精品SM在线影片 researchers Colleen Reid, Emma Rieves and their colleagues explored the potential impact of objective and perceived greenspace exposure on mental health

If you or a loved one is struggling with mental health, you鈥檙e not alone. Roughly one in every five adults experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression over the past two weeks, according to a 2022 CDC . The good news is a better state of mind could be right in your backyard鈥攍iterally.

Perceived greenspace exposure鈥攚hich represents a person鈥檚 perception of the amount and quality of access to and time spent in nearby greenspace鈥攎ay have a significant positive effect on certain aspects of mental health, according to from an interdisciplinary 精品SM在线影片 team.

With Associate Geography Professor Colleen Reid at the helm, researchers from the Geography, Psychology and Neuroscience departments as well as the Institute for Behavioral Genetics and the Institute of Behavioral Science explored the link between greenspace exposure and stress, anxiety and depression.

Their study revealed a strong association between perceived greenspace exposure and reduced anxiety. Could better mental health be as simple as a walk in the park? Perhaps, says lead study author and geography PhD candidate Emma Rieves.

The relationship between greenspace and mental health 鈥渋sn鈥檛 just about the greenspace that鈥檚 empirically there,鈥� which they measured by aggregating the green pixels, representing greenspace, from aerial imagery, also known as objective green space. 鈥淭he relationship is mainly influenced by aspects of green space that aren鈥檛 well captured by objective measures, such as the quality of the green space, how much time someone spends in green space and how accessible it is,鈥� she says.

Research in the time of COVID-19

Reid started the study in late 2019, says Rieves, who arrived on campus to begin her graduate education in the fall of 2020. 鈥淚t was weird,鈥� she recalls. 鈥淏ut the [geography] department did a lot to facilitate interactions between students despite the restrictions that were in place at the time.鈥�

Even before Rieves dove into the research project, she had personal experience with nature鈥檚 capacity to ease her mind, particularly during the early days of lockdown. 鈥淏eing in nature definitely helped to combat some of the negative emotions you have when you鈥檙e stuck sitting in your house, doomscrolling and wiping down all your produce,鈥� she recalls.

To determine the effect of greenspace exposure on the study鈥檚 research subjects, the team had to switch gears early in the data-collection process to account for the extra stress associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, says Rieves.

Once COVID-19 public health restrictions were in place, however, they added pandemic-specific questions to their mental health survey so that subjects could share the extent to which they were impacted by stressors such finances, resources and the possibility of infection. Their analysis could then control for pandemic-specific variables to more accurately identify the connection between mental health and greenspace exposure, says Rieves.

Is greenspace exposure a key to mental health?

The researchers found that perceived greenspace exposure was directly linked to reduced anxiety metrics and had a borderline statistically significant relationship with lower levels of depression metrics. Meanwhile, objective greenspace exposure bore no statistically significant association with anxiety, depression or stress.

In other words, when it came to mental health, and anxiety in particular, objective greenspace exposure mattered far less than subjects鈥� perceptions of greenspace exposure.

鈥溾�夿ased on the presence of green pixels, a vacant lot full of weeds would register as having a high green space signal. But if you were there, you might not perceive it as a superabundant green space,鈥� says Rieves. 鈥淲e found that other factors, like the quality of the environment in this example, is more important to the mental health and greenspace relationship.鈥�

At the same time, the findings revealed a positive association between socioeconomic status and both objective and perceived greenspace, where people with higher socioeconomic status had higher perceived and objective greenspace exposure.

The takeaway

While no one is promising that a walk in the woods is a magic bullet, getting out in nature is never a bad idea, says Rieves. And no matter what the pixels indicate, or how many minutes a day you spend around trees, the data indicate that people鈥檚 perceptions of their own greenspace exposure are important to unlocking better mental health, says Rieves.

鈥淭his study doesn鈥檛 prescribe any specific level of greenspace exposure needed to reap its mental health benefits, but if you feel like you鈥檙e surrounded by greenspace, it鈥檚 probably good for you.鈥�

精品SM在线影片 scientists Naomi Friedman and Samantha Freis contributed to this research.

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精品SM在线影片 researchers find that socioeconomic status is a key indicator of heart health

Cardiovascular disease, the  in the United States, significantly affects those of lower socioeconomic status. In addition, members of historically marginalized groups鈥攊ncluding Black, Indigenous and Asian populations鈥攕uffer disproportionately. Therefore, public health advocates and policy makers need to make extra efforts to reach these populations and find ways to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease.

These are the findings of researchers Sanna Darvish and Sophia Mahoney, PhD candidates in the 精品SM在线影片 Department of Integrative Physiology. Their  on socioeconomic status and arterial aging鈥攚ritten with 精品SM在线影片 co-authors Ravinandan Venkatasubramanian, Matthew J. Rossman, Zachary S. Clayton and Kevin O. Murray鈥攚as published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

Darvish and Mahoney conducted a literature review of cardiovascular disease, looking specifically at how it affects various demographics. Their focus was on two physiological features that are predictors of cardiovascular issues: endothelial dysfunction鈥攁 failure of the lining of blood vessels that can cause a narrowing of the arteries鈥攁nd stiffening of arteries.

鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty well established that individuals of lower socioeconomic status have increased risk for many chronic diseases, but our lab focuses on the physiological and cellular mechanisms contributing to that increased risk,鈥� Darvish explains. 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at what studies have been conducted, looking at blood vessel dysfunction, arterial dysfunction in these marginalized groups that then will predict their risk for cardiovascular disease.鈥�

Exercise as therapy

Beyond the clinical findings, Darvish and Mahoney cite four social determinants of health regarding cardiovascular disease across ethnic and racial groups: environmental factors, like proximity to pollution or access to green spaces; psychological and social factors, such as stress or structural racism; health care access; and socioeconomic status.

While each of the four has different facets that contribute to overall cardiovascular health, the authors found that socioeconomic status was the 鈥渃ause of causes,鈥� and thus the most important indicator to examine in their goal of recommending effective therapies.

鈥淚t became clear to us that socioeconomic status really played a role in every single aspect of social determinants of health,鈥� says Mahoney. 鈥淪o, our paper naturally centered around socioeconomic status as we realized that it was the most integrated and affected the rest of the determinants of health.鈥�

To help overcome the barriers to better cardiovascular health among those in lower socioeconomic groups, Darvish and Mahoney recommend exercise.

鈥淓xercise is well established as first line of defense, especially aerobic exercise,鈥� says Mahoney. 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy for us to say that in Colorado, but there are plenty of barriers to people everywhere who do not have access to resources.鈥�

One option the researchers propose is high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which packs a robust aerobic effort into workouts as brief as five or 10 minutes. The authors also recommend inspiratory muscle strength training (IMST), during which users breathe into a simple handheld device that inhibits air flow and get a simulated aerobic workout that also strengthens the diaphragm.  that just a few minutes of IMST therapy a day can reduce blood pressure and the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Reducing research barriers

One thing Darvish and Mahoney hope their study will do is galvanize researchers to include more diverse populations in their research. While investigating the existing literature for their review, the two were dismayed to find few studies that included or focused on populations from the lower socioeconomic echelons.

There are structural reasons for that, Darvish explains. Time is an issue, as those lower on the socioeconomic ladder often work more hours and have more demands on their non-work time. In addition, transportation can be an obstacle, as research facilities may not be near neighborhoods with more diverse populations. 鈥淲e pay our participants an appropriate amount for their participation, but not all clinical trials do,鈥� Darvish says.

鈥淎nother thing we are doing is instituting a lift service through our lab, to drive people in from their homes in Denver to our lab in Boulder, and we hope this will help improve access for more people to participate.鈥�

Language barriers can be another impediment, as all release forms and study literature would need to be translated for those who don鈥檛 speak English. Darvish and Mahoney say it is important that researchers work to overcome these structural barriers. 鈥淥ur lab is working to do all we can to reduce biases, and include these diverse populations,鈥� says Mahoney. 鈥淲e need to practice what we preach and start with ourselves.鈥�

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精品SM在线影片 anthropology PhD candidate Sabrina Bradford has been learning what鈥檚 on the menu for grizzlies in Montana

If you鈥檙e ever heading to Montana鈥檚 backcountry, you鈥檇 be hard pressed to find a better guide than Sabrina Bradford, a 精品SM在线影片 PhD candidate in biological anthropology.

Bradford has spent more than a decade in the area鈥檚 countryside, mostly on horseback, studying conflict between humans and wildlife, social-ecological systems, livestock damage and the grizzly-bear diet.

Lately she鈥檚 been getting noticed for that last item.

Anthropology PhD candidate Sabrina Bradford (left) wrote Grizzly Bear Foods: Reference Guide to the Plants, Animals, and Fungi in the Montana Grizzly Bear's Diet, published by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

This fall, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks published her new 100-page book, , which will be part of the state鈥檚 鈥渂ear aware鈥� education program for the public in 2025.

鈥淚 saw a lot about how grizzlies used the landscape,鈥� says Bradford, who sometimes has ridden 20 miles a day in the backcountry doing research and working as a guide and bear education specialist. 鈥淚 took plenty of photos of grizzly bear signs鈥�areas where it looked like a tiller had rolled through the soil, over rocks and torn up trees. I wanted people to be able to see the landscape similar to the way I did. It鈥檚 really important to me that the public understands what bears are actually doing on the landscape.鈥�

Of course, that landscape is a massive buffet for grizzlies, whose four food groups are plants, animals, fungi and trash from humans. A few specific examples of their diet: grasses, shrubs, seeds and fruits of trees, mushrooms, ducks, bird eggs, trout, salmon, squirrels, beaver, moose, bison, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, ants, termites and bees.

Bradford, who graduates this month, says grizzlies serve an important role as seed dispersers within the ecosystem there, and many of the shrubs grizzlies eat produce berries (e.g. huckleberry, raspberry, serviceberry, grouse whortleberry, buffaloberry) that are dispersed via scat.

鈥楶retty cool animals鈥�

鈥淏ears are pretty cool animals,鈥� Bradford says. 鈥淭hey have incredible spatiotemporal memory [they can recall where and when food was presented], and they use social learning. Mom teaches her cubs food acquisition strategies. This is key for people to understand, those who question why cubs were removed from an area as well as when the mother is removed for dumpster diving. She鈥檚 just teaching her cubs how to access a reliable food resource.鈥�

Bears are also not above stealing other animals鈥� food stash, an activity called kleptoparasitism.

Grizzly bears sometimes steal other animals' food stashes, an act called kleptoparasitism. (Photo: Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks)

鈥淧eople who hike in grizzly country with their dogs off the leash say their dog will protect them. That doesn鈥檛 really work,鈥� Bradford explains. 鈥淜leptoparasitism is one of the food-source acquisition strategies grizzlies use, and they鈥檒l steal food from packs of wolves. Wolves will yield to grizzly bears, and your dog is nowhere near as tough as a pack of wolves.鈥�

Bradford says while she鈥檚 seen many grizzlies, she鈥檚 never had to use her bear spray. Her advice to avoid attacks: 鈥淩ealize that the human voice is the most powerful deterrent out there, not radios or bear bells. Talk loud in areas of low visibility so the bears can hear you coming. It鈥檚 critical to understand that you shouldn鈥檛 surprise a bear, that they鈥檒l do anything to protect their cubs. And be aware of magpies or ravens in the forest because they鈥檙e a sign you might be hiking up on a carcass.鈥�

And while grizzlies鈥� sense of hearing is strong, their sense of smell is astounding. 鈥淭he size of the olfactory bulb, the part of the brain that processes scent information in grizzlies, is more than five times larger than humans鈥� olfactory bulb.鈥� She advises people to sleep in clothes they haven鈥檛 cooked in: 鈥淛ust because you can鈥檛 smell food on your clothes doesn鈥檛 mean bears can鈥檛.鈥�

Bradford adds that there is a common misunderstanding that grizzlies are looking to wipe out the first person they see and that livestock producers want to kill all grizzlies.

鈥淭hat isn鈥檛 true,鈥� she says. 鈥淵es, livestock loss to grizzlies does occur, but ranchers I interviewed said over 80% of the grizzlies out there never cause any trouble. And other ranchers reported that it鈥檚 common to see grizzlies grazing grass in the same fields that the cattle use.鈥�

She recalls one rancher telling her, 鈥溾�橶ildlife is embedded deep in our traditions. We don't hate grizzly bears; they're amazing animals. I don't want to give up all I have to the grizzly bear but I'm willing to share it.鈥欌�� 

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Invited by the king of Bhutan, 精品SM在线影片 PhD student Clare Gallagher completed the 109-mile Snowman Race to bring attention to the realities of climate change

Usually when Clare Gallagher runs 100 miles, she does it all at once鈥攁 day that鈥檚 alternately punishing and exhilarating and at the furthest boundaries of what her body can do.

The 109-mile was different. It spanned five days across the Himalayas and saw 16 of the most elite ultramarathoners from around the world traversing multiple mountain passes approaching 18,000 feet.

Clare Gallagher (left) was invited by Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck to run the 109-mile Snowman Race ultramarathon. (Photo: Snowman Race)

鈥淎s far as ultramarathons go, it was not that crazy a distance鈥攚e were doing about a marathon a day,鈥� Gallagher explains. 鈥淏ut it took so, so long because these mountains are just so high. We started in Laya (Bhutan), which is about 13,000 feet in elevation, and went up from there.鈥�

Gallagher, a PhD student in the 精品SM在线影片 Department of Environmental Studies and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), was invited by the king of Bhutan to participate in the 2024 Snowman Race held at the end of October. It was the second time the race was held鈥攁n event envisioned by Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck to draw international attention to the stark realities of climate change in Bhutan and around the globe.

鈥淥nce we actually got there and were literally on top of these glaciers, I could see his point,鈥� Gallagher says. 鈥淗is goal is for international trail runners like myself to help share the story of what we saw, and what I saw is that the glaciers are melting.鈥�

Running 100 miles

Before she vividly learned that a journey of 100 miles begins with a single step, however, Gallagher was simply a girl who liked to run. She ran track as an undergraduate at Princeton and kept running in Thailand, where she moved after graduating to teach English. While there, she signed up for the inaugural Thailand Ultramarathon almost on a whim and ended up winning.

Read more about Clare Gallagher's experiences in Bhutan in an .

The races she entered grew in length, and in 2016, at age 24, she ran the Leadville Trail 100 for the first time and won. 鈥淚 had been reading Outside magazine, and I always looked up to some of the women who preceded me (in ultramarathons),鈥� Gallagher says.

鈥淚 thought they were really badass, and trail running seemed a lot more interesting than track鈥擨鈥檇 gotten really burned out in undergrad, but to race in a beautiful mountain environment, in places that are so remote, really appealed to me.鈥�

Clare Gallagher (front row, far left in purple shirt) and 15 ultramarathon colleagues from Bhutan and around the world completed the five-day Snowman Race. (Photo: Snowman Race)

She won the 2017 , setting a course record, and the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run in 2019, the Black Canyon 100K in 2022 and the Leadville 100 again, also in 2022. She was invited to run the inaugural Snowman Race in Bhutan that year, but she鈥檇 started her PhD program, and her schedule couldn鈥檛 accommodate the training.

When she was invited to the second Snowman Race in 2024, despite still being in graduate school, she eagerly accepted. The 16 participants were evenly split between Bhutanese and international runners, 鈥渁nd the Bhutanese runners destroyed us,鈥� Gallagher says with a laugh.

鈥淭he physiology of running at altitude is pretty fascinating. A lot of the literature is finding that aspects of this ability are genetic, so if you don鈥檛 live at these altitudes and if you can鈥檛 afford to be acclimating for a month, your experience is going to be really different. It鈥檚 probably the gnarliest race I鈥檝e ever done, and I got wrecked by altitude. People thought I might do well because I鈥檓 from Colorado鈥攁nd I was using an altitude tent beforehand a little bit, but I was also taking my PhD prelims and didn鈥檛 want to be sleeping in it. So, I got destroyed.鈥�

She did, most importantly, finish the race, and the slower pace she adopted in acquiescence to the altitude allowed her more time to look around.

鈥楶lease send our message鈥�

The Snowman Race course follows the historic, high-altitude Snowman Trek route, beginning in Laya and ending in Chamkhar, and summitting a series of Himalayan passes鈥攖he highest of which is 17,946 feet.

"My experiences in Bhutan reminded me that I also feel a lot of hope and a lot of motivation to do what I can do, and smile while I鈥檓 at it," says Clare Gallagher (foreground, running in Bhutan), a 精品SM在线影片 PhD student in environmental studies. (Photo: Snowman Race)

鈥淥n day three we were up almost to 18,000 feet, and I鈥檓 walking and kind of sick with altitude, but I still had never felt the immensity of what I felt in the Himalayas,鈥� Gallagher says. 鈥淭he race route goes really close to glaciers well over 18,000 feet, and I鈥檝e honestly never felt so scared. I could tell these glaciers were melting and the sun was so hot.

鈥淭he story of Bhutan is that these glaciers are melting at a much faster rate than predicted and are then creating these big alpine lakes that break through their levy walls or moraines and flood villages. We ran through one of these most at-risk villages鈥攊t takes seven days to get there by horse鈥攁nd the people who live there don鈥檛 want to be forced to move. So, they were saying, 鈥楶lease send our message back to your countries, we鈥檙e scared of our glaciers obliterating us.鈥欌��

And even though her PhD research focuses on plastic pollution in oceans, 鈥渆ven the issue of plastic pollution was apparent up there,鈥� Gallagher says. 鈥淭he interconnectedness of our world became so, so apparent up there. A piece of plastic trash up there is going to degrade really fast because of the high altitude and super harsh alpine environment, and then all those chemicals are going to go downstream. There鈥檚 not ton of trash in Bhutan, but plastic pollution is still a part of this story.鈥�

She adds that Bhutan, like many smaller nations, is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change despite having one of the smallest carbon footprints on the planet, and she rues that it takes runners from western nations flying there鈥攁nother carbon-intensive activity鈥攖o draw attention to the seriousness of climate change.

鈥淎 really surprising take-home from this journey was how spiritual the experience was,鈥� Gallagher says. 鈥淎ll of my fellow Bhutanese runners were praying at mountain passes, and any time there was a meditative stupa, they were stopping and praying to the mountain deities, thanking them for safe passage.

鈥淚 really do feel there鈥檚 some connection between caring for this planet and each other and all the plants and animals on this planet. I feel like that reverence is something I鈥檝e been missing in my work as an environmentalist. The phrase 鈥榗limate change鈥� has taken on an almost corporate flavor, but in Bhutan things aren鈥檛 emails or PowerPoints or slogans, they鈥檙e real. Climate change is not just a phrase; it means melting glaciers. So, I鈥檓 interested in taking that depth and reverence for the land and living things and beings and asking, 鈥極K, what are our problems here in Colorado? What are our challenges?鈥欌��

A hazard of the field in which she鈥檚 immersed is extreme climate anxiety, and Gallagher says she鈥檚 worked to focus day-to-day on 鈥渢aking care of what I can take care of and acknowledging my present. My experiences in Bhutan reminded me that I also feel a lot of hope and a lot of motivation to do what I can do, and smile while I鈥檓 at it. I feel a lot of gratitude for being alive at this time in history and asking, 鈥榃hat are we going to do with this moment?鈥欌��

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On World Elephant Day, PhD student and researcher Tyler Nuckols emphasizes that both groups are important in human-elephant coexistence

Almost every night, Tyler Nuckols can hear fireworks and shouting鈥攏ot celebrating a holiday or marking an occasion, but trying to drive elephants back into the forest.

In , where Nuckols is conducting socio-ecological fieldwork as he pursues a PhD in the 精品SM在线影片 Department of Environmental Studies, elephants emerge from the trees of Kui Buri National Park almost every night in search of pineapple.

Over many years, elephants have learned that an easy and accessible meal is in farmers鈥� fields鈥攖o the detriment of those fields and farmers鈥� livelihoods. As farmers lose their source of income and means of supporting their families, elephants risk injury or worse as farmers鈥攁lso risking injury or worse鈥攖ry to deter them.

精品SM在线影片 PhD student Tyler Nuckols (left, conducting research in Thailand) and Karen Bailey, assistant professor of environmental studies, emphasize that human-elephant coexistence encompass significant issues of sustainability, economic equity, environmental justice and agricultural adaptation.

For a lot of people鈥攎ainly those who don鈥檛 coexist with elephants鈥攖his may not seem like much of a problem. Elephants, after all, are among the world鈥檚 most beloved and charismatic animals, credited with an emotional range that some claim matches or even exceeds that of humans. People visit a zoo and return home daydreaming about backyard elephants.

But on , being celebrated today, Nuckols emphasizes that the challenges and successes of human-elephant coexistence encompass significant issues of sustainability, economic equity, environmental justice and agricultural adaptation that communities and populations worldwide are tackling as climate change fundamentally reshapes how humans coexist with wildlife.

鈥淲e鈥檙e interested in supporting and partnering with local communities to look at solutions to human-elephant conflict beyond the predominant approaches of 鈥榃here do you farm? What do you farm? How much money do you make farming?鈥欌�� Nuckols explains. "Our research and community-based conservation approach looks to explore a more complex focus related to factors like identity, access to resources and historical and political factors, among many more layers that may shape how households can engage in solutions to human-elephant conflict and participate in the first place."

Studying coexistence

Nuckols has been working with elephants for more than 10 years, starting with the Elephant Valley Project in Mondulkiri, Cambodia鈥攁n ethical sanctuary and retirement home for elephants that had worked in tourism or logging. After earning a master鈥檚 degree at Colorado State University, and after COVID curtailed his plans to return to Cambodia to study mitigation techniques to prevent elephants from entering agricultural fields, he began working with Karen Bailey, a 精品SM在线影片 assistant professor of environmental studies who leads the

Bailey completed postdoctoral research in southern Africa with communities living outside protected areas 鈥渨ho were living with the threats of climate change and the impact of sharing the landscape with wildlife,鈥� she says. 鈥淪ome of the impacts of crop raiding by elephants in southern Africa were significant predictors of potential food insecurity. When that鈥檚 combined with the threats of changing seasons and changing climate as well, the realities of human-elephant coexistence in communities in and outside of conservation areas become really pronounced.鈥�

Tyler Nuckols (second from left, blue shirt) and colleagues from Bring the Elephant Home in Thailand. (Photo: Tyler Nuckols)

As part of the working group with the human-elephant coexistence research organization , Bailey and Nuckols partner with researchers and conservation groups from around the world to study the reasons for conflict between agriculturalists and elephants, as well as develop and test interventions that support livelihoods and work to rebuild community resilience and landscapes in different countries and cultures.

Nuckols began researching in Thailand in 2022, partnering with NGO to study human-elephant conflict and how elephants interact with different types of agricultural crops. Nuckols鈥� research also focuses on environmental justice and resilience, and how communities define ecological justice for both humans and elephants.

The community where Nuckols鈥� research is based is not only a human-elephant conflict hot spot, but also a success story for conservation and community-based tourism.

鈥淏ut despite the positive impacts of tourism and some grassroots efforts, conflict occurs every night,鈥� Nuckols says. 鈥淵ou can hear fireworks and shouting and people trying to get elephants back into the forest every night. So, one of the ideas that community members are evaluating is crop transition. Research has shown that elephants won鈥檛 eat lemongrass, ginger, chili, citronella, so farmers are interested in growing these crops, but the community is asking how to ensure it鈥檚 sustainable and equitable.

鈥淐hanging crops is a high-risk decision, when they know they can sell monocrop pineapple that they鈥檝e been growing for decades.鈥�

Risk vs. reward

A significant challenge in human-elephant coexistence is the disconnect between people actually living with or near elephants and the rest of the world that is watching and loves elephants, or at least the idea of elephants.

鈥淓ven in Thailand, there鈥檚 a huge disconnect between major urban centers like Bangkok and rural provinces,鈥� Nuckols explains. 鈥淭hese farmers are often villainized or portrayed as invaders. They鈥檝e been told they should just pack up and give elephants back their habitat, but that鈥檚 not feasible or tenable or just for those people who are being told to leave. It鈥檚 very grim, but we鈥檝e had people die in our community from negative encounters with elephants, victims who鈥檝e been attacked in the night while they were guarding their crops.鈥�

Almost every night, farmers in Ruam Thai, Thailand, deal with elephants in their pineapple fields. (Photo: Tyler Nuckols)

Bailey notes that while the world may be watching and feeling invested in the plight of elephants, 鈥渢here鈥檚 an inherent framing of environmental justice that we more equally share the costs and benefits of the environment. We as people globally benefit from elephants existing鈥攚e get a warm feeling when we think about them鈥攂ut we have to remind people that there are costs. We have to think about how to more equitably share the costs and benefits. Anyone who loves elephants and might call themselves an elephant person should know and should be clear that elephant conservation simply will not work if we don鈥檛 think about those humans and elevate the human components.鈥�

A complicating factor in some climate change discourse is the argument that humans caused it and animals are blameless in it, so animals should be prioritized in human decision making. 鈥淭he important nuance is that the rural farmers in Thailand didn鈥檛 do this,鈥� Bailey says.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the wealthy individuals all over the world who are, per capita, emitting many more tons of carbon. There鈥檚 an inherent inequity in who is causing the environmental problems, and often the people and communities experiencing the realities of environmental change aren鈥檛 key drivers of this change.鈥�

In the community where Nuckols is studying, which is in the rain shadow of a mountain range, drought is a very serious concern. During the last dry season, the reservoir that supplies water to the community nearly dried up. Many farmers in the area grow pineapple for many reasons, one of which is that it鈥檚 considered a crop that can survive in high-heat and low-water conditions.

鈥淚n the past few years, though, temperatures in the field can soar to 43, 44 (Celsius) and so even now pineapple is struggling to survive,鈥� Nuckols says. 鈥淭hose conditions are also driving elephants more and more to the edge of the national park, where a lot of the habitat restoration has been funded by large corporate subsidiaries that don鈥檛 have time to trek into the forest and dig a water hole.

Elephants at the edge of Kui Buri National Park in Thailand. (Photo: Tyler Nuckols)

鈥淪o, you get a concentration of elephants on the edge of the forest, and as climate change gets worse, as resources get more sparse in the forest, elephants are going to go for high energy, high reward crops like pineapple. In a short hour they can devour an entire patch of pineapple that gives them the nutrients and sugar they would spend days foraging for in the dry forest. It鈥檚 basic risk versus reward.鈥�

Just listen

In researching the complex factors influencing human-elephant conflict and coexistence, Nuckols emphasizes that a foundational principle of the work is that it鈥檚 community-driven and community-led.

鈥淲e鈥檙e involved in study and data collection, but we do everything in a framework of participatory action research,鈥� Nuckols explains. 鈥淲e pilot everything we do with focus groups in the local community, we run everything by a group of trusted stakeholders like the village chief and elders working with our organization. We ask them, 鈥業s this appropriate?鈥� and a lot of things were thrown out the window because they鈥檙e like, 鈥楴o way.鈥�

鈥淭he whole group that鈥檚 growing and testing alternative crops now, which is 16 people, are community members who created a collective and are working together. We as researchers act as a bridge to help support the trial, to help find funding. We use our skills to elevate the work that this community is already doing.鈥�

Bailey adds that the lessons learned in researching human-elephant coexistence鈥攖hough the details can vary broadly between cultures, countries and regions鈥攎ay inform human-wildlife coexistence in other areas, including Colorado.

鈥淭here are tons of parallels and tons of lessons to be learned that we can apply more broadly,鈥� Nuckols says. 鈥淥ne of the biggest is just to listen to community members and help empower those community members. Don鈥檛 ever go in assuming you know best. Spend time in the community and pilot your work before you go in and think anything is going to work within a community. Make sure community members feel heard, have a meaningful seat at the table and feel empowered to solve these problems.鈥�

Top image: Asian elephants living in Thailand's Kui Buri National Park (Photo: Tyler Nuckols)

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In a recently published paper, 精品SM在线影片 PhD student Cooper Casale interrogates Jim Halpert鈥檚 direct-to-camera gaze in The Office and its similarities to what he calls the 鈥榝ascist look'

A couple of years ago, Cooper Casale was dating a woman who loved the American version of 鈥淭he Office.鈥� Despite having watched seasons two and three on repeat in middle school so he鈥檇 have something to talk about with a girl he liked, a decade had passed and he wasn鈥檛 really a fan anymore.

鈥淏ut I end up being sucked into it,鈥� recalls Casale, a PhD student in the 精品SM在线影片 Department of English. 鈥淚 watched all the way through multiple times鈥攊t becomes a kind of hypnosis. It was just always on.鈥�

Through nine seasons and repeated watching, Casale began to wonder: Is Jim Halpert looking at me?

In a newly published paper, 精品SM在线影片 PhD student Cooper Casale argues that the Jim Halpert gaze represents the punitive aspects of mainstream culture that are foundational to enforcing and maintaining capitalism.

In the 650 times that Jim Halpert (played by actor John Krasinski) looks at the camera through those nine seasons鈥攖here鈥檚 even a of them on YouTube鈥擟asale began considering what or who he was seeing in the Jim Halpert gaze: the pitiless scientist, the capitalist boss or the fascist father? Or perhaps all three?

In a in the Journal of Popular Culture, Casale considers how the Jim Halpert gaze is also the fascist look.

鈥淭he Fascist Look enlists its subjects into their make-believe hero's service, a role audiences want to occupy,鈥� Casale writes. 鈥淭hey want to please Halpert, as the worker wants to please the foreman. Their peculiar loyalty partly explains 鈥楾he Office's鈥� remarkably enduring popularity鈥�

鈥淗alpert's Gaze arms people against their feckless bosses, slovenly neighbors and annoying coworkers. At the same time, his frozen glare, his pranks and his sarcasm represent the punitive aspects of mainstream culture that are foundational to enforcing and maintaining capitalism. Halpert does not critique his corporate arrangement but merely masters it. He becomes its boss, and viewers enamored by his cruel fiction but powerless to act it out, choose, in Halpert, a more nightmarish boss than they had before. Furthermore, viewers are thankful because he reminds them that the great can still overcome the small.鈥�

Microdosing work

First, though, a sorry-not-sorry: While Casale appreciates a lot of the humor in 鈥淭he Office,鈥� he increasingly resents its popularity now that remote work is so common. He wanted to understand how the 鈥渁lmost liturgical pattern in which some people watch it鈥� has become a sort of surrogate to having an in-person, so-called work family, he explains. 鈥淭here are some who never turn it off. When I was in publication for this paper, my editor was like, 鈥榊ou can鈥檛 prove that,鈥� and I can鈥檛, not yet, but there鈥檚 an observably strange practice in people watching this show on rotation all the time.

鈥淪o, the initiating question was 鈥榃hy do people come home from a 9 to 5 and immediately watch a show about 9 to 5?鈥� Theodor Adorno wrote about this in his essay 鈥楩ree Time,鈥� about how free time is itself a kind of work. We have to spend those hours after work preparing to return to work, so people watching 鈥楾he Office鈥� is almost like microdosing having to go back to work.鈥�

In the character of Jim Halpert, Casale says, 鈥淭he Office鈥� established an everyman protagonist鈥攁 frustrated dreamer and creative type who somehow ends up in a meaningless job at the world鈥檚 most boring business. When he looks directly at the camera, he conveys that he recognizes the absurdity and ridiculousness around him and that he is somehow above it.

Citing another Adorno work, 鈥淒ialectic of Enlightenment,鈥� which observes that enlightenment and barbarism are often linked, Casale notes that 鈥淛im Halpert represents this enlightened corporate subject. He鈥檚 presented as smarter than everyone else, but we see how fast that enlightenment has to express itself through barbarism or violence in the pranks he鈥檚 constantly pulling on Dwight.

Actor John Krasinski played the character Jim Halpert in "The Office" and looked directly at the camera 650 times over nine seasons. (Photo: NBC Universal)

鈥淒wight鈥檚 biggest crime in the whole show is that he likes his job. He鈥檚 presented as na茂ve, sentimental, he likes beets and 鈥楤attlestar Galactica,鈥� and because of his sentiment he must be punished. We鈥檙e meant to believe that Jim really deserves to be somewhere else, and he鈥檚 only there because he鈥檚 unlucky, but it鈥檚 everyone else鈥檚 fate to be there. Kevin will never do better, Stanley will never do better, but it鈥檚 Jim鈥檚 fate to overcome the circumstances of his life. We鈥檙e meant to find his cruelty affable.鈥�

鈥淭he Office鈥� reaffirms the strange hierarchies of corporate America but sells them as quirky, Casale says. Its documentary style becomes a two-way mirror between Jim Halpert and viewers鈥攊n Jim鈥檚 disgust, annoyance, resentment or bemusement, viewers have a proxy in lieu of their own documentary camera recording their reactions to the clowns and fools around them.

Interrogating power

The Jim Halpert gaze becomes the fascist look when considered through the lens of power, Casale says: 鈥淲e have this TV show teaching me that the best way to express my power is to lend it to somebody else who can punish people in my stead. It鈥檚 similar to how a vote for an autocrat is a vote to not have to vote anymore. We see it in the working class voting for Donald Trump, who鈥檚 only going to give tax breaks to the rich. But because they want to be rich, there鈥檚 an aspect of living out their dreams through him.

鈥淚 think people always struggle with how members of the working class can vote against their self-interest. Part of it, I think, is that people鈥檚 resources to express themselves or express some kind of autonomy are so impoverished that their last opportunity to be free is to live in surrogate through someone else. If Jim Halpert can prank these people and humiliate all his coworkers, then I can live vicariously through Jim Halpert.鈥�

Casale adds that rather than interrogating the structures of power and capitalism that Jim Halpert ostensibly gazes against, 鈥淭he Office鈥� emphasizes a message that mimicking the behaviors of power will lead to having power. In 鈥淭he Office,鈥� Jim Halpert is in control鈥攏ot Michael, not Dwight, nor any of the other characters to essentially serve as his minstrels.

鈥淚 think that鈥檚 the fascist myth,鈥� Casale says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a desire to be dominated so I can learn the procedures of how to dominate others. In my own domination, I learn what it feels like and how I can do it. We see this with any kind of autocrat, including Jim Halpert. When Donald Trump says he wants retribution, there are thousands upon thousands of regular, pretty nice people who say, 鈥業 want retribution, too.鈥� And because they won鈥檛 direct their anger to capitalism, the real culprit, they have to have proxy wars about DEI, gender, immigration, whatever else, so they won鈥檛 have to focus on the real cause of their powerlessness.鈥�

Top images: NBC Universal

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精品SM在线影片 doctoral student examines how an unconventional social media campaign worked in 2020 to make Joe Biden more appealing鈥攐r at least less unappealing鈥攖o progressive voters

As the U.S. presidential campaign heated up in 2020, Kate Arnold-Murray鈥檚 friends started sharing social media posts that simultaneously poked fun at Joe Biden while also promoting him as a much better alternative to Donald Trump.

One such post on Instagram compared Biden to a Dairy Queen ice cream cone, with the accompanying tagline 鈥淯nappetizing but still edible.鈥� Another post showed Biden preparing to swing a baseball bat, with the tagline 鈥淏ecause a foul ball is better than a strike,鈥� while a third post showed Biden taking a knee in front of a chalkboard, with the tagline 鈥淏ecause a C+ is better than an F.鈥�

鈥淢y friends started sharing these, what I would call memes, on Instagram鈥攁nd I thought they were absolutely hilarious,鈥� says Arnold-Murray, a doctoral student in the 精品SM在线影片鈥檚 Department of Linguistics.

Kate Arnold-Murray, a 精品SM在线影片 PhD student in linguistics, was intrigued by the "Settle for Biden" campaign, in part, because it seemed doubtful to her that the Biden campaign was behind it, but the catchy posts appeared to be produced by an operation that knew how to create a social-media buzz.

鈥淚 also felt (the ads) were impactful, because my friends were sharing them as a way of saying, 鈥楬ey, I鈥檓 not thrilled about it, but I鈥檓 voting for Biden, and you should, too.鈥� That was a really powerful messaging strategy when Biden wasn鈥檛 really liked by a lot of progressives, or when people on the left had a hesitancy with Biden in a way I didn鈥檛 see with people sharing they were voting for Hillary Clinton in 2016.鈥�

Arnold-Murray says the social media campaign鈥攄ubbed 鈥淪ettle for Biden鈥濃�攊ntrigued her, in part because it seemed doubtful to her that the Biden campaign was behind it, but the catchy posts appeared to be produced by an operation that knew how to create a social-media buzz.

Meanwhile, the way in which the campaign stumped for its preferred choice for president鈥攁s someone who is less than ideal but still much better than the alternative鈥攚as something that captured her attention as someone who studies the effect that language and visuals can have on an audience. That, in turn, prompted Arnold-Murray to write the paper 鈥�,鈥� which was published online by the journal Language in Society earlier this year.

Recently, Arnold-Murray spoke with Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine about insights she gained from examining the verbiage and visuals from the Settle for Biden campaign, her view on the pros and cons of promoting a candidate as mediocre but safe and her thoughts on whether such a campaign can be successful a second time around, now that Biden has an established presidential track record. Her answers have been lightly edited for style and condensed for space.

Question: Why did you think 鈥楽ettle for Biden鈥� would be a good topic to explore in a research paper?

Arnold-Murray: Since Trump first ran for president, the U.S. has been in such political turmoil, and in my opinion, the political left has been a mess. We have had a really hard time figuring out how to respond to Trump and how to message.

What I saw鈥攁nd what I鈥檓 still seeing鈥攊s that the left is constructing this new strategy. This campaign (Settle for Biden) was doing something that I hadn鈥檛 seen before. Usually, when people are running for office鈥攁nd you鈥檙e advocating that people should vote for them鈥攜ou鈥檙e saying, 鈥楬e is the best of the best.鈥� 鈥楽he has the highest level of education.鈥� 鈥楬e has done so much to help people.鈥� 鈥楽he鈥檚 an incredible person.鈥�

We haven鈥檛 historically seen (a campaign for a politician) that says, 鈥楤ecause a C+ is better than an F鈥� or 鈥楤ecause a foul ball is better than a strike.鈥� We don't see people saying, 鈥極ur candidate, we don鈥檛 love them, but we are going to support them.鈥�

And I think that鈥檚 something that needed to happen in 2020 among a divided Democratic Party, or especially with progressives feeling divided from the Democratic Party鈥攖o get people onboard against a common enemy.

"The (Settle for Biden" campaign was always able to find a way to position Biden above Trump鈥攅ven if he鈥檚 not ideal to their demographic, and simultaneously to acknowledge there is really no person at the top of the scale who we can vote for who can win," says 精品SM在线影片 researcher Kate Arnold-Murray.

Question: It seems like an underlying goal of the Settle for Biden campaign is to get people to pick Biden as the safe, if mediocre, candidate?

Arnold-Murray: Yes, definitely. This is why I chose to use this kind of scalar theoretical framework, because in each post we really have three candidates: We have the nonexistent, nonrealistic, ideal candidate for young progressives. But in a two-party system鈥攁nd especially in 2020鈥攖hat candidate did not exist, at least in terms of having chance of winning.

So, in that scenario, we have the home run or A+ candidate; then we have Joe Biden in the middle, as a foul ball or C+; and then we get to Donald Trump, always portrayed as the worst possible thing.

In constructing that scalar world, the campaign was always able to find a way to position Biden above Trump鈥攅ven if he鈥檚 not ideal to their demographic, and simultaneously to acknowledge there is really no person at the top of the scale who we can vote for who can win.

Question: In your paper, you talk a lot about 鈥榮calar normativity.鈥� What does that mean?

Arnold-Murray: It鈥檚 a somewhat new theoretical framework for thinking about normativity. When we talk about normativity in the social sciences, usually we鈥檙e talking about things that are viewed as so normal that they usually fly under the radar. 鈥� I was looking at how this campaign was appealing to centers of authority, like with the Dairy Queen example, to say, 'What is normal to the middle class?' Well, maybe it鈥檚 like a Dairy Queen ice cream cone, because you can eat it, but you don鈥檛 necessarily love it.

Question: In the Settle for Biden memes you highlighted, Trump isn鈥檛 named, but there鈥檚 the assumption that the audience is going to understand whom Biden is being compared to, correct?

Arnold-Murray: Yes, Trump is always there in every post, and I think that鈥檚 always true of an election between two people. When you are campaigning and saying things about yourself, it鈥檚 known and assumed that you are going against this other person. For the most part, in the posts I examined, the campaign did not mention Trump at all鈥攂ut he鈥檚 kind of this haunting presence.

For example, in the post 鈥楯oe Biden knows how to pronounce Yosemite,鈥� even if you did not know that Trump had mispronounced it earlier, you would be able to infer it, based on how the campaign talks. So, the other guy must have done it wrong if Joe Biden is doing it right.

And when we get these two positionalities, in the post that claims 鈥楤ecause of C+ is better than an F,' the caption says, 鈥楯oe Biden isn鈥檛 the A we wanted 鈥� but four more years of Trump would certainly mean failure.鈥� So, you know who the F is.

Again, I very much view (Trump) as almost kind of haunting this campaign, and at least for me personally, I found it a really effective strategy. As someone on the left, I just didn鈥檛 want to see pictures of Donald Trump; I didn鈥檛 want to hear his voice; I didn鈥檛 want to read his words in my daily life, because it was just so toxic. This strategy of calling Trump in, therefore, gave a wary audience a way to engage with him less directly.

精品SM在线影片 scholar Kate Arnold-Murray notes that the "Settle for Biden" campaign might not land as well in the 2024 presidential election.

Question: Is there any way to gauge whether the Settle for Biden campaign actually helped get progressives to vote for Biden on election day?

Arnold-Murray: The campaign鈥檚 director, Sam Weinberg, ended up doing quite a few interviews that got a fair amount of media attention. And they (Settle for Biden) ended up partnering with organizations that were dedicated to motivating young voters to vote and helping people register to vote.

I would have loved for there to have been a poll (about the campaign鈥檚 effectiveness) but that doesn鈥檛 seem to exist. So, I can only judge things based on the media coverage it generated and the work that the group was able to do because it had this platform to support on-the-ground efforts.

Question: Do you think the campaign can be successful a second time if progressives don鈥檛 believe Biden has been sufficiently liberal during his first term in office?

Arnold-Murray: The resonance of an average Joe, after he鈥檚 been in office for four years, might not land as well the second time around. I think the Settle for Biden campaign might need to give more props for what Biden has done, because I think he actually has accomplished a lot. 鈥�

But with some of Biden鈥檚 actions and policies, especially with Israel, being so unpopular on the left, does that idea really stack up anymore? Does good enough still work? It鈥檚 a fair question.

Then again, it鈥檚 still the same opponent he faced four years ago. So, for me personally, I鈥檓 hoping the campaign is going to figure out how to make Biden the much better choice for progressive voters.

Question: Have you received any reaction to your paper?

Arnold-Murray: My most exciting feedback that I鈥檝e received on the paper has been when I shared it on Facebook or on Instagram. Hearing from people who are not linguists or academics or anthropologists, who were able to read and understand it and enjoy it, was rewarding.

For me, that鈥檚 a big win, because I feel like I was doing a couple big things with theory that were a little complicated, but at the same time, I really tried to make it something that鈥檚 accessible for people to engage with. And the Instagram posts themselves are interesting and entertaining.

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精品SM在线影片 PhD student Clare Gallagher finds reason for hope amid the complexities of negotiations to craft a U.N. treaty addressing a worldwide crisis

In the past year, Clare Gallagher has gotten very interested in , which she admits is 鈥渁 really depressing Google search鈥� if you鈥檙e not already familiar with it.

Ghost gear is the umbrella term for lost, abandoned or discarded fishing gear that contributes to the crisis of plastic pollution in Earth鈥檚 oceans and can trap fish and marine mammals, causing them to die by suffocation or exhaustion. In the upper Gulf of California, for example, to the vaquita porpoise nearing the brink of extinction.

When Gallagher, a PhD student in the 精品SM在线影片 Department of Environmental Studies, joined an observer delegation at the fourth session of the April 23-29 in Ottawa, Canada, she learned that fishing gear is included in a proposed international treaty on plastic pollution that would be discussed at the weeklong gathering.

Clare Gallagher, a PhD student in the 精品SM在线影片 Department of Environmental Studies, by a sculpture outside a U.N. treaty negotiating session in Ottawa, Canada. (Photo: Clare Gallagher)

However, after attending several all-day鈥攁nd sometimes into the night鈥攏egotiating sessions, 鈥淚 learned that fishing gear is almost like a side note to the greater problem. Single-use plastics are so nefarious, and this is the next climate change fight,鈥� Gallagher says.

鈥淭o be able to go sit in conference room for 14 hours a day for nine days straight鈥攁nd the final meetings went until 3 a.m.鈥擨 was pretty in awe of the dedication of the people in these meetings. But then at the same time, it was also incredibly frustrating when there鈥檚 not a lot of progress made. It鈥檚 just the way of global geopolitics, and I was getting a crash course in this鈥攖here will be some countries or blocs of countries that don鈥檛 want strong treaties, like oil-producing countries, just as there are countries that have been against strong environmental treaties for the last several decades.鈥�

The gathering Gallagher attended was the fourth session of the U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution and focused on the marine environment. The committee鈥檚 stated goal is to have a completed treaty written by the end of the year.

For Gallagher, attending the session not only was eye-opening to the intricacies of global geopolitics, but also brought several other key insights, including:

Abandoned fishing gear is one problem of many in the crisis of plastic pollution in the world鈥檚 oceans

鈥淢icroplastics were a huge, huge topic at the treaty discussions,鈥� Gallagher says. 鈥淔rom a health standpoint, I was really surprised to see so many endocrinologists there. The endocrine destruction from chemicals that are being added to plastics is linked to the obesity epidemic, to the epidemic of anxiety and depression. It鈥檚 actually pretty terrifying.鈥�

Among the discussion topics were , sometimes called nurdles, which are commonly used as a raw material for making plastic products. They are frequently shipped via container, and if pellets ever spill from those containers into a marine environment, the environmental damage and harm to living creatures can be devastating.

鈥淪o, some of the discussion was about classifying them as hazardous waste,鈥� Gallagher says.

However, abandoned fishing gear is a big problem

鈥淕host gear is the colloquial term,鈥� Gallagher explains. 鈥淭he more scientific term is abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear, or ALDFG, and it鈥檚 just a terrible thing. Let鈥檚 say you a have huge vessel that鈥檚 fishing tuna in the Pacific and use purse seines, which are these crazy kilometer-wide nets that can cinch up entire schools of tuna.

鈥淪ay that net gets lost or is intentionally cut by crew or just gets stuck on something or there鈥檚 a full-on accident. That net will continue to fish whales, dolphins, turtles, you name it after it鈥檚 lost contact with the vessel. That鈥檚 why we get term 鈥榞host,鈥� because fishing continues to happen in a worst-case scenario.鈥�

Gallagher notes that purse seines typically are made of nylon, which sinks in water because of its density, so they鈥檙e not a significant contributor to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is now about the size of Alaska. However, lighter density nets and fishing line made of high-denisty polyethylene wash up on shorelines around the world, 鈥渟o it鈥檚 pretty incredible that this treaty is trying to address fishing gear as its own plastic pollution sector because almost all commercial fishing nets and lines are made of plastic polymers, so this treaty could address industrial, global and local fishing economies.鈥�

精品SM在线影片 PhD student Clare Gallager attended the fourth session of the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee on Plastic Pollution as an observer. (Photo: Clare Gallagher)

Many perceive plastic pollution as a symptom a bigger issue

鈥淭he biggest thing is production,鈥� Gallagher says, 鈥渟topping primary plastic production. That鈥檚 one of the things that鈥檚 so interesting about this treaty process, because it鈥檚 almost the same story, it鈥檚 the same players, it鈥檚 the same perpetrators as the international debate over fossil fuel emissions.鈥�

In fact, Gallagher notes, the analyzed the affiliations of registered attendees for the session and found almost 200 lobbyists for the fossil fuel and chemical industries were registered.

The problems of plastic pollution are daunting, but there鈥檚 room for hope

鈥淚 felt, not being a United Nations treaty expert, pretty overwhelmed by the scale at which countries around the world need to compromise and work together to create any international treaty, especially environmental treaties,鈥� Gallagher says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty overwhelming to think this is how humanity governs itself at the top level.

鈥淭hat being said, I have hope that the most ambitious countries will continue to push for a strong treaty on plastic pollution. I don鈥檛 know if remorse is right word, but there is sadness that many of the countries suffering the most from plastic pollution are not producing the plastic. They鈥檙e the ones that have to deal with plastic trash and plastic pollution, the ones that have to fight for a strong treaty, and there鈥檚 a real power imbalance that I find so disgusting and disturbing.鈥�

Gallagher says one of the most impressive coalitions she observed at the session was the 鈥淭here was a woman from Easter Island, which, granted, is part of Chile, and she told a story about how every time her young son goes surfing, which is like every day, she has to wash his hair because there鈥檚 so much microplastic in it when he鈥檚 done.

鈥淧eople from some of the smallest, poorest countries repeatedly said, 鈥楾his is not complex. We don鈥檛 want your trash; we need to stop this.鈥� I think that bravery and that fight鈥攖hese Davids taking on Goliaths, as seen in the 鈥攊s what is going to make the world a better place.鈥�

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Blair Seidlitz, now a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University, studied near-collisions of nuclear beams at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, and he did so despite having severely limited vision

Blair Seidlitz, who earned his PhD in physics in 2022 from the 精品SM在线影片, has won the Dissertation Award in Hadronic Physics for his dissertation, the society announced.

Seidlitz鈥檚 dissertation research was on the of the Large Hadron Collider, hosted at the international CERN laboratory in Switzerland. His 精品SM在线影片 research group, led by Professors Dennis Perepelitsa and Jamie Nagle, works in experimental nuclear physics鈥攊t collides nuclear beams (鈥渋ons") at the LHC to study the fundamental forces of nature under extreme conditions.

The major advance of Seidlitz鈥檚 dissertation was to use these nuclear beams at the LHC in an unusual way. 鈥淗e was interested in the processes not where the beams slam into each other 鈥� but instead the cases where the beams just barely miss each other,鈥� Perepelitsa said.

精品SM在线影片 physics PhD alum Blair Seidlitz won the American Physical Society (APS) Dissertation Award in Hadronic Physics for his dissertation research on the ATLAS Experiment of the Large Hadron Collider.

鈥淚t turns out that in these cases, a photon emitted by one ion can strike the other, and thus result in rare and unusual 鈥榩hoto-nuclear鈥� collisions 鈥�. The ATLAS detector was not set up to take this kind of data by default. So Blair had to do a lot of work to develop the 鈥榯rigger鈥� (the algorithms that decide which data to even record), to get access to this rare dataset.鈥�

Perepelitsa said this kind of work is unusual for a graduate student; many graduate students work with existing infrastructure or use well-established procedures in research like this. 鈥淏ut Blair really took his idea from the conception stage, to implementing it himself, and helping to deploy it in person during data-taking at CERN,鈥� a bustling scientific community at which Seidlitz spent significant time.

Once Seidlitz had collected the data, he then did a very careful analysis, which necessitated developing some new methods because nobody had really done this kind of thing before, Perepelitsa added.

The surprising result was that these sparse 鈥減hoto-nuclear鈥� collisions exhibited a collective 鈥渇low鈥� behavior among their produced particles鈥斺�渟omething you might only expect in the collisions of large nuclei where there are many, many particles that are produced and interact.鈥�

鈥淗is measurement has come at a time when the scientific community is asking big questions, such as: Just how few particles can one have to still exhibit many-body collective motion? Blair鈥檚 thesis work, by paving the way to experimentally access these unusual datasets, is addressing these open questions head on!鈥�

Seidlitz is now a post-doctoral researcher at Columbia University. He still works at ATLAS, but he now also works at a new experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, in which Perepelitsa and Nagle鈥檚 group at CU is closely involved. 鈥淪o we are pleased that we can continue to collaborate with Blair very closely,鈥� Perepelitsa said.

Seidlitz said he hopes to build on his graduate school work. 鈥淭here are actually distinct categories (or types) of photon-nucleus collisions. My thesis work did not sort the different types, but studied them as a whole. In principle, it should be possible to sort these, although it has never been done. That way, we could study the 鈥榝low鈥� properties of each type individually, which would be really interesting.鈥�

Seidlitz said that he and his colleagues will be able to study these types of collisions at the Electron Ion Collider, which is scheduled to be completed in the 2030鈥檚 at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) on Long Island, New York.

Seidlitz said he was surprised to win the APS dissertation award. 鈥淭hey called me while I was in the sPHENIX control room (an experiment at BNL). I don't usually pick up my phone, but it seemed to not be spam, and as fate would have it, it was an official from APS saying I had won.鈥�

Seidlitz has charted a successful academic career even though he has Stargardt's disease, a rare form of macular degeneration that leaves him with approximately 1/20th the visual acuity of average people.

A wheel in the ATLAS detector of the Large Hadron Collider. Blair Seidlitz's dissertation research focused on near-collisions of nuclear beams in ATLAS. (Photo: )

His vision posed many challenges, he said. 鈥淚 guess the first challenge was learning as much as I could and getting through courses without being able to see the black board or projector, where I did most of my learning through textbooks.鈥�

Seidlitz said disability service centers at 精品SM在线影片 and at his undergraduate institution, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, 鈥渞eally made it possible for me to succeed, from scanning old textbooks to make PDFs, to scanning students' homework so I could grade it when I was a TA and recommending assistive technology.鈥� 

Another challenge was finding a field of research that would work for him. 鈥淏ecause physics that revolves around particle accelerators is so big and complicated, large collaborations are formed and the work is shared. Some people build the detectors鈥攕omething I could not do鈥攁nd others set up data analysis and reconstruction, which is a lot of software to take the signals from individual detectors and turn it into a measurement of a photon with a particular momentum, for example,鈥� Seidlitz explained, adding:

鈥淭his is something I can do! I would say there are still challenges day to day, but they are manageable, and I am very grateful that I am in a place where I can contribute and do valuable work.

Seidlitz grew up in Wisconsin and earned a BS in engineering physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. As an undergraduate, he conducted research in plasma physics with Cary Forest, applying optical emission spectroscopy techniques for measurements of the electron temperature in the Plasma Couette Experiment and the Madison Plasma Dynamo Experiment.

The American Physical Society is a nonprofit organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its research journals, scientific meetings and education, outreach, advocacy and international activities.

APS represents more than 50,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories and industry in the United States and throughout the world.

Top image: The eight toroid magnets surrounding the calorimeter in the ATLAS detector. The calorimeter measures the energies of particles produced when protons collide in the center of the detector. (Photo: )

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Responding to a pesky problem, a paper co-authored by PhD candidate Claire Powers offers a potential solution鈥攃lustering similar farming practices together

Organic agriculture may be as old as dirt, but that doesn鈥檛 mean its impact on pesticide use is fully understood. Claire Powers is doing her part to change that.  

Powers, a PhD candidate in environmental studies at the 精品SM在线影片, has co-authored a paper . Powers and co-authors of the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) and of the University of British Columbia investigate how organic agriculture influences the pesticide use of neighboring farms. Does it increase it? Decrease it?   

The answer, they learned by analyzing thousands of field observations, is it depends.

Claire Powers, a 精品SM在线影片 PhD candidate in environmental studies, and her research colleagues found that farms neighboring organic fields both decrease and increase pesticide use, depending on the type of agricultural operation.

Location, location, location 

鈥淲e found that conventional fields that are adjacent to organic fields tend to increase their pesticide use,鈥� says Powers, 鈥渁nd organic fields that are adjacent to organic fields tend to decrease their pesticide use.鈥�  

Precisely why this is the case is unclear, but Powers, Larsen and Noack suspect it has to do with how organic farms鈥攎any of which use pesticides, albeit organically approved ones鈥攊mplicate the larger ecosystem.  

鈥淥rganic fields leverage the benefits of natural enemies that reduce the number of pests on their fields, like birds and bugs that eat smaller problematic pests,鈥� says Powers.

These natural enemies and pests then venture onto neighboring fields for shelter and food. If those fields are conventional, farmers will likely have to increase their pesticide use, and if they鈥檙e organic, farmers will likely be able to decrease their pesticide use.

This may sound like a win for organic farmers, but not so fast.

When organic and conventional farms are distributed randomly across a landscape鈥攎eaning there鈥檚 no specific reason why one type of field sits next to another鈥攊t鈥檚 often both conventional and organic farmers who lose, Powers explains.

鈥淚 have not talked to farmers specifically, but I think that, from a conventional farmer鈥檚 perspective, it can be a bummer to be adjacent to organic fields, because it means that you will spend more on pesticides. Similarly, organic farmers with neighboring conventional fields may have smaller populations of natural enemies and so larger populations of pests to treat.鈥�  

Yet thanks to Larsen, Noack and Powers鈥� paper, this predicament may someday be a thing of the past.

鈥淭he big takeaway from this research is to stack organic fields next to organic fields and conventional fields next to conventional fields,鈥� says Powers. Doing so will likely reduce pesticide use overall and thereby benefit both the environment and farmers鈥� bank accounts.  

A data dilemma  

Completing this research was not without its challenges, says Powers. One was finding usable data.  

鈥淵ou have to be able to identify specific fields in a spatial data format, link that spatial data to each field鈥檚 pesticide-use rates, and also determine which fields are organic and which are conventional,鈥� says Powers, adding that this information comes from several sources that are tough to combine and that annual agricultural spatial data and pesticide use aren鈥檛 particularly well tracked, especially outside of California. 

鈥淭he big takeaway from this research is to stack organic fields next to organic fields and conventional fields next to conventional fields," says 精品SM在线影片 researcher Claire Powers.

But Powers, Larsen and Noack were able to find one county that kept such detailed records and made them publicly available: Kern County, California, an agricultural belt of land at the southern tip of the Central Valley and, as far as Powers and her co-authors were concerned, the golden ticket of the Golden State.  

鈥淜ern County has annual spatial data for their agricultural fields that can be linked to the two other crucial datasets鈥攑esticide use and organic-crop producer IDs鈥攚hich is really rare,鈥� says Powers. 

Yet the rareness of this data created a separate challenge: convincing the reviewers of the Science paper that it was enough. How reliable could data from just one county in just one state be?  

Pretty reliable, says Powers. For one thing, Kern is a high-crop-producing county with many farms, which gave her and her co-authors a lot of room to check for pesticide spillover across a decent sample size. For another, its mix of organic and conventional farms closely resembles that of the nation, making it a useful case study. 

Plus, Larsen and Noack put the data through a series of 鈥渞obustness tests鈥濃�攖ests designed specifically to assess the data鈥檚 strength and generalizability鈥攁ll of which it passed.  

Nevertheless, Powers admits that she would jump at the chance to expand the research from the Science paper outward to other counties in California as well as to other states.

鈥淚t would be awesome to be able to do that.鈥�  

Past, present and future

Powers began this research while a master鈥檚 student at the Bren School at UCSB, where Larsen was one of her professors. Since coming to 精品SM在线影片 to pursue her doctorate, she has moved in a different direction, focusing on the impact of climate change on several species of alpine plants.  

 

Organic fields leverage the benefits of natural enemies that reduce the number of pests on their fields, like birds and bugs that eat smaller problematic pests.鈥�

 

Yet the thread holding all her work together, Powers believes, is her interest in land conservation and management.  

Growing up in Santa Paula, California鈥攊n 鈥渁g land,鈥� as she calls it鈥擯owers spent a lot of time on farms. She wasn鈥檛 a farmer herself, she鈥檚 quick to point out, but many of her family members and close friends were, and that gave her an appreciation for the outdoors.   

Her passion for conservation then crystalized while she worked for five years as a field instructor for , an outdoor education provider, which took her across the United States and around the globe, including to places like India and South America.  

鈥淭hat got me interested in thinking about land management in a way that is inclusive and recognizes the need for working landscapes that support wildlife and native plants,鈥� she says.

That interest drives her to this day, pushing her to ask questions, conduct research and publish papers like the one in Science, which she calls 鈥渁 small step forward鈥� on the long and winding path of scientific discovery.

鈥淎nd there are lots more steps to take.鈥�

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