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A ‘Havana Syndrome’ Investigation in Congress Rests on Politics, Not Science

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Friday, March 15, 2024

A ‘Havana Syndrome’ Investigation in Congress Rests on Politics, Not ScienceLawmakers should look in the mirror if they want answers to who hyped dubious reports of Havana syndrome. Instead they are investigating the spy agencies telling them the truth about the mysteryBy Robert BartholomewCuban Flags fly in front of American Embassy. Credit: PhotosByByron/Getty ImagesIn February, the House Intelligence Committee announced an investigation into spy agency handling of “Havana syndrome”—an array of health complaints first reported by U.S. diplomats and covert agents working in Cuba since late 2016. The lawmakers aren’t happy with their spies’ doubts about this mystery syndrome.After years of speculation over the possible involvement of Russian or Chinese agents using a sonic or microwave weapon, in March 2023 the U.S. director of national intelligence reported that most U.S. intelligence agencies regarded that scenario as “very unlikely.” Instead, the intelligence community reached a consensus that the “syndrome” was “probably the result of factors that did not involve a foreign adversary, such as preexisting conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors.”These findings did not sit well with some members of the Intelligence Committee, namely representatives Mike Turner, Jason Crow and Brad Wenstrup, who had sponsored legislation in 2021 providing medical care for Havana syndrome patients and directing federal agencies to “address and mitigate these attacks.” Supporters of the bill assumed that the anomalous health incidents were targeted assaults on American citizens.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Instead of shooting the messenger, the congressional committee should unearth the role of credulous lawmakers and the Trump administration’s State Department in cooking up a dubious syndrome that somehow merited millions in compensation while hobbling diplomatic relations with Cuba.The annals of medicine are rife with similar examples of governments remunerating citizens for maladies that were later assessed to have been caused by an assortment of preexisting health complaints and anxiety reactions. The diagnosis of “railway spine” in Great Britain during the latter 19th century, “telephone sickness” in German switchboard operators in the early 20th century, and “repetition strain” among Australian typists in the 1980s are just three examples.Adding further embarrassment to foreign conspiracy proponents was the release of a classified report in 2021 by a panel of experts who found that the mysterious sounds accompanying many “attacks” were the mating calls of the Indies short-tailed cricket. Other scientists had reached the same conclusion. These findings led the intelligence community to conclude that some of the symptoms were likely psychosomatic in origin, finding that “social factors” played a role in them, after victims had been primed to believe they were the targets of an imaginary weapon. Future hearings should address why several members of Congress promoted theories of foreign involvement when they had access to classified documents that concluded there was no such evidence.The Intelligence Committee might examine how congressional hearings themselves played a role in this fiasco. American politicians have a history of turning these events into partisan spectacles. A January 2018 Senate hearing into “Havana Syndrome” chaired by Marco Rubio of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for example, concluded that Cuba was unequivocally involved in attacks, with the likely assistance of Russia or China. However, the hearing was devoid of testimonies from skeptical scientists and failed to produce a shred of concrete evidence to support these assertions.Any future investigation of “Havana syndrome” should also look at how journalists peddled exotic explanations, dubious research findings and the opinions of rogue scientists while downplaying skeptical assessments by the scientific community. One claim was especially influential in promoting the attack narrative: that a 2018 study in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association found that a cohort of victims in Cuba suffered brain damage. Although these people did exhibit brain changes, they were relatively minor and consistent with exposure to prolonged stress. The study authors even cautioned that the anomalies were marginal and could have been caused by individual variation.Early on, State Department doctors gravitated toward exotic hypotheses by consulting a specialist in acoustical weapons while failing to consider more mundane explanations. The State Department’s gallop ahead of an open-minded medical investigation turned the patient’s cluster of disparate symptoms into a melodramatic narrative of assault by mystery concussion weapon. This is directly relevant because “Havana syndrome” was comprised of a plethora of ambiguous complaints that are seen in doctor’s offices every day: headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, memory problems, difficulty concentrating, ear pressure, and insomnia. Touted in news reports, the supposed attacks most dramatic claimed symptoms—brain damage and hearing loss—were never demonstrated in actual medical assessments.It is noteworthy that the first victims were based in a small CIA unit in Havana and had been speculating as to the nature of mysterious sounds near their homes. Several weeks later, one of the agents experienced a headache and ear pain and became convinced that they were the victim of a sonic weapon. As word of the “attacks” spread to his work colleagues and diplomats at the embassy in Havana, staff became hyperaware of strange sounds which were associated with feeling unwell, according to a CDC report on the incidents. This is a classic setup for mass psychogenic illness which is known to follow social networks. Outbreaks commonly originate in a small, cohesive unit and spread outward, starting with people of higher status—which is exactly what happened in Cuba. Other victims were most likely redefining vague symptoms or other health conditions under a new label.After a seven-year investigation, it is time to close the book on “Havana syndrome.” In doing so, we would do well to heed the main lesson: follow the science. If politicians continue to challenge the conclusions of their own intelligence agencies because they are not politically expedient, “Havana syndrome” may soon become synonymous with other dubious topics on the margins of science: Bigfoot, chupacabras and alien abductions.This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Lawmakers should look in the mirror if they want answers to who hyped dubious reports of Havana syndrome. Instead they are investigating the spy agencies telling them the truth about the mystery

A ‘Havana Syndrome’ Investigation in Congress Rests on Politics, Not Science

Lawmakers should look in the mirror if they want answers to who hyped dubious reports of Havana syndrome. Instead they are investigating the spy agencies telling them the truth about the mystery

By Robert Bartholomew

Cuban Flags fly in front of American Embassy

Cuban Flags fly in front of American Embassy.

Credit:

PhotosByByron/Getty Images

In February, the House Intelligence Committee announced an investigation into spy agency handling of “Havana syndrome”—an array of health complaints first reported by U.S. diplomats and covert agents working in Cuba since late 2016. The lawmakers aren’t happy with their spies’ doubts about this mystery syndrome.

After years of speculation over the possible involvement of Russian or Chinese agents using a sonic or microwave weapon, in March 2023 the U.S. director of national intelligence reported that most U.S. intelligence agencies regarded that scenario as “very unlikely.” Instead, the intelligence community reached a consensus that the “syndrome” was “probably the result of factors that did not involve a foreign adversary, such as preexisting conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors.”

These findings did not sit well with some members of the Intelligence Committee, namely representatives Mike Turner, Jason Crow and Brad Wenstrup, who had sponsored legislation in 2021 providing medical care for Havana syndrome patients and directing federal agencies to “address and mitigate these attacks.” Supporters of the bill assumed that the anomalous health incidents were targeted assaults on American citizens.

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

Instead of shooting the messenger, the congressional committee should unearth the role of credulous lawmakers and the Trump administration’s State Department in cooking up a dubious syndrome that somehow merited millions in compensation while hobbling diplomatic relations with Cuba.

The annals of medicine are rife with similar examples of governments remunerating citizens for maladies that were later assessed to have been caused by an assortment of preexisting health complaints and anxiety reactions. The diagnosis of “railway spine” in Great Britain during the latter 19th century, “telephone sickness” in German switchboard operators in the early 20th century, and “repetition strain” among Australian typists in the 1980s are just three examples.

Adding further embarrassment to foreign conspiracy proponents was the release of a classified report in 2021 by a panel of experts who found that the mysterious sounds accompanying many “attacks” were the mating calls of the Indies short-tailed cricket. Other scientists had reached the same conclusion. These findings led the intelligence community to conclude that some of the symptoms were likely psychosomatic in origin, finding that “social factors” played a role in them, after victims had been primed to believe they were the targets of an imaginary weapon. Future hearings should address why several members of Congress promoted theories of foreign involvement when they had access to classified documents that concluded there was no such evidence.

The Intelligence Committee might examine how congressional hearings themselves played a role in this fiasco. American politicians have a history of turning these events into partisan spectacles. A January 2018 Senate hearing into “Havana Syndrome” chaired by Marco Rubio of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for example, concluded that Cuba was unequivocally involved in attacks, with the likely assistance of Russia or China. However, the hearing was devoid of testimonies from skeptical scientists and failed to produce a shred of concrete evidence to support these assertions.

Any future investigation of “Havana syndrome” should also look at how journalists peddled exotic explanations, dubious research findings and the opinions of rogue scientists while downplaying skeptical assessments by the scientific community. One claim was especially influential in promoting the attack narrative: that a 2018 study in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association found that a cohort of victims in Cuba suffered brain damage. Although these people did exhibit brain changes, they were relatively minor and consistent with exposure to prolonged stress. The study authors even cautioned that the anomalies were marginal and could have been caused by individual variation.

Early on, State Department doctors gravitated toward exotic hypotheses by consulting a specialist in acoustical weapons while failing to consider more mundane explanations. The State Department’s gallop ahead of an open-minded medical investigation turned the patient’s cluster of disparate symptoms into a melodramatic narrative of assault by mystery concussion weapon. This is directly relevant because “Havana syndrome” was comprised of a plethora of ambiguous complaints that are seen in doctor’s offices every day: headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, memory problems, difficulty concentrating, ear pressure, and insomnia. Touted in news reports, the supposed attacks most dramatic claimed symptoms—brain damage and hearing loss—were never demonstrated in actual medical assessments.

It is noteworthy that the first victims were based in a small CIA unit in Havana and had been speculating as to the nature of mysterious sounds near their homes. Several weeks later, one of the agents experienced a headache and ear pain and became convinced that they were the victim of a sonic weapon. As word of the “attacks” spread to his work colleagues and diplomats at the embassy in Havana, staff became hyperaware of strange sounds which were associated with feeling unwell, according to a CDC report on the incidents. This is a classic setup for mass psychogenic illness which is known to follow social networks. Outbreaks commonly originate in a small, cohesive unit and spread outward, starting with people of higher status—which is exactly what happened in Cuba. Other victims were most likely redefining vague symptoms or other health conditions under a new label.

After a seven-year investigation, it is time to close the book on “Havana syndrome.” In doing so, we would do well to heed the main lesson: follow the science. If politicians continue to challenge the conclusions of their own intelligence agencies because they are not politically expedient, “Havana syndrome” may soon become synonymous with other dubious topics on the margins of science: Bigfoot, chupacabras and alien abductions.

This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

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Loss of bats to lethal fungus linked to 1,300 child deaths in US, study says

Because bats feed on crop pests, their disappearance led to a surge in pesticide use. Research found a rise in infant mortality in areas where the bats had been wiped outIn 2006, a deadly fungus started killing bat colonies across the United States. Now, an environmental economist has linked their loss to the deaths of more than 1,300 children.The study, published in Science on Thursday, found that farmers dramatically increased pesticide use after the bat die-offs, which was in turn linked to an average infant mortality increase of nearly 8%. Unusually, the research suggests a causative link between human and bat wellbeing. Continue reading...

In 2006, a deadly fungus started killing bat colonies across the United States. Now, an environmental economist has linked their loss to the deaths of more than 1,300 children.The study, published in Science on Thursday, found that farmers dramatically increased pesticide use after the bat die-offs, which was in turn linked to an average infant mortality increase of nearly 8%. Unusually, the research suggests a causative link between human and bat wellbeing.“That’s just quite rare – to get good, empirical, grounded estimates of how much value the species is providing,” said environmental economist Charles Taylor from the Harvard Kennedy School, who was not involved in the study. “Putting actual numbers to it in a credible way is tough.”The crisis for bat colonies began in 2006, when a fungus called Pseudogymnoascus destructans hitchhiked from Europe to the US. P destructans grows on hibernating bats in winter, sprouting as white fuzz on their noses. It can extinguish a bat colony in as little as five years.When Eyal Frank, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, learned about the disease, called white-nose syndrome, he realised it provided a perfect natural experiment to demonstrate the value of a bat. Bats eat 40% or more of their bodyweight in insects every night, including many crop pests. What would their disappearance mean?In infected areas, he found, farmers compensated for the loss of bats by significantly increasing their use of insecticides – by 31.1% on average.Next, Frank looked at infant mortality – a metric commonly used to judge the impact of environmental toxins. Infected counties had an infant death rate 7.9% higher, on average, than counties with healthy bats, despite pesticide use being within regulatory limits. That equates to 1,334 extra infant deaths.A brown bat with white-nose syndrome caused by the Pseudogymnoascus destructans fungus in New York. Photograph: Ryan von Linden/APFrank tested other factors that might plausibly explain the rise in deaths: unemployment, the opioid epidemic, the weather, differences among mothers, or the introduction of genetically modified crops, but none explained the increase in pesticide use or the rise in infant deaths. He spent a year “kicking the tyres on the study”, and the results held. It provided “compelling evidence”, he said, “that farmers did respond to the decline in insect-eating bats, and that response had an adverse health impact on human infants”.It is unusual for a study of this type to suggest causation, not just correlation, said Taylor.“A lot of papers that try to link pesticides to outcomes are correlational in nature,” said Taylor. “People who are exposed to more pesticides, for example, might have other risk factors – like, farm workers are exposed to a whole host of other socioeconomic risks that could explain why there might be different health outcomes.”White-nose syndrome, however, essentially creates a randomised controlled trial: because the spread of white-nose syndrome was closely monitored, Frank could compare counties that had lost their bats with those the disease had not yet reached. “The bat disease wasn’t expected, and it shouldn’t have preferentially targeted certain groups over others,” Taylor said.A number of recent studies have shown how collapsing populations of wildlife can have unexpected knock-on effects for people. In June, Frank and another researcher estimated that the collapse of India’s vulture population may have resulted in 500,000 human deaths – because without the scavenging birds to eat rotting meat, rabies and other infections proliferated.The findings on pesticide use also echo previous research, including a study of Taylor’s. In the US, cicadas emerge en masse at intervals of 13 to 17 years. Taylor found that pesticide use increased in cicada seasons, as did infant mortality. People born in cicada years had lower test scores and were more likely to drop out of school.Columbia history professor David Rosner, who has spent his career investigating environmental toxins, said the study joins a body of evidence going back to the 1960s that pesticides adversely affect human health. “We’re dumping these synthetic materials into our environment, not knowing anything about what their impacts are going to be,” he said. “It’s not surprising – it’s just kind of shocking that we discover it every year.”Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features

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Cutbacks to U.S. Antarctic Science Risk Geopolitical Shifts at the South Pole

Reductions to American research at the South Pole could affect the politics of the southernmost continent

Antarctica may be remote, but it hasn’t escaped the scans of Google Street View. If you digitally drop into McMurdo Station, the U.S.’s busiest Antarctic installation, and slide along the volcanic rock of Ross Island, you’ll find muddy, tire-tracked roads. Along their edges are cargo containers marked “USAP,” the U.S. Antarctic Program, run by the National Science Foundation (NSF); you may also see Ivan the Terra Bus, a substantial people mover with burly tires that are nearly six feet tall.But McMurdo—normally a humming hub of research—has gotten quieter. Amid budget concerns and delayed upgrades to the station’s aging infrastructure, the NSF has pulled back on the number of scientific projects and associated people it sends to the globe’s deepest south.As the U.S. presence has decreased, though, other countries have been pouring more resources into the Antarctic. And although it’s not a contest, some experts are sounding alarms about that disparity. Security researchers say that “presence equals influence” in Antarctica, and they’re worried that the U.S. may slip in both categories while setting its scientific work back. Adrop inU.S. influence could affect geopolitics in the region and potentially endanger the safeguards ensuring the peaceful use of the Antarctic.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Antarctica, as a continent and an idea, isn’t just some icy backwater: it’s an important place environmentally, scientifically and politically. “People just think of Antarctica as really far away and that it doesn’t have any impact on them,” says Deneb Karentz, vice president for science at the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). The Southern Ocean’s circulation redistributes heat globally, and deep ocean currents also carry nutrients toward the equator. “It’s a really vital part of the whole ocean system and the way that the ocean interacts with the atmosphere,” Karentz says.Antarctica is also a prime place for space research. With its stable atmosphere and lack of electromagnetic interference from civilization, astronomers and physicists can seek faint signals from long-ago, faraway, mysterious parts of the universe—signals that may be hidden from instruments on busier continents. People come from all over the world to study the ice itself, which contains 90 percent of the world’s surface fresh water. And then there’s the geology, the sea life, the extremophiles and the changing climate.Karentz’s organization, SCAR, helps countries share scientific results of all sorts and collaborate on projects. In August the organization will bring the global community together in Chile for the SCAR Open Science Conference—the first in-person meeting since 2018. Carolina Merino, a biologist at the University of La Frontera in Chile, plans to be at the meeting. She’s a member of SCAR and studies how microbes survive Antarctica’s harsh conditions. “Understanding these processes can have significant implications for climate change science and environmental conservation,” she says. At the SCAR meeting, she’s hoping to bolster international collaboration on research.In addition, the group serves as science adviser to the Antarctic Treaty system—a treaty and related documents that govern existence on the continent. SCAR shares expertise about topics such as which areas should be protected or what’s going on with climate change lately.The Antarctic Treaty isn’t complicated. “There are two things in the treaty,” Karentz says: one, Antarctica is to be used only for science, and two, “it has to be peaceful,” she says. Militaries are allowed to provide logistical support; the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security do so for the U.S. The treaty also has an Environmental Protection Protocol that lays out conservation measures and environmental management policies.The treaty was originally signed in 1959 and entered force in 1961, with the conflicted superpowers of the U.S. and the Soviet Union both coming onboard. “They agreed at that time that expanding the cold war into the coldest continent was not a useful activity,” says William Muntean, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.Even with that enforced peace, though, Antarctica is geopolitically important: it contains, for instance, resources such as fisheries, minerals and natural gas that, because of the treaty, no one can exploit. It’s also geopolitically strange. “It’s not divvied up into countries or ownership in the way the rest of the world is,” says Muntean, who served as senior adviser for Antarctica at the U.S. Department of State and, in that role, led the nation’s delegation to Antarctic Treaty meetings. Before the treaty, seven countries had already made claims on the continent, but when they signed the agreement, they barred themselves from legally acting on those claims.That’s a sovereignty situation unlike any other on Earth—and one that many researchers don’t think about when they’re preparing neutrino detectors and ice corers for the South Pole. Few people in the United States focus on the politics of Antarctica, Muntean says. “You could find a lot of scientists who can talk about penguins and ice cubes and all that sort of stuff, but very few talk about the politics of it,” he adds.The science that they do, however, is twined with the politics. Research projects—and infrastructure such as McMurdo or the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station—exist not just for the sake of knowledge gathering but also for the sake of influence. “If you want to be influential in any capacity—be it diplomatically, economically, militarily, doesn’t matter—you need to be present in a region,” says Ryan Burke, a professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy and the University of Alaska Fairbanks’s Center for Arctic Security and Resilience. That’s especially true in a place where military flexes, traditional ways for nations to establish both presence and influence, are prohibited. Muntean cites China and South Korea as countries that are increasing their Antarctic footprint and therefore their own influence.Burke and Muntean are both concerned that the U.S., meanwhile, has decreased its presence in Antarctica. In 2023 NSF announced that it was canceling more than half of the USAP projects and activities that had been funded for the 2023–2024 research season. In the two summers to follow, the announcement said, the agency would focus on already-funded projects. It did not solicit any new USAP proposals in 2024.Those changes came in part because McMurdo Station needed to be modernized for the 21st century and is in the midst of upgrades.The initial renovation was interrupted by the COVID pandemic, as were Antarctic trips in general. The disease and its disruptions delayed the work—a new dorm, for instance, is off schedule by three years—meaning there aren’t enough beds available for the typical number of scientists who would visit. Plus, as grocery stores on the mainland show, costs of all sorts have increased, meaning a given amount of money results in less renovation.Not taking new proposals in 2024 “allows NSF to focus resources on reducing the lingering backlog of projects affected by the pandemic and major upgrade work at McMurdo Station,” an NSF spokesperson says.The science agency also stated last year that it would only operate one research ship in the coming decades, rather than the two it has in the past, partially because of budgetary concerns. The Coast Guard, meanwhile, is experiencing problems with its Polar Security Cutter program, and acquisitions of new ships are delayed.All of that together, despite the logistical and financial constraints that make it seemingly necessary, has the effect of decreasing American presence in Antarctica and backing up the scientific pipeline. “It is an issue,” Karentz says, “and I think there’s legitimate concern about what it's doing to the future of the U.S. Antarctic Program.”Muntean worries about early-career researchers, whose research path might be more affected by delays due to the Antarctic slowdown and who could also face more competition because of the backup. “Right now it’s a little bit tough, I think, to say South Pole or Antarctic research has got a bright future,” he says.In Muntean’s view, U.S. planners aren’t thinking enough about pipelines in general, such as replacement plans for aging ships and planes that can move in that harsh environment. As with the on-land infrastructure, if you wait until vehicles face obsolescence, you often face a gap in capability. “The icebreaker that is currently operational—Polar Star—is almost as old as I am,” Muntean says, describing the ship that creates a channel through the ice to clear the way to McMurdo Sound. “This is not good for us.”An NSF spokesperson points to President Biden’s May 2024 National Security Memorandum on U.S. Policy on the Antarctic Region, “which reaffirms the importance of the Antarctic Treaty System ... [and] reiterates the long-standing mandate to maintain an ‘active and influential presence.’”But if the U.S. loses influence in Antarctica, there could be negative consequences for the dynamics of the region. “We have a nice, neutral, calming effect, usually, on the politics of Antarctica,” Muntean says.Burke agrees. “The U.S. is largely interested in maintaining the continent as a zone of peace and research,” he says—upholding the original tenets of the treaty, in other words.The current American pullback has led some to worry that, as Muntean put it in a recent commentary, other countries may be more likely to “pursue their individual interests rather than their collective interest.”The collective interest involves those “peace and science” ideals in the treaty, and individual interests perhaps include putting dual-use capabilities at Antarctic installations—instrumentation that’s useful both to scientists and to the military—or looking into using resources that have been set aside for conservation.Worries about countries pursuing individual interests are why treaties have enforcement mechanisms. The Antarctic Treaty has two. Countries can do unannounced inspections of other nations’ stations. “Countries show up and check out what’s happening to see whether countries are doing what they’re saying they’re doing,” Muntean says. Every state present in Antarctica also has to document their planned activities, equipment and in-person presence.A U.S. team slid in just before the pandemic in 2020 to perform recent inspections. It was led by Muntean, and members included officials from the Department of State, the Coast Guard, NSF and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We were welcomed with open arms by all stations,” Muntean says.Over the entire lifetime of the treaty, however, only around 60 inspections have occurred—not exactly enough to keep a sharp eye on the goings-on. And in 2023 just 10 of 29 parties had done their required documentation every year for the past decade.Given all those fuzzy variables, Muntean believes that scientists who study the Antarctic shouldn’t just pay attention to their own projects and care about their own results. They also need to be part of the policy and the politics, especially if they want to ensure they get to continue to do their science at the levels they have in the past. “The U.S. needs to be thinking about how to make the platforms, and maintain the platforms, for decades to come in a manner that keeps us in the forefront of science [and] environmental protection,” Muntean says, “as well as the politics.”

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Groundbreaking Antarctic Survey Reveals Hidden Patterns in Ice Shelf Melting

Scientists have used a submersible to map the underside of Antarctica’s Dotson Ice Shelf, revealing rapid melting and unusual patterns that contribute to understanding sea level rise. The research highlights the need for improved predictive models and continued exploration to comprehend future changes in ice shelf dynamics. The first detailed maps of the underside of [...]

A survey using a submersible named ‘Ran’ has mapped the underside of Antarctica’s Dotson Ice Shelf, revealing complex ice melt patterns that suggest faster melting and future sea level rise implications.Scientists have used a submersible to map the underside of Antarctica’s Dotson Ice Shelf, revealing rapid melting and unusual patterns that contribute to understanding sea level rise. The research highlights the need for improved predictive models and continued exploration to comprehend future changes in ice shelf dynamics. The first detailed maps of the underside of a floating ice shelf in Antarctica have unveiled crucial clues about future sea level rise. An international research team – including scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA) – deployed an unmanned submersible beneath the Dotson Ice Shelf in West Antarctica. The underwater vehicle, ‘Ran’, was programmed to dive into the cavity of the 350-meter-thick ice shelf and scan the ice above it with an advanced sonar. Over 27 days, the submarine traveled more than 1000 kilometers back and forth under the shelf, reaching 17 kilometers into the cavity. Understanding Ice Shelf Dynamics An ice shelf is a mass of glacial ice, fed from land by tributary glaciers, that floats in the sea above an ice shelf cavity. Dotson Ice Shelf is part of the West Antarctic ice sheet – and next to Thwaites Glacier – which is considered to have a potentially large impact on future sea level rise due to its size and location. The researchers report their findings of this unique survey in a new paper published in the journal Science Advances. They found some things as expected, for example, the glacier melts faster where strong underwater currents erode its base. Using the submersible, they were able to measure the currents below the glacier for the first time and prove why the western part of the Dotson Ice Shelf melts so fast. They also found evidence of very high melt at vertical fractures that extend through the glacier. However, the team also saw new patterns on the glacier base that raised questions. The mapping showed that the base is not smooth, but there is a peak and valley ice-scape with plateaus and formations resembling sand dunes. The researchers hypothesize that these may have been formed by flowing water under the influence of Earth’s rotation. Insights from High-Resolution Mapping Lead author Anna Wåhlin, Professor of Oceanography at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said: “We have previously used satellite data and ice cores to observe how ice shelves change over time. By navigating the submersible into the cavity, we were able to get high-resolution maps of the ice underside. It’s a bit like seeing the back of the moon for the first time.” The expedition was carried out in regions of drifting ice in West Antarctica in 2022 during a research cruise for the TARSAN project, a joint US-UK funded initiative that is part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration. The project is studying how atmospheric and oceanic processes are influencing the behavior of the Thwaites and Dotson Ice Shelves – neighboring ice shelves that are behaving differently. Co-author Dr Rob Hall, from UEA’s School of Environmental Sciences, co-led the cruise on the RV Nathaniel B Palmer, on which the observations were made from January to March 2022. He said: “Anna and her team successfully piloted their autonomous underwater vehicle ‘Ran’ over 1000 km under Dotson Ice Shelf collecting a huge range of data and samples, which will take several years to process and analyze. “The incredible high-resolution images of the underside of the ice shelf are the icing on the cake and will open up a whole new avenue of scientific research.” The Significance of Melting Ice Shelves Prof Karen Heywood, also from UEA and a co-author, is UK lead scientist on the TARSAN project. She said: “This has been such an exciting project to work on. When Anna sent round the first images of the underside of the Dotson ice shelf we were thrilled – nobody had ever seen this before. But we were also baffled – there were cracks and swirls in the ice that we weren’t expecting. It looked more like art! “We wondered what could be causing these. All of the glaciologists and the oceanographers in the TARSAN project got together to brainstorm ideas. It’s been like detective work – using fundamental ocean physics to test theories against the shape and size of the patterns under the ice. We’ve been able to show for the first time some of the processes that melt the underside of ice shelves. Prof Heywood added: “These ice shelves are already floating on the sea, so their melting doesn’t directly affect sea level. However, ultimately the melting of ice shelves causes the glaciers on land further upstream to flow faster and destabilize, which does lead to sea level rise, so these new observations will help the community of ice modelers to reduce the large uncertainties in future sea levels.” Scientists now realize there is a wealth of processes left to discover in future research missions under the glaciers. “The mapping has given us new data that we need to look at more closely. It is clear that many previous assumptions about the melting of glacier undersides are falling short. Current models cannot explain the complex patterns we see. But with this method, we have a better chance of finding the answers,” said Prof Wåhlin. “Better models are needed to predict how fast the ice shelves will melt in the future. It is exciting when oceanographers and glaciologists work together, combining remote sensing with oceanographic field data. This is needed to understand the glaciological changes taking place – the driving force is in the ocean.” In January 2024, the group returned with Ran to Dotson Ice Shelf to repeat the surveys, hoping to document changes. However, they were only able to complete one dive before Ran disappeared under the ice. “Although we got valuable data back, we did not get all we had hoped for,” said Prof Wåhlin. “These scientific advances were made possible thanks to the unique submersible that Ran was. This research is needed to understand the future of Antarctica’s ice sheet, and we hope to be able to replace Ran and continue this important work.” Reference: “Swirls and scoops: Ice base melt revealed by multibeam imagery of an Antarctic ice shelf” by Anna Wåhlin, Karen E. Alley, Carolyn Begeman, Øyvind Hegrenæs, Xiaohan Yuan, Alastair G. C. Graham, Kelly Hogan, Peter E. D. Davis, Tiago S. Dotto, Clare Eayrs, Robert A. Hall, David M. Holland, Tae Wan Kim, Robert D. Larter, Li Ling, Atsuhiro Muto, Erin C. Pettit, Britney E. Schmidt, Tasha Snow, Filip Stedt, Peter M. Washam, Stina Wahlgren, Christian Wild, Julia Wellner, Yixi Zheng and Karen J. Heywood, 31 July 2024, Science Advances.DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adn9188

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MIT School of Science launches Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy

New center taps Institute-wide expertise to improve understanding of, and responses to, sustainability challenges.

The MIT School of Science is launching a center to advance knowledge and computational capabilities in the field of sustainability science, and support decision-makers in government, industry, and civil society to achieve sustainable development goals. Aligned with the Climate Project at MIT, researchers at the MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy will develop and apply expertise from across the Institute to improve understanding of sustainability challenges, and thereby provide actionable knowledge and insight to inform strategies for improving human well-being for current and future generations.Noelle Selin, professor at MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems and Society and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, will serve as the center’s inaugural faculty director. C. Adam Schlosser and Sergey Paltsev, senior research scientists at MIT, will serve as deputy directors, with Anne Slinn as executive director.Incorporating and succeeding both the Center for Global Change Science and Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change while adding new capabilities, the center aims to produce leading-edge research to help guide societal transitions toward a more sustainable future. Drawing on the long history of MIT’s efforts to address global change and its integrated environmental and human dimensions, the center is well-positioned to lead burgeoning global efforts to advance the field of sustainability science, which seeks to understand nature-society systems in their full complexity. This understanding is designed to be relevant and actionable for decision-makers in government, industry, and civil society in their efforts to develop viable pathways to improve quality of life for multiple stakeholders.“As critical challenges such as climate, health, energy, and food security increasingly affect people’s lives around the world, decision-makers need a better understanding of the earth in its full complexity — and that includes people, technologies, and institutions as well as environmental processes,” says Selin. “Better knowledge of these systems and how they interact can lead to more effective strategies that avoid unintended consequences and ensure an improved quality of life for all.”    Advancing knowledge, computational capability, and decision supportTo produce more precise and comprehensive knowledge of sustainability challenges and guide decision-makers to formulate more effective strategies, the center has set the following goals:Advance fundamental understanding of the complex interconnected physical and socio-economic systems that affect human well-being. As new policies and technologies are developed amid climate and other global changes, they interact with environmental processes and institutions in ways that can alter the earth’s critical life-support systems. Fundamental mechanisms that determine many of these systems’ behaviors, including those related to interacting climate, water, food, and socio-economic systems, remain largely unknown and poorly quantified. Better understanding can help society mitigate the risks of abrupt changes and “tipping points” in these systems.Develop, establish and disseminate new computational tools toward better understanding earth systems, including both environmental and human dimensions. The center’s work will integrate modeling and data analysis across disciplines in an era of increasing volumes of observational data. MIT multi-system models and data products will provide robust information to inform decision-making and shape the next generation of sustainability science and strategy.Produce actionable science that supports equity and justice within and across generations. The center’s research will be designed to inform action associated with measurable outcomes aligned with supporting human well-being across generations. This requires engaging a broad range of stakeholders, including not only nations and companies, but also nongovernmental organizations and communities that take action to promote sustainable development — with special attention to those who have historically borne the brunt of environmental injustice.“The center’s work will advance fundamental understanding in sustainability science, leverage leading-edge computing and data, and promote engagement and impact,” says Selin. “Our researchers will help lead scientists and strategists across the globe who share MIT’s commitment to mobilizing knowledge to inform action toward a more sustainable world.”Building a better world at MITBuilding on existing MIT capabilities in sustainability, science, and strategy, the center aims to: focus research, education, and outreach under a theme that reflects a comprehensive state of the field and international research directions, fostering a dynamic community of students, researchers, and faculty;raise the visibility of sustainability science at MIT, emphasizing links between science and action, in the context of existing Institute goals and other efforts on climate and sustainability, and in a way that reflects the vital contributions of a range of natural and social science disciplines to understanding human-environment systems; andre-emphasize MIT’s long-standing expertise in integrated systems modeling while leveraging the Institute’s concurrent leading-edge strengths in data and computing, establishing leadership that harnesses recent innovations, including those in machine learning and artificial intelligence, toward addressing the science challenges of global change and sustainability.“The Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy will provide the necessary synergy for our MIT researchers to develop, deploy, and scale up serious solutions to climate change and other critical sustainability challenges,” says Nergis Mavalvala the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics and dean of the MIT School of Science. “With Professor Selin at its helm, the center will also ensure that these solutions are created in concert with the people who are directly affected now and in the future.”The center builds on more than three decades of achievements by the Center for Global Change Science and the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, both of which were directed or co-directed by professor of atmospheric science Ronald Prinn.

Science
Climate
Energy

School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences welcomes nine new faculty

New professors join anthropology, economics, history, linguistics, music and theater arts, and philosophy departments, as well as the Program in Science, Technology, and Society.

Dean Agustín Rayo and the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences recently welcomed nine new professors to the MIT community. They arrive with diverse backgrounds and vast knowledge in their areas of research.Sonya Atalay joins the Anthropology Section as a professor. She is a public anthropologist and archaeologist who studies Indigenous science protocols, practices, and research methods carried out with and for Indigenous communities. Atalay is the director and principal investigator of the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science, a newly established National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center. She has expertise in the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and served two terms on the National NAGPRA Review Committee, first appointed by the Bush administration and then for a second term by the Obama administration. Atalay has produced a series of research-based comics in partnership with Native nations about repatriation of Native American ancestral remains, return of sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony under NAGPRA law. Atalay earned her PhD in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley).Anna Huang SM ’08 joins the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and Music and Theater Arts as assistant professor. She will help develop graduate programming focused on music technology. Previously, she spent eight years with Magenta at Google Brain and DeepMind, spearheading efforts in generative modeling, reinforcement learning, and human-computer interaction to support human-AI partnerships in music-making. She is the creator of Music Transformer and Coconet (which powered the Bach Google Doodle). She was a judge and organizer for the AI Song Contest. Anna holds a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at Mila, a BM in music composition, a BS in computer science from the University of Southern California, an MS from the MIT Media Lab, and a PhD from Harvard University.Elena Kempf joins the History Section as an assistant professor. She is an historian of modern Europe with special interests in international law and modern Germany in its global context. Her current book project is a legal, political, and cultural history of weapons prohibitions in modern international law from the 1860s to the present. Before joining MIT, Kempf was a postdoc at the Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law at UC Berkeley and a lecturer at the Department of History at Stanford University. Elena earned her PhD in history from UC Berkeley.Matthias Michel joins the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy as an assistant professor. Matthias completed his PhD in philosophy in 2019 at Sorbonne Université. Before coming to MIT, he was a Bersoff Faculty Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at New York University. His research is at the intersection between philosophy and cognitive science, and focuses on philosophical issues related to the scientific study of consciousness. His current work addresses questions such as how to distinguish entities with minds from those without, which animals are sentient, and which mental functions can be performed unconsciously.Jacob Moscona PhD ’21 is a new assistant professor in the Department of Economics. His research explores broad questions in economic development, with a focus on the role of innovation, the environment, and political economy. One stream of his research investigates the forces that drive the rate and direction of technological progress, as well as how new technologies shape global productivity differences and adaptation to major threats like climate change. Another stream of his research studies the political economy of economic development, with a focus on how variation in social organization and institutions affects patterns of conflict and cooperation. Prior to joining MIT, he was a Prize Fellow in Economics, History, and Politics at Harvard University. He received his BA from Harvard in 2016 and PhD from MIT in 2021. Outside of MIT, Jacob enjoys playing and performing music.Sendhil Mullainathan joins the departments of EECS and Economics as the Peter de Florez Professor. His research uses machine learning to understand complex problems in human behavior, social policy, and medicine. Previously, Mullainathan spent five years at MIT before joining the faculty at Harvard in 2004, and then the University of Chicago in 2018. He received his BA in computer science, mathematics, and economics from Cornell University and his PhD from Harvard.Elise Newman PhD ’21 is a new assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. Her forthcoming monograph, “When arguments merge,” studies the ingredients that languages use to construct verb phrases, and examines how those ingredients interact with other linguistic processes such as question formation. By studying these interactions, she forms a hypothesis about how different languages’ verb phrases can be distinct from each other, and what they must have in common, providing insight into this aspect of the human language faculty. In addition to the structural properties of language, Newman also has expertise in semantics (the study of meaning) and first language acquisition. She returns to MIT after a postdoc at the University of Edinburgh, after completing her PhD in linguistics at MIT in 2021.Oliver Rollins joins the Program in Science, Technology, and Society as an assistant professor. He is a qualitative sociologist who explores the sociological dimensions of neuroscientific knowledge and technologies. His work primarily illustrates the way race, racialized discourses, and systemic practices of social difference impact and are shaped by the development and use of neuroscience. His book, “Conviction: The Making and Unmaking of The Violent Brain” (Stanford University Press, 2021), traces the evolution of neuroimaging research on antisocial behavior, stressing the limits of this controversial brain model when dealing with aspects of social inequality. Rollins’s second book project will grapple with the legacies of scientific racism in and through the mind and brain sciences, elucidating how the haunting presence of race endures through modern neuroscientific theories, data, and technologies. Rollins recently received an NSF CAREER Award to investigate the intersections between social justice and science. Through this project, he aims to examine the sociopolitical vulnerabilities, policy possibilities, and anti-racist promises for contemporary (neuro)science.Ishani Saraf joins the Program in Science, Technology, and Society as an assistant professor. She is a sociocultural anthropologist. Her research studies the transformation and trade of discarded machines in translocal spaces in India and the Indian Ocean, where she focuses on questions of postcolonial capitalism, urban belonging, material practices, situated bodies of knowledge, and environmental governance. She received her PhD from the University of California at Davis, and prior to joining MIT, she was a postdoc and lecturer at the University of Virginia.

Science
Technology
Climate

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