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Los Angeles Times
20 hours ago
- Science
- Los Angeles Times
Rising heat is causing students to underperform across the globe
As climate change drives temperatures higher, prolonged periods of heat exposure are doing more than just making classrooms uncomfortable. According to a new systematic review published in PLOS Climate, extended exposure to heat significantly impairs students' cognitive abilities, affecting their academic performance, especially in complex subjects such as mathematics. The study analyzed previous research encompassing nearly 14.5 million students across 61 countries. The findings show clear evidence that heat exposure over time is correlated to lower scores in math and other complex cognitive tasks among elementary, middle and high school students. Even on days when temperatures were between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the data show that students can experience heat stress, followed by a drop in cognitive performance. The effects of heat exposure on learning are often not seen until much later, said Konstantina Vasilakopoulou, a Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology professor who co-authored the paper with Matthaios Santamouris of the University of New South Wales. 'So many studies have found that temperatures of the year before a serious exam affect students more than temperatures during the exam year itself. We simply do not have enough time to recover,' Vasilakopoulou said. According to the paper, students from lower-income families often have less access to air-conditioned classrooms and homes, making them more vulnerable to the harmful effects of heat. Racial disparities were also evident in the data, with Black and Latino students in the U.S. seeing up to three times greater cognitive losses due to heat compared to their white peers. 'There are larger numbers of Black and Hispanic people living in poorer areas where the conditions are worse, temperatures higher, and air conditioning and ventilation often lacking,' Vasilakopoulou said. Future climate scenarios predict even greater, and in some ways, surprising challenges. By 2050, if current warming trends continue without adequate adaptation measures, students in currently cooler regions may start to suffer the same problems that those in warmer climates do now. That's because in places that are already hot, there's more likely to be some amount of infrastructure to deal with the heat, whereas in colder areas, that may not be the case. Adaptive strategies such as improved ventilation, air conditioning and green infrastructure can help reduce the effects, but many schools, particularly those in underserved areas, lack the resources to implement them effectively. In Southern California, the findings resonate deeply. 'As classroom temperatures rise over time — especially during extended heat waves or in schools with less shade, poorer insulation and lacking access to air conditioning — students tend to show declines in attention, memory and test performance,' said Edith de Guzman, a climate researcher at UCLA's Luskin Center for Innovation. Heat can also affect students' abilities to enjoy outdoor recreational activities, having serious effects on their physical, mental and social well-being, she said. In L.A., public school starts in August — instead of September — further exposing students to heat while at school, and ultimately affecting those attending under-resourced campuses more. Consider, for example, Orange County's Garden Grove Unified School District, which serves cities including Anaheim and Santa Ana, where many campuses lack air conditioning, according to Thelma Briseno, a senior director at the L.A.-based nonprofit Climate Resolve. In previous summers, teachers have reported temperatures reaching 100 degrees on some days and having to resort to makeshift strategies to keep students cool, such as going out and buying bottles of water and fans. 'Things like an indoor heat standard really need to be in place, and there's nothing like that that exists right now for schools,' Briseno said. Some of the most striking findings from the various papers reviewed in the article found that for every 1 degree Celsius drop in temperature in a classroom, students' speed and accuracy increased by 7.5% and 0.6%, respectively. Alarmingly, using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's projected increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels by 2050, another study found that if no cooling measures are taken, elementary school students may see a cognitive performance drop of 9.8%. After reviewing the findings, Dr. Marc Futernick, a Climate Resolve board member and managing editor of the Journal of Climate Change and Health, emphasized that what is at stake is no less than the future of humanity. 'If we are moving into a world where we can't think, create or strategize as well as we could in the past, what does that mean for our future?' he said. 'We should be focused entirely on preventing these effects, on controlling the climate crisis the best we can, and adapting our communities to things like extreme heat, preventing the exposure in the first place.' Climate Resolve has advocated solutions such as 'cool roofs,' increased tree planting and cool pavement technologies, which significantly reduce temperatures. 'You obviously have to address the issue from a community standpoint,' Briseno said. 'Community cooling in residential areas and also within the school building themselves,' she concluded, 'it's a collaborative effort between people in the built environment.' For example, a community-driven 'cool communities initiative' in the Pacoima neighborhood of L.A. has proven to be successful, creating noticeable improvements in neighborhood temperature comfort. The study emphasizes the urgent need for policymakers and education leaders to prioritize protecting students from rising temperatures. Without decisive action, educational disparities intensified by heat exposure will continue to grow, potentially hindering entire generations' abilities to learn and succeed. 'We penalize vulnerable populations and need to provide opportunities for them to recover and lead the future,' Vasilakopoulou said. 'We can't pretend that we're all equal. [We need] better conditions for our homes, for our schools, and for our cities.'


Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Study finds impact of heat exposure on students' long-term learning, ability to handle complex tasks
New Delhi, A study has described how prolonged exposure to heat especially under increased global warming can impact cognition of school children, affecting long-term learning and the ability to handle complex tasks. Study finds impact of heat exposure on students' long-term learning, ability to handle complex tasks Researchers from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and University of New South Wales in Australia reviewed data from seven previously published studies involving nearly 14.5 million students from 61 countries, including India. Findings published in the journal PLOS Climate point to impacted learning capacity of students under a long-term exposure to heat, with performance in complex tasks, such as mathematical, hit harder than that in simpler ones, including reading. As the planet continues to get warmer, deficits in learning abilities among the youth can accumulate, potentially reducing the "capacity of young people to undertake intensive cognitive activities", the authors said. Equity and quality of life of the vulnerable, low-income population which is unable to protect itself from climate change will be affected, the team said. They added that societal disparities will be widened and economic progress hampered in the less developed nations which are more exposed to heat. Two of the seven studies that the researchers reviewed pertaining to primary school students in India found that one additional day in a previous year with an average daily temperature higher than 29 degrees Celsius impacted reading and mathematical abilities, compared to a day with a temperature between 15-17 degrees Celsius. Ten such days in a previous year were "found to reduce reading scores by 0.02 and mathematics scores by 0.03". Data for mathematics and reading test scores were taken from the Annual Status of Education Report , a nationwide survey of rural households to assess children's schooling and learning. Story reading and division skills in mathematics reduced by one percentage point, the authors said. The analysis also used data from the Young Lives Survey , a UK-funded long-term study of poverty and inequality among 12,000 children from Ethiopia, India , Peru and Vietnam. "These results were statistically significant, with the impact of hot days being significant only for the harder questions in both reading and mathematics tests," the researchers wrote. They also said, "The social cost of global overheating on human capital associated to the potential reduced capacity of young people to undertake intensive cognitive activities, will unfortunately affect equity and quality of life of vulnerable and low-income population unable to be protected from the climatic phenomena." "It will accelerate societal discrepancies and will impede economic progress in less developed countries suffering from excessive heat exposure," the team wrote. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

Elle
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Elle
Sarah Snook and Dave Lawson's Friendship Turned Into a Whirlwind Romance During the Pandemic
Succession star Sarah Snook recently added to her collection of awards with her Tony win for The Picture of Dorian Gray. The dynamic actress is a powerhouse onstage and on-screen. Her private life seems to match her success in public, with a loving marriage of almost four years with actor Dave Lawson. Here's everything to know about Lawson and his connection to Snook so far. David Lawson is originally from Melbourne and is an actor, just like Snook. He grew up in Victoria, then went to private school Haileybury College. He studied advertising and marketing at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, according to his LinkedIn profile. His first big role was as the host of Saturday Nick Television on Nickelodeon Australia. 'I never set out to be a kid show host. That was never on the cards. But then, you know, you get through one audition, then you get to another and then you start getting excited and go, 'I actually really want to do this now,'' he said on the Funny In Failure podcast. He also shared how his parents felt about the career pivot: 'I said to Dad, 'I want to really, really want to try acting,' and he said, 'Well, all right, you should give it a go then for a bit but give yourself a cut off time.' But he was supportive as well because he said, 'You know 99 percent of actors are out of work but that also means that 1 percent are in work.' That was great.' Lawson has acted as well as hosted, with credits in Bruce, Utopia, Peter Rabbit, Wentworth, Blue Heelers, The Crew's Ship, and more. In 2020, Snook was nominated for an Emmy for her role as Siobhan Roy in Succession, but the public ceremony was canceled due to COVID-19. Lawson made Snook an Emmy out of tinfoil, which she later shared a photo of after she lost the official award. In 2025, when Snook won her Tony Award for The Picture of Dorian Gray for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, she said in her speech, 'An exceptional thank you to my husband, my soulmate. You are so brilliant holding the fort down and keeping our family together.' The pair met and became friends in 2014 but did not date for years. But everything changed in 2020. 'At the beginning of the pandemic last year, I got locked down in Melbourne with one of my best mates, and we fell in love,' Snook told Vogue Australia in 2021. 'We've been friends since 2014, lived together, traveled together, always excited to see each other, but totally platonic.'She added, 'We've just never been single at the same time. It's been a ride. There's so much heartache and sadness in the world, but on a micro personal level, I've been very fortunate.' Once they knew there was romantic potential, things moved quickly. Snook proposed to Lawson on Halloween that same year, and they were married just a few months later in their Brooklyn backyard. 'We fell in love, I proposed, got married, and had a baby all in a short space of time. It's not too big a word to say 'soulmate,'' she revealed on The Graham Norton Show in 2023. Their first child arrived in May 2023 and Snook shared a cute snap of her baby's head as they watched the season finale of Succession together. Snook first announced she was pregnant at the March 2023 Succession season 4 premiere. At the 2024 Golden Globes, Snook revealed the couple welcomed a girl, saying of motherhood, 'I love it, she's the best.' She added, 'She's standing. Not walking yet, but she's standing supported. She's great. I love her.' Lawson also shared on the Funny in Failure podcast that he has a son from a previous relationship, saying, 'I can't have regrets because I wouldn't have [my son]. It's that problem, if you go back in time and change one thing. A lot of it comes back to being a dad. If I change one thing…I wouldn't want to risk undoing that.'


United News of India
04-06-2025
- Health
- United News of India
Aus researchers develop new antibacterial coating to prevent infections on medical implants
Melbourne, June 4 (UNI) Australian researchers have developed a new antibacterial coating inspired by insect resilin that shows promise, for preventing infections on medical implants. The study is the first to demonstrate that coatings made from resilin-mimetic proteins can fully block bacterial attachment to surfaces, potentially offering a powerful alternative to antibiotics, especially against drug-resistant strains like MRSA, according to the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). Despite sterilisation, bacteria often colonise implants post-surgery, leading to infections that increasingly resist antibiotics, which has driven interest in self-sterilising materials and antibacterial surfaces, said the study's lead author Namita Roy Choudhury from RMIT. Derived from resilin, the elastic protein that allows fleas to jump, the synthetic version is biocompatible, non-toxic, and highly flexible, according to the RMIT team which tested its variants against E. coli and human skin cells in the lab. The coatings, in nano droplet form known as coacervates, proved 100% effective at repelling bacteria while remaining compatible with healthy human cells, crucial for use in implants, said the study published in Advances in Colloid and Interface Science. These droplets interact with bacterial membranes via electrostatic forces, destabilising them and causing cell death, said co-lead author Nisal Wanasingha from the RMIT. "Unlike antibiotics, which can lead to resistance, the mechanical disruption caused by the resilin coatings may prevent bacteria from establishing resistance mechanisms," Wanasingha said. Potential applications include coatings for surgical tools, catheters, wound dressings, and medical implants as a protective spray, he said, adding unlike silver nanoparticles or chemical antimicrobials, resilin-based coatings are protein-derived and environmentally friendly. UNI/XINHUA ANV GNK
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rigetti Granted Air Force Office of Scientific Research Award to Further Develop Breakthrough Chip Fabrication Technology
The $5.48 million Rigetti-led consortium will include Iowa State University, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, the University of Connecticut, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The project aims to develop a deeper understanding of how Rigetti's novel chip fabrication process, Alternating-Bias Assisted Annealing (ABAA), reduces defects in superconducting qubits. BERKELEY, Calif., April 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rigetti Computing, Inc. (Nasdaq: RGTI) ('Rigetti' or the 'Company'), a pioneer in full-stack quantum-classical computing, announced today that it was granted an Air Force Office of Scientific Research award to further develop its breakthrough chip fabrication technology, Alternating-Bias Assisted Annealing (ABAA). The $5.48 million Rigetti-led consortium, including Iowa State University, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, the University of Connecticut, and *Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), aims to develop a detailed understanding of how ABAA impacts the chip on a microscopic level — which will shed light on defects in superconducting qubits and open new avenues for understanding and mitigating them. Addressing defects in superconducting qubits is a fundamental challenge in building large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers. Last year, Rigetti introduced ABAA which entails applying a series of alternating low-voltage pulses at room temperature to the oxide barrier of the Josephson junction, a critical part of Rigetti's superconducting qubits. Rigetti researchers discovered that this technique enables qubit frequencies to be precisely targeted prior to chip packaging. This improves the fidelity of two-qubit gates and the scalability of the technology. Unlike more complicated solutions that address the problem of tuning frequency, which often require laser trimming of the chip, ABAA is a simple and scalable process that only requires sending pulses of voltage to the chip. Rigetti devices that have been manufactured leveraging ABAA show a reduction in two-level systems (TLSs). TLSs are defects in a qubit's material that impact qubit performance by pulling energy from the qubit or dephasing it. Ultimately, understanding the effects of ABAA on TLSs will lay the groundwork for scaling the fabrication of superconducting quantum devices and other applications that rely on amorphous materials in tunnel junctions and dielectrics. 'This project gives us access to the resources and expertise to unlock the full potential of ABAA and gain a foundational understanding of defects in superconducting qubits,' says Dr. Subodh Kulkarni, Rigetti CEO. 'We already know that superconducting qubits have advantages in speed and scalability. Deepening our knowledge of superconducting qubit defects puts us in an even better position to scale our systems with improved performance.' Rigetti continues to support the U.S. Government's commitment to maintaining quantum computing leadership and advancing the field. Rigetti was recently selected to participate in DARPA's Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, which aims to determine if any approach to quantum computing can achieve utility-scale operation by 2033. *Funded separately though Laboratory for Physical Sciences, University of Maryland About RigettiRigetti is a pioneer in full-stack quantum computing. The Company has operated quantum computers over the cloud since 2017 and serves global enterprise, government, and research clients through its Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services platform. In 2021, Rigetti began selling on-premises quantum computing systems with qubit counts between 24 and 84 qubits, supporting national laboratories and quantum computing centers. Rigetti's 9-qubit Novera™ QPU was introduced in 2023 supporting a broader R&D community with a high-performance, on-premises QPU designed to plug into a customer's existing cryogenic and control systems. The Company's proprietary quantum-classical infrastructure provides high-performance integration with public and private clouds for practical quantum computing. Rigetti has developed the industry's first multi-chip quantum processor for scalable quantum computing systems. The Company designs and manufactures its chips in-house at Fab-1, the industry's first dedicated and integrated quantum device manufacturing facility. Learn more at Rigetti Computing Media Contactpress@ Cautionary Language and Forward-Looking StatementsCertain statements in this communication may be considered 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including but not limited to, expectations with respect to the Company's business and operations, including its expectations related to the Air Force Office of Scientific Research award and work with Iowa State University, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, the University of Connecticut, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to develop a detailed understanding of how Alternating-Bias Assisted Annealing (ABAA) impacts the chip on a microscopic level, unlocking ABAA's full potential, and expectations that deepening knowledge of superconducting qubit defects improves Rigetti's position to scale systems with improved performance. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events and can be identified by terminology such as 'commit,' 'may,' 'should,' 'could,' 'might,' 'plan,' 'possible,' 'intend,' 'strive,' 'expect,' 'intend,' 'will,' 'estimate,' 'believe,' 'predict,' 'potential,' 'pursue,' 'aim,' 'goal,' 'outlook,' 'anticipate,' 'assume,' or 'continue,' or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Rigetti and its management, are inherently uncertain. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to: Rigetti's ability to achieve milestones, technological advancements, including with respect to its roadmap, help unlock quantum computing, and develop practical applications; the ability of Rigetti to complete ongoing negotiations with government contractors successfully and in a timely manner; the potential of quantum computing; the ability of Rigetti to obtain government contracts and the availability of government funding; the ability of Rigetti to expand its QCS business; the success of Rigetti's partnerships and collaborations; Rigetti's ability to accelerate its development of multiple generations of quantum processors; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Rigetti or others; the ability to continue to meet stock exchange listing standards; costs related to operating as a public company; changes in applicable laws or regulations, including taxes and tariffs; the possibility that Rigetti may be adversely affected by other economic, business, or competitive factors; Rigetti's estimates of expenses and profitability; the evolution of the markets in which Rigetti competes; the ability of Rigetti to execute on its technology roadmap; the ability of Rigetti to implement its strategic initiatives, expansion plans and continue to innovate its existing services; disruptions in banking systems, increased costs, international trade relations, political turmoil, natural catastrophes, warfare, and terrorist attacks; and other risks and uncertainties set forth in the section entitled 'Risk Factors' and 'Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements' in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and other documents filed by the Company from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and the Company assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements other than as required by applicable law. The Company does not give any assurance that it will achieve its in to access your portfolio