Science - USA (2022-02-04)

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PHOTO: JIM BRANDENBURG/MINDEN PICTURES

NEWS | IN BRIEF

steps, says the commentary’s author, neuro-
scientist Yuh Nung Jan of the University of
California, San Francisco.

Tighter soot limits offer benefits

EPIDEMIOLOGY |Tightening the air
quality standard for particulate matter in
the United States would prevent prema-
ture deaths in older people, a study has
found. It offers stronger evidence than

previous analyses covering fewer people,

which also found that low levels of the

small particles, measuring no more than

2.5 micrometers wide, pose health risks.

Researchers led by Francesca Dominici of

Harvard University compared the health of

68.5 million Medicare recipients, all ages

65 or above, across the United States with

their estimated exposure to air pollution

between 2000 to 2016. More than 143,

deaths in this group could have been

avoided if the U.S. standard for particulate

matter had been 10 micrograms per cubic

meter between 2006 and 2016, instead

of the current 12 micrograms. The U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

had already planned to propose a new stan-

dard for the pollutant this spring, which is

intended to protect people of all ages. The

new study was released on 26 January by

the Health Effects Institute, which is funded

by EPA and industry groups.

COVID-19 vaccines make strides

PANDEMIC |Two makers of COVID-

vaccines logged major milestones on

31 January. Moderna won full approval from

the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

(FDA) for its messenger RNA–based

vaccine, 13 months after the agency

granted the company an emergency use

authorization (EUA). It is the country’s

second fully authorized COVID-19 vac-

cine, after Pfizer’s, which won approval

in August 2021. And after a monthslong

delay caused by manufacturing issues,

Novavax applied to FDA for an EUA for

its protein-based vaccine. Last month,

it won conditional marketing authoriza-

tion in Europe, and the World Health

Organization granted it an emergency use

listing, opening up an avenue to buttress

global vaccine supplies.

Prized dinosaur tracks damaged

PALEONTOLOGY |A backhoe operator

last week reportedly damaged part of

one of North America’s largest and most

diverse sets of early Cretaceous dinosaur

tracks near Moab, Utah. The Mill Canyon

Dinosaur Tracksite contains more than

200 tracks left by at least 10 different

species about 112 million years ago. Last

week, work was underway to replace

a boardwalk at the location, which is

administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land

Management (BLM). Paleontologists say

the agency provided no notice of the

work and had no fossil expert on site to

monitor it; BLM’s Moab office has lacked

a paleontologist on staff since 2018. In a

statement this week, BLM did not explain

the apparent damage or accept responsi-

bility, saying only “heavy equipment is on

location, but it is absolutely not used in

the protected area,” and it “is committed

to balancing resource protection and pub-

lic access” to the site. The damage there

was verified in person this week by Utah’s

state paleontologist.

ECOLOGY

Elder trees promote forest health, diversity

A

ncient trees are rare but play an outsize role in helping a forest survive, says a

study that quantifies conditions under which a forest gains these old-timers.

Charles Cannon of the Morton Arboretum and colleagues analyzed published

annual death rates of forests—the percentage of trees that die each year. The

team’s simulations indicated that if the rate does not exceed 1%, about 1% of a

forest’s trees will eventually become long-lived behemoths—surviving for hundreds or

thousands of years, up to 20 times longer than the trees around them, the scientists

report this week in Nature Plants. Luck plays a large role in which trees survive light-

ning, fires, chain saws, drought, and disease. But the paper suggests genetics make

the old-timers more resilient, particularly in dealing with long-term climate oscillations,

which in turn helps make the entire forest more adaptable and sustainable. It’s yet

another reason, the authors say, for protecting old-growth forests.

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Very old trees like

“General Sherman,”

a giant sequoia in

California, can be a

forest’s insurance

policy for weathering

environmental changes.

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