Category Archives: Human Reproduction

Eels were once so abundant that they were considered a pest, but today the ancient creature is threatened by human activity and risks disappearing altogether, scientists and environmentalists warn.

How have eel populations changed?

Eels appear in human mythology and ancient art, and their bones have been found in tombs dating back thousands of years.

Just thirty years ago, they were so common that in France they were even classed a nuisance, accused of damaging salmon stock and destroying fishing lines.

"When I was young, eels were in every river and estuary," said French researcher Eric Feunteun, a leading expert on the creature.

"My grandmother had a cafe... and sometimes customers who were down on their luck would bring a bucket of young eel to pay for their coffee," he said.

In less than half a century, the situation has changed radically: the European eel's population is now just 10 percent of its 1960-70s level.

"We sounded the alarm in the 1980s," explained Feunteun, a marine ecology professor at France's National Museum of Natural History, but it wasn't until 2007 that the European Union required its members to protect the species.

The European eel now appears on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's critically endangered list, with its Japanese and American cousins just one category behind, on the endangered list.

What threatens eel populations?

The eel's complex life cycle makes it vulnerable to a wide range of human activity, including overfishing of a species that is a much-loved delicacy in Asia.

But that pressure is far from the only thing driving eel decline.

"We've known since the 1980s that there are multiple reasons and that fishing probably isn't the main factor," said Feunteun.

He points out that polluting waterways with contaminants like pesticides, medicines and plasticisers has a much greater effect, including on eels' reproductive capacity.

Habitat destruction also plays a significant role, according to Andrew Kerr, president of the Sustainable Eel Group.

He points to the "draining of three quarters of the wetlands of Europe. And then the one million plus barriers to fish migration in the rivers, like dams."

"So we basically destroyed the eel's habitat. And that's what's really killed it off," he told AFP.

Climate change is also a factor, shifting marine currents that carry eels from their spawning grounds in tropical waters to the rivers and estuaries where they will spend most of their lives.

Longer and slower routes mean higher mortality rates for young eels as they drift towards coastlines.

How are eels being protected?

Since 2012, Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea have cooperated on conserving the Japanese eel found in their waters, including with fishing quotas.

But fishing limits alone are insufficient, experts say.

Other efforts include programs that range from helping eels over migration barriers, to moving young eels from areas where they are abundant to places where they are in decline.

Elsewhere, dams that can trap, injure and kill eels as they migrate have been adapted, and systems to trace them and interrupt trafficking have also been introduced.

More is needed though, experts say, including on habitat protection.

"It won't take long for the other 16 species of eels to get on the endangered list. So we have to have a global approach to safeguarding the eel," said Kerr.

What about artificial reproduction?

The eel has proved resistant to reproducing naturally in captivity and artificial fertilization is possible but expensive.

"The reproductive rate is low and it takes a long time for the (juvenile) glass eels to grow," said Ryusuke Sudo of the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency in the Izu region, southwest of Tokyo.

Scientists have also never observed eel larvae eating in the wild, so their preferred food remains a mystery. They grow slower in captivity and each eel requires individual human intervention to reproduce.

Could the eel disappear?

Eels are believed to have been around for 60-70 million years, and have not diversified much, with just 19 species and subspecies in the Anguilla genus.

For all their longevity, much about them remains a mystery, with scientists only recently pinpointing the first spawning grounds.

In some ways, eels are "super-adapted", said Feunteun. They are able to breed in areas where most fish could not find food, because eel young can feed on "marine snow", dead and decaying plant and animal matter that drifts down the water column.

But the long distances they migrate and disperse leave them vulnerable.

"Seventy million years of existence and 40 years of decline," as Feunteun puts it.

Still, he holds out some hope.

"It's a species that has shown during previous climatic changes that it can rebound from very few individuals," he said.

See the rest here:
70 million years on earth, 40 years of decline: the endangered eel - Japan Today

Someone sick from the omicron variant might infect three to five people at one time on average, according to a U.K. health expert.

Dr. Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser at the U.K. Health Security Agency, said Thursday that the omicrons R-value a number that determines how many people can be infected from another person is somewhere between three and five, The Guardian reports.

However, Hopkins said theres not enough data yet on the omicron variant to make a full determination of its spread. So far, case counts linked to the virus appear to be doubling every day.

Thats close to what weve seen in Canada. Per Global News, the province of Ontario has seen the omicron variants R-value climb to four times higher than the delta variant.

Scientists are still racing to find out more about omicron and how fast it spreads. One new lab study suggested the omicron variant of the novel coronavirus could spread 70 times faster than the delta variant.

Original post:
Omicron variant: What is the R-value? How many people can you infect? - Deseret News

Its always good to get in a bit of intellectual fodder amongst the mince pies over the festive season, although I wouldnt necessarily recommend mixing the two. Not least with this fascinating exhibition at Surgeons Hall which would almost definitely allow you to trace the journey of any fictional mince pie down the oesophagus and beyond and in somewhat lurid detail. A Model Education is a temporary exhibition in the Surgeons Hall Museum galleries charting the influence of art on the teaching of anatomy.

It has its roots in the Surgeons Hall collections, which date back to its inception some 500 years ago. Sixteenth century illustrated anatomical atlases are shown here alongside models made in later centuries from wax, plaster of Paris and even papier mache, which, despite what ones own attempts in the school room might once have suggested, allows for deeply detailed reproduction.

There is even a somewhat unusual wooden kidney. The exhibition was the brainchild of curator Louise Wilkie, who researched the art historical aspect of anatomical illustration, scouring archives of many institutions for the exhibition. There are works on loan here, in something of a first for the museum, from the Hunterian in Glasgow, The Anatomical Museum at the University of Edinburgh, the Gordon Museum of Pathology at Kings College London, the Whipple Museum of the History of Science at Cambridge University, and the University of Aberdeen.

Each collection has specialist materials that tell the story of a practical yet often surprisingly beautiful artform that developed, loosely, in 16th century Italy when the hegemony of Ancient Greek theoretical knowledge of the anatomy, still used some 1000 years later, was broken by the likes of Vasalius, an anatomist who dissected whilst artists drew from life, tempering the somewhat brutal effect by placing the figures artfully against a classical landscape.

They all look rather thoughtful, laughs Thomas Elliott, Head of Learning and Interpretation. It was about softening down the harshness of the dissection room, whereas in Britain by the late 18th to early 19th century there was a real move to get anatomical accuracy, even though the illustrations were more gruesome.

But the anatomical depictions of Vaselius were hugely influential in the move towards observation from life and away from the more theoretical knowledge that had been handed down from Antiquity, a result of and a feeding in to the thirst for exploration of every aspect of human life in Renaissance Italy, from the depiction of the human form and in this they did look back to the artistic refinement of the Classical era to the mysteries of the human body.

Elliott talks me through the star exhibits, which include the Royal College of Surgeons own proof copy of Grays Anatomy, annotated with suggestions for amendments by Gray himself before publication in 1858. There are late 18th century wax models by the anatomist Joseph Towne, whoe worked for Guys Hospital in London. Wax models usually came from Italy. We have a dissected head and torso you see the head bilaterally dissected and see the outer surface on one side and the inner on other. The torso is opened up to show the main organs.

It was about showing medical students what to expect. The issue with the historical study of anatomy, which these types of models evolved to overcome, was twofold. Cadavers were in short supply in the 18th century. There was a moral and legal question mark over the supply of bodies, and public perception was that this was something untoward. Then, there was no refrigeration, so even if you could run an anatomical class, there would be problems of putrefaction after the body was dissected. Models had more permanence, and they were remarkably accurate.

Elliotts favourites are the papier mache models made by the French anatomist Thomas Louis Auzoux in the late 18th century in a factory in Normandy where he started mass production of models that were sent to medical schools around the world. Theyre stunning, says Elliott. Surgeons Hall has an Auzoux mini-figure that breaks down in to 92 pieces, all labelled and designed to be passed around by students, so that they could disassemble and reassemble the figure, and get a hands on feel for anatomy.

About ten years ago I was in France and found a museum dedicated to his work. They were full size papier mache human anatomy figures, made up of hundreds of detachable pieces, and other things too a massive snail and a spider, botanical models, all highly detailed. The workmanship and level of skill was staggering.

The anatomical models were designed to be reused, so the fact that we have so many still in existence some 130 years later speaks to the craftsmanship involved.

A Model Education, Surgeons Hall Museums, Nicholson Street, Edinburgh, 0131 527 1711/1600, http://www.rcsed.ac.uk Until 26 Jun 2022 (Closes for Christmas at 3pm on 24 Dec; reopens 5 Jan 2022) Daily 10am - 5pm, Admission included in entry ticket price to Surgeons Hall 8/4.50

Critic's Choice:

THE HQ of the Scottish Ornithologists Club is housed in a lovely building just outside Aberlady, and whilst its excellent shop contains everything from bird-related Christmas decorations to binoculars and a fantastic selection of second hand bird books, its exhibition space, looking out over the reeds towards the sea, has an ever-changing roster of exhibitions, each of which interpret the bird world through different eyes. This month, and until January 9th, its the turn of East Lothian-based artist Darren Woodhead, who works in watercolour in the field painting birds as he encounters them in all weathers. It has always been Woodheads way, painting directly in watercolour, the resulting images both impressionistic and evocative, whilst having an accuracy in terms of bird behaviour and plumage that comes from a lifetimes enthusiasm and knowledge. Many of the paintings, all of which are for sale, were completed in this last year, as we cycled through lockdowns although Woodhead, quite literally, did so on his bike, painting supplies on his back. All local birds are here, from the brilliance of an unexpected kingfisher to the tumble of thrushes over a winter hedgerow. Although the world has changed, my need to observe, document and record through watercolour has not. Even more so now, it is my escape, my sense of serenity and belonging. Many of the paintings have stemmed from observing birds in the garden or from one man on his bike trips in the field. Here, I could immerse myself in the changing seasons and the parallel natural world, and feel the ultimate connection to my subject, close to home.

Close to Home, Scottish Ornithologists Club, Waterston House, Aberlady, East Lothian, 01875 871330 http://www.the-soc.org.uk, Until 9 Jan, Weds Sun, 10am 4pm, Closed 25 Dec 2 Jan

Don't Miss

AS around the country, An Tobar mounts its Annual Open Exhibition in time for the festive season, a celebration of artistic work from the area. The theme this year, open to interpretation and all-comers, selected, is Hidden. In tandem, a wonderful exhibition of painted bones and bone jewellery from the talented children of Dervaig Primary School, who have also created workshop films to illuminate the whole.

Hiddden/Bones, An Tobar, Argyll Terrace, Tobermory, Mull, 01688 302211, http://www.comar.co.uk Until Mar 11 2022, Tues - Sat, 10am - 4pm

Continued here:
Galleries: New exhibition explores intimate relationship of art and anatomy - HeraldScotland

Universities are among the many institutions that sustain settler colonialism in Australia. The public university system was, and continues, to be part of the states investment in its own future.

Universities emerged in Australia during the mid-19th and early 20th centuries against a backdrop of frontier violence and dispossession of First Nations lands, labour and relationships. While nature was privatised and commodified, universities grew in scale and influence. Knowledge hierarchies that perpetuate racial, class and gender divides were normalised.

Read more: Five shifts to decolonise ecological science or any field of knowledge

Our new book, Transforming Universities in the Midst of Global Crisis: A University for the Common Good, scrutinises the role of universities today. We argue these institutions, and indeed the entire higher education sector, must be considered as not only in crisis though they clearly are but also as drivers of crisis.

Universities have become fully integrated into the neoliberal economy. They fixate on vocational job-ready curriculums and commercial research agendas. They enable industries built on extracting natural resources and thereby support endless economic growth.

The problems arising from this system are destructive and life-threatening. Climate chaos, biodiversity destruction, the COVID-19 pandemic, the democracy recession and deepening socio-economic inequalities have reshaped our very ways of relating, being and knowing.

Transforming universities therefore demands we seek out ideas, practices and values beyond the universitys walls. Only then will universities be capable of responding to interconnected ecological, health and social challenges.

Drawing from case studies and examples around the world, we show how this transformation is possible - and, indeed, already under way.

Read more: After coronavirus, universities must collaborate with communities to support social transition

In the 21st century, multiple mega-crises have ravaged ecological systems, human lives and livelihoods.

A small but powerful lobby of political interests continues to deny, downplay or divert attention from such problems. Yet turning to face these challenges may shed light on solutions.

US scholar Lauren Berlant suggested:

At some crisis times like this one politics is defined by a collectively held sense that a glitch has appeared in the reproduction of life [] A glitch is also the revelation of an infrastructural failure.

But glitches can and must provide the impetus to bring alternative worlds into being. For universities, the challenge now is to situate human relations and responsibilities in the web of life on Earth.

The Ecoversities Alliance, for example, is working for a change of ecological consciousness. This involves a shift away from the pursuit of private interest and towards ecological integrity and the common good. The goal is to orient universities towards "service of our diverse ecologies, cultures, economies, spiritualities and life within our planetary home.

Another challenge is to decolonise universities. The Dechinta Bush University in the Northwest Territories in Canada provides an exemplar. The university has embraced Indigenous land-based practices and values. In this context, Indigenous pedagogies and practices refuse the colonial enclosures of traditional education-based institutions.

In countless other ways, in Australia and elsewhere, Indigenous scholars, educators and activists are leading decolonising, anti-racist and ecological governance agendas.

Read more: How a university can embed Indigenous knowledge into the curriculum and why it matters

Universities, of course, cannot be transformed in isolation from the wider world. Change must engage with the values, practices and leadership of progressive movements. Examples include Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and movements for Indigenous sovereignty and treaty.

Our book documents the possibilities for radically transforming the political and economic structures that universities are built on and continue to uphold. The change agenda needs to be bold, not piecemeal. We showcase activities and interventions that move beyond superficial reformism to more radical possibilities for change.

Among many other things, we call for:

more democratic university governance

a return to the idea of the public university (as set out in state and territory legislation)

decoupling from market-oriented extractivist ideas of growth

resistance to job-ready graduate tropes

genuine and inclusive communities of learning

centring Indigenous rights and knowledges in curriculums and research agendas

fostering cultures of appreciation, generosity and collaboration as opposed to competition, individualism and hierarchy.

Read more: Honouring Te Tiriti means getting into the stream together so this vice-chancellor has become a student again

These transformations are urgent if universities are to be relevant to meeting the challenges of the 21st century. A university for the common good could enable human society to connect with more-than-human communities and operate within the limits of nature. By ensuring accountability to all communities, human and more-than-human, such a university could build more sustainable and just worlds.

Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti and colleagues from the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures collective assert that only through the decay of the modern university will regeneration be possible. If so, the challenge for those committed to the future of the university is to ensure that, through its dwindling, a new regenerative approach within and beyond its walls flourishes.

See the article here:
Amid global crisis, how can universities be regenerated to serve the common good? - The Conversation AU

A special joint Oireachtas committee will be established to consider and make recommendations on assisted human reproduction and international surrogacy under government plans.

Pressed on the issue in the Dil yesterday, Tnaiste Leo Varadkar said he acknowledged that legislation on the matter is long overdue.

Fianna Fil TD Jennifer Murnan OConnor asked him to address reports the government will delay the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill because of technical legal issues.

Mr Varadkar said: It is complex. There are complex legal and ethical questions that arise in respect of for-profit surrogacy services, children being moved from other countries to this country and the right to know who ones biological parents are.

There are many very complicated ethical issues that have to be resolved, particularly in the context of our difficult history in respect of adoption and women giving up their children and so on.

He continued: We must get this right. There has been substantial work done and engagement on this issue since the formation of the government, involving the minister for justice, Deputy McEntee, the minister of state, Deputy Naughton, the minister for health, the minister for children, equality, disability, integration and youth and the Attorney General.

In the coming weeks a memorandum will be brought to Cabinet proposing how to consider the issues relating to international surrogacy and how subsequently to introduce any legislative change.

It will be a joint memorandum from the Departments of Justice; Health; and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. It will propose the establishment of a time-limited special joint Oireachtas committee to consider the issue, including the issues arising from commercial international surrogacy, and to report with recommendations.

More:
Special committee to make recommendations on assisted human reproduction and international surrogacy - Irish Legal News

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a deadly neurological disease found in elk, deer and moose. In late 2020, the first elk in the region with CWD was detected. It was shot by a hunter in Grand Teton National Parknot far from where the Jackson elk herd is fed in the winter on the National Elk Refuge.

The announcement worried biologists who were concerned that feedgrounds act as a superspreader of the deadly disease because of the density of animals.

Doug Brimeyer, the deputy chief of wildlife for Wyoming Game and Fish, said the presence of the feedground was one reason behind a recent study published in Ecosphere last month.

Once there is a seven percent prevalence of CWD, the study predicts a modest decline of elk. It also predicts a mean of 12 percent CWD prevalence in the herd but it could go as high as 20 percent. Brimeyer said a high prevalence of the disease could impact hunting tags.

"CWD and hunting are both additive to the mortality of the population. And so for the last 20 years, our goal has been to manage the Jackson elk herd to 11,000 animals and, to do that you have hunting seasons on cows and the antlerless segment of the population," he said.

Brimeyer said this study provides insight into important management tools for the future of this unique herd. Since the herd is in western Wyoming where the numbers of predators on the landscape are higher, the herd is not as successful in reproducing, so the prevalence that the population could sustain will be lower than other herds in the state.

"So if CWD influences population performance, it's going to be important for managers to know that," said Brimeyer. "We want to maintain that long-distance migration and reduce the amount of human-caused mortality on those reproducing animals."

Brimeyer added that there are a lot of unknowns regarding feedgrounds and CWD.

More:
The presence of CWD in the Jackson elk herd will impact hunting opportunities and reproduction - Wyoming Public Media