Alisa Bryce – Australian Science

Dig down to lift your spirits: soil bacteria act as antidepressants

Alisa Bryce — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 00:08:57 +0000

Have you ever noticed that people who spend more time outdoors, particularly those who garden regularly, are often cheery? While the exercise, sunshine and general health benefits of being outdoors contributes to a happy disposition, scientists have discovered that some of this cheer comes from a certain bacteria that lives in the soil.

Mycobacterium vaccae, a soil dwelling bacteria, has been found to affect our brains in a similar way to antidepressants. It activates brain cells to produce serotonin, a hormone that helps regulate mood and sleep. Low levels of serotonin are often correlated with moodiness, feeling down and depression.

Soil bacteria are well known, to soil scientists at least, for their contribution to modern medicine and technology. Rapamycin, a bacteria found in the soil on Easter Island is used in anti-fungal medications, and in transplants to stop the body attacking transplanted organs. Ralstonia, a very common microbe, has been persuaded to make isobutanol (a fuel). The difference here, with M.vaccae, is that no alterations need to be made to the bacteria to achieve the desired effects – all you need to do is head outside and play in the dirt.

Researchers from the University of Bristol suggest that M.vaccae works by activating immune cells. Experiments on mice revealed the bacteria simulated the production of cytokines, indicating an increase in immune system activity, as well as an increase of serotonin in the brain.

Experiments at the Sage Colleges in Troy, New York, have also suggested M. vaccae can increase learning abilities, with mice that were fed the bacteria being able to solve maze problems twice as fast as mice who weren’t. These wonderful soil bacteria are a Prozac and IQ booster in one. Best of all they’re free, you just need to head outside and play in the dirt.

It has been argued that we are too clean these days, the antibacterial hand wash, wet wipes and multitude of cleaning chemicals doing more to harm our immune system than help it. The truth is, soil microorganisms play an important role in the development of immunity. We need to be exposed to microorganisms to train our immune systems to defend us.

Those of us who garden or work with soil are exposed to M. vaccae simply by digging in the soil. It can be inhaled, or ingested via water or plants. Home-grown vegetables may contain the bacterium, so growing your own food can help increase exposure.

A key to feeling better, it seems, is to do what health experts have been telling us to do for years. Get outside, get into the garden, and while you’re at it grow some of your own food. You’ll feel better, and you’ll have free food.

Cite this article:
Bryce A (2013-10-14 00:08:57). Dig down to lift your spirits: soil bacteria act as antidepressants. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 04, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/biology/dig-down-to-lift-your-spirits-soil-bacteria-act-as-antidepressants/

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The post Dig down to lift your spirits: soil bacteria act as antidepressants appeared first on Australian Science.

Carbon emissions trading schemes – do they work?

Alisa Bryce — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 00:25:37 +0000

Kevin Rudd’s plan to scrap the carbon tax in the name of an emissions trading scheme has spurred debates over which carbon reduction system is better. I use the term ‘better,’ as discussions seem to be focusing on costs to Australian families rather than which system is more effective at actually reducing carbon emissions.

The new emissions trading scheme will reportedly ‘ease the pressure’ on Australian families. But the average Australian family pays only $380/year with the carbon tax, less than a standard mobile phone bill for a single person. Rudd should, therefore, be focusing on the bigger picture – the effects of carbon in the atmosphere and which system will actually reduce carbon emissions.

Pollution trading was first suggested in the United States in the 1960’s, becoming popular in the US during the 1990’s Acid Rain program, a cap and trade scheme that successfully reduced sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emissions. The success of the SO₂ program is frequently cited as ‘proof’ that carbon markets will also be effective at reducing Green House Gases (GHG), and was a key driver behind the United States push for market mechanisms to be the main mechanisms in the Kyoto Protocol.

Most emissions trading schemes are cap-and-trade. Cap-and-trade works by quantifying emissions, assigning a set number licences to pollute (emit carbon), then incentivising businesses to meet their cap the cheapest way. Businesses can pay for technology to reduce their emissions, adopt cleaner practices, or purchase licences to emit from other businesses. According to neoliberal market ideology, the market will effectively allocate permits, therefore market based mechanisms are the most efficient way to reduce emissions. For example, Businesses A and B both have 20 permits. Business B finds it cheaper to reduce emissions and only needs 10 permits. It then sells its left over 10 permits (for a profit) to business A. Business A now has 30 permits, Business B 10 permits. Emissions haven’t been reduced, they have just shifted.

In theory, the number of permits will gradually be reduced, forcing business to ‘clean up their act’. This has been shown to work, but only in examples like the SO₂ trading scheme where trading was only allowed within one country, was easy to monitor and only involved one pollutant. When trading is global, emissions are often not reduced, and can even increase.

Kyoto is a prime example. Instead of reducing emissions, the international trading schemes just shifted them around, moving emissions from wealthier nations to poorer ones. How? Businesses simply outsourced their polluting activities to poorer nations in the Global South – India, China, Africa, where environmental laws are less strict and labour cheaper. Businesses also purchased offsets – popular because it is cheaper to pay for emissions savings in the Global South than for abatement costs in the Global North. However offsets themselves have received even more criticism than carbon trading. Offsets are vague, the ‘savings’ in carbon reductions often unprovable and unquantifiable, summarised neatly by journalist Dan Welch as “an imaginary commodity created by deducting what you hope happens from what you guess would have happened.

Cite this article:
Bryce A (2013-08-05 00:25:37). Carbon emissions trading schemes - do they work?. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 04, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/australia-2/carbon-emissions-trading-schemes-do-they-work/

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The post Carbon emissions trading schemes – do they work? appeared first on Australian Science.

New technology to measure soil carbon

Alisa Bryce — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 06:32:32 +0000

Carbon is a hot topic at the moment, particularly with Rudd’s plan to move from the Carbon Tax to an Emissions Trading Scheme. But while the politicians argue over the economic implications, researchers at the University of Sydney have developed an instrument that could help drive policy to deal with the environmental impacts of carbon.

The Carbon Soil Bench measures carbon levels in the soil, cheaper, faster and more accurately than current methods. The Bench is essentially a large furnace on wheels that works by burning a sample of soil and measuring how much carbon dioxide is released. Because the Bench can take samples up to 2.5cm in diameter and a meter in length (up to 500 grams of soil), the variation in results common to current methods is reduced.

Current methods use a point analysis on 0.5 grams of soil, requiring crushing and mixing samples in an attempt to produce a ‘representative’ sample. The 0.5 gram sample is then selected from this mix. The Bench, by contrast, can measure up to half a kilo at once, the process taking only 10 minutes.

This technology is exciting as soil has the ability to store carbon (via sequestration), however measuring the capacity of soil to do so, until now, has been difficult. The Bench may pave the way for a more serious look at how Australian land can contribute to environmental improvements by capturing carbon.

The team, Robert Pallasser, Professor Alex McBratney and Associate Budiman Minasy, have created a video of the bench in action, which can be viewed on youtube:

Cite this article:
Bryce A (2013-07-19 06:32:32). New technology to measure soil carbon . Australian Science. Retrieved: May 04, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/technology/new-technology-to-measure-soil-carbon/

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