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Euronews
23-04-2025
- Health
- Euronews
People tend to get lonelier as they age, but it's worse for seniors in these European countries
ADVERTISEMENT Europeans can expect to get lonelier as they age – but Americans could face their biggest social lull in midlife, new research suggests. Loneliness has emerged as a major public health issue that raises the risk of everything from depression and type 2 diabetes to dementia and stroke. But it's often thought of as a problem afflicting the very young and the very old, with the middle-aged population sometimes overlooked. For the new study, researchers measured the loneliness levels of more than 64,000 people aged 50 to 90 in 29 countries, most of them in Europe. They used a loneliness scale that took into account how often people felt they lacked companionship, were left out, or socially isolated. Middle-aged and older adults were the loneliest in Cyprus and Greece, according to the study published in the journal Aging & Mental Health . They were the least lonely in Denmark, Switzerland, and Austria. Related Scientists find lifestyle and living conditions have greater impact on healthy ageing than genes Across countries, people tended to get lonelier as they aged – but just how much lonelier depended on where they lived, with those in Bulgaria and Latvia seeing the biggest increases with age. At all ages, loneliness was linked to not working and being unmarried, depressed, or in poor health, but how important these factors were depended on the country and age group. In the United States, for example, being out of work was closely tied to loneliness in midlife. It was the only country where middle-aged people felt more lonely than older generations. (The same trend emerged in the Netherlands, but the report noted data limitations that make that association less certain.) 'A signal to seek more connections' The differences between countries and age groups suggest that loneliness isn't just a natural consequence of ageing – it's likely tied to broader social factors such as work and caregiving demands, the researchers said. Related Thinking of retiring abroad? You might be lonelier than if you stayed home, new study suggests 'Our findings show that loneliness is not just a late-life issue,' Esteban Calvo, a dean at the Universidad Mayor in Chile and the study's senior author, said in a statement. 'A one-size-fits-all approach will not solve this worldwide problem,' Calvo added. The report has a few limitations, notably that data were collected before the COVID-19 pandemic and that response rates were low in some countries, meaning the findings may not be fully representative. It also did not suss out the factors it says are linked to loneliness. A single person could be divorced, widowed, or never married, for example, while an out-of-work person could either be unemployed or retired – and these distinctions could make a big difference. Related Using smartphones may protect older adults against cognitive problems like dementia as they age 'Some things that are not necessarily that actionable. … Everyone eventually loses a partner,' Caterina Mauri, a senior researcher at the Brussels Institute for Social and Population Studies at the Free University of Brussels (VUB), told Euronews Health. But given the links between loneliness, health outcomes, and quality of life, it's a topic she believes deserves more attention – for people of all ages. 'Loneliness is something that is part of our lives, but it becomes problematic when it's chronic, when it leads to depression,' said Mauri, who was not involved with the new study. ADVERTISEMENT Loneliness 'is a bit like hunger,' she said, serving as a 'signal to seek more connections'.
BBC News
20-02-2025
- Science
- BBC News
How can fog harvesting help some of the world's driest regions?
Some parts of the world experience incredibly hot and dry conditions with very little rain. One of those places is Atacama Desert in Chile, one of the driest places in the world with less than 1 millimetres of rainfall a year. Local researchers in Chile have been looking into a practice called fog hope is that it will help provide local people with much needed water for drinking and growing crops. What is fog harvesting? Fog harvesting isn't a new idea, and the methods used to collect water from fog are pretty simple. A fog is a cloud of water vapour, that is close to the collect fog water, a wire is woven together to make a mesh which is then hung between two poles. Droplets form on the mesh, which are collected and harvesting has been used on a smaller scale for many years, mainly in parts of South and Central America where the right foggy conditions exist. Researchers in Chile believe fog harvesting on a bigger scale could provide a more reliable water supply in areas that need it most. What were the findings from the study? The researchers carried out a year-long field study in a Chilean city called Alto Hospicio in the Atacama Desert. The city has grown quickly, with about 10,000 people living there today. However, only a very small percentage have easy access to water in their homes. Most of the residents get the water they need from truck deliveries. The researchers found 17,000 square metres of mesh could produce enough water to meet the weekly water demand of 300,000 litres that is currently delivered by truck to the locals in the area. They also found that just110 square metres of mesh could water the city's green spaces for a year. Dr Virginia Carter Gamberini who is an assistant professor at Universidad Mayor and a co-author on the study said the collected water could be used for drinking and local food production. But the researchers say that large storage systems, good piping networks, and well thought out ways of distributing the water would be team who carried out the study also say fog harvesting should not be seen as the only solution to the lack of water in some regions, but as just one way to solve the problem. And fog harvesting only works if the conditions are just right. Things like "fog density", "wind patterns" and how much fog a region sees throughout the year will need to be considered. "By showcasing its potential in Alto Hospicio, one of Chile's most stigmatised yet rapidly urbanizing cities, this study lays the groundwork for broader adoption in other water-scarce urban areas," said Nathalie Verbrugghe who is a researcher at Université libre de Bruxelles and a co-author on the study.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
In the driest place on Earth, water hides in plain sight
The Atacama Desert in northern Chile sits in the rain shadow of the Andes Mountains. Though it borders the Pacific Ocean, a persistent cold flow known as the Humboldt Current keeps moisture levels in the air relatively low. Clouds form, but quickly dissipate. As a result, rain comes rarely and in small amounts– a few millimeters per year, on average in some parts. In other parts, decades-old weather stations have never recorded any precipitation. Outside of a handful of valleys in Antarctica, the Atacama is the driest place on Earth. The inhospitable landscape of sand, bare rock, and salt flats is so extreme and otherworldly that it's used as a proxy for Mars by researchers. Yet still, people live there–mostly in a smattering of coastal cities and towns. Iquique, the oceanside regional capital, is home to more than 230,000 people. Just inland and upslope from Iquique is the fast-growing municipality of Alto Hospicio, which has ballooned to more than 140,000 people (up from fewer than 100,000 in 2012) amid a lithium mining boom. Fresh water comes from an underground aquifer, which hasn't been meaningfully refreshed by rainfall for nearly 10,000 years. As more people rely on the aquifer, it's drying up. Eventually, there will be nothing left. Desalination plants, which remove salt from ocean water, can fill some of the need, but they are expensive and energy intensive to run, especially for low-income cities like Alto Hospicio. Most desalination plants in the region service mining operations, not people. An alternative, as-of-yet untapped, and inexpensive water source could help resolve the burgeoning water crisis. And it's water that's been hiding in plain view. Fog harvesting is a sustainable, simple method for collecting moisture from low-lying clouds. It's long been used in rural areas around the world to support isolated villages of a few hundred people. But a new study suggests it could work on a much grander scale. An analysis published February 20 in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science suggests fog harvesting could meet the needs of Alto Hospicio's informal settlements, providing as much as 300,000 liters per week to 10,300 people, who mostly live disconnected from the formal water distribution system. Currently, they rely on the disappearing aquifer, but that water is delivered to them via trucks instead of pipes, upping the cost and reducing reliability and accessibility. For inhabitants of these settlements, the water supply is even shakier than for the rest of the city's residents, and thus fog offers an even bigger opportunity. Beyond drinking water, fog harvesting could also be used to irrigate green spaces in the region, or to fuel hydroponic agriculture–offering people a cheap source of locally grown, fresh food. On its own, 'this water is not going to save the city,' says Virginia Carter, lead study author, a geographer, and an assistant professor at the Universidad Mayor in Chile. But fog is a resource that might make a real difference, she says. 'It could contribute, and in many places it might be important,' Carter explains, especially as Alto Hospicio continues to grow and climate change makes the existing water supply even more tenuous. Fog harvesting relies on a low-tech set-up. Usually, a fine plastic mesh, like the type that might be used to shade heat-sensitive garden beds, is strung across two support poles a few feet in the air. A gutter beneath the mesh channels the moisture that condenses on the panel into a storage container, so it can be readily collected. The more panels and greater surface area of mesh used, the more water is harvested. Unlike the aquifer beneath the Atacama, fog water is a potentially renewable resource. Low clouds routinely get churned up from the Pacific and blow overland. Without the mesh, the moisture evaporates in the dry air as the temperature rises each day, but with it, the fog would be only temporarily waylaid– providing valuable fresh water to people, before it's treated and cycled back into the ocean. To demonstrate that fog harvesting would be worthwhile for Alto Hospicio and northern Chile more broadly, Carter and her co-authors combined a year of observational measurements with satellite imagery and mathematical modeling of the region's fog cycles. The researchers set up two one-square-meter 'standard fog collectors' at different altitudes, along with a weather station to keep tabs on air moisture, temperature, wind speed, and other variables. They also used remote sensing to map fine-grained altitude and fog density across the province. Finally, they synthesized this and other data from existing fog collector projects into a mathematical model intended to estimate how much fog could be harvested at different times. They found that the fog is highly seasonal, appearing from May through October (the Southern Hemisphere's winter into spring). It peaks in June during the night and early morning, and all but disappears in the warmer months and by midday. In the zones immediately around Alto Hospicio, fog collectors would yield an estimated average of 2.5 liters of water per square meter of mesh during the fog season, according to the study. At this rate, it would take 17,000 square meters of collectors (just over three football fields' worth) to yield 300,000 liters a week–the same volume of water currently delivered via truck to Alto Hospicio's informal settlements each week. However, Carter notes this is a conservative estimate, as certain areas to the north of the city have much more fog potential than the average, producing more than 5 liters per meter of mesh per day. If fog collectors were placed strategically, then just 200-300 fog collectors (each encompassing about 20 square meters) could reliably provide hundreds of thousands of liters for at least half the year, she explains. Complementary storage tanks or ponds could stretch the fog water into a year-round resource. 'This is kind of a dream. To develop something like that for Alto Hospicio,' Carter says. If providing drinking water to 10,000+ people proves too big of an initial goal, smaller pilot projects might offer a proof of concept. Carter and her colleagues suggest fog harvesting could also be used to irrigate public parks or provide water to hydroponic farms, with less initial investment. Just 110 square meters of mesh would be needed to fulfill the city's green space needs. One square meter of fog collection could yield more than 15 kg of leafy greens each year. Before the dream becomes a reality though, further work is needed. The scientists would like to verify their model estimates with more on-the-ground measurements, to home in on the best locations for fog collectors. Carter says she also hopes to test the quality of the harvested water, and determine what type of treatment would be needed to make it safe for human consumption. Fog can carry exhaust particles, bacteria, and microplastics–like any other natural water source. Yet, even untreated, the water could still have applications in agriculture or mining. And already the research is advancing. Carter and her colleagues plan to release a publicly accessible, detailed map of fog for all of northern Chile later this year, based on their model. She hopes that local and national government officials take notice. 'This study is a very clear example of how scientific knowledge [can] contribute to public decision-making and policies,' she says. 'We have a problem: We have no water, and it's getting worse. But on the other hand, there's a solution. There's this water sitting and waiting. We just need a logical way to harvest it.'
