How is a cricket like a young person on holiday? According to researchers at Tel Aviv University and the Open University of Israel, “When their light-dark cycle is disrupted, crickets behave like teenagers on vacation: active or asleep, according to their inner clock, or without any rhythm.”
While that quip is meant to grab readers’ attention, the implications are anything but sunny.
“This disruption can impair the crickets’ reproductive process and even threaten the population’s survival,” the researchers say.
“Light pollution” (also known as “artificial light at night” — ALAN for short) impacts many animals — including humans.
The joint study exposed male crickets to ALAN. Male crickets normally chirp at night to attract females to mate. Any kind of disruption — including those that result in suppressed chirping or chirping during the daytime — can interfere with mating and ultimately the survival of the entire species.
The researchers call for reducing ALAN as much as possible, for the health of all creatures on the planet.
Professor Anat Barnea of the Open University. (Oded Carney)
The study was led by professor Amir Ayali and Keren Levy of the School of Zoology and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University, and professor Anat Barnea of the department of natural and life sciences at the Open University. Yoav Wegrzyn from Ayali’s laboratory and Ronny Efronny also took part in the study. The paper was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Science B and mentioned in the scientific journal Nature.
“The distinction between day and night, light and darkness, is a major foundation of life on earth,” said Levy. “But humans, as creatures of the day who fear the dark, disrupt this natural order: They produce artificial light that drives away the darkness and allows them to continue their activities at night. Today more than 80 percent of the world population lives under light pollution, and the overall extent of ALAN rises by 5 percent every year.”
ALAN affects the length and quality of sleep of many animals, leads to high mortality, and changes the activity cycles of many creatures. “For example, sea turtle hatchlings seek the brightest surface in sight — supposedly the sea — and wind up reaching the nearby promenade instead,” says Levy.
Professor Amir Ayali of Tel Aviv University, with a cricket. (Jonathan Blum)
The researchers found that crickets exposed to 12 hours of light followed by 12 hours of darkness began to chirp when the lights went out and stopped when the lights were turned on again.
Crickets that experienced partial lighting in the dark periods, however, lost their natural rhythms and synchronization with the environment. Crickets exposed to constant light developed their own cycles (71 percent) or lost all rhythm (29 percent).
Levy noted that these results are in accord with many other studies demonstrating the severe impacts of low levels of ALAN on nature.
Two scientists have harnessed strains of bacteria that feast on glucose (a type of sugar) and turn it into olefins, a type of hydrocarbon that is a component of gasoline, posing the possibility of a new way to fuel vehicles.
“Making biofuels from renewable resources like glucose has great potential to advance green energy technology,” Researcher Zhen Q. Wang at the University at Buffalo said. “So, the carbon in the glucose — and later the olefins — is actually from carbon dioxide that has been pulled out of the atmosphere.”
Wang teamed with Michelle C. Y. Chang with the University of California, Berkeley to show that strains of Escherichia coliform (E. coli) that don’t affect humans can be tweaked to produce other types of hydrocarbons used in gasoline, while olefins can be used in industrial lubricants and precursors for making plastics.
Zhen Wang, an expert in synthetic biology, helped lead a study on tweaking a form of E. coli bacteria to produce a type of hydrocarbon used in gasoline. (Douglas Levere/University at Buffalo)
The research team fed glucose to the E. coli microbes, which were genetically engineered to produce four enzymes that convert glucose into compounds called 3-hydroxy fatty acids. As a catalyst for the transformation of the glucose, the team used niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5). This removed unwanted parts of the fatty acids, while producing olefins. The catalyst and enzymes were identified by trial and error after the team tested various molecules for the two steps in the process.
“We combined what biology can do the best with what chemistry can do the best, and we put them together to create this two-step process,” said Wang. “Using this method, we were able to make olefins directly from glucose.”
Glucose and oxygen are products of photosynthesis in plants, which draw carbon dioxide and water from ambient air. Feedstock for producing ethanol, which is used in biofuels, are barley, corn, sorghum, sugar cane and sugar beets. All of them contain substantial amounts of glucose. Glucose is also found in grasses and trees as well as waste products such as corn cobs and stalks.
More research is needed to determine what benefits the new method has and if it can be scaled up to produce biofuels. One unanswered question is whether the amount and cost of the energy required for the process are too high. The technology may need optimization to be practical in industrial applications.
Wang said the process takes 100 glucose molecules to produce about 8 olefin molecules. This ratio would have to be improved, she said, by inducing the microbes to produce more of 3-hydroxy fatty acids per gram of glucose consumed.
A massive sculpture designed with the help of artificial intelligence and being built by robots has its roots in the past, drawing inspiration from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
The research team that designed the 73-foot (22.5-meter) tall sculpture, named “Semiramis” after Queen Amytis, for whom King Nebuchadnezzar II built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, is led by professors from ETH Zurich University in Switzerland.
The ancient city of Babylon was located near present-day Hillah in Iraq, about 50 miles south of Baghdad, on a branch of the Euphrates River.
The tribute structure will be made of five wooden pods that are slightly offset from each other and suspended by eight steel pillars, ETH Zurich said. Each pod comprises 70 wooden panels.
What makes this design stand out, apart from its size, is that it was heavily influenced by the input of artificial intelligence and computer software.
The design of a structure like this would typically be adjusted by architects, potentially dozens of times, as they try to meet all building code standards. This costly and time-consuming process was bypassed using AI.
The Swiss Data Science Center collaborated on the development of the AI that helped produce the sophisticated design.
The algorithm suggested creating wooden pods of varying size and shape, noting how each design affected variables such as the irrigation of the pods.
With the help of artificial intelligence and four collaborative robots, researchers at ETH Zurich are designing and fabricating a green architectural sculpture named “Semiramis” after Queen Amytis, for whom the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were created. (Gramazio Kohler Research-ETH Zurich/Zenger)
“The computer model lets us reverse the conventional design process and explore the full design scope for a project. This leads to new, often surprising geometries,” said Matthias Kohler, a professor of architecture and digital fabrication at ETH Zurich.
At ETH’s Immersive Design Lab, the team used augmented reality to create a 3D design that allowed the researchers to make small adjustments and see the effects of these changes in real time.
Software developed in collaboration with ETH’s Computational Robotics Lab helped the researchers measure overall changes to the wooden pods each time a small adjustment was made.
The software also constantly monitored the overall design’s weight, adjusting the distribution to keep the structure stable.
Four robotic arms work in harmony to build the wooden pods, panel by panel.
Researchers at ETH Zurich are fabricating a green architectural sculpture with the help of artificial intelligence and four collaborative robots. (Pascal Bach-Gramazio Kohler Research-ETH Zurich/Zenger)
The arms are managed by an algorithm that makes sure they never reach for the same panel or bump into each other.
Once the panels are assembled, craftsmen glue them together with a special casting resin.
The robotic arms have several advantages over humans: they can lift heavy weights, are extremely precise and can work nonstop barring a loss of power.
“Semiramis has been a beacon project for architectural research, bringing together people inside and outside ETH and advancing the key research topics of the present, such as interactive architectural design and digital fabrication,” said Kohler.
The Birmingham City Schools system this summer released this rendering of the new Woodlawn High School stadium after a groundbreaking ceremony. (Charles Williams & Associates Architects)
Eddie Robinson Jr., no relation to the legendary Grambling football coach with the same name, replaces Donald Hill-Eley who was fired on Nov. 1 after serving as head coach for four years. (hbcugameday.com)
Gervonta Davis is an unbeaten pay-per-view star, a three-division and five-time champion and perhaps the premier knockout specialist in the sport.
And if you ask two-time welterweight champion Shawn Porter, “Tank Davis” is “the best fighter at 130, 135 and 140” pounds.
“We just finished five rounds of sparring with Tank Davis. I think Tank Davis has been the best fighter at 130, 135 and 140. It’s no secret that he’s not going back to 130, so we can eliminate 130,” Porter said following a recent sparring session with Davis 9,000 feet above sea level at the B.E.S.T. Program Gym at The Spring Mountain Detention Camp an hour outside of Las Vegas.
“Tank is the best fighter at 135, and I believe he’s the best fighter at 140,” Porter added. “I have not seen anyone at 140 who can handle Tank. Tank is a sharpshooter who is very fast and who is a very good counterpuncher who can throw the right punch at the right time. That speaks well of him going into his next fight.”
The “next fight” for Davis (25–0, 24 KOs) is a Dec. 5 defense of his WBA “regular” 135-pound title against Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz (22–1–1, 15 KOs), who could represent the southpaw’s 17th straight knockout victim when they clash at Staples Center in Los Angeles in a Premier Boxing Champions event on Showtime Pay-Per-View.
“I definitely appreciate the words from Shawn Porter,” said Davis, a Baltimore native who turned 27 on Nov. 7. “Shawn is a top guy who has been in with the top guys, so I appreciate that.”
Porter’s assertion came two weeks before his 10th-round TKO loss to the WBO’s 147-pound champion Terence Crawford (37–0, 28 KOs) on Nov. 20, after which he announced his retirement.
“Those are wonderful comments from Shawn Porter, and Tank is one of the best fighters in the world,” said Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions. “But our focus isn’t that. Tank just has to go out there and continue to be the best version of himself.”
Porter’s declaration encompasses a trio of 135-pounders in IBF/WBA/WBO and WBC (franchise) champion Teofimo Lopez (16–0, 12 KOs), WBC counterpart Devin Haney (26–0, 15 KOs) and three-division title winner Vasyl Lomachenko (15–2, 11 KOs).
Lopez will be in action against Australia’s George Kambosos Jr. (19–0, 10 KOs) on Saturday, Haney battles former champion Joseph Diaz (32–1–1, 15 KOs) on Dec. 4, and southpaw Lomachenko fights former champ Richard Commey (30–3, 27 KOs) on Dec. 11.
“I’m excited and grateful to be in this position,” Davis said. “I’m just trying to continue to grow as a fighter and just improve each day.”
Also included are WBO 130-pound titleholder Shakur Stevenson (17–0, 9 KOs) and IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO 140-pound titleholder Josh Taylor (18–0, 13 KOs), who has a clash of southpaws with Jack Catterall (26–0, 13 KOs) on Feb. 26.
Davis holds the WBA’s 140-pound “regular” title with Taylor being that organization’s super champion.
Three-division and WBA 135-pound champion Gervonta Davis (right) left four-division title winner Leo Santa Cruz knocked out cold following a sixth-round stoppage in October 2020 as the Mexican-American fighter was knocked out for the first time in his career. (Esther Lin/Showtime)
“We knew many years ago when other fighters were pound-for-pound at that time that Floyd Mayweather was one the best fighters in the world,” Ellerbe said. “It’s no different with Tank. It’s just a matter of time before everyone catches on, and then, it’s going to be what it’s going to be.”
Cruz represents the third straight pay-per-view opponent for Davis, whose past three victories are a 12th-round knockout of three-division title winner Yuriorkis Gamboa (December 2019), a sixth-round KO of four-division champion Leo Santa Cruz (October 2020), and an 11th-round TKO that dethroned previously unbeaten WBA 140-pound champion Mario Barrios (June 2021).
Gamboa hit the deck three times as Davis won the WBA’s vacant lightweight crown, a ripping left uppercut left Santa Cruz knocked out for the first time in his career and Barrios was floored three times to fall to 26–1 (17 KOs).
“Barrios had decent power and I felt it,” said Davis, who yielded both height (5-foot-5 and a half to 5-foot-10) and reach (67 and a half to 71 inches) to Barrios, 26.
“It was so powerful that I didn’t want to get hit cleanly multiple times. Me fighting at 140, in the future, that will probably be good, but for right now, I wanna stay at 135 and focus on Isaac Cruz.”
Fighting for the third time this year, Cruz is 17–0–1 (12 KOs) since falling by eight-round unanimous decision to Luis Miguel Montano in February 2016.
“The Pitbull’s” aggressive style portends an action-packed fight with Davis, particularly in light of his past four bouts, three of which went the distance.
“Defeating Gervonta Davis is the only thing on my mind. When I win, I know he’s going to want the rematch,” Cruz said. “I can promise that I will train twice as hard for that fight when it happens. I am going to pull off the upset, and a brand-new star will be born on Dec. 5.”
In consecutive bouts in February and October 2020, Cruz earned a 10-round majority decision over Thomas Mattice, who entered at 15–1–1 (11 KOs), and scored a two-knockdown, 53-second stoppage of two-time world title challenger Diego Magdaleno.
Cruz followed those triumphs with consecutive 12- and 10-round unanimous decisions over Jose Romero and Francisco Vargas in March and June, respectively. Romero entered at 24–0 (8 KOs) and Vargas at 27–2–2 (19 KOs).
“Cruz has impressed me in his past fights. He comes in there to win. He doesn’t look to just hang in there. Cruz is one of those people who come forward and throw a lot of punches,” Davis said.
“We will both come forward. I can box and I can hit. We’ll see what he’s saying when he gets hit in the face. People say I’m only a power puncher, but this will be another chance to display my boxing skills.”
Those skills were on display against Barrios.
Three-division and WBA 135-pound champion Gervonta Davis (left) said previously unbeaten Mario Barrios (right) “was so powerful that I didn’t want to get hit cleanly multiple times.” (Amanda Westscott/Showtime)
“Being that Barrios was my first time fighting at 140 with eight-ounce [gloves,] I didn’t know how hard he hit,” Davis said. I didn’t wanna get caught by someone who is a natural 140-pounder and get clipped. The first couple of rounds, I really didn’t throw that many punches.”
“I just let him wear himself out, making him throw punches and miss, being there and not being there,” Davis added. “It makes you more tired when you’re throwing punches and not hitting anything, so I let him throw his punches, wear himself out, and then I started attacking.”
Davis’ only distance fight was in October 2014 against hammer-fisted German Meraz, who was floored twice during a shutout unanimous decision loss. A year later in October 2015, Davis scored a two-knockdown, third-round TKO of former world champion Cristobal Cruz.
“Tank” earned his initial crown via seventh-round TKO in January 2017 by dethroning previously unbeaten IBF 130-pound champion Jose Pedraza and defended it that May in London by flooring previously undefeated southpaw Liam Walsh for a third-round TKO.
An overweight Davis lost that title on the scales in August 2017 before scoring an eighth-round knockout of previously unbeaten Francisco Fonseca in his next fight, doing so on the undercard of Mayweather’s victory over Connor McGregor.
In succession, Davis regained the WBA’s version of the crown via three-knockdown, third-round TKO of left-handed former champion Jesus Cuellar in April 2018, and made two defenses of the WBA crown in 2019 — first- and second-round knockouts of former titleholder Hugo Ruiz (February) and Ricardo Nunez (July) before rising to face Gamboa.
After Pedraza lost to Davis, the switch-hitter’s second loss was at 135 pounds 23 months later in December 2018 by unanimous decision to Lomachenko.
Pedraza had won three straight 135-pound bouts after falling to Davis before being floored twice during a 40-plus punch 11th round by Lomachenko, a two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist whose run of eight straight knockouts ended against Pedraza.
In October 2020, Lomachenko lost a unanimous decision to Lopez, who added Lomachenko’s WBA, WBC (franchise) and WBO 135-pound belts to his IBF version. Lomachenko rebounded with June’s ninth-round TKO of Masayoshi Nakatani.
“I believe that Tank’s style and Lomachenko’s style match up very well. I can’t pick a winner, but I think Tank is fast, strong and sharp enough to beat Lomachenko,” said Porter, who also serves as a ringside boxing analyst and commentator.
“What I feel now about a fight between Tank Davis and Vasyl Lomachenko is that it is the best fight that can be made at 135. I have Tank No. 1 and Lomachenko No. 2 at 135, even though Teofimo has all of the belts.”
How does Davis believe he does against Taylor, Lopez, Lomachenko, Haney or Stevenson?
“We’ve just got to wait and see. But those days are gonna come,” Davis said. “I’m just ready to put on a great show on Dec. 5.”
In the COVID-19 era, an employee shortage is taking many U.S. restaurant owners to the brink. Labor shortages at each stage of the supply chain mean restaurant owners have to pay much more.
Ezequiel Fuentes, the owner of the Mi Tierra de La Villita restaurant in Chicago, is very concerned about the crisis.
“I’ve had to pay 25 to 40 percent more on supplies over pre-pandemic prices,” said Fuentes, who is invested in 32 more restaurants.
He says labor issues abound not only in restaurants but also in the food-production centers that supply them.
“They’re facing the same problem. This phenomenon has brought about a chain reaction: the slowdown in production impacts prices and the entire industry,” said Fuentes.
He believes the problem is that “people don’t want to work.”
Ezequiel Fuentes says restaurant owners are facing significant challenges because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the employee shortage it detonated. (Negocios Now)
Even though patrons are going back to restaurants, the industry has been hit by food and supply price hikes, even on uniforms.
“Deteriorating business conditions are impacting operators’ outlook to the point that they state a recovery from the pandemic will be prolonged well into 2022,” said the association.
The letter to Congress reveals the discouraging results of the latest survey of restaurant operators and warns about the possible dangers of some provisions of the government’s Build Back Better framework on the recovery of the restaurant industry.
The missive also asks Congress not to raise taxes on this sector, as the framework contemplates.
Most full- and limited-service operators say market conditions are worse now than three months ago, according to the association.
“Our nation’s restaurant recovery is officially moving in reverse,” said Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of the National Restaurant Association.
Roberto Gómez, the owner the Don Pepe restaurant in south Chicago, said that, besides prices, restaurant owners have seen a wage increase to $15 an hour.
“We’ve had to adjust our prices to take in the supply price hike and employee wage increase. It’s good for consumers to be aware of this new challenge we’re facing,” he said.
