Using innovative multidisciplinary tools, the research team co-led by Gerard Talavera from the Institut Botànic de Barcelona (IBB, CSIC-CMCNB), Tomasz Suchan from the W. Szafer Institute of Botany, and Clément Bataille, associate professor inthe Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Ottawa — with Megan Reich, a postdoctoral researcher from the Department of Biology at uOttawa, Roger Vila and Eric Toro Delgado, scientists from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE, CSIC-UPF) and Naomi Pierce, a professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University — embarked on a scientific mission to track the journey and origin of those mysterious Painted Ladies.

First, the research team reconstructed wind trajectories for the period preceding the arrival of these butterflies in October 2013. They found exceptionally favorable wind conditions that could support a transatlantic crossing from western Africa, opening the possibility that those individuals might have flown across the entire ocean.

After sequencing the genomes of these individuals and analyzing them in comparison to populations globally, researchers discovered that the butterflies had a closer genetic relatedness to African and European populations. This result eliminated the likelihood of these individuals coming from North America, thereby reinforcing the hypothesis of an oceanic journey.

Researchers leveraged a unique combination of next-generation molecular techniques. They sequenced the DNA of pollen grains carried by these butterflies. They identified two species of plants that only grow in tropical Africa indicating that the butterflies nectared on African flowers before engaging into their transatlantic journey. They analyzed hydrogen and strontium isotopes in the butterflies’ wings, a chemical signal that acts as a “fingerprint” of the region of natal origin. Combining isotopes with a model of habitat suitability for larval growth revealed potential natal origin in western Europe, possibly France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, or Portugal.

Dr. Bataille underlines the methodological novelty of this study: “It is the first time that this combination of molecular techniques including isotope geolocation and pollen metabarcoding is tested on migratory insects. The results are very promising and transferable to many other migratory insect species. The technique should fundamentally transform our understanding of insect migration.”

“We usually see butterflies as symbols of the fragility of beauty, but science shows us that they can perform incredible feats. There is still much to discover about their capabilities,” emphasizes Roger Vila, a researcher at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-Pompeu Fabra University) and co-author of the study.

Buoyed by the Winds

The researchers assessed the viability of a transatlantic flight by analyzing the energy expenditure for the journey. They predicted that the flight over the ocean, lasting 5 to 8 days without stops, was feasible due to advantageous wind conditions. “The butterflies could only have completed this flight using a strategy alternating between active flight, which is costly energetically, and gliding the wind. We estimate that without wind, the butterflies could have flown a maximum of 780 km before consuming all their fat and, therefore, their energy,” comments Eric Toro-Delgado, one of the article’s co-authors.

The Saharan air layer is emphasized by researchers as a significant aerial route for dispersion. These wind currents are known to transport large amounts of Saharan dust from Africa to America, fertilizing the Amazon. This study now shows that these air currents are capable of transporting living organisms.

The Potential Impact of Migrations in the Context of Global Change

This finding indicates that natural aerial corridors connecting continents may exist, potentially facilitating the dispersal of species on a much larger scale than previously imagined.

“I think this study does a good job of demonstrating how much we tend to underestimate the dispersal abilities of insects. Furthermore, it’s entirely possible that we are also underestimating the frequency of these types of dispersal events and their impact on ecosystems,” comments Megan Reich, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Ottawa who also coauthored the study.

Gerard Talavera, the study’s lead researcher, adds, “Throughout history, migratory phenomena have been important in defining species distributions as we observe them today.”

Researchers emphasize that due to global warming and changing climate patterns, we may witness more notable changes and a potential increase in long-distance dispersal events. This could significantly impact biodiversity and ecosystems worldwide. “It is essential to promote systematic monitoring routines for dispersing insects, which could help predict and mitigate potential risks to biodiversity resulting from global change,” concludes Gerard Talavera.

Drugs printed at your local pharmacy at personalized dosages that best suit your health needs.

These are just a few potential advantages of 3D drug printing, a new system for manufacturing drugs and treatments on-site at pharmacies, health care facilities and other remote locations.

In 2015, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first 3D-printed drug, Spritam (levetiracetam), for epilepsy. Several other manufacturers and drug companies are developing their own ones.

But the widespread adoption of 3D drug printing will require stringent quality control measures to ensure that people get the right medication and dosage. Even a tiny mismeasurement of a drug’s ingredient during the printing process could endanger a patient’s health.

In a new research paper, NIST research scientist Thomas P. Forbes assesses various approaches to ensuring that 3D drug printers work as designed. The journal article applies a “quality by design” analysis to evaluate the best procedures and protocols to ensure that 3D printers produce drugs at the correct dosages and with the correct mix of chemicals.

Though various methods exist for remotely printing drugs, Forbes focused on one of the most common: inkjet printers and similar systems that can print personalized medication on demand.

Like inkjet printers in homes, though larger, the printer has nozzles that deposit the drug’s liquified materials, or inks, into tiny wells on a tray or directly into capsules. Through freeze-drying and other processes, the liquid can be turned into a tablet or powder poured into a capsule. It can also be evaporated onto a thin film that dissolves in the mouth.

Forbes’ paper does not make any recommendations. Instead, his research identifies and tests several possible methods and techniques for maintaining quality control in 3D drug printing.

“Most of the oil wells in California are currently in wildfire threatened areas, and a lot of people live in those areas because of the history of oil and gas development in this state,” said David J.X. González, an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. “The same issues that have been with us historically are still with us, and it looks like they might lead to new environmental justice issues that haven’t really been explored.”

González, the paper’s first author, pointed to Los Angeles and Kern counties as populated areas plumbed for oil and gas extraction and also at high risk of burning now or in the near future. In the past, fires in oil and gas fields not related to wildfires have caused blowouts, and leaks from gas storage tanks in Los Angeles have resulted in explosions that damaged buildings. Near Bakersfield, dozens of wells have been found to be leaking natural gas, some at explosive levels.

Since 1984, almost 350,000 people across the western U.S. have lived within 1 kilometer of a well that was inside a burn zone, researchers found. Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American people have faced disproportionately high exposure to those wells affected primarily by a handful of megafires in California, Texas and Oklahoma.

Across the West today, nearly 3 million people live within 1 kilometer of a well that is projected to be in an area with an increased risk of burning in the coming decades. What’s more, the number of wells in high-risk wildfire areas is predicted to nearly double by the end of the century.

That means more wells are being drilled in more areas expected to burn.

“I don’t want to say, ‘The sky is falling.’ But there was more of an impact than we thought there was going to be,” González said. “When we put everything together, it starts to look like this is a problem that hasn’t really been looked at in the past but has been worsening and will likely continue to worsen. It’s concerning, particularly for people living near leaking wells.”

While the confluence of fire and drilling isn’t meant to be alarmist, González said it is an example of compounding factors that hold unexplored, and potentially significant, health effects.

González’s past research explores the public health impacts of oil and gas development, particularly for marginalized groups that suffer disproportionate adverse health effects. When a 2021 fire in Colorado burned near an oil and gas operation, he and his colleagues pondered how often drill sites were blackened, if this could be a common occurrence in the future and how concerning the effects might be.

The team compiled and examined wildfire maps from 1984 to 2019 and analyzed oil and gas drilling records. By lining up where drill sites overlapped with burn areas, and adding population data, the researchers estimated how many people lived near affected wells.

While the health effects stemming from oil and gas wells are becoming increasingly known, there are minimal, if any, studies on the health effects of fires that burn oil and gas facilities. In densely populated areas where buildings burn in supercharged fires, oil and gas operations could complicate fire response efforts, González said.

There are existing cautionary tales. Infernos like the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California caused volatile organic compounds to leach from plastic pipes into the drinking water system.

Many toxic chemicals are already in use in oil fields, González said. Little is known about what happens when those chemicals combine in smoke plumes that already pose serious health risks every year.

“We need additional protections in place to make sure that, as wildfires continue to come, we are protecting the places and the people near these industrial activities,” González said.

Setback rules that increase the distance between wells and places people live, work or attend school would be an effective intervention from a public health perspective, González said. Additionally, public land managers should consider the long-term health effects and potential hazards of permitting wells in fire-prone areas.

“With an issue that we know is going to worsen as climate change progresses,” González said, “we have an opportunity to take proactive action to prevent future harms.”