PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Despite reduced application, common pesticides more deadly to nontarget species over time

2021-04-01
(Press-News.org) Despite a reduction in the total amounts of pesticides used, the toxicity of commonly used pesticides to nontarget species, partially aquatic invertebrates and pollinators, has increased considerably in recent decades, according to a new study analyzing 25 years of pesticide use. This has been driven by the widespread use of highly toxic pyrethroid and neonicotinoid pesticides. The findings challenge claims suggesting that the overall environmental impacts of pesticide use have declined. The impacts of applied pesticides on humans and the environment are often based on comparisons of use rates (e.g., kilograms per hectare) or the total amounts used (e.g., kilograms per year). However, from an environmental perspective, these weight-based measurements often fail to account for the specific toxicity of applied pesticides, which can vary over several orders of magnitude. While fewer pesticides are routinely used today, the types - and their toxicity - have changed considerably. To better understand the environmental impacts of pesticides over time, Ralf Schulz and colleagues used data from the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and designed a weight-based assessment of the use of 381 pesticides for the years 1992 to 2016. It evaluated pesticide effects, in terms of toxicity, on eight nontarget species groups. The authors further accounted for the way pesticide use has undergone substantial changes with the implementation of pesticide-tolerant genetically modified crops. Schulz et al. found that, despite decreasing total amounts applied and decreased impacts on vertebrates, the toxicity of pesticides has increased substantially for nontarget aquatic invertebrates, including crustaceans and waterborne insect larvae, as well as pollinator species like bees. These impacts seem to be associated with recent increases in the use of pyrethroid and neonicotinoid insecticides. What's more, the authors discovered increasing toxic effects to nontarget invertebrates and pollinators in genetically modified corn and to terrestrial plants in herbicide-tolerant soybeans over the last decade. "In light of the multiple emergent risks and resistance problems," say the authors, "pesticide risks should be more integrated into policy strategies to develop resilient global production systems."

INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Lessons from computer science can make medical devices fair for all

2021-04-01
Technology can be biased, and its design can disadvantage certain demographic groups. While efforts to address bias and promote fairness in technologies are rapidly growing in a variety of technical disciplines, Achuta Kadambi argues that similar growth is not occurring fast enough for medical engineering. "Although computer science companies terminate lucrative but biased facial recognition systems, biased medical devices continue to be sold as commercial products," writes Kadambi in a Perspective. Bias in medical devices results in undesirable performance variation across demographic groups and can greatly influence health inequality. For example, optical biosensors that use light to monitor vital signs like blood oxygenation ...

Origin of modern rainforests traced to end-Cretaceous asteroid impact

2021-04-01
In an analysis of thousands of fossil pollen and leaves spanning the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary, researchers found that the cataclysmic asteroid impact that resulted in the destruction of nearly 75% of all terrestrial life on Earth drastically restructured tropical forests, setting the stage for the evolution of what has become one of the planet's most diverse ecosystems - the neotropical rainforest. While the end-Cretaceous impact nearly 66 million years ago was catastrophic for terrestrial ecosystems worldwide, its long-term effects on tropical forests have remained a mystery. This is largely due to the lack of palaeobotanical exploration in the region, which has only just begun to provide ...

How dopamine drives hallucination-like perception in mice

2021-04-01
An increase of dopamine in the brain's striatum triggers auditory hallucination-like experiences in mice, revealing a possible causal role for dopamine-dependent neurological circuits in symptoms of psychosis. These findings from a new study could inform novel targeted approaches to treating those with psychotic disorders, like schizophrenia. Auditory and visual hallucinations - perceptions of hearing or seeing something without observing external sensory stimuli - are central symptoms of psychotic disorders and are thought by some to be caused by excessive dopamine ...

A new state of light

A new state of light
2021-04-01
A single "super photon" made up of many thousands of individual light particles: About ten years ago, researchers at the University of Bonn produced such an extreme aggregate state for the first time and presented a completely new light source. The state is called optical Bose-Einstein condensate and has captivated many physicists ever since, because this exotic world of light particles is home to its very own physical phenomena. Researchers led by Prof. Dr. Martin Weitz, who discovered the super photon, and theoretical physicist Prof. Dr. Johann Kroha have returned from their latest "expedition" into the quantum world with a very special observation. They report of a new, previously ...

Capturing the complex

2021-04-01
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) -- Despite the fact that our planet is mostly ocean and human maritime activity is more intense than it has ever been, we know remarkably little about the state of the ocean's biodiversity -- the variety and balance of species that support healthy and productive ecosystems. And it's no surprise -- marine biodiversity is complex, human impacts are uneven, and species respond differently to different stressors. "It is really hard to know how a species is doing by just looking out from your local coast, or dipping underwater on SCUBA," said Ben Halpern, a marine ecologist at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa ...

Mice with hallucination-like behaviors reveal insight into psychotic illness

Mice with hallucination-like behaviors reveal insight into psychotic illness
2021-04-01
The humble lab mouse has provided invaluable clues to understanding diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes to COVID-19. But when it comes to psychiatric conditions, the lab mouse has been sidelined, its rodent mind considered too different from that of humans to provide much insight into mental illness. A new study, however, shows there are important links between human and mouse minds in how they function -- and malfunction. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis devised a rigorous approach to study how hallucinations are produced in the brain, providing a promising entry point to the development of much-needed new therapies for schizophrenia. The study, published April 2 in ...

Flowers!

2021-04-01
Tropical rainforests today are biodiversity hotspots and play an important role in the world's climate systems. A new study published today in Science sheds light on the origins of modern rainforests and may help scientists understand how rainforests will respond to a rapidly changing climate in the future. The study led by researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) shows that the asteroid impact that ended the reign of dinosaurs 66 million years ago also caused 45% of plants in what is now Colombia to go extinct, and it made way for the reign of flowering plants in modern tropical rainforests. "We wondered how tropical rainforests changed after a drastic ecological perturbation such as the Chicxulub impact, so we looked for tropical plant fossils," said Mónica ...

How brain cells repair their DNA reveals "hot spots" of aging and disease

How brain cells repair their DNA reveals hot spots of aging and disease
2021-04-01
LA JOLLA--(April 1, 2021) Neurons lack the ability to replicate their DNA, so they're constantly working to repair damage to their genome. Now, a new study by Salk scientists finds that these repairs are not random, but instead focus on protecting certain genetic "hot spots" that appear to play a critical role in neural identity and function. The findings, published in the April 2, 2021, issue of Science, give novel insights into the genetic structures involved in aging and neurodegeneration, and could point to the development of potential new therapies for diseases such Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other age-related dementia disorders. "This research shows for the first time that ...

NOAA study shows promise of forecasting meteotsunamis

NOAA study shows promise of forecasting meteotsunamis
2021-04-01
On the afternoon of April 13, 2018, a large wave of water surged across Lake Michigan and flooded the shores of the picturesque beach town of Ludington, Michigan, damaging homes and boat docks, and flooding intake pipes. Thanks to a local citizen's photos and other data, NOAA scientists reconstructed the event in models and determined this was the first ever documented meteotsunami in the Great Lakes caused by an atmospheric inertia-gravity wave. An atmospheric inertia-gravity wave is a wave of air that can run from 6 to 60 miles long that is created when a mass of stable air is displaced by an air mass with significantly ...

A robot that senses hidden objects

A robot that senses hidden objects
2021-04-01
In recent years, robots have gained artificial vision, touch, and even smell. "Researchers have been giving robots human-like perception," says MIT Associate Professor Fadel Adib. In a new paper, Adib's team is pushing the technology a step further. "We're trying to give robots superhuman perception," he says. The researchers have developed a robot that uses radio waves, which can pass through walls, to sense occluded objects. The robot, called RF-Grasp, combines this powerful sensing with more traditional computer vision to locate and grasp items that might otherwise be blocked from view. The advance could one day streamline e-commerce fulfillment in warehouses or help a machine pluck a screwdriver from a jumbled toolkit. The research will be presented in May at the IEEE International ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Exercise as an anti-ageing intervention to avoid detrimental impact of mental fatigue

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

Antibiotic resistance among key bacterial species plateaus over time

‘Some insects are declining but what’s happening to the other 99%?’

Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

American College of Physicians awards $260,000 in grants to address equity challenges in obesity care

Researchers from MARE ULisboa discover that the European catfish, an invasive species in Portugal, has a prolonged breeding season, enhancing its invasive potential

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, honored with the 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research

Solar cells made of moon dust could power future space exploration

Deporting immigrants may further shrink the health care workforce

Border region emergency medical services in migrant emergency care

Resident physician intentions regarding unionization

[Press-News.org] Despite reduced application, common pesticides more deadly to nontarget species over time