(Press-News.org) Washington, D.C. — Nov. 11, 2024 — Today, leaders from scientific societies, institutions and publishing bodies issued an urgent call for the global community and governments to take immediate and decisive emergency climate action. This appeal is made through an editorial published in mSystems, released on the opening day of the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29). Key contributors to this initiative include Virginia Miller, past president of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM); Jack Gilbert, Editor-in-Chief of mSystems; and Jay Lennon, Chair of the American Academy of Microbiology’s Climate Change Task Force, among other scientists and experts.
The climate crisis continues to escalate at an alarming pace, underscoring the need for scalable, innovative solutions. Among the promising approaches are microbe-based technologies, which have demonstrated potential in various fields including carbon sequestration, methane mitigation, bioenergy production, bioremediation, microbial therapies and nitrogen management. However, these solutions have yet to be effectively adopted on a large scale, which is critical for combating the effects of climate change.
“Microbial solutions hold significant promise as part of an integrated approach to mitigating climate impacts,” Lennon said. “What we need now is a coordinated effort to methodically deploy these technologies at scale and integrate them with other climate mitigation strategies.”
The authors emphasize the need for cross-industry collaboration involving stakeholders from industry, scientific societies, funding bodies and policy-making institutions to effectively mobilize these microbe-based solutions. The editorial calls for the formation of a global science-based climate task force. This group, composed of representatives from scientific societies and muti-sectoral institutions, would serve to expedite the implementation of microbial strategies and provide rapid-response solutions to key stakeholders, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), COP organizers and governments worldwide.
In line with these efforts, ASM and the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS) are preparing to release a comprehensive report from their Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) of global experts, many of whom are authors of the editorial, in early 2025. This report aims to outline further strategies and recommendations for the practical application of microbial solutions to climate challenges. The report will serve as a road map to fulfill the call in the editorial and bring the organizations toward policy actions.
The authors of the editorial invite relevant initiatives, governments and stakeholders to collaborate by reaching out at climate@isme-microbes.org. “We are ready and willing to use our expertise, data, time and support for immediate action,” the authors collectively stated.
The editorial is also published today in Sustainable Microbiology, The ISME Journal, FEMS Microbiology Ecology, Nature Microbiology, Nature Reviews Microbiology, Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, Nature Communications, Communications Biology, Communications Earth and Environment, npj Biodiversity, npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, npj Climate Action, npj Ocean Sustainability and npj Sustainable Agriculture.
###
The American Society for Microbiology is one of the largest professional societies dedicated to the life sciences and is composed of over 32,000 scientists and health practitioners. ASM's mission is to promote and advance the microbial sciences.
ASM advances the microbial sciences through conferences, publications, certifications, educational opportunities and advocacy efforts. It enhances laboratory capacity around the globe through training and resources. It provides a network for scientists in academia, industry and clinical settings. Additionally, ASM promotes a deeper understanding of the microbial sciences to diverse audiences.
END
Scientists call for global action on microbial climate solutions
2024-11-11
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
New antibody could be promising cancer treatment
2024-11-11
Researchers at Uppsala University and KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed a new form of precision medicine, an antibody, with the potential to treat several types of cancer. Researchers have managed to combine three different functions in the antibody, which together strongly amplify the effect of T cells on the cancer tumour. The study has been published in Nature Communications.
Researchers have developed a unique type of antibody that both targets and delivers a drug package via the antibody itself, while simultaneously activating the immune system (“3-in-1 design”) for personalised immunotherapy treatments.
“We ...
The public implications of private substitutes for electric grid reliability
2024-11-11
Climate change events have, in recent years, placed increasing strain on public electrical grids in the United States. In response to this vulnerability, some consumers are turning to private alternatives to the electric utility, like generators and batteries. A new paper in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists studies who adopts these private alternatives and how adoption responds to grid failures. The paper also studies how public electric grid reliability may change due to this proliferation and how these changes will affect the wellbeing of all households.
In ...
Religiosity, spirituality, and meaning-making generally associated with lower suicidality
2024-11-11
November 11, 2024 — All aspects of religiosity, spirituality, and meaning-making (R/S/M) relate to suicidality in people with a psychiatric diagnosis or a recent suicide attempt, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published in Harvard Review of Psychiatry, part of the Lippincott portfolio from Wolters Kluwer.
"Protective dimensions seemed to exert relatively stable effects across different religions and life views," Bart van den Brink, MD, PhD, of the Department of ...
Eife studying legal surveillance as social determinant of health
2024-11-11
Erin Eife, Assistant Professor, Criminology, Law and Society, College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), received funding for the project: “Surveillance as a Social Determinant of Health: Understanding the Impact of Pending Charges on Health Outcomes.”
Eife will conduct this research under the advisement of Evan Lowder, Associate Professor, Criminology, Law and Society, College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, Associate Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at Duke University.
Eife aims to produce knowledge about ...
Newly developed 100Gbps data transfer system for accelerating Open Science through industry-university collaboration in Japan
2024-11-11
Tokyo & Osaka, Japan – Osaka University and NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) are moving forward with efforts to realize a data infrastructure supporting Open Science. In 2021, The Joint Research Laboratory for Integrated Infrastructure of High Performance Computing and Data Analysis was established within the D3 Center, Osaka University (Director: Professor Susumu Date*1) by Osaka University and NEC. The result of the Joint Research Laboratory will be showcased at the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis (SC24) scheduled ...
Navigating bias in AI-driven cancer detection
2024-11-11
“As we eagerly adopt Al models, we need to take a moment to think about the potential biases that they may contain.”
BUFFALO, NY - November 11, 2024 – A new editorial was published in Oncotarget's Volume 15 on November 7, 2024, titled “ Beyond the hype: Navigating bias in AI-driven cancer detection.”
In this editorial, researchers from the Mayo Clinic emphasize the need to address potential biases in Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools used for cancer detection to ensure fair and equitable healthcare. Authors Yashbir Singh, Heenaben Patel, Diana V. Vera-Garcia, Quincy A. Hathaway, ...
Research shows stress about personal finances may make leaders abusive in workplace
2024-11-11
New research from Colorado State University shows that workplace leaders who are financially stressed are more likely to be abusive toward their subordinates – particularly if the leader is a man.
The findings, published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, provide insight into leader behavior due to a common source of stress. The research was led by Assistant Professor Keaton Fletcher in the Department of Psychology in partnership with Associate Professor Trevor Spoelma in the Anderson School of Management at the University ...
Holistic approach of nutrients and traditional natural medicines for human health
2024-11-11
In recent years, there has been a rising interest in combining traditional natural medicines with essential nutrients to foster a holistic approach to human health. The focus on integrating both elements reflects an understanding of health that transcends the simple absence of disease, encompassing physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. This review highlights how traditional medicine systems, such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and other indigenous practices worldwide, can be harmonized with nutritional science to form a comprehensive healthcare approach. Such a combination has the potential to improve disease prevention and enhance overall ...
Study: Online E-cigarette retailers fail to comply with sale regulations
2024-11-11
Online e-cigarette retailers are not consistently adhering to laws aimed at preventing the sale of vaping products to minors, including regulations on age verification, shipping methods and flavor restrictions, report researchers at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego.
In a study published online on Nov. 11, 2024 in JAMA, researchers asked 16 people to purchase flavored vape products online and have them delivered to their homes in the County of San Diego, ...
Prevalence of adverse childhood experiences in child population samples
2024-11-11
About The Study: In this study, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which include abuse, neglect, and family dysfunction, were prevalent among children with notable disparities across participant demographic characteristics and contexts. As principal antecedent threats to child and adolescent well-being that can affect later life prospects, ACEs represent a pressing global social issue. Effective early identification and prevention strategies, including targeted co-designed community interventions, can reduce the prevalence of ACEs and mitigate their severe effects, thereby minimizing the harmful health consequences of childhood adversity in future generations.
Corresponding ...