The Carbon Footprint of Games Distribution

This research investigates the carbon footprint of the lifecycle of console games, using the example of PlayStation®3 distribution in the UK. We estimate total carbon equivalent emissions for an average 8.8‐gigabyte (GB) game based on data for 2010. The bulk of emissions are accounted for by game play, followed by production and distribution. Two delivery scenarios are compared: The first examines Blu‐ray discs (BDs) delivered by retail stores, and the second, games files downloaded over broadband Internet. Contrary to findings in previous research on music distribution, distribution of games by physical BDs results in lower greenhouse gas emissions than by Internet download. The estimated carbon emissions from downloading only fall definitively below that of BDs for games smaller than 1.3 GB. Sensitivity analysis indicates that as average game file sizes increase, and the energy intensity of the Internet falls, the file size at which BDs would result in lower emissions than downloads could shift either up‐ or downward over the next few years. Overall, the results appear to be broadly applicable to title games within the European Union (EU), and for larger‐than‐average sized games in the United States. Further research would be needed to confirm whether similar findings would apply in future years with changes in game size and Internet efficiency. The study findings serve to illustrate why it is not always true that digital distribution of media will have lower carbon emissions than distribution by physical means when file sizes are large.     

Sequential Subterranean Transport of Excavated Sand and Foraged Seeds in Nests of the Harvester Ant,Pogonomyrmex badius

During their approximately annual nest relocations, Florida harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex badius) excavate large and architecturally-distinct subterranean nests. Aspects of this process were studied by planting a harvester ant colony in the field in a soil column composed of layers of 12 different colors of sand. Quantifying the colors of excavated sand dumped on the surface by the ants revealed the progress of nest deepening to 2 m and enlargement to 8 L in volume. Most of the excavation was completed within about 2 weeks, but the nest was doubled in volume after a winter lull. After 7 months, we excavated the nest and mapped its structure, revealing colored sand deposited in non-host colored layers, especially in the upper 30 to 40 cm of the nest. In all, about 2.5% of the excavated sediment was deposited below ground, a fact of importance to sediment dating by optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL). Upward transport of excavated sand is carried out in stages, probably by different groups of ants, through deposition, re-transport, incorporation into the nest walls and floors and remobilization from these. This results in considerable mixing of sand from different depths, as indicated in the multiple sand colors even within single sand pellets brought to the surface. Just as sand is transported upward by stages, incoming seeds are transported downward to seed chambers. Foragers collect seeds and deposit them only in the topmost nest chambers from which a separate group of workers rapidly transports them downward in increments detectable as a "wave" of seeds that eventually ends in the seed chambers, 20 to 80 cm below the surface. The upward and downward transport is an example of task-partitioning in a series-parallel organization of work carried out by a highly redundant work force in which each worker usually completes only part of a multi-step process.     

A critical histidine residue within LIMP-2 mediates pH sensitive binding to its ligand β-glucocerebrosidase

The lysosomal membrane protein type 2 is a novel identified lysosomal sorting receptor for β-glucocerebrosidase (GC). Mutations in both genes underlie human pathologies causing action myoclonus-renal failure syndrome (AMRF) and Gaucher disease (GD), respectively. We now demonstrate that the lumenal acidification mediated by the vacuolar (H(+) )-ATPase triggers the dissociation of LIMP-2 and GC in late endosomal/lysosomal compartments. Moreover, we identified a single histidine residue in LIMP-2 that is necessary for LIMP-2 and GC binding. This residue is in close proximity to a proposed coiled-coil domain, which determines the binding to GC and may function as a critical pH sensor.     

Mitochondrial numbers increase during glucose deprivation in the slime mold Physarum polycephalum

Protoplasma - Glucose deprivation in the slime mold Physarum polycephalum leads to a specific morphotype, a highly motile mesoplasmodium. We investigated the ultrastructure of both mesoplasmodia...     

The Sustainability Price: expanding Environmental Life Cycle Costing to include the costs of poverty and climate change

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment - This study develops the Sustainability Price (SP) to include social and environmental costs in the price of goods and to move towards a...     

Aspects of cAMP Signaling in Epileptogenesis and Seizures and Its Potential as Drug Target

Neurochemical Research - Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological conditions. Today, close to 30 different medications to prevent epileptic seizures are in use; yet, far from all...     

Src kinases relax adherens junctions between the neighbors of apoptotic cells to permit apical extrusion

Epithelia can eliminate apoptotic cells by apical extrusion. This is a complex morphogenetic event where expulsion of the apoptotic cell is accompanied by rearrangement of its immediate neighbors to form a rosette. A key mechanism for extrusion is constriction of an actomyosin network that neighbor cells form at their interface with the apoptotic cell. Here we report a complementary process of cytoskeletal relaxation that occurs when cortical contractility is down-regulated at the junctions between those neighbor cells themselves. This reflects a mechanosensitive Src family kinase (SFK) signaling pathway that is activated in neighbor cells when the apoptotic cell relaxes shortly after injury. Inhibiting SFK signaling blocks both the expulsion of apoptotic cells and the rosette formation among their neighbor cells. This reveals the complex pattern of spatially distinct contraction and relaxation that must be established in the neighboring epithelium for apoptotic cells to be extruded.