we frustrate our users, reducing their productivity as we increase the number of times an authorized user fails to authenticate.

The CER varies across the characteristics measured and the available vendor solutions. When selecting a solution, it is crucial to understand the risk associated with the error rates and choose the one that fits the specific application within your organization.

The placement of sensors is an important consideration. For example, placing fingerprint sensors that require placing a finger on a surface is not a good solution for many manufacturing environments. Ambient oil and other substances find their way to fingers and sensor surfaces, causing error rates to spike.

Further, environmental conditions can affect the characteristics scanned. Abdarahmane Wone et al. documented research in which they found evidence that features examined under different environmental conditions, other than those present when the person enrolled into the biometrics system, appeared different to scanners. I will cover enrollment later in this article.

Environmental considerations are important and should be discussed with any vendor presenting her solution for review.

It is not just picking the wrong solution that can cause your biometrics efforts to circle the drain. Failure is imminent if you lose management support or users simply refuse to use it.

One of the biggest reasons users resist biometrics is their belief that the organization collects and stores information about one or more of their physical characteristics. We must inform our users about how the process works and how it protects their information.

Another challenge involves cultural norms that vary from country to country and between cultures, affecting what individuals view as acceptable. Organizations must understand what resistance there might be to body part scanning and plan authentication efforts accordingly.

Managers begin to join other users in biometrics resistance when the solutions implemented hinder production, caused by multiple attempts to authentication or failure to recognize scans. Properly tuning your error rates, correctly assessing what works and what does not within specific work environments, and providing quick workarounds when biometrics fail all help prevent managers and employees from storming your office in a biometrics revolt.

There are two basic biometrics processes: enrollment and authentication.

Before an employee uses a biometrics solution for authentication, the organization must enroll him. Figure 2 shows a general enrollment process.

After the administrator creates an Active Directory account for the new hire, she begins the biometrics enrollment process.

Figure 2: Enrollment

Figure 3 shows that using the reference template for authentication is straightforward.

Figure 3: Biometrics Authentication

The UK National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) describes different approaches to attacking biometrics.

Not all biometrics solutions are susceptible to all of these attack vectors. In any case, the following section provides ways to strengthen each type of biometrics. The key takeaway, however, is that biometrics is not a completely safe authentication factor, with the risk associated with what is used, the quality of the sensors, and the processing algorithms.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, a fingerprint is the collection of papillary ridges on the ends of the fingers and thumbs that enable us to grasp objects securely. The arrangement of these ridges, as shown in Figure 4, differs between individuals, providing unique identification.

Figure 4: Fingerprint Patterns (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Although there have been some claims that fingerprints are not unique, there is no credible evidence to support these claims. However, it is not difficult to create artifacts for fingerprint solutions that only check for patterns, ignoring checking to see if the patterns are actually part of a living person.

Organizations can strengthen fingerprint recognition efforts by

As shown in Figure 5, humans have a set of facial characteristics that organizations can use to authenticate their identities. 2D scanning includes

Figure 5: Biometrics Characteristics (TechSmith Assets)

Facial recognition does not require physical contact with the scanner. Users can often just simply sit in front of a device for facial recognition, requiring no special interaction.

Facial recognition, like fingerprint recognition, can be forged with facial artifacts created by threat actors, artifacts created using photographs or other media. The use of artifacts to bypass recognition is known as a presentation attack.

When evaluating a solution, one of the first things an organization should consider is its ability to defend against presentation attacks, taking steps to ensure the presence of a live human face, not an image, in front of the camera. According to Kevin Bonsor and Ryan Johnson, one approach is to use 3D scanning that looks at additional characteristics, like the curves of the eye socket, nose, and chin. Another is the use of video capture algorithms that detect nodding and blinking.

Stephen Mayhew writes that hand geometry is the longest implemented biometric type, debuting in the market in the late 1980s. However, the hand is not distinctive enough to use as a strong biometrics authentication in most solutions.

Hand scanning devices measure an individuals hand length, width, thickness, and surface area, capturing images of both the hands top and side.

Eye characteristics are unique, but iris and retina scans are not equally resistant to presentation attacks.

The iris, as shown in Figure 6, is the colored area around the pupil. Each persons iris is as unique as their fingerprint, and users often do not need to touch a scanner to authenticate. Another advantage is the lack of change over time in the iris patterns. However, iris artifacts can be created, making live-eye detection or a second authentication factor necessary for high-risk situations.

Figure 6: Iris (By Smhossei Own work, CC BY 3.0, Source)

Retina scans are intrusive, requiring the insertion of a harmless beam into the back of the eye to scan the retinas blood vessels. Figure 7 is an artists interpretation of the patterns inside the eye. This intrusion can cause users to refuse to use the scanner. An upside, however, is that it is as yet impractical for a threat actor to rely on an artifact during a retina scanning attack.

Figure 7: Retinal Blood Vessel Pattern (Retina Associates)

Eye scans are fast with low error rates. However, they can be costly for general use across an organization and more suitable for high-risk or quick access needs.

Vein recognition, also known as vascular biometrics, is very accurate, nearly impossible to fool with artifacts, fast, and with falling costs, making it a good alternative for fingerprint recognition. Using the subcutaneous blood vessels of the human body that create patterns unique for each individual, scanners typically use fingers or hands for authentication.

Figure 8: Vein Recognition (Parihar & Jain)

Although behavior recognition solutions are generally considered relatively weak, they can be used as part of zero-trust access control, providing periodic verification of a user without any pause in their tasks. Keystroke dynamics and voice recognition are two common approaches.

Keystroke dynamics uses a software agent placed on the users device. The agent measures overall typing speed, variations in how the user moves between keys, common typing errors, and the length of time keys are depressed. Solutions that continuously assess typing patterns provide authentication verification during the entire time a user is authenticated.

Voice recognition uses users voice prints for authentication. Threat actors can easily capture voice samples, patch needed phrases together if needed, and successfully launch a presentation attack.

See More: How Cloud-Based Biometrics Streamline Identity Management

My descriptions above are general statements about the different biometrics approaches. They, and the comparison information provided in Table 1, are contingent upon emerging technologies and the differences between solution vendors. It is essential to ask the right questions. Know what you are getting.

Table 1: Biometrics Comparisons

Biometrics can be a practical, easy-to-use authentication factor. However, not all environments are suited for every approach. Before selecting a solution, understand the environment in which it will operate, and the daily condition of the physical characteristics scanned, avoiding issues like fingers covered with oil or other substances. You might need more than one solution, each fitted to its operating environment and the risk associated with accessed resources.

One of the biggest challenges you will face is user non-acceptance based on privacy concerns. Management at all levels must understand and support the effort. Users must be trained and understand why something new is entering their work habits and the steps taken to protect their privacy.

One way to get managers and other employees on board is to involve them in the decision-making processes, starting with the review of the risk assessment, through requirements definitions and feasibility studies, to the selection of the final solution (or solutions).

Does your company have a powerful biometric mechanism in place? Let us know on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. We would love to hear from you!

Read more:
Biometrics: Why Are They Needed and Top Practical Applications - Spiceworks News and Insights

Physiology

Revealing the Hidden Genome: Unknown DNA Sequences Identified That May Be Critical to Human Health – SciTechDaily

Scientists have developed a new technique to reveal the hidden human genome.

Numerous short RNA sequences that code for microproteins and peptides have been identified, providing new opportunities for the study of diseases and the development of drugs.

Researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School and their collaborators have discovered thousands of previously unknown DNA sequences in the human genome that code for microproteins and peptides that could be critical for human health and disease.

Much of what we understand about the known two per cent of the genome that codes for proteins comes from looking for long strands of protein-coding nucleotide sequences, or long open reading frames, explained computational biologist Dr Sonia Chothani, a research fellow with Duke-NUS Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disorders (CVMD) Programme and first author of the study. Recently, however, scientists have discovered small open reading frames (smORFs) that can also be translated from RNA into small peptides, which have roles in DNA repair, muscle formation and genetic regulation.

Scientists have been seeking to identify smORFs and the tiny peptides they code for since smORF disruption can cause disease. However, the currently available techniques are quite limited.

Much of the current datasets do not provide information that is detailed enough to identify smORFs in RNA, added Dr Chothani. The majority also comes from analyses of immortalised human cells that are propagatedsometimes for decadesto study cell physiology, function and disease. However, these cell lines arent always accurate representations of human physiology.

Chothani and her colleagues from Singapore, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Australia present an approach they created to address these challenges in a recentstudy published in Molecular Cell. They scoured existing ribosome profiling datasets for short strands of RNA with periodic three-base sections that covered more than 60% of the RNAs length. They then performed their own RNA sequencing and Ribosome profiling to establish a combined data set of six kinds of cells and five types of tissue derived from hundreds of patients.

Analyses of these data identified nearly 8,000 smORFs. Interestingly, they were highly specific to the tissues that they were found in, meaning that these smORFs may perform a function specific to their environment. The team also identified 603 microproteins coded by some of these smORFs.

The genome is littered with smORFs, said Assistant Professor Owen Rackham, senior author of the study from the CVMD Programme. Our comprehensive and spatially resolved map of human smORFs highlights overlooked functional components of the genome, pinpoints new players in health and disease and provides a resource for the scientific community as a platform to accelerate discoveries.

Professor Patrick Casey, Senior Vice-Dean of Research at Duke-NUS, said, With the healthcare system evolving to not only treat diseases but also prevent them, identifying potential new targets for disease research and drug development could open avenues to new solutions. This research by Dr Chothani and her team, published as a resource for the scientific community, brings important insights to the field.

Reference: A high-resolution map of human RNA translation by Sonia P. Chothani, Eleonora Adami, Anissa A. Widjaja, Sarah R. Langley, Sivakumar Viswanathan, Chee Jian Pua, Nevin Tham Zhihao, Nathan Harmston, Giuseppe DAgostino, Nicola Whiffin, Wang Mao, John F. Ouyang, Wei Wen Lim, Shiqi Lim, Cheryl Q.E. Lee, Alexandra Grubman, Joseph Chen, J.P. Kovalik, Karl Tryggvason, Jose M. Polo, Lena Ho, Stuart A. Cook, Owen J.L. Rackham and Sebastian Schafer, 15 July 2022, Molecular Cell.DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2022.06.023

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Revealing the Hidden Genome: Unknown DNA Sequences Identified That May Be Critical to Human Health - SciTechDaily

Human Behavior

If you want to create a fearless organization, here’s how – WRAL TechWire

Editors Note: Grace Ueng is CEO of Savvy Growth, a leadership coaching and management consultancy founded in 2003. Her great passion to help leaders and the companies they run achieve their fullest potential combined with her empathy and ability to help executives figure out their why is what clients value most. Grace writes a regular column for WRAL TechWire to help readers become happier and therefore, better leaders.

You always give people the benefit of the doubt!

A coaching client recently shared issues he was having with one of his direct reports. When I asked him a question to perhaps see the situation from that persons perspective, he immediately said, You always give people the benefit of the doubt. I left that session not sure about his comment, other than he didnt think that was necessarily a good thing. It sounded like he thought I was too easy on his people.

As I shared in Back in the Classroom at Harvard Business School, I was energized by having a front row seat in the classroom of Professor Amy Edmonson, guru on human behavior and author of The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and Growth.

Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmonson (Photo credit: Harvard)

How to create a fearless organization?

Professor Edmonsons powerful research proves that teams that have psychological safety are those that have the best outcomes. Her lecture and presentation of materials impressed me so much that I wanted to learn more, so I pored myself into her book.

I synthesize her work into my top three findings in the hopes that you will examine just how fearless your organization is today and how you can make it even more so tomorrow.

The relationship between Trust and Psychological SafetyThe importance of both

When you give someone the benefit of the doubt, they then trust you. When you are in a psychologically safe environment, others give you the benefit of the doubt.

That brought me back to my clients comment that he thought I always give people the benefit of the doubt. I realized that what I originally took as a criticism is actually a good thing. I should have realized that I am the opposite of being too easy. I almost always hold people to very high standards.

Consulting clients have said that I have an almost magical ability to get people to open up and share in my discovery process, when I speak to their customers and lost deals. I bring out a-has on why they win or lose to competitors that they had previously had no knowledge. Rather than possessing magical abilties, I simply create a space that is safe for them to open up and share these insights.

Releasing the brakes

Psychological safety is not a perk or a nice to have. It is an essential in creating the passionate employee engagement that leads to the desire to build and innovate, which in turn is essential to be a leader in todays marketplace. While this safety is not the gas that fills the tank, it releases the brakes to help innovation to take hold and then accelerate.

Learning Environment & DEI

Supporting an organization that promotes learning is critical to the scenario of having employees just showing up and doing their jobs. Supporting this requires an environment of listening. Professional development as part of a persons lifelong learning, is often a key attribute of workplace satisfaction.

Psychological safety is essential for any DEI strategy, particularly one that values diversity of thought. A workplace that is truly characterized by inclusion and belonging is by definition a psychologically safe workplace.

Safety: Psychological & Physical

Whether it be innovation, quality, or patient safety, issues and opportunities are best uncovered and brainstormed when team members feel safe to speak their mind without fear of being stigmatized or having their career mobility threatened. In healthcare settings, more errors are reported and therefore safety protected in psychologically safe environments. The more highly complex and interdependent an organization, the more important this is.

Edmonson shared how cancer research teams where psychological safety did not exist, employed workarounds versus figuring out the root cause so that the issue doesnt happen in the first place. Edmonson states that nowhere is employee engagement more important than with frontline healthcare workers where differences in speaking up or not can lead to life or death.

One of the CEOs we work with often tells her frontline and managers to use their voice. And with years of repetition and making sure she is accessible, she has heard from many. Unfortunately, in most companies, this is rare. When they hear encouragement to use their voice, many employees have no idea how. And it is often most difficult not with someone many levels ahead of you, but with your own manager.

The asymmetry of voice and silenceEdmonson discusses at great length how it is much easier not to use your voice. Using your voice is effortful and risky now, with benefits that are realized in the far away future if at all. Silence offers self-protection benefits. Holding back bad news and great ideas, that one is not yet confident is great, is easier and safer. Teams will only use their voice if an environment of psychological safety truly exists. Not speaking up is often simpler than sorry.

Most people go through an automatic calculus in their decision of should I speak up? No one was ever fired for silence. The instinct to play it safe is powerful. We can be completely confident we will be safe if we remain silent. Another one of the implicit theories of voice is related to fear of insulting someone higher in the organization. By suggesting change, you might be calling the bosss baby ugly and they could get defensive. In the end, in being silent, you are depriving customers of many good ideas and your company the opportunity to create impactful change.

How does your team rate? 7 statements to ask each member of your team to rate their level of agreement/disagreement.

If you create a mistake on this team, it is often held against you.

Members of this team are able to bring up problems and tough issues.

People on this team sometimes reject others for being different.

It is safe to take a risk on this team.

It is difficult to ask other members of this team for help.

No one on this team would deliberately act in a way that undermines my efforts.

Working with members of this team, my unique skills and talents are well utilized.

Powerful & vulnerable phrases

You may need to take interpersonal risk to lower your teams interpersonal risk. When a boss appears to know everything, no one wants to take situational risk. Adopting a humble mindset is realism that gets the most out of your team. Confidence and humility are not opposites. Confidence when warranted is preferable to false modesty. Humility is not false modesty, rather it is the recognition that you dont have all the answers or have a crystal ball. When leaders express situational humility, teams adopt more learning behavior.

Admit your errors and shortcomings

When Anne Mulcahy was named CEO of Xerox, the company was facing going out of business. She quickly became known as the master of I dont know and led Xerox out of bankruptcy and orchestrated a remarkable turnaround.

Express interest and availability.

What can I do to help?

What are you up against?

What are your concerns?

In the moment, be vulnerable, interested, and available. Your attempts may be ignored or rebuffed. But it is a risk worth taking.

You must also be in the room.

American billionaire investor, Ray Dalio, founder of the worlds largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, is known for his gospel of radical transparency.

He began a unique company culture that operated under a rule that you could not talk about others unless they were also in the room, so they could learn from what is being said. Those that talked about colleagues behind their back were referred to as slimy weasels!

Bridgewater even has a transparency library where videos of every executive meeting are kept so that anyone in the company can see how issues and policies are discussed.

Say thanks.

The courage of speaking up and taking the risk must be followed with a word of thanks rather than immediately disagreeing. Give that feedback only after pausing and saying thanks.

Try that this week; you may be pleasantly surprised with the results.

About Grace Ueng

Grace is CEO of Savvy Growth, a leadership coaching and management consultancy founded in 2003. Her great passion to help leaders and the companies they run achieve their fullest potential combined with her empathy and ability to help leaders figure out their why are what clients value most.

Graces core offerings are one on one coaching for CEOs and their leadership teams, facilitating workshops on Personal Branding and Speaking Success and conducting strategic reviews for companies at a critical juncture. A TED speaker, she is hired to give motivational keynotes and lead Happiness Works programs for companies and campuses.

A marketing strategist, Grace held leadership roles at five high growth technology ventures that successfully exited through acquisition or IPO. She started her career at Bain & Company and then worked in brand management at Clorox and General Mills. She is a graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School and holds a positive coaching certification from the Whole Being Institute.

Grace and her partner, Rich Chleboski, a cleantech veteran, develop and implement strategies to support the growth of impact focused companies and then coach their leaders in carrying out their strategic plans. Their expertise spans all phases of the business from evaluation through growth and liquidity.

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If you want to create a fearless organization, here's how - WRAL TechWire

Embryology

How spilled coffee inspired a Boston sperm-testing startup – The Boston Globe

Khaled Kteily might never have founded his Boston home health care startup, Legacy, if not for spilling a hot beverage in his lap.

The accident left him with second-degree burns around some sensitive areas. And when a friend mentioned he was having his sperm tested and saved before chemotherapy, Kteily decided he should also get tested in case the burns affected his future fertility.

A student at Harvards John F. Kennedy School, Kteily went to a Cambridge sperm bank, where he was quizzed about intimate details of his sexual history in the waiting room, then sent to the specimen collection room. As he sat in the dark, he tried not to think of how many people had sat in the same spot to perform the same task.

Everything about that experience was so dehumanizing for someone who just wanted to be proactive about their fertility, Kteily recalled.

But the experience also gave him the idea for Legacy, an at-home sperm testing and collection service. He set up the company at Harvards Innovation Labs in May 2018 and went through the startup accelerator Y Combinator in 2019. So far, Legacy has raised more than $45 million, including a $25 million round this year led by Bain Capital Ventures that also included celebrities DJ Khalid, Orlando Bloom, and Justin Bieber. (Including the celebs was part of our effort to de-stigmatize and normalize the conversation around infertility, Kteily said.)

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More chemicals in the environment, higher stress levels, and other illnesses are contributing to a decrease in male fertility, Kteily noted. Sperm concentration declined by 50 percent or more from 1973 to 2011, according to a widely cited study by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology though a Harvard study last year challenged those findings.

Legacy offers sperm testing and storage at much lower prices than typical sperm banks. Charging about $300 upfront for testing plus about $100 per year for storage, Legacy is undercutting the industry by hundreds of dollars per year.

Its sometimes a challenge to conduct marketing like a typical health startup. Legacy wanted to run advertisements in Texas and New York using the word sperm, but the term was prohibited by the billboard companies.

Its the medical term, Kteily said. So thats one of the challenges you face working in a stigmatized industry like ours.

The latest effort at Legacy is a joint research project with the Veterans Health Administration and the agencys New England Center for Innovation Excellence, located in Bedford. Legacy will take sperm samples from veterans of recent conflicts and measure their fertility over time. Soldiers can be exposed to chemical toxins on the battlefield and also suffer other injuries that affect fertility.

We know based upon existing evidence that male veterans are at high risk of infertility, but we dont really know why, we dont have a good scientific reason, said Dr. Ryan Vega, chief officer for health care innovation and learning at the VA. The research project with Legacy is really aimed at trying to begin to put the puzzle together.

While both male and female veterans suffer from infertility problems, males are less likely to seek treatment, according to surveys conducted by the VA. The agency hopes Legacys project will also help it encourage more veterans to get help.

We want to make sure that we can present an opportunity for our veterans to have that space to have the conversations with their providers to seek care for infertility issues, Leandro DaSilva, acting director of the innovation excellence center, said.

In addition to its fertility services, Legacy is also expanding its services to include home testing for sexually transmitted diseases.

We believe that on the path to parenthood, there are a number of products and services that were going to be able to offer as part of our vision, which is to unlock sperm as a biomarker of health, Kteily said.

Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @ampressman.

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How spilled coffee inspired a Boston sperm-testing startup - The Boston Globe