Motion-triggered cameras showcase the prevalence of ‘nectar robbing’ in Hawaiian flowers
Some Hawaiian honeycreepers’ long curved bills are the perfect implement for drawing sweet nectar from deep within a lobelioid flower. As birds reach into flowers to access the nectar stored near the base, their bills can brush against the lobelioids‘ pollen-bearing structures, making hungry honeycreepers important pollinators. But some of these specialized honeycreepers have gone extinct. Shorter-billed species can now “rob” nectar — without contacting the flower’s pollen-bearing structures — from the endangered flowers. A UW-led team used motion cameras to gauge how often nectar robbing occurs. The results, published Aug. 6 in Ecology and Evolution, reveal both nectar robbing and pollination visits, showcasing a broader pattern that the team previously identified by comparing bird bill length to flower length. Nectar robbing can damage flowers and leave less nectar for other potential pollinators. The researchers 3D printed a bird bill to simulate nectar robbing and track changes in nectar availability and the plants’ ability to reproduce. Damaged flowers often struggled to replenish their nectar stores, but were still able to produce fruit and viable seeds. These studies are part of a larger project that aims to catalog Hawaiian bird-plant interactions through time, specifically tracking how these interactions are reshaped by extinction.
For more information, contact lead author Samuel Case, a UW research scientist in the biology department, at sam.case24@gmail.com.
The other UW co-authors are Kevin Epperly, Christopher Steinbronn and Alejandro Rico-Guevara. A full list of co-authors and funding is included in the paper.
People with anxious attachment styles are more likely get emotionally involved with ChatGPT
Attachment theory rose to popularity in the late 20th Century as a way to categorize how people bond with others. Someone with an anxious attachment style, for instance, fears abandonment and rejection, whereas someone with an avoidant attachment style is independent at the cost of personal closeness. In a recent study presented at ACM FAccT, UW researchers explored how peoples’ attachment styles affect their interactions with ChatGPT. The team analyzed the chat histories of 105 young adults, each of whom completed an attachment-style survey. Researchers found that they could automatically detect peoples’ attachment styles based on their interactions with the chatbot. People with an anxious attachment style were more likely to be emotionally involved with the AI system, writing things like “Can you please love me?” and “I miss my ex and I can’t sleep because of it.” Anxious users were also more prone to trust ChatGPT and to follow its recommendations. The team argues that this highlights the need for policies that prohibit companies from psychologically profiling users without their consent, since it leaves them vulnerable to manipulation.
For more information, contact senior author Alexis Hiniker, a UW associate professor in the Information School, at alexisr@uw.edu or lead author Marx Wang, a doctoral student in the Information School, at marxwang@uw.edu.
The other UW co-authors are Jade Xiaoy Li, Songling Ngo, and Katie Davis.
Nursing is a major energy suck, but it’s difficult to estimate the toll for many marine mammals
Marine mammals lactate like any other mammal, but the energetic demands are difficult to measure in wild animals and thus not well understood. Researchers are concerned that some marine mammals may not be getting enough food, which can lead to failure to reproduce and starvation. To understand the link between nutritional status and reproduction, researchers need to know what marine mammals require to rear offspring. A UW study recently published in PLOS One modeled the daily costs of lactation using data from semi-aquatic and terrestrial mammals to explore whether results could be generalized to other species, like whales and dolphins. Modeling could approximate lactation costs of certain understudied marine mammals, including seals and sea lions, but appeared unable to produce accurate estimates for whales and dolphins. Lactation costs increase over time for most animals, but seem to be higher early in lactation for marine mammals, possibly due to their fully aquatic lifestyle. The study highlights a need for other methods to fill the remaining data gap to better understand the impacts of environmental change on marine mammals.
For more information, contact lead author Elizabeth McHuron, a research scientist in the UW Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, & Ecosystem Studies, at emchuron@uw.edu. Funding information is included in the paper.
Simulations suggest that lasers could ‘calm’ persnickety plasma
Nuclear fusion could supply humanity with staggering amounts of clean, renewable energy — provided that scientists and engineers can work out how to create sustained fusion reactions safely, efficiently and affordably. The trick is in the taming of plasma, a superhot state of matter made of free-floating electrons and atomic nuclei. When compressed to outlandish pressures and temperatures in a reactor, the nuclei fuse with one another, releasing energy. In that extreme environment, plasma forms instabilities that can derail a fusion reaction; much fusion research is focused on “calming” volatile plasma. In a recent study published in Physics of Plasmas, UW researchers and other collaborators simulated a novel strategy to control instabilities using two opposing laser beams. By tuning the lasers’ properties — such as their frequency and polarity — the researchers prevented instabilities from growing and cascading. Surprisingly, the lasers also delayed other instabilities within the plasma, even though they were not directly targeted by the laser fields. By taking advantage of interactions within the plasma, the researchers found a way to calm instabilities indirectly. The results could help experts develop algorithms that stabilize plasma in real time, sustaining fusion conditions long enough to produce useful energy.
For more information, contact Uri Shumlak, UW professor of aeronautics and astronautics at shumlak@uw.edu.
A full list of co-authors and funding is included in the paper.
When exposed to air, new nanomaterial becomes magnetic at high temperatures
While fridge magnets are great for saving favorite recipes, modern magnetic materials are useful for improving fiber optics or quantum information sciences technology. If you zoomed in on most fridge magnets, you’d see the atoms arranged in a repeated lattice structure called a “spinel.” These structures are made up of three types of atoms, generically referred to as atoms “A,” “B” and “X.” In a paper published Aug. 14 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, UW researchers describe two new spinels made of silver, chromium and selenium ions. These are among the first spinels to include a silver ion in the “A” slot, the slot that determines the “vibe” of the spinel, or how it will react to various stimuli, such as light, heat or air. When exposed to air, the original spinel loses silver ions and transforms into the second spinel. The second spinel maintains its magnetic properties up to 400 Kelvin, or 260 degrees Fahrenheit; the original loses its magnetism at 152 K, or -185 F. This is the largest change ever documented in what is known as the Curie temperature, or the highest temperature at which a material is still magnetic. The researchers plan to continue to explore these two materials and what they can teach us about the fundamentals of magnetism.
For more information, contact lead author Ezra Bacon-Gershman, UW doctoral student in chemistry, at ekbacong@uw.edu.
The other UW co-authors are Charlize Agag, Abdul Moeez, Guodong Ren, Sonder Wilson, Yinuo Xu, Daniel Gamelin, Lilo Pozzo, Juan Carlos Idrobo and Brandi Cossairt. A full list of co-authors and funding is included in the paper.