Espresso Knowledge #44 - Nitrogen fertilizer use can be reduced without sacrificing crop yield

Researchers have studied the extent to which countries influence their nitrogen pollution and crop yields.

The study will help governments decrease their nitrogen pollution and increase crop yields.

Nitrogen fertilizers increase crop yield, but are terribly for the environment, biodiversity and our health. In many countries, researchers found, increasing nitrogen fertilizer use only marginally increased crop yield but drastically increased nitrogen pollution.

So, many places could reduce fertilizer use without seeing yield reductions.

Researchers suggest increasing cost or introducing tax where fertilizer is used a lot.

Reduce the price or subsidize it where it's used less.

Promote ways that increase efficiency of nitrogen use.

Farmers using less nitrogen and thus getting lower yields could receive financial compensation from the state.

Utilize precision agriculture - that is, apply fertilizer only where it's actually needed.

You increase nitrogen efficiency and reduce environmental problems without decreasing output.

Importantly, reduce food waste to reduce environmental problems. 

Original article:

Governments can curb over-fertilisation

Original study:

Countries Influence the Trade- Off between Crop Yields and Nitrogen Pollution.

Espresso Knowledge #43 - Prison dining programs help former prisoners re-enter society

Researchers suggest having restaurants inside jails to reduce reoffending rates in New Zealand.

Prison dining programs like Britain's Clink Charity trains inmates before they finish re-entering society.

Clink restaurants are usually staffed by low-risk prisoners with six to 18 months left on their sentences. Diners report great meals, and professional, memorable experiences.

A Clink training program graduate reduces the chance of reoffending by over sixty percent.

New Zealand prisoners have an over 50% re-offending rate. They have low numeracy and literacy skills, and deal with substance abuse and mental health issues.

Prison dining programs have successfully increased prisoner confidence and dignity, provided mentoring and social support, and have helped obtain employment after release.

Diners too play an important part. They break down stereotypes that prevent former prisoners from re-entering society.

The programs are changing the public perception of prisoners and this is key to their wider rehabilitation.

Original article:

Serving time: how fine dining in jail is helping prisoners and satisfying customers

Espresso Knowledge #42 - Archiving animal movement in a changing Arctic

The Arctic Animal Movement Archive is helping scientists better understand how animals are responding to a changing Arctic.

The archive documents animal movement in a region that faces warmer winters, earlier springs, shrinking ice and increased human development.

Scientists often study animal movement and behaviour to understand the impact of environmental changes.

The archive has researchers from over 100 universities, government agencies and conservation groups across 17 countries.It currently has movement data of more than 8000 marine and terrestrial animals from 1991 to the present.

For example, a study based on movement speed data from 1998 to 2019 shows that bears, caribou, moose, and wolves respond differently to seasonal temperatures and winter snow conditions.

The results will tell us more about species competition, predator-prey interactions, and how these animals adapt to environmental changes.

The archive is documenting a changing Arctic for future generations and will help improve wildlife management.

Original article:

Archive of animal migration in the Arctic

Original study:

The Arctic Animal Movement Archive

Espresso Knowledge #40 - Tree rings archive mercury pollution in the atmosphere

Tree rings can reliably track mercury pollution in the atmosphere.

Researchers studied a Yukon gold mining town that operated from 1905 to 1966.

If you mercury to river gravel, it binds to gold, separating it from sediment. Heat the deposit. Mercury separates and you get gold. During heating, some mercury diffuses into the atmosphere, and trees absorb it.

By examining cores taken from trees growing in the area, researchers got yearly accounts of atmospheric mercury levels.

Levels spiked when gold mining operations started expanding, and reduced to natural levels when the site closed.

Mercury levels have recently begun to go up in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Alaska.

There are international treaties to reduce mercury pollution, but many countries continue the practice.

By expanding their study sites and using tree rings as an archive to study past changes in mercury levels, researchers can understand present increases and potentially prevent future ones. 

Original article:

Using tree rings, U of T researchers measure history of mercury contamination in Yukon

Original study:

The tree-ring mercury record of Klondike gold mining at Bear Creek, central Yukon

Espresso Knowledge #39 - Youtube kid influencers promote junk food and poor nutrition (Copy) (Copy)

Kid influencers with popular YouTube channels frequently promote junk food and poor nutrition  in their videos.

Researchers studied 2019's five most popular youtube kid influencers.

Ages ranged from 3 to 14 years.

Nearly half of the videos promoted food and drinks.

More than 90 percent featured junk food, candy and soda.

These videos were viewed more than a billion times.

The public trusts influencers because they appear to be everyday people.

It doesn’t necessarily look like advertising.

In fact, the World Health Organization identifies food marketing as a major driver of childhood obesity.

More than 80 percent of parents with a child younger than 12 years allow their child to watch YouTube. 

The platform is helpful especially during COVID19 when parents are juggling remote work and raising kids.

Governments and health agencies must work together to protect children and public health. 

Original article:

Kid Influencers Are Promoting Junk Food Brands on YouTube—Garnering More Than a Billion Views

Original study:

Child Social Media Influencers and Unhealthy Food Product Placement

Espresso Knowledge #41 - Cybercrime during COVID19

A new study shows how a cybercrime market operates, and offers ways to disrupt it.

For the past two years, researchers collected data on illegal trades taking place in an underground cybercrime forum.

Transactions involved malware, currencies, sexual content, and hacking tutorials and tools.

Estimated trades exceed 6 million dollars.

The study found that the March COVID19 lockdown significantly increased transactions.

People were bored, some unable to go to school, while others became unemployed.

Cybercrime activities promise easy money.

Researchers also found that about 5 per cent of all users were involved in around 70 per cent of all transactions.

Cybersecurity should focus on these few big players rather than going after many users.

Researchers expect to see another rise during a second lockdown, with potentially new trading activities, but they don’t think it will be as large as during the first.

They continue watching the market.

Original article:

Honour among thieves: the study of a cybercrime marketplace in action

Original study:

Turning Up the Dial: the Evolution of a Cybercrime Market through Set-up, Stable, and Covid-19 Eras

Espresso Knowledge #38 - Environmental fluctuations drive technological and cultural innovation

A cylinder of soil drilled from Kenya's Koora Basin tells Africa's environmental record of the past million years.

Researchers examined its chemistry and fossil, and combined it with archeological artifacts from Olorgesailie, Kenya.

They show how environmental changes drove technological and cultural innovations in humans.

The study highlights our ability to adapt amidst uncertainty.

Around four hundred years ago, tectonic activities fragmented the East African Rift Valley.

Rainfall became unpredictable.

Vegetation shifted between grassy plains and wooded areas.

Small mammals replaced grazers.

All of this impacted human evolution and society.

Archaeological artifacts show that around that time early humans began abandoning old technology in favour of more sophisticated tools and weapons, and started to broaden their trade networks.

The study makes us ponder - while we are adaptable, are we equipped to endure and thrive amidst a future of climate change and biodiversity loss? 

Original article:

Turbulent Era Sparked Leap in Human Behavior, Adaptability 320,000 Years Ago

Original study:

Increased ecological resource variability during a critical transition in hominin evolution

Espresso Knowledge #37 - Soil bacteria powers technology that purifies water

Researchers are using soil bacteria to develop a safe, sustainable way to purify water and make it drinkable.

Soil Microbial Fuel Cells or SMFCs capture and use energy from metabolic reactions in soil bacteria.

They are buried in soil and are connected to a reactor that purifies water.

Researchers successfully tested SMFCs in remote Icapui, a village in Brazil.

There is little access to a reliable power source.

Rain is the main source of drinking water but it must be sterilized.  Chlorinated makes it drinkable, but the method leaves a bad taste and odour, and is harmful when uncontrolled.

The current technology purifies three litres of water, but researchers are working on increasing capacity and efficiency.

Water scarcity in semi-arid areas is a problem.

There is now a sustainable way to treat water effectively and make it drinkable. 

Original article:

Soil-powered fuel cell promises cheap, sustainable water purification

Original study:

Development of a functional stack of soil microbial fuel cells to power a water treatment reactor: From the lab to field trials in North East Brazil

Espresso Knowledge #36 - We recognize objects based on individual properties

When we recognize a chair or a dog, our brain is separating them into individual properties, comparing those to information we have already learnt and then putting everything back together.

Researchers have discovered that it takes 49 properties to recognize almost any object.

These may be, for example, colour, shape, size, or the fact that it is natural, can move, is valuable or animal related.

Our ability to communicate with others depends, in part, on us being able to identify and classify objects around us properly.

The study may potentially help patients who, for example, are unable to identify animals.

We previously thought that patients were unable to recognize the animal as a whole, but it could be that the patient is unable to recognize a specific property - like four legs.

This knowledge could lead to more effective therapies for patients with brain damage.

Original article:

From fluffy to valuable: How the brain recognises objects

Original study:

Revealing the multidimensional mental representations of natural objects underlying human similarity judgements

Espresso Knowledge #35 - Chess tracks human cognition over a century

We are better at processing information that those born a century ago.

But like them, our cognitive capacity still begins to stagnate around the age of 35.

What could this mean for productivity and labour markets?

Researchers analyzed thousands of chess games between 1890 and 2014.

Chess is cognitively demanding.

The study tracked player performance over an entire career and efficiency of chess moves over the 125 years.

Cognitive performance initially increased steadily, but plateaued at around age 35.

On average, players born closer to the 21st century played more efficiently indicating higher cognitive ability compared to those born earlier.

Maybe the presence and growth of digital technology means more cognitive development for today's generation compared to previous ones.

Generally speaking, we are getting more productive, and doing more cognitively demanding tasks due to rapid innovation.

But, aging remains a key challenge for global economy.

Original article:

Better than our predecessors

Original study:

Life cycle patterns of cognitive performance over the long run

Espresso Knowledge #34 - Key language skill of humans not unique to us

One of the most important features of how we communicate is not unique to us.

It likely existed in primates millions of years before human language evolved.

In the sentence “the dog that bit the cat ran away”, we know that the dog ran away, not the cat, even though there are other words between cat and dog.

This is non-adjacent dependency - our ability to understand how words relate to one another in a sentence.

Using an invented language based on sound rather than words, researchers found that marmosets and chimpanzees can identify non-adjacent dependencies.

These are our ancestors, evolving as far back as 40 million years ago.

Their ability to communicate at such a high level likely existed back then, long before humans evolved.

Language is one the most powerful tools shaping us.

Knowing how it evolves helps us understand our existence and our history.

Original article:

Cognitive Elements of Language Have Existed for 40 Million Years

Original study:

Non-adjacent dependency processing in monkeys, apes and humans

Espresso Knowledge #33 - Nurturing & caring school lunch programs support children through pandemic and beyond

By actively nurturing care and connection, school food programs improve children’s access to healthy food and nurture security and well-being.

This is at the heart of a study where researchers documented lunchtime in British Columbia's schools as they went from in-house food to external caterers.

For children, food was a source of care.

It meant a lot when parents packed lunch they enjoyed, when classmates shared food. These acts of care are even more important now as children attend school amidst a pandemic after months of lockdown.

Food did not have the same meaning when it came from an anonymous caterer rather than the caring cafeteria worker who had gotten to know them and cared for them.

Caring, nurturing school food programs need to be part of Canada's COVID19 strategy.

They will support children through the pandemic and beyond.

Original article:

Care is the secret ingredient in school lunch programs

Original study:

SD40 School Nourishment Program 2018-2019 Report

Espresso Knowledge #32 - Study links COVID19 mortality rates, trust and income inequality

Researchers analyzed 30 days of COVID19 mortality rates, trust, and income inequality in 84 countries.

We often connect with friends and family during crises.

In some countries, this may be interfering with physical distancing to control COVID19.

Moreover, strong group bonds often mean that they are susceptible to misinformation about COVID19's severity, bogus treatments, or dismissing physical distancing.

The study also found that a lack of confidence in state institutions is associated with more deaths, but confidence in public institutions and civic participation was linked to fewer deaths.

Finally, countries with a large rich-poor gap are experiencing a deadlier pandemic. Many countries have lower-wage workers over-represented in retail, and public-transit.

This means greater exposure to COVID19 and less access to healthcare.

This could explain why more economically unequal countries like America and Russia experienced significantly higher mortality rates.

Original article:

Trust and income inequality fueling spread of COVID-19

Original study:

The trouble with trust: Time-series analysis of social capital, income inequality, and COVID-19 deaths in 84 countries

Espresso Knowledge #31 - Confirming link between sexual objectification & personal safety fears

For the first time ever, a new study shows a direct connection between sexual objectification and poorer mental health in women.

Researchers developed a questionnaire confirming the link between these harmful experiences and the potential mental and physical toll it takes on women.

The eight questions help identify the degree of personal safety anxiety experiences and the extent to which sexual objectification limits how women live their lives.

Routine and unwanted sexual objectification affects women’s psychological, emotional, and physical well-being.

Sexualized commentary on appearance, ogling, catcalling, groping often leads to women becoming more worried and concerned about their appearance and anxious about their safety.

It means poor mental health, depression and eating disorders.

Researchers surveyed predominantly white, cisgender, heterosexual women and men in North America. Future studies will include more diverse groups.

Original article:

Study confirms link between sexual objectification and personal safety fears

Original study:

Smile Pretty and Watch Your Back: Personal Safety Anxiety and Vigilance in Objectification Theory

Espresso Knowledge #30 - Closely monitor tight-knit communities for COVID19

Small, highly connected communities that haven’t experienced COVID-19 should be more vigilant on following public health measures, not less.

A new study shows that how COVID spreads depends more closely on city layouts and social structures rather than city size and density.

Large cities are made of linked communities. An outbreak travels through the city community by community. Places with large connections between communities like city centres and business districts are likely to suffer larger epidemics.

Researchers recommend that efforts to flatten the curve should be unique to that particular city, town, or even neighbourhood.

Traditional public health wisdom does not prioritize controlling potential new disease outbreaks once there is local transmission.

The new study urges to reassess this - if a disease keeps reoccurring in communities that are untouched by the outbreak, it will continue the wider epidemic.

Original article:

The Effect of Repetition on Truth Judgments across Development

Original study:

Crowding and the shape of COVID-19 epidemics’ 

Espresso Knowledge #29 - Be careful: repeated statements are not always true

A new study shows children as young as 5 are more likely to judge a statement true if its repeated multiple times compared to a statement they hear for the first time.

This is the illusory-truth effect - believing something to be true if it’s repeated often enough, even when it is false.

Could adults possibly be learning this during childhood?

The same study found similar results for 10 year old and adults.

The participants’ prior knowledge did not make a difference in believing repeated falsehoods.

Researchers highlight the importance of critical thinking in our society where misinformation spreads rapidly through viral social media. 

Don't rely on initial gut feelings and unreliable cues like repetition to determine truth.

In this day and age where news is designed to encourage a quick read and a quick response, pause and think.

Original article:

Study shows that repeated statements are more often judged to be true, regardless of a person’s age or prior knowledge

Original study:

The Effect of Repetition on Truth Judgments across Development

Original study (full-text version):

The Effect of Repetition on Truth Judgments across Development v2

Espresso Knowledge #28 - Climate change threatens deep connection between people and birds in Costa Rica

Birds are integral to Costa Rica's culture but climate change threatens that deep connection.

Researchers spent four years identifying and counting birds in a Costa Rican province. Hundreds of people surveyed ranked birds on factors like song, beauty, and sense of national identity.

The study found that top-ranked birds live rainforests - Earth's most threatened ecosystem due to deforestation and global warming.

For example, if trees don't get enough water during monsoon to grow leaves, birds struggle to find food and nesting material come breeding season.

The long history between people, birds and forests leaves legacies on national and local identities. A familiar birdsong or seeing a bird fly brings back memories and strong emotions.

Rainforests may eventually dry out, which means those birds might disappear.

It's a loss for biodiversity but also for people’s history and culture.

Original article:

Stanford researcher finds that our most culturally significant birds live in habitats most at risk to environmental change

Original study:

Avian cultural services peak in tropical wet forests 

Espresso Knowledge #27 - Who is caring for the nurses of British Columbia?

A recent survey found that British Columbia nurses working at the height of the COVID19 pandemic were emotionally exhausted, depressed and anxious.

Many were concerned about bringing the virus home. Many feared getting infected at work.

These are preliminary findings of a survey of almost 3600 hundred nurses across BC, conducted in June and July 2020. Increasingly, nurses are reporting higher levels of poor mental health.

If this is not resolved quickly, it can affect their ability to provide effective care. Prior to the pandemic, nurses had already been grappling with nursing shortage and burnout due to high workloads.

The study is a peek into the personal and professional sacrifices of nurses over the past months.

It also highlights the mental health challenges facing them as Canada braces for a potential second wave.

Original article:

New survey shows links between COVID-19 pandemic and B.C. nurses’ mental health

Original study:

A PROVINCIAL STUDY OF NURSES’ COVID-19 EXPERIENCES AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH AND SAFETY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

Espresso Knowledge #26 - Mining industries! Be careful & ethical for Earth's low carbon future

Earth will require a steady source of metals to successfully transition to and sustain a low carbon future.

A new study shows that this means more mining in high-risk areas. Renewable energy technology and electric cars, for example, need large amounts of lithium, iron, copper and nickel.

Researchers looked at over 6800 mining projects of 20 different metals globally. They identified hotspots by examining regions where competition over metals can potentially create environmental and social problems.

Most high-risk mines are in Australia,  America and China.

Governments here must be careful that the transition to a low carbon future avoids negative social and environmental impacts due to mining.

And mining industries need convince an incredibly conscious public that they will be environmentally and socially responsible.

Original article:

Protection needed for emerging mining hotspots

Original study:

The social and environmental complexities of extracting energy transition metals

Espresso Knowledge #25 - Children continue loving their imprisoned parents

Children continue loving their parents who are imprisoned.

In interviews with researchers, children ages 6 to 12 described their incarcerated parents in overwhelmingly positive ways - mothers and fathers who were funny, kind, and loving.

The study highlights importance of visitation programs that allow children and parents to interact. A child's positive feelings about the parent potentially reduces damaging effects of separation. Many children of incarcerated parents have poor health, and behavioural issues.

Nurturing those positive feelings helps overcome challenges and succeed in life. One-in-28 children in America currently have an imprisoned parent. Many rarely see each other. Some never.

The researchers encourage easing visitation programs. Provide free or low-cost transport to correctional facilities or give funding and technology for video visitation programs, particularly during the pandemic.

Original article:

The Enduring Love a Child Has for a Parent in Prison

Original study:

Enduring Positivity: Children Of Incarcerated Parents Report More Positive Than Negative Emotions When Thinking about Close OthersOpen Materials