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A new guide to ventilate classrooms and reduce the risk of Covid-19 contagion

Guidelines are issued according to the volume of the room, the number and age of students, the activity level and the incidence of coronavirus in the region
Solutions and examples are provided for a wide range of situations in schools, and offers the tools to evaluate if the ventilation is adequate.
Easy-to-read summaries, infographics and a document with practical cases are offered for a successful implementation

Ventilation and air purification to reduce coronavirus risk of infection

Researchers from the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC) and technicians of the Asociación Mesura have developed a guide with instructions to ventilate classrooms to reduce the risk of coronavirus contagion. The document establishes the recommendations for an effective ventilation and air purification, considering the size of the room, the number and age of people inside, the activity level and the incidence of cases in the region. In addition, it provides the tools to determine if the ventilation requirements are adequate.

“Ventilation means the renewal of air; that is, the replacement of indoor potentially contaminated air with virus-free outdoor air. The purification of the air consists of the elimination of suspended particles, which may contain virus ”, clarifies the researcher, and one of the authors of the guide, María Cruz Minguillón.

The guide recommends 5-6 air exchanges per hour for a 100 m2 classroom, with 25 students between 5 and 8 years old

The researchers indicate that reducing the risk of contagion can be achieved by reducing both the emission and exposure to airborne particles, also called aerosols, likely containing viruses. Emission can be reduced by:

Reducing the number of people in the room
Silence, or quiet speaking (talking loudly or yelling increases the emission 300 times)
Use tight-fitting face masks

On the other hand, exposure can be reduced by:

Using tight-fitting masks
Reduction of exposure time
Increased physical distance
Ventilation or air purification to eliminate or reduce virus concentration in the air

An average of 5-6 air changes per hour

The ventilation required to reduce the risk of infection depends on many factors, such as the volume of the room, number and age of students, the activity level, etc. This guide follows the advice of the Harvard University guide, which recommends 5-6 air exchanges per hour for classrooms of 100 m2, with 25 students aged 5-8 years. This is equivalent to approximate 14 liters per person and second.

The researcher María Cruz Minguillón clarifies that “5 air exchanges per hour means that in one hour a volume of outside air equal to 5 times the volume of the classroom, enters the classroom. It does not mean to open the windows 5 times”.

In order to visualize the situation in a school, an interactive map was designed to offer a spatial layout of a school with different classroom conditions and settings. This diversity of configurations allow the user to find a classroom with similar characteristics to the interested one. The map gives approximate scenarios and different trends without the need to measure CO2 in the classroom. Likewise, it is possible to identify which conditions and configurations favour the reduction of the risk of airborne infection based on indoor air renewal.

Experts insist that outdoor activities are always preferable to inside ones. In case the activity has to be indoors, it is better to do it in classrooms with natural ventilation, especially cross ventilation (windows and doors on opposite sides). If natural ventilation is not enough, it is recommended to use individual extractors or impellers. In case of having centralized ventilation systems, the outside air rate should be increased and recirculation should be reduced. If no ventilation measures can be used, air should be purified using equipment with HEPA filters.

Part of the infographic intended to explain how to correctly ventilate a classroom using CO2 concentration measurements

The solution can be a combination of several options, for example, natural ventilation combined with purification. To evaluate whether a given configuration is good enough, the guide describes two methods based on carbon dioxide (CO2) measurements that are intended to quantitatively determine the ventilation of a classroom.

The guide is applicable to other interior spaces such as offices or other public buildings. These recommendations do not replace the use of masks, physical distance and hygiene measures, which continue to be necessary.

The researchers warn that “zero risk of infection does not exist”, and therefore the instructions included in the guide “reduce the risk, but do not eliminate it completely”. Also, this guide cannot substitute professional ventilation and air treatment services, as some sites may require complex calculations that cannot always be made by end users.

Image credits:

Images were kindly provided by IDAEA-CSIC, including: Student with a face mask in a classroom was taken by Alexandra_Koch for Pixabay; ventilation diagram, which is part of a larger infographic developed by IDAEA-CSIC, Asociación Mesura and the Ministry of Science and Innovation.

New olive tree varieties step up to fight against anthracnose

A study by researchers at the University of Córdoba identified the olive varieties most resistant to an epidemic capable of ruining a year’s harvest
Heavy rainfall episodes in 1996 and 1997 triggered the largest olive anthracnose epidemic recorded in recent decades in Spain
The resulting research provides with valuable guidelines for a a healthy agricultural product that is increasingly grown around the globe

Anthrachnose, a rain-triggered disease

Anthracnose, also known as canker, is a disease caused by the fungus species Colletotrichum acutatum. It is one of the most destructive olive diseases, affecting both the quality and the quantity of the harvest; oil obtained from damaged olives is highly acidic and therefore unfit for human consumption, giving rise to major economic losses for farmers.

Heavy rainfall during the fruit ripening period stimulates the dispersal of fungal spores, which infect the crop, causing fruit rot and branch dieback. Heavy rainfall episodes in Spain in the years 1996 and 1997 triggered the largest olive anthracnose epidemic recorded in the country in recent decades, but at the same time prompted more intensive research into this pathogen.

Finding resistant olive tree varieties

In order to limit the losses caused by extreme situations such as these, Dr. Antonio Trapero Casas, Professor of Agronomy at the University of Córdoba, carried out research aimed at classifying olive varieties in terms of their susceptibility to anthracnose. Using a previously-designed method, the susceptibility of a total of 384 cultivars from the World Olive Germplasm Bank in Córdoba were tested in the course of three severe anthracnose epidemics.

Olive tree at the experimental agricultural fields of DAUCO

The findings enabled each cultivar to be assigned to one of five categories: highly susceptible, susceptible, moderately susceptible, resistant and highly resistant. The representative varieties for each category were, respectively: Ocal, Lechín de Sevilla, Arbequina, Picual and Frantoio. The research showed that almost all Spanish cultivars can be classed as highly susceptible, susceptible or moderately susceptible. Although some Spanish varieties appear in the most resistant 10%, they are not widely grown.

Within Andalusia, the most susceptible variety (Ocal) is uncommon, and found only to the south of Córdoba; Lechín de Sevilla,another susceptible cultivar, is grown mainly around Seville. However, another susceptible variety – Hojiblanca – is grown all over Andalusia, accounting for most of the olive groves in southern Córdoba and northern Málaga. The good news is that Picual, the most widely grown variety of all, especially in Jaén, is remarkable for its resistance to anthracnose.

The health benefits associated with olive oil have prompted a spread of olive farming to countries where it was not hitherto a traditional crop, such as Australia, China and America. The severe economic losses suffered by newly-planted olive-groves all over the world are largely due to the wrong choice of variety, which can give rise to major anthracnose epidemics. With this new knowledge, farmers can now be sure of choosing the best anthracnose-resistant varieties when planting a new olive grove.

Image credit:

Olive tree kindly provided by DAUCO, and reused with permission.

The deep ocean microbiome: a mirror of the ocean surface

Study of samples of the Malaspina Circunnavigation Expedition casts new light on the planet biogeography and on the dispersal capacity of microorganisms.
The diversity of free microorganisms and microorganisms attached to particles in the sea water column was analysed at various depths.
The microbial biodiversity of both the sea surface and the depths is concluded to be intimately connected.

Exploring microbial life at different depths

Most of the life found in the sea is located at the illuminated surface (the first 200 meters), while the deep ocean (up to 4,000 meters deep) is almost empty. A study led by the Institute of Marine Science (ICM-CSIC) found that, despite the differences between these two regions, the microbial biodiversity of both is intimately connected. The results of the study, which were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), help to better understand the functioning of the planet and the great dispersal capacity of microorganisms.

Scientists of the ICM-CSIC, in Barcelona, and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, in Saudi Arabia, have reached these conclusions after analysing the samples taken during the 2010 Malaspina Circumnavigation Expedition, a project directed by CSIC that integrated more than 400 scientists from around the world, starting on December 2010 with the departure from Cádiz of the oceanographic research ship Hespérides of the Spanish Navy. Researchers took nearly 200,000 samples of water, plankton, atmospheric particles and gases to study the biodiversity of the ocean and the impact of global change on the ocean ecosystem.

The ship A33 Hespérides undertook in 2010 the Malaspina Circunnavigation Expedition, taking water and atmosphere samples abroad

“They key was to analyse the diversity of free microorganisms and those attached to particles in the water column and repeat it at various depths” says Mireia Mestre, researcher at ICM-CSIC. “Until now the connection of microbial communities along the water column has not been studied”, she adds.

The sinking of organic particles formed on the sea surface occurs through the so-called particle snow, a mechanism that transports material to the deep ocean and also plays an important role in the carbon cycle, since it sequesters the carbon in the bottom of the ocean and prevents it from returning to the atmosphere.

Microbial biogeography and the carbon cycle

Scientists took samples at eight points of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Through massive DNA sequencing techniques and bioinformatic tools, they characterized the marine microbial communities present in particles of different sizes and at different depths (from the surface to 4,000 meters deep).

Montserrat Sala, scientist at the Institute of Marine Sciences, points out that the “study shows that the particles falling from surface function as vectors that inoculate the microorganisms that are associated in the deep sea”.

“Our work reveals that this mechanism of connection between surface and deep ocean through particles is very important, since between 80% and 90% of the species are found in both depths”, highlights Josep M. Gasol, also researcher of this center. This fact, however, is more evident in the case of the microbial community associated with larger particles, which are those that sediment more quickly. In addition, the work suggests that microorganisms that reach the depths from the surface determine the microbial biogeography of the deep ocean.

Microorganisms dominate ocean biomass and biodiversity, and have a key role in biogeochemical cycles, such as CO2 sequestration and carbon remineralization, among others. Without these processes there would be no life on Earth as it is known. Therefore, knowing the ocean microbiome helps to understand the biogeochemical processes that occur on a global scale. “In the same way that the human microbiome is important to know the metabolic processes and human health, knowing the planet microbiome is equally important, since it determines life on Earth”, concludes Mestre.

Image credits:

A33 Hespérides picture was downloaded from Wikimedia Commons and licensed via a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) license.

Water sample picture re-used from original press release with kind permission of ICM-CSIC.

Astrophysicists chart the expansion of the Universe over 11,000 million years

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey provides a comprehensive analysis of the largest three-dimensional map of the Universe ever created.
The international study had the participation of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona, the Institute of High Energy Physics and the Autonomous University of Madrid.
The study fills som of the most significant gaps in the exploration of cosmos history.

The Universe, ancient and new

The expansion of the universe is a phenomenon that [results/becomes] an inherent property of the system as a whole, in accordance with the general theory of relativity. This effect results in spatial objects not bound together by gravitational forces to move apart from each other, something that happens at ever-increasing velocities, and with speeds that appear proportional to the distance at which those cosmic objects are located.

Our knowledge of the history of Universe expansion includes both ancient and recent times, but there still remained a signficant void corresponding to about 11,000 million years between both of those known periods. For five years, scientists from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) worked to discover what happened during that less known period of time, and used the information to obtain one of the most important advances in cosmology of the last decade.

Representation of the expansion of the universe from the Big Bang to date. During it, space and time are created

The results came from one of the programmes in SDSS, the international collaboration Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS), in which more than a hundred astrophysicists take part. Three Spanish researchers played an important role in the analysis that was presented: Héctor Gil Marín, from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB); Andreu Font Ribera, from the Institute of High Energy Physics (IFAE), and Santiago Ávila, from the Autonomous University of Madrid. The new results featured detailed measurements of more than two million galaxies and quasars. Together, they cover the mentioned lesser-known 11,000 million years of cosmic time.

A more complete vision of the history of the Universe

Thanks to the study of the radiation of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), and measures related to the elements that were created after the Big Bang, we know how the Universe was like at the beginning of time. We also know the history of the expansion of the Universe over billions of years thanks to the maps of galaxies and measurements of the distances between them, including those in phases prior to the SDSS.

“The eBoss analysis and the previous experiments in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey show the history of the expansion of the Universe over the largest amount of time studied so far”, notes Héctor Gil Marín, from ICCUB. The researcher has led the analysis of these galaxy maps, measuring the expansion rhythm and the growth of structures of the Universe from 6,000 million years ago. These measurements help to merge the early and late developments, which generates a complete image of the expansion of the Universe over time.

The obtained map shows filaments and voids that define the structure of the Universe from the moment it was only 300,000 years old. With the map, researchers look for patterns in the distribution of galaxies, which provide information on key parameters of the Universe, which eBOSS could measure with a precision of over 1%.

The SDSS telescope, main observation instrument by which data collection was made for the creation of the SDSS map.

The SDSS map displays as a colour rainbow located within the observable Universe (the external sphere, which shows fluctuations in the microwave cosmic background). Planet Earth is located at the centre of the map. In the map, each color-code box section at the right includes the image of a galaxy or quasar typical of that section, and the signal of the pattern the eBOSS team measured there. The farther away from Earth one looks in the map, the earlier in time one is looking. Therefore, the location of the signals reveals the rate of expansion of the Universe at different times of the cosmic history.

The map is the result of more than twenty years of efforts to map the Universe through the telescope of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The cosmic history it reveals shows that the expansion of the Universe started accelerating about 6,000 million years ago, and it has increased ever since. This accelerated expansion may be due to a mysterious component in the Universe, called dark matter, which is consistent with Einstein’s general relativity theory, but is difficult to conciliate with current knowledge of particle physics.

SDSS map. External sphere: the observable Universe. Centre: Earth. The farther from the centre, the earlier in time one looks.

A surprising finding

When combining the observations of eBOSS with studies of the early Universe, researchers noticed certain unexpected incompatibilities. The measurement of the current rate of expansion of the Universe (Hubble’s constant) was found to be about 10% less compared to the value that is found when one measures the rate of expansion using the distance to near galaxies.

“The high precision of the data makes it unlikely for this mismatch to result from chance”, notes Andreu Font Ribera, IFAE researcher in Barcelona, who led the interpretation of the results. “The great variety of data in eBOSS leads to the same conclusion in several ways”, he adds.

There is not a widely accepted explanation for this discrepancy in the measures of expansion rates, but an interesting possibility is that a previously unknown form of matter or energy of the early Universe could have left a mark in the expansion we observe now.

Task division – and further projects

The results have yet seen the light with the publication of more than twenty science articles in ArXiv, documents that describe, over more than five hundred pages, the analysis of data in eBOSS. The different groups in the eBoss team, located in universities worldwide, have focused on different aspects of the analysis.

Researchers have analysed red and massive galaxies to obtain the part of the map dating from 6,000 million years ago. For farther away galaxies, they used younger blue galaxies. Lastly, they used quasars –lightning galaxies that lighten as a consequence of the matter absorbed by a supermassive blackhole in its nucleus– to obtain the map of the Universe from 11,000 million years ago and previous periods of time. To reveal the patterns of the Universe, they conducted an analysis of every measurement, in order to rule out potential pollutants.

Artist depiction of a quasar: ULAS J1120+0641. Quasars are among the astronomical objects that allowed to complete the SDSS map.

“We measured the statistical properties of these maps of galaxies and deduced the rate at which the Universe expands over time”, says Santiago Ávila, from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), who carried out new methods to simulate computer galaxy maps like the ones in this study. Ávila adds that “in combination with additional data from the microwave cosmic background and observations of
supernovas, we estimated that the geometrical curve of the Universe is in fact, plain, and we measured the rate of local expansion with a precision of over 1%”.

Following the path of SDSS, researchers are working on the next generation of telescopes to build on top of the findings of eBOSS. For instance, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), will observe ten times more galaxies and quasars than eBOSS thanks to a new instrument in the Kitt Peak National Observatory (Arizona, United States).

At the same time, the European Space Agency plans the launch of the Euclid satellite by 2022. This is the satellite with a unique telescope to provide a complementary view of the Universe. These instruments, which count with the participation of Spanish institutions, will provide data with a precision never seen so far, enabling to solve the enigma of dark matter and the discordance between the rate of expansion of the local and early Universe. Or, perhaps… it will uncover more surprises.

Image credits:

Universe expansion diagram by NASA was downloaded from Wikimedia Commons, and is in the public domain.

SDSS Telescope was downloaded from Wikimedia Commons and licensed via a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

SDSS Map by Anand Raichoor (EPFL), Ashley Ross (Ohio State University) and the SDSS Collaboration was kindly provided by ICCUB and is licensed via a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

ULAS J1120+0641 quasar artist representation was downloaded from Wikimedia Commons and is licensed via a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

LICROX: €3 million and 3 years to convert CO₂ and sunlight into solar fuels

The LICROX Project ambitions to make a key contribution towards EU climate neutrality in 2050 via the creation of an efficient artificial photosynthesis system.
One of the challenges of the project works is the development of enhanced photoelectrochemical cells that improve upon existing systems.
The impact areas of LICROX include clean power generation and the generation of raw materials for the chemical industry, among others.

Towards climate neutrality in 2050

Aside of the pandemic, the year 2020 will be remembered as one of the warmest years on the books. The recently approved European Green Deal aims to build a sustainable growth strategy to reach climate neutrality in the continent by 2050. Radically new technologies based on renewable energies need to be developed in the coming years to reach such an ambitious target. To attain these goals, it is clear that humanity needs to work together to overcome the major global challenges ahead.

In the fight against climate change, the artificial photosynthesis system by researchers of the LICROX project will have a key role. The natural process of photosynthesis allows plants and other photosynthetic organisms (algae and some bacteria) to convert solar energy, water and carbon dioxide (CO₂) in carbohydrates (their fuel). Artificial photosynthetic systems mimics this natural process aiming to outperform it by developing more efficient and simpler procedures.

The LICROX project works to improve current artificial photosynthesis systems. Will it one day overtake its natural counterpart?

Areas that can benefit from artificial photosynthesis include, among others, dry agriculture or hydrogen production. This technology has the potential for substantially reducing global water consumption and to contribute towards clean energy production systems by the generation of electrical power and chemicals (such as hydrogen, ethylene or others) by means of sunlight.

In search for more efficient photoelectrochemical cells

Among artificial photosynthesis designs, photoelectrochemical cells (PECs) have the potential to become an efficient and cost-effective technology for the direct conversion of solar energy. Current drawbacks in the development of artificial photosynthesis systems include poor PEC efficiency in absorbing sunlight, poor selectivity in the reduction of CO2 to carbon-based compounds and utilisation of non-abundant raw materials or toxic elements in the catalytic elements of the system.

The LICROX electrochemical cell for the generation of solar fuels consists of a photoanode, where water oxidation takes place; a semi-transparent organic photovoltaic solar cell (OPV) and a photocathode, where carbon dioxide reduction (CO₂R), hence carbon fixation, takes places.

LICROX photoelectrochemical cell. Left: photoanode; middle: semi-transparent organic photovoltaic cell; right: photocathode

LICROX aims to implement a new type of PEC incorporating light trapping mechanisms to boost the light harvesting efficiency and catalysts made of only abundant elements. The system will selectively drive water oxidation and carbon dioxide reduction reactions in order to obtain carbon-based products like ethylene, one of the most important products currently used by the chemical industry, with high levels of efficiency.

LICROX: an ambitious international effort

With a budget of near € 3.2 million and a duration of 3 years, starting on the 1st September of 2020, the LICROX project has been awarded within the European FET Proactive call: emerging paradigms and communities (FETPROACT-EIC-05-2019), under the subtopic “Breakthrough zero-emissions energy generation for full decarbonization”.

With participation of members of five countries, LICROX brings together a consortium of 7 European partners. They include: two technical universities, the Technical University of Munich (TUM, Germany) and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland); two research institutes (both SOMMa members) which are the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO, Spain) and the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ, Spain); two companies: Avantama (Switzerland) and Hysytech (Italy); and a foundation working in technology assessment and public engagement, the Danish Board of Technology Foundation (DBT, Denmark).

The kick-off meeting of the took place on 8th October 2020. The meeting allowed to virtually meet the team members, share the project structure and organisation, plan the main actions for the first months and introduce the current members of the project’s External Advisory Board, Prof. Michael Grätzel (Professor of Physical Chemistry at EPFL) and Prof. Maximilian Fleischer (Chief Expert Energy, Siemens Energy), who also participated in the meeting.

“LICROX is a highly multidisciplinary effort where chemistry, physics, engineering, optics and social involvement specialists join together with the final aim to contribute to the global transition from fossil fuels to solar fuels. The best photoanode and photocathode produced through the project will be implemented and validated in a final PEC prototype,” explains Prof. Antoni Llobet, LICROX coordinator and Full Professor at ICIQ.

Image credits:

Picture of plant silhouette against the sunlight is in the public domain and was downloaded and modified from original picture at Jooin.

Artificial photosynthesis cell diagram reproduced with kind permission of ICIQ.

A study of two new skulls of Homo erectus up to 1.5 million-years-old

New Homo erectus skulls were found at Gona, in the Afar Triangle of Ethiopia, close to the area where the notoriousAustralopitecus afarensis hominin “Lucy” was discovered in 1974
Researcher Isabel Cáceres analyzed the fossil remains found next to the skulls and confirmed mammal exploitation by these hominins
The association of Oldowan and Acheulian tools with these crania endorses a cultural and behavioral complexity of this species that has yet to be fully understood

The discovery of two new skulls of Homo erectus

Homo erectus is one of the extinct species of archaic humans living in the Pleistocene (as early as 2 million years ago), and the first human acestor to spread from Africa into Europe and Asia. It is one of the earliest species that can be clearly into the Homo genus.

The discovery of two new skulls of Homo erectus found at Gona (Ethiopia) was published in the Science Advances journal by an international team. The effort was led by Sileshi Semaw, researcher at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) in Burgos, and Michael Rogers at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), USA, and in which Dr. Isabel Caceres, researcher from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) and the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES), in Tarragona, participates since 2013.

DAN5 cranium, the smallest skull of Homo erectus recovered in Africa. Photo: Michael J. Rogers/SCSU

Gona is located in the Afar Triangle, located beside the well-known study areas of Middle Awash and Hadar, where the famous skeletons “Ardi” and “Lucy” were found, respectively. One of the newfound skulls is a nearly-complete hominin cranium estimated to ~1.5 million years (Ma) ago and was discovered at the site of Dana Aoule North (DAN5). The other one is a partial cranium dated to ~1.26 Ma ago and was recovered from the Busidima North site (BSN12).

DAN5 cranium has the smallest endocranial volume documented for H. erectus in Africa, about 590 cubic centimeters. This is a gracile skull that bears some similarities with the small individuals discovered at Dmanisi (Georgia). For its part, the BSN12 partial cranium is robust and large (800-900 cc.), similar to OH9 individual from Olduvai Gorge. The small size of the DAN5 cranium suggests that it could belong to a female individual and that H. erectus hence was probably a sexually dimorphic species.

Map of the Gona study area showing locations of BSN12 and DAN5

Clues on Homo erectus culture

Both crania were associated with simple Oldowan-type (Mode 1) and more complex Acheulian (Mode 2) stone tool assemblages. Thus, instead of finding only the expected large handaxes or picks (tools typically associated with H. erectus), the Gona team found both elaborated, well-made handaxes and plenty of less-complex Oldowan tools and cores. This suggests that Homo erectus had a degree of cultural/behavioral plasticity that is yet to be fully understood.

The hominins at both sites lived close to ancient rivers, in an environment with riverine woodlands adjacent to open habitats. The low δ13C isotope value from the DAN5 cranium (from the right molar) is consistent with a diet dominated by C3 plants (trees and shrubs, and/or animals that ate these plants) or, alternatively, by broad spectrum omnivore.

Cutmark on a medium-sized long bone from DAN5 related to defleshing activities.

Isabel Cáceres studied the taphonomy (the transition of biological matterto become part of the lithosphere) of the faunal remains from the deposits where the two skulls were found. That is, the study of bone surface modifications the fossils present was analyzed. While in BSN12 no anthropic evidences were identified, in DAN5 the use of stone tools was evident in defleshing and marrow consumption activities in animals of different size. This implies that H. erectus butchered large, medium and small mammals, although it has not been established whether these were obtained by hunting.

In conclusion, DAN5 and BSN12 sites at Gona are among the earliest examples of H. erectus associated with Oldowan and Acheulian stone tool assemblages. The investigations carried out at Gona have clearly shown that Oldowan technology persisted much longer after the invention of the Acheulian. This is an indicative of a particular behavioral flexibility and cultural complexity of H. erectus.

Isabel Cáceres during fieldwork at the Gona excavation sites.

Image credits:

Images used were kindly provided by IPHES and re-used with permission. Pictures by Michael J. Rogers, SCSU indicated in picture captions.

CLARA: Climate Services Designed to Benefit End Users

Climate services provide information that companies and administrations can leverage for better decision-making
The CLARA project strives to improve climate services by the integration of end users into the co-development
The involvement of public and private stakeholders in addition enables yet another interface for interaction of actors from both sectors

Climate services for better decision-making

A climate service is defined as the offering, management or transformation of climate information that is of application to improved decision-making for institutions, companies, facilities or organizations whose decisions are in some way dependent on climate circumstances. Climate services are applicable to fields such as renewable energy, water management, agriculture, health and air quality and disaster risk reduction, among others.

A specific example of the application of climate services, for instance, takes place in the management of small hydroelectric plants without a water reservoir, that generate energy only off the current of a river: such facilities need to take the decision regarding when to activate the turbines based on the available information regarding present and future river flow. Taking such climate-related decisions in the most informed way possible leads to decreased uncertainty and, in turn, enhanced management outcomes.

Renewable energies, such as hydropower, are among the areas that can benefit from better climate services.

Bridging the gap between university laboratories and the final users is emerging as a reliable way to work in the right direction to ensure the efficacy of the technologies that are developed. Striving for a more efficient management of water and energy resources, in the Climate Forecast Enabled Knowledge Services (CLARA) project, the Department of Agronomy of the University of Córdoba (DAUCO) involves users in the development of climate services.

The CLARA project involves users in the development of climate services

The CLARA project works along those lines, evaluating how the integration of end users into the co-development of climate services enhances their quality. In short, the aim is to engage “customers” in all the phases of the process: from the initial idea to the final design of the product that will reach their hands.

Through CLARA, 11 institutions from 5 European countries are working on cooperative designs with users of seasonal climate services (with 6-month weather forecasts) in the Water and Energy sectors. The methodology involves selecting a series of case studies on climate services for different types of users: agricultural water optimisation, the hydroelectric generation or flood risk management sectors, among others.

The team at the University of Cordoba headed by Professor of Hydraulic Engineering María José Polo, oversees three of these pilot cases. At the UCO the Fluvial Dynamics and Hydrology Group, led by Professor Polo, is studying climate services for managers of reservoirs, hydroelectric generation at mini-power stations (in mountain areas, dependent on snow conditions), and the management and optimisation of the design of photovoltaic power plants (Physics and Renewable Energy Group, directed by Professor Rafael López Luque).

The CLARA project team at DAUCO, of the Fluvial Dynamics and Hydrology Group

The research team at DAUCO is also responsible for the Work Package 2 (WP2), charged with engaging users in the co-development of services, seeking a final product able to generate a much higher demand among those stakeholders.

An interface between the public and private sectors

The researchers have created user forums in which the different stakeholders can participate so that their services meet the needs of these users and their expectations in terms of usability and value. These stakeholders encompass private sector companies (such as Endesa, and small photovoltaic energy firms), officials and representatives of the public administration, professionals managing climate services in different countries or irrigation community staff.

Climate services bridge the gap between large-scale atmospheric models and the specific information that the users need. In a translational work, it converts global-scale data to more specific, local information that is of interest to those who manage water and energy resources on a day-to-day basis. To do this, the seasonal forecasts generated by Europe’s Copernicus climate data management programme are used, transforming it into useful indicators for decision-making.

Following the user forums held in Sweden and Córdoba, a final meeting was planned in Venice. The UCO’s services advanced steadily, with work being done also on the design of an attractive, user-friendly interface. The services are under constant testing by users involved in part of the process; in the case of mini-hydroelectric plants, for instance, this is Endesa Generación. With the services yet on the market, the aim is to create a more user-friendly and efficient scenario for public and private managers of entities working together in the area of water and energy resources.

Image credits:

Hydropower plant picture is in the public domain and was edited and downloaded from Pixabay.

Group photograph kindly provided by DAUCO, and used with permission.

New conceptual model predicts key characteristics of major earthquakes and tsunamis

Researchers Valentí Sallarès and César R. Ranero have presented a study that represents a fundamental change in understanding of earthquakes and their association with tsunamis.
The model contributes towards developing better tsunami early-warning systems by enabling a better understanting of earthquake behaviour and the influence of the depth at which they occur.
Rock rigidity is proposed as a key factor, as studied via analysis of seismic images of the subsurface and tomographic models of the velocity propagations of seismic waves.

A new conceptual model for earthquakes

Understanding how earthquakes occur is one of the main open questions in the field of seismology. Decades of research have not been enough to establish a model to predict earthquake’s behaviour neither to explain the systematic variation of the properties of their seismic rupture observed according to the depth where they initiate. This situation has often led to underestimation of their capacity to generate tsunamis, making it difficult to develop early warning systems in areas affected by large and great earthquakes.

A study carried out by Valentí Sallarès, a CSIC researcher, and César R. Ranero, ICREA researcher, both at the Institute of Marine Sciences of Barcelona of the CSIC (ICM-CSIC), proposes a paradigm shift and presents a new conceptual model that allows explaining various essential characteristics of earthquakes that have puzzled scientists so far. Also, the new model allows to better quantify the risk, predicting tsunamigenic potential with unprecedented precision.

earthquakes-are-at-the-origin-of-tsunami-events-still-the-realiable-prediction-of-tsunami-events-has-proved-elusive

The scientists show that the variation in rock rigidity, a parameter that has never been analysed in detail so far, is the main factor that explains some of the most relevant characteristics of earthquake rupture. Therefore, this parameter should be studied in each earthquake-prone location and added to the estimation of risk associated with earthquakes and tsunamis. The rigidity variations of the rocks with depth allow solving unexplained paradoxes so far, such as why some earthquakes causing moderate seismic movements on land, have triggered large tsunamis, as it happened with several historical earthquakes.

“Our work shows that the differences between the behaviour of deep and shallow earthquakes are not due to local variations in the physical mechanism that produces them, which is what was assumed so far, but to systematic changes in the rigidity of the rocks that fracture and deform during the seismic rupture”, explains Valentí Sallarès, ICM-CSIC researcher and lead author of the work.

At shallower depth, lower seismic intensity but greater risk of tsunami

Seismic records show that earthquakes rupturing the shallow portions of tectonic faults propagate slowly, have a longer duration and unexplained larger-than-predicted slip in the fault, causing greater than expected deformation of the ocean floor, particularly compared to deeper earthquakes of equal magnitude. However, shallow rupture generates less pronounced seismic vibrations on the surface. Therefore, the risk they carry is generally underestimated, especially their unexplained -to this study- capacity to generate tsunamis, or the tsunamigenic potential.

A tragic example took place in Sanriku (Japan) in 1896, when a tsunami up to 38 meters high devastated several coastal towns causing more than 22,000 victims. The arrival of the tsunami took local residents completely off guard, because the intensity of the earthquake that preceded it was moderate compared to the dimensions of the tsunami. Similalry, tsunamis generated by recent major earthquakes in Indonesia (2004) and Japan (2011), which ruptured near to the surface, were equally larger than expected, leading to dramatic and unforeseen situations such as the flooding of the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Rock rigidity increases with depth

The ICM-CSIC study has analyzed seismic images of the subsurface, similar to radiographs, combined with tomographic models of the velocity propagations of seismic waves. Those data have been used to infer the rigidy of rocks at different depths in subduction zones around the world.

The study shows that the rigidity of the rocks that rest on the mega-thrust fault, where earthquakes are generated, increases systematically with depth, following a world-wide well-defined trend (which appears associated to the progressive decrease of rock fracturing and alteration with depth). This trend explains the differences between shallow and deeper earthquakes, allowing in turn to accurately predict the speed of propagation and duration of seismic rupture, the amount of slip on faults, variations in amplitude of the seismic vibrations generated, and the differences in estimated earthquake magnitude.

earthquake-model-representing-the-interaction-between-a-continental-and-an-oceanic-plat

The implications of this discovery are broad. “It is the first model that allows to predict certain characteristics of an earthquake based on the depth of its hypocenter and this is a key to estimate its tsunamigenic potential accurately. As a matter of fact, many of the abnormally large tsunamis that have occurred in history, including the one of 2011 in Japan, can be explained for the first time by our model”, says Sallarès.

Until now, the variations with depth in rupture behaviour of earthquakes, including the amount of slip and the duration or the surface-wave magnitude, were attributed to local factors that were believed to affect the mechanics of the faults causing the earthquakes. However, none of the models proposed until now could explain all the characteristics and differences observed, nor the relationships between them. This study carried out at the CSIC’s Institute of Marine Sciences of Barcelona represents a fundamental change in understanding of earthquakes and their association with tsunamis.

Image credits:

Diagram of tectonic fault kindly provided by ICM-CSIC and used with permission.

Picture of tsunami wave is in the public domain and was downloaded from Pixabay.

Change in the presidency of SOMMa: Maria A. Blasco substitutes Luis Serrano

During the three years that Luis Serrano has been president of SOMMa, together with vice presidents Maria A. Blasco and Mª José Sanz, the alliance has deployed an intense activity in science policy, establishing bridges with numerous entities of the political and scientific world.
“Our country has research institutes and researchers that are among the best of the word, this needs to be valued and boosted by our governors, not only financing science at a level suited to an ambitious country, but also easing the excessive administrative burden that thwarts the retention and contracting of international talent”, highlights the new president.
Serrano steps down from the presidency after intensive efforts put in science policy, calling once more for R+D+I to become a priority for the country.

16 December, 2020. After three years as president of the Severo Ochoa – María de Maeztu Alliance, Luis Serrano, director of the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) ends his term and steps down from the presidency. The new president will be Maria A. Blasco, director of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), and until now first vice president of SOMMa. The new president has expressed her will to “carry on working for the recognition of Spanish science as one of the political and economic priorities of this country”. Blasco will be accompanied by SOMMa vice presidents Mª José Sanz, director of the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), and Antonio Molina, director of the Centre for Plant Biotechnology and Genomics (CBGP-UPM-INIA).

The Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu Alliance, SOMMa, gathers over 50 top Spanish research institutions with over 8,500 researchers, was launched officially from the CRG on October the 18th, 2017, with the support of then Secretary of State of Research of the Ministry of Economy, Carmen Vela, as an initiative to visibilize the Spanish science with the Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu mentions of excellence of the Spanish State Plan for R+D+I.

The Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu mentions are the highest institutional recognition to scientific research in Spain. Their awardees, selected by an international evaluation committee, cover practically all areas of knowledge, from physics and mathematics to environmental sciences and biomedicine, as well as humanities. A reflection of the excellence of SOMMa centres and units is the fact that they are also those institutions that occupy the first positions in international scientific rankings.

The law for public contracts of 2017, Ley 9/2017, raised the alarms of the Spanish research community. This marked the start of an intensive task in scientific policy of SOMMa, which managed to make of the alliance an actor to be taken into account in the Spanish scientific scene. The exchanges between the directive teams of alliance members provided ample perspective and new connections with numerous scientific societies, associations of researchers and of companies active in R+D+I. With them, the alliance has launched and participated of numerous actions and positioned itself publicly in defence of science.

A number of legislative initiatives of the Spanish Government in the area of research have been taking place recently: the “Real Decreto de medidas urgentes para la ciencia” (February 2019), the “Plan de choque para la ciencia española” (July 2020), the increase of the spending limits in order to increase the science budget in Spain (September 2020) and the recent approval of the Spanish General Budget, with a substantial increase in the funding for research.

In February 2019 a package of urgent measures for science was approved unanimously in the Congress. The measures removed the expenditure intervention by the Spanish Ministry of Finance and reverted the decrease of the economic limit necessary for compulsory public tenders for the contracting of services. From the outgoing presidency this is considered as one of the major achievements in response to the threat that posed the application of the aforementioned law of public service contracts for Spanish research.

“We cannot say that the current situation of science in Spain is good, but we have seen improvements”, admits Luis Serrano. “We need to persist in the demands for more juridical safety, administrative improvements and for the refinement of the most unclear or inapplicable aspects of the current legislative framework. This will maximize the impact of the available resources. It is unknown whether the investment in science will consolidate in the future or if it will decrease once the extraordinary European funding is withdrawn. A wide consensus, in theory already in existence, is required, but what is lacking is that science is truly seen -at the highest governance levels- as a priority for the country.”

Luis Serrano (CRG) and Maria A. Blasco (CNIO). Credit: créditos: A. Garrido, CNIO; Ivan Martí, CRG 2020.

The relevant and inexcusable role of science in the resolution of new challenges

“After these difficult months of pandemic, we have seen how society became more aware than ever about the relevant and inexcusable role of science in the resolution of the problems and challenges that may bring us new diseases or the growth or aging of World population”, reflects Maria A. Blasco. “Perhaps this is the moment to open a new debate about the strengths and weaknesses of science policy in our country, empowering, as well, the various social actors in the area of science that develop a truly excellent job, with transcendental results for our society”. The new president has highlighted, as well, “the necessity of promoting measures, both social and political, aimed at powering economic and social impact of Spanish research, improving its legislative framework and financial stability”.

The end of the term of Luis Serrano follows the recent campaign launched together by ASEICA, AseBio and SOMMa in favour of R+D+I, with support of almost 50 entities. Other relevant milestones have been the firm support of the Minister Pedro Duque towards the Severo Ochoa programme (January 2020), the first positioning in science policy of the alliance, the “Informe SOMMa: Acciones necesarias para salvaguardar la competitividad de la ciencia” (March 2018), or the establishment of a forum for the dialogue between the directive teams of the Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu centres and units.

Serrano finished his term reminding, as well, the importance of dialogue during his period in the presidency of SOMMa: “The frank, constant, constructive dialogue between those who do the research and those who administer the research system is the way to match the actions that are possible with the real necessities: both those needs that are urgent and those for the long term. We must build on top of our strengths and successes and not give up on the correction of the deficiencies of our system. Hopefully we reach a 2.5 % investment in research by 2030. The sustainability of the welfare state will depend upon the ability to generate high added value and, as a result, on sectors and industries based on the generation of knowledge”.

Leading scientific associations and innovative companies demand to place R&D at the heart of our country’s strategy

The announcement is made in light of the recent approval of the preliminary draft of the Spanish government’s budget which announces an investment of more than five billion euros in science
The signatories demand a national pact that includes long-term strategies aimed at promoting frontier science and business innovation
The document aims to add and provide strategic solutions to the recent Pact for Science and Innovation that the Government has just announced

SOMMa, ASEICA and AseBio, entities that together account for almost ten thousand researchers across the public and private sector, dozens of research centres and nearly 300 leading Spanish companies in the biotechnology sector, join their voices to urge the political class to transform the country. More than 40 organisations supporting stronger support for science and innovation have signed a document that calls for Spain to reach and exceed 2.5% investment in R&D by 2027 and radically change its current economic model.

The signatories consider this is a crucial moment of putting R&D at the centre of Spain’s future strategy for a sustainable and resilient recovery. It is a unique window of opportunity presented by yesterday’s preliminary draft of the state’s new general budget, the European Reconstruction Plan, the “Green Deal” and the missions of the new Horizon Europe Framework Program of the European Union.

Furthermore, the public has been able to grasp the need to have a solid research capacity for the challenges we are currently facing. Despite this, Spain invests just 1.24% of its GDP in R&D, a figure much lower than the EU average (2.12%), and far from countries such as Germany, Denmark or Austria (around 3%).

The call for action proposes a broad range of administrative and legal recommendations, as well as the implementation of strategic actions so that science and innovation act as the engines for the recovery of the country. The transformation of the economic model would counterbalance the dependence of sectors heavily affected by the current pandemic, giving Spain new opportunities and a stronger position for the future. Crystallizing the great Spanish potential in R&D would lay the foundations for a solid recovery through a sustainable, competitive economic model based on providing high added value.

“The current context has abruptly exposed the shortcomings of our economic model. Spain is thought to be one of the advanced economies most affected by the pandemic, making it essential to change the foundations of our economic model before we can regrow. This is a turning point which we cannot back away from, as it is only through a new economic model that we can ensure the future of Spain. Taking urgent action through the state’s general budget is just the starting point. A state pact for R&D is necessary now more than ever.” Luis Serrano, president of SOMMa and director of the Centre for Genomic Regulation.

“Covid-19 has revealed what we have been warning for a long time: the urgent need to invest in science and innovation to ensure the health of our citizens and to develop an economy based on knowledge, not entertainment. We must take the bull by the horns: we need stable long-term plans and short-term solutions to meet these challenges. Let’s say it once again: research is not a luxury, it is the only way we have to ensure the health and quality of life of our fellow citizens. And this does not depend on ideologies, it is a project that cuts across all divides”. Xosé Bustelo, President of ASEICA.

“This appeal to our political representatives, to the administration and to society itself, is nothing but a joint demand for a long-term strategy that promotes science and innovation in our country and places them at the heart of its strategy. Innovative companies and entities are committed to this effort if we have an adequate and stable framework that allows us to work collaboratively with the rest of the agents of the R & D & I ecosystem and thus contribute to the transformation of our production model. ” Ion Arocena, CEO of AseBio.

The appeal led by SOMMa, ASEICA and AseBio centres around three groups of measures, the first of which focuses on the strengthening of basic and translational frontier science. The signatories demand a simplification of expense management and associated bureaucracy, an increase and optimization of investment, new talent recruitment programs, and mechanisms that favour the stability of research projects promoted by public organizations.

The second tier of recommendations propose measures that strengthen innovation and promote the transition to a sustainable economy with high added value. It is proposed to promote public-private cooperation and innovative business fabric, as well as the creation of a patronage – fundraising law. It also calls for a need to undertake a profound reform of the aid model for business R&D and a legal framework that minimizes uncertainties and provides stability and security to the R&D system.

Finally, the third tier of recommendations call for new mechanisms to increase synergies between the academic and business sectors. Key to this will be the development of a long-term national strategy that includes the autonomous communities, increasing the capacity to transfer the knowledge of universities and research institutes into innovative solutions and the creation of new technology-based companies. Finally, the signatories appeal to cultivate the value of science as a reference for citizenship, the business community and political action.

You can find the full document with the list of signatories here (in Spanish).

SOMMa community: training for more successful ERC AdG writing

ERC Advanced Grant webinar for the SOMMa community

On July 3, 2020, the SOMMa community held a webinar in connection to one of the most notorious European research funding schemes: the ERC Advanced Grants. The event is aimed at helping SOMMa members to secure funds for research projects from especially competitive funding programs such as this one. Over 80 researchers and research support staff from 34 SOMMa members attended. The participants represented a wide range of disciplines, ranging from economics to engineering, supercomputing, math, materials science, life and health sciences, agronomics, astro- and particle physics, chemistry and environmental sciences.

The webinar, organised with the logistic support of the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) Training Department, treated numerous aspects relevant for the successful application of an ERC Advanced Grant (AdG). The content covered aspects related to the ERC aim, context and evaluation criterion, but also put an emphasis on sharing best practices on how to prepare a competitive proposal. During and at the end of the event, participants were given time to ask questions.

While writing a proposal, there are some ingredients that always should be there.

The webinar was presented by consultants Malte Beringer and Stewe Bekk. Asking them about the ERC calls, they affirm that “the beauty of the ERC grants is the exclusive focus on scientific excellence, reflected in the famously “open” template with almost no predefined structures. This gives every applicant the possibility to develop her or his own story, to make the application unique. But it can also be difficult to coherently present a project without any guidance. Maintaining a personal touch is part of the basis for any successful ERC application. Over the years, we have realised that there is no single way to present a convincing ERC project. Still, there are some ingredients that every project should contain.”

The participants – comprising both applying senior researchers and project managers involved in the review of proposals – expressed very high satisfaction with the organization and content of the webinar. From the side of project managers, Germán Infante of IMDEA Materials, pointed out that “while reviewing a proposal, I would check one by one the subjects treated in the webinar, which has been of tremendous help to adequately focus the text”. From the Basque Centre for Applied Mathematics (BCAM Bilbao), Miguel Ángel Benitez stressed that the webinar had been indeed really beneficial, also suggesting that SOMMa should hold more similar community events, on other relevant subjects such as, for instance, Horizon Europe.

Logical structure of a proposal: the layers that compose it.

For his part, researcher Vicente Andrés, Director of Basic Research and Full Professor at the Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) said that “attending a webinar such as this one will certainly help in preparing strong applications, which may be necessary more than ever in a context of decreased budget allocation for Horizon Europe. We thank the speakers, the CRG and SOMMa for organizing this very useful webinar!”

Two alumni of SOMMa institutions

The presenters of the webinar have tight professional links with several SOMMa members. Before starting their individual careers as independent consultants, Stewe worked at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) and at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), helping researchers prepare grant applications, whereas Malte is a biochemist and alumni of the Centre for Genomic Regulation.

“Being a freelancer and a scientist is somewhat unusual, as most scientists follow either the “academic position” or “industry position” career paths”, says Malte, who continues, “we scientists, based on our working attitude and resilience, are well prepared to become freelancers in a science-related business.”

Stewe and Malte give us their insights into what it is like to work as freelancers in research support

Regarding his current job as a consultant, Stewe says: “Having worked in both pre-award and post-award positions, I feel I have a very complete picture of the grant application process. Helping researchers apply for projects feels very rewarding to me, and the review and editing process strikes a chord with my creative side”.

“Grant preparation is hard work at many levels, and the tough competition to attain funding converts any grant application into an important task per se”, continues Malte. “Therefore, our first step is to enter into an open conversation with the applicant. What kind of support does she or he need exactly? Where can our input most likely make a difference? The support often starts with an assessment of the project goals: Does the proposed project fit with the aim of the funder? Are the criteria of the funding program clearly addressed in the proposal?”

The presenters mention that, even if this might sound surprising, the large majority of the work on the proposals is independent of the scientific field. The main added valuee, they stress, is to bring in an external perspective from someone who has the experience to have worked on many proposals.

During the review process numerous elements need to be considered: are the criteria of the funding program clearly addressed?

Malte continues, “working as a grant consultant is also a service to the scientific community: National funding in Spain is unacceptably low. The most rewarding moments happen when, with our support, major funding -often from European sources – allows the scientist to conduct her or his brilliant work, at the same time giving younger group members a professional perspective.

They continue by indicating that proposals addressing fundamental scientific challenges with brilliant ideas, often from scientists that might not have the most standard excellent CV, still have chances to receive funding in an ERC, in particular for StG and CoG. For these funding schemes, they say, everyone eligible to develop a valuable proposal should be encouraged.

Stewe adds, “this year we have taken on almost 20 individual projects so far, mainly for the ERC 2020 AdG call and many with multiple rounds of review. We have also produced several webinars on how to prepare a competitive ERC AdG proposal, where the biggest one, held for the SOMMa network, attracted over 80 participants representing 34 different institutes across Spain. Considering that we had initially not planned to hold webinars, I think it is a good example of what can happen when you meet the right people, adapt to changing scenarios (i.e. COVID-19) and keep an open mind”.

Image credits:

“Layers for implementation” slide and pictures of Malte and Stewe kindly provided by themselves.

Pictures of text review and writing process are in the public domain and were obtained from Pxhere.

1st detection of a giant planet remnant core: unprecedented glimpse inside other worlds

An exoplanet with anomalous characteristics orbiting Sun-Like Star TOI-849 is discovered by a University of Warwick-led team with participation of the Centro de Astrobiología
The first exposed planetary core was found in the “Neptunian desert”, where objects of such size and density are rarely seen
The core could be part of a former gas giant similar to Jupiter that lost nearly all of its outer gas, or a ‘failed’ gas giant that failed to form an atmosphere in its early life
The finding represents a unique opportunity to better understand the internal structure and formation of gas giant

At the Neptunian Desert and the insides of giant planets

The interiors of giant planets remain poorly understood. Even for the planets in the Solar System, the study of their cores is extremely complicated due to observational difficulties. In this context, exoplanets that appear to have undergone rare evolutionary processes provide scientists with a new way to understand planetary interiors. Some of them are found in the so-called “Neptunian desert”, a term used by astronomers to refer to a region close to stars where we rarely see planets of Neptune’s mass or larger.

Among the few cases detected to date, it has been found that such planets are unusually dense. This suggests that they have undergone processes of atmospheric erosion due to high radiation from their host star, partially ripping away their outer atmosphere. These planets are believed to be so rare because most of them end up evaporating in just a few billion years.

A scientific team led by David Armstrong, from the University of Warwick, with researchers from the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA), reported in the journal Nature the discovery of one of these anomalous exoplanets, called TOI-849b. This is thought to be the first time the exposed core of a planet has ever been observed. The discovery stems from a survey of stars by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) using the so-called transit method. This procedure involves the observation of stars to detect the decrease in brightness that indicates that a planet has passed in front of them.

The transit method detects the passage of planets in front of stars owing to the difference of light recorded during the event.

The telescopes used were specifically designed to detect the very shallow dips in brightness from exoplanets transits, in this case, as little as only one-tenth of one percent of the star’s brightness. The planet was then confirmed by the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory (Chile). The exoplanet orbits a solar-type star called TOI-849, which is about 730 light years from Earth and its surface temperature is around 1800K. It orbits so close to its host star that a year lasts only 18 hours.

TOI-849b, an exceptional case

Studies of TOI-849b have confirmed that its characteristics are quite abnormal. Its radius, about 3.5 times greater than that of Earth, first suggested that it was a gaseous planet similar to Neptune and Uranus. However, when measuring its mass using the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph, mounted on the 3.6-m telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory, something different was found: an unusually large mass was obtained, some 40 times greater than that of Earth (Neptune’s mass is approximately 16 times greater than that of the Earth).

TOI-849b radius and mass values indicate that its density is similar to that of planet Earth, making it a gigantic solid planet, the largest one found to date, containing, at most, 3% of its mass as a gaseous atmosphere. Taking into account these peculiar characteristics, the researchers hypothesize that we are facing the bare core of what was once a gas giant like Jupiter, but that has lost nearly all of its gas envelope.

To explain this immense loss of mass, the researchers propose several scenarios. In one of them, the planet initially formed as a gas giant away from its star, then migrated inland and got so close to its star that tidal effects ripped away the atmosphere. Another possibility is a large planetary collision with another planet in the system. Alternatively, TOI-849b could be a “failed” gas giant: after the formation of its core, something could happen in the system that prevented the planet from accumulating the necessary gas to form an atmosphere. But are these the only possibilities?

Artist's impression showing a planet the size of Neptune in the so-called "Neptunian desert". By Mark Garlick; Uni. Warwick. — Artist’s impression showing a planet the size of Neptune in the so-called “Neptunian desert”. By Mark Garlick; Uni. Warwick.

One of the tasks of the CAB researchers who participated in the study was precisely to rule out other feasible scenarios. In particular, in the context of the TROY Project, led by CAB researcher Jorge Lillo-Box, co-author of this study, another possibility was evaluated: the possibility that the wobble of the star – used to measure the planet’s mass – was not being caused by only one, but two planets located in the same orbit. Planets in such a situation are known as co-orbital planets.

As Lillo-Box pointed out, “the analysis carried out allowed ruling out the presence of planets co-orbiting TOI-849b with a mass greater than 8 Earth masses. These results have allowed us to definitively rule out the co-orbital scenario as the source of the planet’s great mass, thus confirming the hypothesis that TOI-849b is definitely a bare rocky core, probably a gigantic sphere composed mainly of iron and silicates”, he concludes. TOI-849b represents, therefore, a unique case where the material of the primordial core of the formation of a gaseous planet can be studied. The origin of this strange planet has yet to be determined and future observations will be necessary to clarify its origin.

Further plans together with the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency plans to launch a mission similar to TESS, albeit a much more ambitious one, where the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) and the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), along with other Spanish institutions such as the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), the University of Granada (UGR) and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), have a very relevant role.

Currently under development, the PLATO satellite, whose mission is the detection and characterization of Earth-like planets in orbits around Sun-like stars, is at a crucial time in its design and implementation and requires strong support from the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) and the Spanish Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).

As David Barrado, a CAB researcher involved in this study, concludes “The results of the TESS satellite, as illustrated by the case of TOI-849b, show that a determined and consistent investment over time leads to remarkable advances in our knowledge of the Universe and our role in it.”

Image credits:

Transit method illustration was downloaded from Wikimedia Commons and licensed via a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.

Neptune-sized planet at the Neptunian Desert artist illustration by Mark Garlick, University of Warwick, was kindly provided by kindly CAB, CSIC-INTA.

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