Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Mark Hirons
Summary: This paper examines the social and environmental outcomes of Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) and emphasizes the importance of governance arrangements. It outlines three priority areas for future work on NCS and highlights the significance of addressing governance issues.
CURRENT OPINION IN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
(2021)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Maria Barna
Summary: The concept of specialized ribosomes has generated both interest and skepticism. Researchers in the field provide their perspectives on the topic, weighing in on the available evidence and discussing potential future developments.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yuan Liu, Xidong Duan, Hyeon-Jin Shin, Seongjun Park, Yu Huang, Xiangfeng Duan
Summary: The article reviews the promise and current status of 2D transistors, emphasizing the potential misestimation or misinterpretation of widely used device parameters. It suggests using more reliable methods to assess the potential of diverse 2D semiconductors and highlights key technical challenges in optimizing the performance of 2D transistors.
Article
History & Philosophy Of Science
Yves Meinard
Summary: Conservation biology is a discipline focused on conserving biodiversity, driven by the assumption that knowledge should guide actions. The relevance of the Foucauldian approach to conservation is critically analysed, and it is concluded that while some ideas from Foucault's work can be important and useful for conservation, his arguments are ambiguous and require further clarification to be effectively applied in this field.
HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE LIFE SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Jennifer M. Cantrell, Carolina H. Chung, Sriram Chandrasekaran
Summary: The text discusses the use of machine learning algorithms in designing combination therapies to combat antimicrobial resistance. It also compares different ML-based approaches based on the type of input information used and provides a compilation of relevant drug interaction datasets. Limitations of current methods are discussed, along with proposed strategies for enhancing efficacy in designing combination therapies.
DRUG DISCOVERY TODAY
(2022)
Review
Plant Sciences
Zainul Abideen, Raziuddin Ansari, Maria Hasnain, Timothy J. Flowers, Hans-Werner Koyro, Ali El-Keblawy, Mohamed Abouleish, Muhammed Ajmal Khan
Summary: This paper reviews the potential of plants growing in hostile conditions and marginal lands to ease the competition between food and fuel production. Biomass from salt-tolerant algae and halophytes has shown promise for bioenergy production on salt-affected soils. Halophytes and algae could replace edible biomass currently produced using fresh water and agricultural lands, serving as a bio-based source for lignocellulosic biomass and fatty acids. The paper provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges in developing alternative fuels from halophytes and algae, highlighting the need to produce biomass in a way that minimizes environmental hazards and harm to coastal ecosystems.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Review
Parasitology
Jeanine Gezelle, Gagandeep Saggu, Sanjay A. Desai
Summary: Protozoan parasites acquire essential ions, nutrients, and other solutes from their hosts through transmembrane uptake, with ion channels and transporters mediating the process. Patch-clamp is the best method to isolate and study these transport proteins, but access is limited to a few due to specialized instrumentation and training requirements. This overview aims to help non-experts understand and critically assess patch-clamp data in basic research studies.
TRENDS IN PARASITOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Carla Barros, Carlos A. Silva, Ana P. Pinheiro
Summary: The complexity and heterogeneity of schizophrenia symptoms present challenges for objective diagnosis, but early detection can lead to improved treatment outcomes. Recent research has focused on neurobiological mechanisms and biomarkers for schizophrenia, as well as utilizing machine learning techniques for classification. Further clinical validation and research are necessary for the development of effective EEG-based models and interventions.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Helen Kopnina, Naziru Zakari Muhammad, Fatsuma Olaleru
Summary: In the Half-Earth vision, conservationists, scientists, and policymakers collaborate with local communities to protect wildlife and ecosystems. However, there is a lack of data on attitudes towards the Half-Earth vision in countries such as Nigeria, where human populations are growing and biodiversity is declining. This paper addresses this gap by exploring community attitudes through a pilot study in Nigeria, which found that community representatives are open to dialogue with conservationists and that educational programs should focus on empowering community members to combat poaching and alleviate poverty through basic education and skills development.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2022)
Review
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Bo Wan, Fuyuan Wu, Rixiang Zhu
Summary: Understanding changes in Earth's past can provide valuable insights into prediction of its future. An example is the correlation between increases in landmass area within the tropic regions and subsequent temperature decrease during major glacial periods. Low latitude regions receive more solar energy influx, leading to a decrease in global surface temperature. The tropic regions also create favorable conditions for the proliferation of marine plankton species and the formation of organic-rich sediment, which is important for future hydrocarbon and reservoir formation. The subduction-driven plate tectonics in the Tethys realm affects the distribution of oceans and landmass, subsequently impacting the balance and distribution of solar energy on Earth's surface.
SCIENCE CHINA-EARTH SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Luigi Caputi, Anna Pidnebesna, Jaroslav Hlinka
Summary: Persistent homology shows potential in analyzing disease-related brain connectivity alterations, performing well in seizure discrimination but less effectively in schizophrenia classification, potentially due to technical challenges in effective connectivity estimation. Standard homology outperformed directed homology, which may be attributed to the accuracy issues in effective connectivity estimation.
Article
Biology
Ziyan Liao, Shushi Peng, Youhua Chen
Summary: Extinction debt is the delayed process of species extinction, with the earliest signal for forest-dwelling vertebrate groups starting in the mid-19th century. The impact of global protected areas on mitigating extinction debts has a time-lag effect, and preventive actions should be taken to balance forest restoration, protected areas, and biodiversity conservation.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jasvinder Singh Bhatti, Naina Khullar, Jayapriya Mishra, Satinder Kaur, Abhishek Sehrawat, Eva Sharma, Gurjit Kaur Bhatti, Ashley Selman, P. Hemachand Reddy
Summary: Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that results in memory loss and cognitive decline. The causes of AD are complex and involve factors such as protein build-up, synaptic damage, abnormal gene expression, and hormonal imbalance. Current medications only alleviate symptoms and there is a need for therapies, such as stem cell therapy, that can prevent or reverse cognitive decline. This article provides an overview of the pathophysiology of AD, existing treatments, and the future potential of stem cell-based therapies.
BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-MOLECULAR BASIS OF DISEASE
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Organic
Christoph Dohmen, Heiko Ihmels, Thomas Paululat
Summary: A dinaphthoylmethyl-substituted bullvalene derivative was studied for its excimer fluorescence properties. The host-guest interactions with metal cations were analyzed using fluorescent spectroscopy to monitor externally induced structural changes. Coincidentally, three unknown lumibullvalene isomers were discovered during the synthesis, and their emission properties were evaluated as reference compounds for the fluxional bullvalenes.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Review
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Mitsuo Miyazawa, Masayasu Aikawa, Junpei Takashima, Hirotoshi Kobayashi, Shunsuke Ohnishi, Yoshito Ikada
Summary: This narrative review examines the development and clinical applicability of bile duct substitutes. Despite over 100 years of research, no successful bile duct substitute has been developed primarily due to the lack of understanding in controlling bile duct wound healing and regeneration. A potential future solution involves using bioabsorbable materials to allow for outside regeneration of the bile duct.
WORLD JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Christophe Amiot, Weihong Ji, Erle C. Ellis, Michael G. Anderson
Summary: Modern human societies have negatively impacted native species richness and their adaptive capacity on every continent in contrasting ways. A general model is proposed to explain how the sequence, duration, and type of colonizing society alter native species richness patterns through changes in evolutionary pressures, affecting extinction rates, extirpation legacies, and future patterns of human impact on biodiversity.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Erle C. Ellis, Nicolas Gauthier, Kees Klein Goldewijk, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Nicole Boivin, Sandra Diaz, Dorian Q. Fuller, Jacquelyn L. Gill, Jed O. Kaplan, Naomi Kingston, Harvey Locke, Crystal N. H. McMichael, Darren Ranco, Torben C. Rick, M. Rebecca Shaw, Lucas Stephens, Jens-Christian Svenning, James E. M. Watson
Summary: Archaeological and paleoecological evidence suggest that human societies have been using ecologically transformative land use practices since 10,000 BCE, shaping nearly three quarters of Earth's land by that time. The current biodiversity crisis is not primarily caused by the loss of uninhabited wildlands, but rather from the appropriation, colonization, and intensifying use of biodiverse cultural landscapes long shaped and sustained by prior societies. Recognizing the deep cultural connection with biodiversity will be crucial in resolving the crisis.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Christoph Wohner, Thomas Ohnemus, Steffen Zacharias, Hannes Mollenhauer, Erle C. Ellis, Hermann Klug, Hideaki Shibata, Michael Mirtl
Summary: This study analyzed the challenges posed by climate and land use change, the distribution and representativeness of ILTER network sites, revealing a dense coverage in Northern temperate regions and anthropogenic zones. Significant gaps were found in economically less developed regions with less human impact, indicating the need for geographic expansion and development of the ILTER network.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Philip L. Gibbard, Andrew M. Bauer, Matthew Edgeworth, William F. Ruddiman, Jacquelyn L. Gill, Dorothy J. Merritts, Stanley C. Finney, Lucy E. Edwards, Michael J. C. Walker, Mark Maslin, Erle C. Ellis
Summary: The Anthropocene has not been defined in a way that is functional to both the international geological community and the broader fields of environmental and social sciences. Instead of a formal epochal definition, it is proposed to define the Anthropocene as a geological event, which can better capture the spatial and temporal heterogeneity and diverse social and environmental processes associated with anthropogenic global environmental changes.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Patrick Meyfroidt, Ariane de Bremond, Casey M. Ryan, Emma Archer, Richard Aspinall, Abha Chhabra, Gilberto Camara, Esteve Corbera, Ruth DeFries, Sandra Diaz, Jinwei Dong, Erle C. Ellis, Karl-Heinz Erb, Janet A. Fisher, Rachael D. Garrett, Nancy E. Golubiewski, H. Ricardo Grau, J. Morgan Grove, Helmut Haberl, Andreas Heinimann, Patrick Hostert, Esteban G. Jobbagy, Suzi Kerr, Tobias Kuemmerle, Eric F. Lambin, Sandra Lavorel, Sharachandra Lele, Ole Mertz, Peter Messerli, Graciela Metternicht, Darla K. Munroe, Harini Nagendra, Jonas Ostergaard Nielsen, Dennis S. Ojima, Dawn Cassandra Parker, Unai Pascual, John R. Porter, Navin Ramankutty, Anette Reenberg, Rinku Roy Chowdhury, Karen C. Seto, Verena Seufert, Hideaki Shibata, Allison Thomson, Billie L. Turner Ii, Jotaro Urabe, Tom Veldkamp, Peter H. Verburg, Gete Zeleke, Erasmus K. H. J. zu Ermgassen
Summary: The paper synthesizes 10 important truths in land use, which help explain the challenges of achieving sustainability in land use and point toward solutions. These facts have important implications for guiding scientists, policymakers, and practitioners in meeting sustainability challenges in land use.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Geography, Physical
Philip Gibbard, Michael Walker, Andrew Bauer, Matthew Edgeworth, Lucy Edwards, Erle Ellis, Stanley Finney, Jacquelyn L. Gill, Mark Maslin, Dorothy Merritts, William Ruddiman
Summary: The concept of the Anthropocene has become widely accepted, but its boundaries are still undefined. Defining the Anthropocene as an ongoing geological event reflects the reality of human-environment interactions, encompassing a wider range of anthropogenic effects.
JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Geography
Ziqi Meng, Jinwei Dong, Jun Zhai, Lin Huang, Min Liu, Erle C. Ellis
Summary: This study evaluated the ability of 290 national-level protected areas in China to reduce the impacts of economic development pressures. It found that some protected areas are facing increasing development pressures from outside their boundaries, highlighting the need to pay more attention to economic development pressures from the areas surrounding the protected areas in order to sustain their biodiversity protection.
Editorial Material
Geography, Physical
Lucy E. Edwards, Andrew Bauer, Matthew Edgeworth, Erle Ellis, Stanley Finney, Philip Gibbard, Jacquelyn L. Gill, Mark Maslin, Dorothy Merritts, William Ruddiman, Michael Walker
JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Adam Patrick Dixon, Matthew E. Baker, Erle C. Ellis
Summary: Intensive agricultural landscapes pose challenges to increasing wildlife diversity, but recent advances in acoustic data collection and high-resolution habitat mapping have the potential to address this challenge. This study examined the relationship between habitat characteristics and avian biodiversity in intensive agricultural landscapes in Iowa. The results showed associations between noncrop vegetation and vocalizing bird richness, but challenges remain in promoting grassland birds in row crop landscapes.
ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Ziqi Meng, Jinwei Dong, Erle C. Ellis, Graciela Metternicht, Yuanwei Qin, Xiao-Peng Song, Sara Lofqvist, Rachael D. Garrett, Xiaopeng Jia, Xiangming Xiao
Summary: This study uses 30-m cropland maps to show that cropland expansion in protected areas accelerated dramatically from 2000 to 2019, compared with the expansion of global croplands, threatening the aspirations of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
NATURE SUSTAINABILITY
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
Michael J. C. Walker, Andrew M. Bauer, Matthew Edgeworth, Erle C. Ellis, Stanley C. Finney, Philip L. Gibbard, Mark Maslin
Summary: The current debate on the status and character of the Anthropocene focuses on whether it should be designated as a formal unit or an informal event. Arguments exist both for formalizing the Anthropocene as a chronostratigraphic unit and for considering it as an unfolding geological event without a fixed basal boundary.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Xiaoli Shen, Mingzhang Liu, Jeffrey O. Hanson, Jiangyue Wang, Harvey Locke, James E. M. Watson, Erle C. Ellis, Sheng Li, Keping Ma
Summary: Global conservation policies have traditionally relied on area-based targets to expand protected areas. However, different countries face inequitable conservation challenges and often use the same global target despite the uneven distribution of biodiversity. This study explores the necessity and feasibility of joint conservation efforts by countries to protect globally identified priorities for biodiversity and carbon conservation, comparing the 30% and 50% targets with countries conserving their national priorities. The results highlight the greater efficiency of targeting globally significant areas for biodiversity and carbon conservation, while acknowledging the challenges posed by inequitable conservation challenges and the need to protect landscapes utilized by humans for other land uses. It calls for cooperative and coordinated action, supported by strong funding mechanisms, to achieve the equitable and effective attainment of the 30% target by 2030.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Kim Friedman, Peter Bridgewater, Vera Agostini, Tundi Agardy, Salvatore Arico, Frank Biermann, Kate Brown, Ian D. Cresswell, Erle C. Ellis, Pierre Failler, Rakhyun E. Kim, Christelle Pratt, Jake Rice, Vivienne Solis Rivera, Lida Teneva
Summary: This article discusses the negotiation of a Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, emphasizing the need for new thinking and focus. The authors highlight six key foci, including emphasizing the crucial role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, prioritizing ecosystem function and resilience, supporting diverse governance processes, embracing new technologies, linking business with biodiversity, and leveraging international agencies and programs.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Zia Mehrabi, Adriana Ignaciuk, Christian Levers, Ruth Delzeit, Ginni Braich, Kushank Bajaj, Araba Amo-Aidoo, Weston Anderson, Roland A. Balgah, Tim G. Benton, Martin M. Chari, Erle C. Ellis, Narcisse Z. Gahi, Franziska Gaupp, Lucas A. Garibaldi, James S. Gerber, Cecile M. Godde, Ingo Grass, Tobias Heimann, Mark Hirons, Gerrit Hoogenboom, Meha Jain, Dana James, David Makowski, Blessing Masamha, Sisi Meng, Sathaporn Monprapussorn, Daniel Mueller, Andrew Nelson, Nathaniel K. Newlands, Frederik Noack, MaryLucy Oronje, Colin Raymond, Markus Reichstein, Loren H. Rieseberg, Jose M. Rodriguez-Llanes, Todd Rosenstock, Pedram Rowhani, Ali Sarhadi, Ralf Seppelt, Balsher S. Sidhu, Sieglinde Snapp, Tammara Soma, Adam H. Sparks, Louise Teh, Michelle Tigchelaar, Martha M. Vogel, Paul C. West, Hannah Wittman, Liangzhi You
Summary: Extreme events, such as climate change, economic or geopolitical shocks, and pest or disease epidemics, pose significant challenges to global food security. By prioritizing threats and identifying research gaps, this study aims to guide research funding and resources towards transforming resilient food systems to mitigate major risks and food insecurity caused by extreme events.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Adam P. Dixon, J. Gordon Arbuckle, Erle C. Ellis
Summary: This study quantitatively associates farmer identity theory with wildlife habitat management, showing that different types of farmer identities in Iowa have highly divergent responses to wildlife habitat management practices. Recreational factors may enhance identity and influence habitat production on farms.