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Input:
Older workers most vulnerable to workplace deaths
 Older people are dying on the job at a higher rate than workers overall, even as the rate of workplace fatalities decreases, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal statistics.

It’s a trend that’s particularly alarming as baby boomers reject the traditional retirement age of 65 and keep working. The U.S. government estimates that by 2024, older workers will account for 25 percent of the labor market.

Getting old — and the physical changes associated with it — “could potentially make a workplace injury into a much more serious injury or a potentially fatal injury,” said Ken Scott, an epidemiologist with the Denver Public Health Department.

Gerontologists say those changes include gradually worsening vision and hearing impairment, reduced response time, balance issues and chronic medical or muscle or bone problems such as arthritis.

In 2015, 35 percent of fatal workplace accidents involved a worker 55 and older.

In 2015, about 35 percent of the fatal workplace accidents involved a worker 55 and older — or 1,681 of the 4,836 fatalities reported nationally.

William White, 56, was one of them. White fell 25 feet while working at Testa Produce Inc. on Chicago’s South Side. He later died of his injuries.

“I thought it wouldn’t happen to him,” his son, William White Jr., said in an interview. “Accidents happen. He just made the wrong move.”

The AP analysis showed that overall workplace fatality rate for all workers — and for those 55 and older — decreased by 22 percent between 2006 and 2015. But the rate of fatal accidents among older workers during that time period was 50 percent to 65 percent higher than for all workers, depending on the year.

The number of deaths among all workers dropped from 5,480 in 2005 to 4,836 in 2015. By contrast, on-the-job fatalities among older workers increased slightly, from 1,562 to 1,681, the analysis shows.

During that time period, the number of older people in the workplace increased by 37 percent. That compares with a 6 percent rise in the population of workers overall.

Ruth Finkelstein, co-director of Columbia University’s Aging Center, cautions against stereotyping. She said older people have a range of physical and mental abilities and that it’s dangerous to lump all people in an age group together because it could lead to discrimination.

“I’m just not positive that 55-70 year olds need so much more protection than workers 52-20, but are all those people needing protection now? Yes, absolutely. We are not paying enough attention to occupational safety in this country.”

How to Protect Older Workers from Injuries on the Job

The AP analysis is based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census for Fatal Occupational Injuries and from one-year estimates from the American Community Survey, which looks at the working population. It excludes cases where the cause of death was from a “natural cause,” including a heart attack, stroke among others.

AP also examined the number and types of accidents in which older workers died between 2011, when the bureau changed the way it categorized accidents, to 2015:

Fall-related fatalities rose 20 percent.

Contact with objects and equipment increased 17 percent.

Transportation accidents increased 15 percent.

Fires and explosions decreased by 8 percent.

“We expect that there will be more older workers increasing each year and they will represent a greater share (of the fatalities) over the last couple of decades,” said Scott, the Denver epidemiologist. “This issue of elevated risk is something we should be paying close attention to.”

An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found in 2013 that 44 percent of older Americans said their job required physical effort most or almost all of the time, and 36 percent said it was more difficult to complete the physical requirements of their jobs than it was when they were younger.

Testa Accident

William White Jr. said his father had been working in the same Chicago-based warehouse for over a decade and was a manager when he fell to his death on Sept. 24, 2015.

“My dad was the best at what he did. He’s the one who taught me everything I know,” the 26-year-old Chicago resident said. “He went up to get an item for the delivery driver and the next thing you know he made a wrong move and fell. The job is fast-pace and everybody is rushing.”

Thomas Stiede, principal officer for Teamsters Local 703, said White knew the safety procedures and can’t understand why White didn’t wear a safety harness. “He was a very conscientious employee,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion.

Testa Inc. was fined $12,600 by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to provide safety training. The company declined to comment for this story.

The same year White died, the fatal accident rate in Illinois for older workers was 4.5 per 100,000 workers, 60 percent higher than the comparable rate for all workers.

In most states, the fatal accident rates for older workers were consistently higher than comparable rates for all workers.

Nevada, New Jersey and Washington had the greatest percent increase in fatal accident rates for older workers between 2006 and 2015.

The three states with the biggest percent decrease were Hawaii, Oregon and Vermont.

Eight states saw their overall workplace fatality rate drop, even as the rate for older workers increased: Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New York, Texas, Utah and Washington.

In two states – North Dakota and Wisconsin – the trend was reversed; older worker accident rates got smaller while the accident rate overall increased.

Zooming in to metropolitan areas, Las Vegas ran counter to the national trend.

In 2006, the fatal accident rate among older workers in the Las Vegas metropolitan area was lower than the rate among all workers. But by 2015, the rate of deaths among older workers more than doubled even as the rate among all workers declined.

Transportation Incidents

Transportation accidents account for a large portion of fatal workplace incidents among both older workers and workers in general.

In one such incident, Ruan Qiang Hua, 58, died last Nov. 21 from injuries suffered in a forklift accident at Good View Roofing and Building Supply warehouse, according to the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration. After a bag or mortar fell from the pallet, Qiang backed up and rolled off a ramp. The forklift tipped over and Qian was crushed when he jumped off.

The agency fined the San Francisco-based company $62,320 for allegedly failing to ensure that forklift operators were competent and wore seat belts.

The company is appealing the penalties, according to OSHA.

Records show that Hua was not properly trained or certified as a forklift operator. Video of the incident showed he was not wearing his seatbelt. Other video from the worksite showed that other forklift operators also had not used their seat belts and that the employer failed to install a curb along the sides of the ramp to prevent the lifts from running off the ramp.

The company declined to comment for this story.

In California, the 2015 rate of fatal accidents was 3.4 per 100,000 workers for older workers, 60 percent higher than the rate for all workers.

The AP analysis showed that older workers were involved in about 1 in 4 fatal workplace accidents related to fires and explosions from 2011 to 2015.

In April 2014, Earle Robinson, 60, and other employees were doing maintenance work at Bryan Texas Utilities Power Plant, about 100 miles north of Houston, when there was a loud explosion. Workers called 911 and pleaded for help.

“He’s in bad shape. He’s got a lot of facial burns,” according to a transcript of the 911 calls. “He’s got some pretty bad burns.”

Robinson was taken to a hospital in Houston and died days later.

The company declined to comment for this story.

The year Robinson died, the fatality rate among older workers in Texas was 6.1 per 100,000 workers — 43 percent higher than the accident rate for all workers.

The National Center for Productive Aging and Work is pushing for changes in the workplace to make it safer for older workers.

“We advocate to make workplaces as age friendly as possible,” said co-director James Grosch.

For example, increased lighting helps older workers whose eyesight has weakened with age.

He said the center is emphasizing productive aging. “How people can be more productive,” he said. “How their wisdom can be leveraged in a workplace.”

The year-old center is part of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Maria Ines Zamudio is studying aging and workforce issues as part of a 10-month fellowship at The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which joins NORC’s independent research and AP journalism. The fellowship is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Related:

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Texas Commercial Lines Business Insurance

Output: Older workers are more likely to die on the job. Worsening vision and hearing, reduced response times, balance issues and chronic medical, muscle or bone problems make them more vulnerable to serious accidents, according to analysis of US statistics by the Associated Press. The data raises concerns as governments raise retirement ages around the world. Workers over 55 accounted for more than a third of fatal workplace accidents in 2015, and that figure may rise as estimates suggest older workers will make up a quarter of the workforce by 2024.


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Input:
Republicans in Congress Bypass Trump to Shore Up Health Law
 WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans moved on Tuesday to defuse President Trump’s threat to cut off critical payments to health insurance companies, maneuvering around the president toward bipartisan legislation to shore up insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act.

Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the influential chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, announced that his panel would begin work in early September on legislation to “stabilize and strengthen the individual health insurance market” for 2018. He publicly urged Mr. Trump to continue making payments to health insurance companies to reimburse them for reducing the out-of-pocket medical expenses of low-income people.

In the House, two Republicans, Representatives Tom Reed of New York and Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, teamed with Democrats to promote incremental health legislation that would also fund the cost-sharing subsidies.

The moves were a remarkable response to the president’s repeated threats to send health insurance markets into a tailspin. They offered tangible indications of cooperation between the parties after Republican efforts to scrap the Affordable Care Act collapsed in the Senate last week, all but ending the seven-year Republican quest to overturn President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement. Lawmakers from both parties concede that the health law needs improvement, as consumers face sharp premium increases and a shrinking number of insurance options in many states.

Output: Congressional Republicans moved on Tuesday to defuse President Trump’s threat to cut off critical payments to health insurance companies, maneuvering around the president toward bipartisan legislation to shore up insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act.


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Medicare payment program impacts costs, quality of care
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Medicare payment program impacts costs, quality of care

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Under the Medicare Physician Value-Based Payment Modifier Program – a mandatory pay-for-performance program for physician practices – practices that served socially high-risk patients saw lower costs and quality while practices that served medically high-risk patients saw increased costs and lower quality during the first year, according to data published in JAMA.

“Despite the growth of ambulatory pay-for-performance programs, there is concern about unintended consequences, like disproportionately penalizing practices that care for complex patients,” Lena M. Chen, MD, MS, from the division of general medicine in the department of internal medicine at the University of Michigan and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at HHS, and colleagues wrote. “There are no prior studies of the [Medicare Physician Value-Based Payment Modified] Program and little is known about performance patterns.”

In this cross-sectional observational study, researchers examined the association between performance and the social or medical risk of patients treated at physician practices during the first year of the mandatory Medicare Physician Value-Based Payment Modified (PVBM) Program. Exposures included high social risk, meaning the practices had a high proportion of patients eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, and high medical risk, meaning the practices had high mean Hierarchical Condition Category risk score among fee-for-service recipients.

The researchers measured quality and cost z scores using PVBM data from payments made in 2015 based on performance of large physician practices in the U.S. that care for fee-for-service Medicare patients in 2013. Higher z scores indicate better performance on quality while lower scores indicate better performance on costs.

Of 899 physician practices with more than 5 million Medicare beneficiaries, 547 practices were categorized as low social and medical risk, 128 as high medical risk, 102 as high social risk and 122 as both high social and medical risk. Analysis showed that low risk practices performed the best on the composite quality score (z score, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.09-0.28) compared with each of the high-risk practices (high social risk: –0.86 [95% CI, –1.17 to –0.54]; high medical risk: –0.55 [95% CI, –0.77 to –0.32]; high social and medical risk: –0.78 [95% CI, –1.04 to –0.51]; P < .001 across all groups).

Examination of the composite cost score showed that high social risk practices performed best ( –0.52; 95% CI, –0.71 to –0.33), while low risk had the next best cost score (–0.18; CI, –0.25 to –0.1), followed by high medical and social risk (0.4; CI, 0.23-0.57), and high medical risk only (0.82; 95% CI, 0.65-0.99) (P < .001 across all groups). Patterns of total per capita costs related to fewer bonuses and more penalties for high-risk practices. The total costs per capita were $9,506 for low risk practices, $13,683 for high medical risk, $8,214 for high social risk and $11,692 for high medical and social risk.

PAGE BREAK

“Better understanding of the disparities in ambulatory programs may become increasingly important under the [Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)], which is modeled after parts of the PVBM Program and replaces it,” Chen and colleagues wrote. “Findings from this study suggest that if current performance patterns persist, practices that serve a high proportion of socially or medically complex patients may fare poorly under the MIPS.” – by Savannah Demko

Disclosures: Chen reports receiving an honorarium from the NIH; grants from Blue Cross BlueShield of Michigan Foundation, the AHA, and the University of Michigan MCubed Program; being part of the Michigan Value Collaborative with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan; and serving as an advisor at the HHS. Please see the full study for a complete list of all other authors’ relevant disclosures.

Output: Under the Medicare Physician Value-Based Payment Modifier Program – a mandatory pay-for-performance program for physician practices – practices that served socially high-risk patients saw lower costs and quality while practices that served medically high-risk patients saw increased costs and lower quality during the first year, according to data published in JAMA.


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Many Still Sidestep End-Of-Life Care Planning, Study Finds
 Before being deployed overseas for the Iraq War in 2003, Army reservist Don Morrison filled out military forms that gave instructions about where to send his body and possessions if he were killed.

“I thought, wow, this is mortality right in your face,” Morrison, now 70, recalled.

With his attention keenly focused on how things might end badly, Morrison asked his lawyer to draw up an “advance directive” to describe what medical care he did and did not want if he were unable to make his own decisions.

One document, typically called a living will, spelled out Morrison’s preferences for life-sustaining medical treatment, such as ventilators and feeding tubes. The other, called a health care proxy or health care power of attorney, named a friend to make treatment decisions for him if he were to become incapacitated.

Not everyone is as motivated to tackle these issues. Even though advance directives have been promoted for nearly 50 years, only about a third of U.S. adults have them, according to a recent study.

Insuring Your Health KHN contributing columnist Michelle Andrews writes the series Insuring Your Health, which explores health care coverage and costs. To contact Michelle with a question or comment, click here. This KHN story can be republished for free (details).

People with chronic illnesses were only slightly more likely than healthy individuals to document their wishes.

For the analysis, published in the July issue of Health Affairs, researchers reviewed 150 studies published from 2011 to 2016 that reported on the proportion of adults who completed advance directives, focusing on living wills and health care power-of-attorney documents.

Of nearly 800,000 people on whom the studies reported, 36.7 percent completed some kind of advance directive. Of those, 29.3 percent completed living wills, 33.4 percent health care proxies and 32.2 percent were “undefined,” meaning the type of advance directive wasn’t specified or combined the two.

People older than 65 were significantly more likely to complete any type of advance directive than younger ones, 45.6 percent vs. 31.6 percent. But the difference between people who were healthy and those who were sick was much smaller, 32.7 percent compared with 38.2 percent.

The Medicare program began reimbursing physicians in January 2016 for counseling beneficiaries about advance-care planning.

This study doesn’t incorporate any data from those changes. Rather, it can serve as a benchmark to gauge improvement, said Dr. Katherine Courtright, an instructor of medicine in pulmonary and critical care at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the study’s senior author.

There are many reasons that people are reluctant to sign a living will. State forms vary, but they generally ask people to spell out what medical intervention they want under various circumstances.

“Many people don’t sign advance directives because they worry they’re not going to get any care if they say they don’t want [cardiopulmonary resuscitation],” said Courtright. “It becomes this very scary document that says, ‘Let me die.’”

Living wills also don’t account for the fact that people’s wishes may change over time, said Dr. Diane Meier, a geriatrician and the director of the New York-based Center to Advance Palliative Care.

“In some ways, the public’s lack of excitement about this is related to the reality that it’s very hard to make decisions about the kind of care you want in the future when you don’t know what that will be like,” Meier said.

Sometimes as patients age and develop medical problems they’re more willing to undergo treatments they might have rejected when they were younger and healthier, Meier said.

“People generally want to live as well as they can for as long as they can,” Meier said. If that means going on a ventilator for a few days in order to get over a bout of pneumonia, for example, many may want to do that.

But if their living will says they don’t want to be put on a ventilator, medical staff may feel bound to honor their wishes. Or not. Although living wills are legal documents, medical staff and family members or loved ones can reinterpret them.

“At the moment, I’m very healthy,” Morrison said. If he were to become ill or have a serious accident, he said, he’d want to weigh life-saving interventions against the quality of life he could expect afterward. “If it were an end-of-life scenario, I don’t want to resuscitated,” he said.

If someone’s wishes change, the documents can be changed. There’s no need to involve a lawyer in creating or revising advance directives, but they generally must be witnessed and may have to be notarized.

Although living wills can be tricky, experts have no reservations about recommending that people have a health care proxy. Some even suggest, for example, that naming someone for that role should be a routine task that’s part of applying for a driver’s license.

“Treatment directives of any kind all assume we can anticipate the future with accuracy,” said Meier. “I think that’s an illusion. What needs to happen is a recognition that decisions need to be made in real time and in context.”

That’s where the health care proxy comes in. Just naming someone isn’t enough, though. To be effective, people need to have conversations with their proxy and other loved ones to talk about their values and what matters to them at the end of life.

They may tell their health care proxy that they want to die at home, for example, or that being mobile or able to communicate with their family is very important, said Jon Radulovic, a vice president at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

Some may opt to forgo painful interventions to extend their lives in favor of care that keeps them comfortable and maintains the best quality of life for the time that remains.

“The most important thing is to have the conversation with the people that you love around the kitchen table and to have it early,” said Ellen Goodman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who founded The Conversation Project, which provides tools to help people have conversations about end-of-life issues.

Morrison said he’s talked with his health care proxy about his wishes. The conversation wasn’t difficult, he said. Rather than spell out precisely what he wants done under what circumstances, Morrison is leaving most of the decisions to his health care proxy, if he can’t make his own choices.

Morrison said he’s glad he’s put his wishes down on paper. “I think that’s very important to have,” he said. “It may not be a disease that I get, it may be a terrible accident. And that’s when [not knowing someone’s wishes] becomes a crisis.”

Please visit kffhealthnews.org/columnists to send comments or ideas for future topics for the Insuring Your Health column.

KHN’s coverage related to aging & improving care of older adults is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation.

KFF Health News' coverage of aging and long-term care issues is supported in part by The SCAN Foundation.

Output: Before being deployed overseas for the Iraq War in 2003, Army reservist Don Morrison filled out military forms that gave instructions about where to send his body and possessions if he were killed. “I thought, wow, this is mortality right in your face,” Morrison, now 70, recalled.


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Input:
Leafy Greens May Guard Against Brain Aging
 Eating a diet full of lutein-rich foods, such as kale and spinach, in middle age may guard against age-related cognitive impairment, new research suggests.

In a study of 60 adults aged 25 to 45 years, investigators assessed levels of lutein – a nutrient that accumulates in both brain and eye tissue – using macular pigment optical density (MPOD).

Results showed that higher vs lower levels of lutein were associated with significantly greater attentional inhibition.

In addition, neural responses in the older participants who had high lutein levels/MPOD scores were similar to those in the younger participants.

"This study reiterates the importance of a healthy diet across the life span," lead author Anne M. Walk, PhD, Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told Medscape Medical News.

"Previous research has shown that eating lutein-rich foods such as leafy green vegetables, eggs, and avocados has health benefits for individuals. Our work suggests that the benefits of a healthy diet may extend beyond physical health and improve cognitive processing as well," said Dr Walk.

She added that the nutrient also appears to play a protective role, because participants with greater lutein levels "were able to engage more cognitive resources to complete their tasks."

The findings were published online June 9 in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

Optimal Cognitive Processing

In previously published research, the investigators found that for children with higher levels of lutein and zeaxanthin, scores on tests of academic performance were higher than for their peers with lower levels of these retinal carotenoids.

In addition, Dr Walk noted that a lot of previous research has focused on the link between lutein intake and optimal cognitive processing in older adults.

"Although most people tend to think of aging as something that happens in older adulthood, there is some research that shows that cognitive decline can actually begin earlier in the life span," she said.

"We wanted to explore the possibility that lutein may be protective against cognitive aging not only in older adults or in those who may already be showing signs of decline but in middle age, closer to the time in life where decline may begin."

The researchers enrolled 60 participants aged 25 to 45 years (mean age, 33.8 years; 52% women) and who lived in a single region of Illinois. A macular densitometer was used to measure MPOD.

A randomized, two-stimulus "oddball" task measured selective attention; the Eriksen flanker test measured attentional inhibition; and the go/no-go task measured response inhibition.

A Neuroscan Quik-cap was used to record EEG activity during the tasks in order to provide event-related potential (ERP) analysis. "The ERP variables of interest for all tasks were the peak amplitude and peak latency at the PZ electrode, where P3 is maximal in typical healthy adults," the investigators note.

Younger Brains

On the oddball task, age was inversely associated with accuracy of response to frequent/standard stimuli, meaning scores were higher for those who were younger (P = .04). MPOD was associated with increased reaction time (P = .004) and "inverse efficiency to target stimuli" (P = .047).

The latter finding suggests that the participants with high MPOD scores "likely adopted a response set strategy in which they responded more slowly" than those with lower MPOD scores, note the investigators.

On the other hand, flanker test results showed that the participants with higher MPOD scores were significantly more likely to efficiently process information on incongruent trials than those with lower scores (P < .02), suggesting that this effect may depend on tasks with high attentional-inhibition demands.

ERP data showed that for those whose MPOD values were higher, amplitudes during incongruent flanker trials were larger (P = .045).

In addition, "the neuro-electrical signature of older participants with higher levels of lutein looked much more like their younger counterparts than their peers with less lutein," said Dr Walk in a release.

Several performance indexes showed that age itself was linked to less efficient cognitive processing. However, hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that when MPOD was added as a model variable, neither age nor MPOD significantly predicted peak amplitude, "suggesting that the relationship between age and PZ peak amplitude is at least partially accounted for by MPOD," the researchers note.

There were no significant associations between the factors and go/no-go response-inhibition results.

Selective Benefits

Overall, "the benefits of greater retinal carotenoids appeared to be selective for intraindividual variability and attentional resource allocation during the flanker task, rather than in the oddball or the go-nogo tasks," write the investigators.

"Since previous research has established an association between lutein found in the eye and cognitive abilities in older adults, it is not entirely surprising to see a similar effect in middle-aged adults," Dr Walk said.

"However, it is important to establish this link in middle-aged and younger adults so that we can get closer to discovering optimal recommendations for lutein intake across the life span."

Dr Walk added that taken together, old research, this study, and the investigators' previous study on lutein and school performance show that carotenoids seem to be beneficial in all age groups.

"While the extent of the effects of lutein for people in various developmental stages needs to be established in further research, our studies suggest that it is important for both children and adults if they want to maintain optimal cognitive processing abilities."

Coinvestigator Naiman A. Khan, PhD, professor of kinesiology and community health, who is also at the University of Illinois, reported in the release that the investigators are now working on intervention trials.

Although this study focused on attention, "we also would like to understand the effects of lutein on learning and memory. There's a lot we are very curious about," said Dr Khan.

"Compelling Data"

Commenting on the findings for Medscape Medical News, Elizabeth Johnson, PhD, Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, noted thatwhile research on a link between lutein and cognitive function "is relatively new," it was first described in 2008.

Dr Elizabeth Johnson

"It's only been about a decade, but since then the data are accumulating and fairly consistent. And what I like is that different laboratories are finding the same thing using different methods, different populations, and different age groups," said Dr Johnson.

Although the current study used cross-sectional data to suggest an association, "the interventional trials with lutein have happened," she said.

"So I believe there's a lot of compelling data telling us that lutein is important for cognitive function. And certainly the clinical data, the epidemiology, and the observational data all point to the same thing: that it's important through the life span."

Dr Johnson and colleagues have previously measured carotenoid levels in infants who died. She noted that their findings suggest lutein might also be important in neurodevelopment.

They are now working on mechanistic studies of lutein in the brain and hope to present their results soon.

When asked if she was at all bothered by the fact that the current study was funded in part by an avocado organization, Dr Johnson said no. "I think these boards should know more about their product and if there are risks or benefits to it. They should be interested in the science behind components that are contained in their product."

However, she added that "it would have been nice" if the investigators had assessed the participants' specific diet intake.

The study was funded by the University of Illinois and by the Hass Avocado Board. Dr Walk and the other study authors have reported no relevant financial relationships. Dr Johnson reported that she "does lutein research on cognitive function" and receives funding from the Center for Nutrition Learning and Memory. She has also in the past coauthored articles with some of the investigators on the current study.

Front Aging Neurosci. Published online June 9, 2017. Full article

Follow Deborah Brauser on Twitter: @MedscapeDeb . For more Medscape Psychiatry news, join us on Facebook and Twitter .

Output: Eating a diet full of lutein-rich foods, such as kale and spinach, in middle age may guard against age-related cognitive impairment, new research suggests. In a study of 60 adults aged 25 to 65 years, investigators assessed levels of lutein – a nutrient that accumulates in both brain and eye tissue – using macular pigment optical density (MPOD).


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Markerstudy launches classic car, motorhome insurance
 New offering to cover prestige motor vehicles including classic cars and motorhomes.

Markerstudy is set to launch a new scheme, aimed at mid to high net worth clients, on individual executive and prestige motor vehicles.

The business stated that the offering, available from 1 August, will cover multi-vehicle family fleets and include classic cars, motorhomes and horse boxes.

Markerstudy detailed that the product, Solar Distinction, will be exclusively underwritten through the referral team at Markerstudy and will include an enhanced policy wording, “experienced and dedicated”

Output: An insurance product giving protection to classic cars, high-end family fleets, horse boxes and motorhomes has been launched by Markerstudy. Solar Distinction will include enhanced policy wording, an “experienced and dedicated” VIP claims service and UK and EU breakdown recovery. The product is aimed at mid and high-net-worth individuals and will be underwritten through the referral team at Markerstudy.


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Input:
Californians heed quake coverage call as another 'big one' looms
 The California Earthquake Authority (CEA), the not-for-profit, privately funded, publicly managed insurer, said that uptake of its earthquake insurance policies has increased, continuing a trend that began in 2016. Additionally, the CEA noted that its use of catastrophe bonds represents “a key innovation in growing its claim-paying funds.”

The CEA closed out the second quarter of 2017 with over 950,000 earthquake insurance policies in force, having seen growth of 52,000 policies in force in 2016, which is significantly higher than the ten-year average of 7,200 annual policy purchases.

Interest in California earthquake insurance remains strong in 2017 and uptake is well above the average again, with 18,804 more policies purchased in the first six months of the year, taking the CEA’s total policies in force to 950,393 at the end of June 2017.

California has always had particularly low uptake of earthquake insurance coverage, with mortgage lending banks not forcing their customers to buy protection. In the past the uptake of quake insurance in the state by homeowners has been as low as 10%, but the work of the CEA is helping to increase that figure, along with a general increase in awareness of the risk.

“Californians are listening to what the scientific community is telling us—that we are overdue for a large earthquake, and we need to be ready when it strikes,” commented CEA CEO Glenn Pomeroy. “More Californians are insuring their homes so they can recover financially following a large and damaging earthquake, which scientists say is not a matter of if, but when.”

Helping the CEA to offer insurance more affordably and providing the risk transfer should a major event occur, the reinsurance and catastrophe bond market play a vital role in ensuring the CEA has the claims paying ability to back-up its near 1 million policies.

The CEA’s claim-paying capacity now exceeds $15 billion, which the insurer says is sufficient to pay covered losses if a major earthquake, like the 1906 San Francisco, 1989 Loma Prieta or 1994 Northridge earthquake, were to strike California today.

Of the $15 billion, $7.42 billion is sourced from the reinsurance and capital markets, with $2.07 billion of that secured through the transformer or catastrophe bond deals that remain in-force.

The CEA secured $925 million of reinsurance protection through its May sponsorship of the Ursa Re Ltd. (Series 2017-1) cat bonds, while another $500 million was secured in November 2016’s Ursa Re Ltd. (Series 2016-1) transaction.

“We rely on the best available science to ensure we’re on solid ground financially,” Pomeroy said. “And through smart, innovative financing, our claim-paying funds continue to grow as CEA covers more and more residences in California.”

More of the $7.42 billion of coverage has been secured from the capital markets, with collateralized reinsurance provided by ILS funds also participating in the CEA’s program.

The CEA explains the catastrophe bond programs as “a key innovation in growing its claim-paying funds,” with the capital markets and ILS investors now contributing a significant proportion of its reinsurance and a growing share of its overall claims paying capacity.

With the catastrophe bond market keen to assume more California earthquake risk, at the moment pure U.S. quake risks make up only 12.8% of the outstanding cat bond market.

That suggests the cat bond market would keenly soak up further issues from the CEA and we are likely to see the insurer back in the cat bond market in the next few months, as long as pricing remains attractive.

Output: Californians are taking out earthquake insurance on their homes as experts warn that the state is overdue a large seismic shock. The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) said 52,000 policies were bought in 2016, compared to the annual average of 7,200, lifting the number of active policies to 950,000. Another 18,804 have been taken out this year alone, despite the fact that mortgage lenders don't require buyers to have coverage. The CEA's claims capacity has reached $15bn, helped by the use of catastrophe bonds to transfer risk to the capital markets.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Concrete absorbs sulphur dioxide like a sponge
 This electron microscopy image of concrete includes a model of sulfur dioxide interactions with concrete surface – represented by the colored spheres. Credit: Marija Illoska

New research reveals that sulfur dioxide, a major contributor to air pollution, is removed from the air by concrete surfaces. Stony Brook University researcher Alex Orlov, PhD, and colleagues discovered how concrete interacts and eliminates sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Their findings, published in the July edition of the Journal of Chemical Engineering, could be a significant step toward the practice of using waste concrete to minimize air pollution.

According to the World Health Organization, as many as seven million premature deaths of people worldwide may be linked to poor air quality and pollution. Sulfur dioxide emissions are among the most common pollutants into the air globally, with power plants emitting the most sulfur dioxide. Cement kilns also produce approximately 20 percent of all sulfur dioxide industrial emissions.

"Even though producing concrete causes air pollution, concrete buildings in urban areas can serve as a kind of sponge adsorbing sulfur dioxide to a high level," explained Dr. Orlov, Associate Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and a faculty member of the Consortium for Inter-Disciplinary Environmental Research at Stony Brook University. "Our findings open up the possibility that waste concrete coming from building demolitions can be used to adsorb these pollutants."

He added that concrete remains the most widely used material in the world and is inexpensive. Because of this, Dr. Orlov emphasized that "the strategy of using pollution causing material and turning it into an environmental solution could lead to new thinking in urban design and waste management."

Dr. Orlov cautioned that the capacity for concrete to adsorb pollutants diminishes over time as the material ages. Crushing concrete, however, can expose new surfaces and restore its pollution removing properties.

The researchers used various cement and cement-based building materials to conduct their experiments, details of which are in the paper, titled "Reactions of SO2 on hydrated cement particle system for atmospheric pollution reduction: A DRIFTS and XANES study." They employed Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and X-ray absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy (XANES) to identify the levels of sulfur dioxide adsorption on the materials.

Experiments were conducted at Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory's National Synchrotron Light Source and Center for Functional Nanomaterials, and the National University of Singapore.

More information: Girish Ramakrishnan et al. Reactions of SO 2 on hydrated cement particle system for atmospheric pollution reduction: A DRIFTS and XANES study, Chemical Engineering Journal (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2017.02.135

Output: Research from Stony Brook University suggests that concrete acts like a sponge, removing sulphur dioxide from the atmosphere. Sulphur dioxide emissions play a significant role in air pollution, with roughly 20% of the world's sulphur dioxide emissions coming from cement kilns. Dr. Alex Orlov, a researcher at Stony Brook, suggested using concrete waste from large-scale demolitions to reduce the sulphur dioxide levels in the air.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
LUX Assure’s OMMICA offers methanol and MEG analysis onsite
 With a number of deals in this resource class already approved in 2017, including BP’s Mad Dog 2 in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and Statoil and Total’s recent deals in Brazil, deepwater projects look set to feature large in boardroom investment decisions over the next few years.

At a recent floater conference in Norway oil and gas consulting services and business intelligence firm Rystad Energy suggested structural cost-cutting in the deepwater market was set to make offshore projects competitive with U.S. shale.

The firm said cost reductions and refinements in deepwater developments offshore have brought breakeven prices down to between $56 and $58 per barrel in Europe and the Americas. According to Rystad partner Lars Eirik Nicolaisen, a continuation of the reduction in shale’s breakeven operating costs of more than 50% over the past two years was “unsustainable”— with costs set to rise as the industry recovers.

So it seems inevitable that operators will increasingly look to target resources from deeper, more remote offshore plays characterized by their complexity, higher risk and often challenging reservoir fluids.

High-risk finds

Developing deepwater fields is a costly and complex process. Taking into account transportation, manpower, qualifications and infrastructure costs, capex has historically been much higher than onshore developments.

At the site itself appraising and producing new hydrocarbon reserves means contending with increasingly harsh downhole conditions. Designing and operating equipment that can withstand these hostile environments is difficult. In deepwater plays where operators are dealing with colder temperatures, higher pressures and longer tiebacks, specific flow assurance challenges that negatively impact production are particularly pronounced.

Presenting a high risk to production, gas hydrates are ice-like structures comprising water and gas. In a relatively short period of time, hydrates can plug up lines and disrupt production, causing a potentially hazardous pressure buildup. They are particularly problematic in deepwater regions where pressure gradients and low fluid temperatures promote formation. They also are a major issue in remote frontier developments where pipelines are routed along the seabed over long distances. Yet the temperature does not have to be below freezing for hydrates to occur. They have been found offshore Western Australian and in the Arabian Gulf. And remediating hydrate formation when it occurs is even more problematic considering deepwater wellbores and flowlines are harder and more expensive to access.

A common approach to suppress hydrate growth is to inject thermodynamic inhibitors such as methanol or monoethylene glycol (MEG). Methanol is batch-dosed, while MEG is usually injected continually into pipeline fluids.

Timely, accurate analysis of the concentration of these inhibitors is essential, particularly for remote deepwater developments where the infrastructure is large and complex and even the smallest issues, if not addressed, can have devastating consequences.

The benefits of being able to analyze concentrations quicker onsite include avoiding costly chemical wastage and optimizing startup procedures by monitoring methanol transition times from tiebacks, while MEG gives visibility of whether reclamation and regeneration units are performing as they should.

Gas chromatography equipment—traditionally used for testing—often is not available onsite. This means samples must be flown long distances for testing and analysis onshore, an expensive option where results are not available for days or even weeks.

The presence of methanol and MEG reduces the quality and value of produced fluids and can cause problems further downstream during processing and refining. Separation difficulties and the poisoning of catalysts and molecular sieve beds are just a few.

To protect from lost time and income due to damages, refineries and terminals often impose limits on the acceptable level of hydrate inhibitor.

LUX Assure’s OMMICA is designed to provide fast, precise methanol and MEG analysis onsite, regardless of geography and complexity. As a cost-effective capex alternative that offers results as accurate as gas chromatography in as little as an hour, OMMICA is a low-risk, simple colorimetric onsite chemical testing kit. The technology often is used to complement gas chromatography which, as a traditional technique, has its drawbacks, including maintenance issues, especially when these sensitive instruments are used offshore. In contrast, OMMICA, which analyzes residual methanol or MEG concentrations in produced water, crude oil and condensate, has many advantages over gas chromatography.

In deepwater or remote regions the technology saves operators significant time and money by replacing expensive sample testing as well as consequential lengthy turnaround times, with onsite capability to make near real-time decisions.

The technology also provides simple setup and user independence. It has the potential to deliver a transformative effect on the economics of deepwater fields.

The efficacy of the portable technology proven at Statoil’s Mongstad refinery is often used to correlate gas chromatography results elsewhere. It works by using reagents that only react with the chemical it is designed to assess and is added directly to samples without the need for a manual water separation step.

Output: LUX Assure is offering offshore oil rigs OMMICA, a chemical testing kit designed to solve the major issue of gas hydrate growth. Gas hydrates are ice-like structures that plug up lines and disrupt production. The common approach to tackling them is injecting thermodynamic inhibitors such as methanol into pipeline fluids. Having the capacity to analyse the concentration of these inhibitors is rare on-board offshore facilities, and samples must be flown for testing and analysing onshore. OMMICA offers precise methanol and MEG analysis for users on site, in just an hour.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Facebook Messenger chatbots help businesses increase sales
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“People prefer to use Messenger to interact with companies,” Facebook VP of messaging products David Marcus said during his keynote at this year’s F8 conference. With over 65 million businesses active on Facebook, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. An estimated 80 percent of these companies use messaging to reach Facebook Messenger’s 1.2 billion monthly active users. When Messenger opened its doors to developers in April 2016, 78 percent of adults were still unaware that chatbots even existed. After a year of growing pains for chatbots, though, new features for Facebook Messenger 2.0 were announced in April. These new elements were designed specifically to scale up the business-and-bot side of its service.

During this year’s F8 conference, Marcus noted the company is working on convincing consumers to open Messenger rather than pick up the phone or send an email. Facebook’s Messenger Platform 2.0 is making this possible with recently added features designed specifically for business. Features like the Discover Tab, Chat Extensions, Smart Replies, and M Suggestions are all designed to help companies gain visibility and reach a larger audience.

“Messaging with businesses is on the rise, with over 2 billion messages sent between people and businesses — including automated conversations — each month,” said Kemal El Moujahid, the product manager for Messenger. “Messenger offers businesses new ways to engage with their community and potential customers. Whether it’s raising awareness for a brand, enabling transactions, acquiring new customers, or delivering superior customer service, Messenger can be a core part of business solutions.”

The success of Facebook Messenger bots for businesses has become especially apparent to Bobby Mukherjee, the CEO of Loka. Since the launch of Facebook’s Messenger Platform 2.0, Loka has helped businesses create Facebook Messenger bots to increase sales and improve customer service.

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“Bots are clearly the next wave in customer focused innovation, taking over the mantle from mobile apps. It’s exciting to see a new wave cresting, and helping companies maximize the opportunity,” said Mukherjee.

Rise of bots, rise in sales

During his keynote, Marcus mentioned a number of companies that have seen an increase in sales, bookings, and productivity as a result of Facebook Messenger bots.

Sephora, for example, has seen an 11 percent increase in booking rates through the Sephora Reservation Assistant. Sephora’s goal was to encourage more clients to visit its stores by offering an easy way to book makeovers. There are five fewer steps involved for booking makeovers through Sephora’s Facebook Messenger bot than through its online app, enabling clients to schedule appointments in a matter of minutes.

In as few as three steps, Messenger’s conversational interface allows Sephora customers to initiate a conversation by typing the city in which they wish to book a makeover. The bot immediately shares a list of Sephora locations in that city. The user then selects a store, and the bot instantly displays available dates and times. Appointments are booked in a matter of minutes.

Sephora also reported that its Messenger bot has helped increase in-store sales. The retailer sees an average spend of over $50 from clients who have booked an in-store service via its Messenger assistant.

SnapTravel is another company that has found success with its Facebook Messenger bot. Since using Facebook Messenger, SnapTravel has seen $1 million in hotel bookings in less than a year.

Accessing SnapTravel through Facebook Messenger is easy because you don’t need to download an app. Users can directly message SnapTravel via Messenger to find a desirable hotel to book. All you have to do is send the bot a private message with your basic travel information, such as your destination, dates, and budget. The bot will then respond immediately with a number of options.

The hotel rates quoted by SnapTravel are similar to what you’ll find on any of the big metasearch sites, such as Kayak, Priceline, or Expedia. This is because SnapTravel is connected to dozens of online travel agents and can find the best possible price currently available on the market. When it quotes a rate, it will also show you the best available rate on Hotels.com for comparison.

Tommy Hilfiger is yet another company finding success with its Facebook Messenger bot. The fashion empire developed an experience where they used a bot for Messenger to help people buy fashion directly from the runway during Fashion Week in NYC. There was an 87 percent return rate for people coming back again to use the Messenger experience, with over 60,000 messages being exchanged. The company noted that 3.5 times more was spent through Messenger than any other digital channels.

New features, new value

Yet Facebook Messenger bots for businesses have only recently been gaining traction. It has only been since the launch of Facebook Messenger 2.0 that organizations are finding real value in Messenger bots.

For instance, since the implementation of new features like the Discover Tab, businesses are able to have more visibility and combine automated and human chat experiences in a single stream.

“The new capabilities of Facebook Messenger 2.0 greatly increased the customer user experience potential. Companies that can launch a Facebook Messenger bot on the new platform are poised to lock in a first mover advantage,” said Mukherjee.

There are now 100,000 bot developers who have built 100,000 active bots on the Messenger Platform. That’s up 233 percent from the 30,000 bots on Messenger six months after the feature’s launch in April last year. And as more bots continue to be developed, more businesses are sure to see an increase in sales and productivity.

With 1.2 billion active monthly users on Facebook Messenger, it’s easy to see the value businesses can gain by having a Messenger bot. Brands are now capable of reaching the entire Facebook world.

Rachel Wolfson is a content marketing consultant, tech blogger, and fitness buff.

Output: Businesses are starting to feel the impact of Facebook's Messenger bots, which can streamline processes, improve customer service and increase sales, according to the social media giant's VP of messaging products, David Marcus. Firms including Tommy Hilfiger, Sephora and SnapTravel have all improved sales results since using the bots, while adoption has taken off since the launch of Messenger 2.0. "Companies that can launch a Facebook Messenger bot on the new platform are poised to lock in a first-mover advantage," said Bobby Mukherjee, the CEO of bot-creating firm Loka.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Indian retirement fund given green light to sink $3.5bn into ETFs
 NEW DELHI: Retirement fund body the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation plans to pump in Rs 22,500 crore in exchange traded funds in 2017-18 following the go-ahead from the central board of trustees of EPFO to increase the equity investment from 10% to 15%.“The investment limit in ETFs has been recommended to be raised from 10% to 15% by the Central Board of Trustees, Employees Provident Fund in its 218th meeting held in May. Accordingly the estimated investment in ETF for the current financial year is approximately Rs 22,500 crore,” labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.According to the minister, the EPFO has invested Rs 6577 crore in ETFs in 2015-16 and Rs 14984 crore in 2016-17. According to EPFO, the cumulative return on investment has been over 13% since it started investing in ETFs in August 2015 with initial investment of 5% of its investible deposits of around Rs one lakh crore.In 2016-17, the proportion of these investments was raised to 10% which would further be raised to 15% for the current fiscal.

Output: Indian retirement fund the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been granted approval by its central board of trustees to plough INR22,500 crore ($3.5bn) into exchange traded funds (ETFs) over the coming months. The decision followed a recommendation to raise the equity investment limit from 10% to 15%. Since it began investing in ETFs in 2015, the EPFO's cumulative return on the investment has been more than 13%.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Google improves image search to include more information
 Google is now making it easier to find more information through your mobile image search results. The company announced that as of Tuesday, your image search results include icons in the corner of the photos indicating more information.

The new feature is specifically meant to help users discover more through their search results and suggest actions they can take. For instance, if you search for cupcakes in Image Search some of your results will include a badge in the bottom-left corner for recipes, videos, and GIFs, among other results.

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Last week, eBay announced a slightly similar update to its mobile app that also expands the use of image-based search. Rolling out in the fall, users will be able to find and purchase items through eBay using pictures instead of words.

The eBay app uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to find any item you search for. If you’re out on the go and spot a pair of shoes you are interested in but don’t know the exact name, you can take a photo and upload it to the eBay app. The features will apparently be able to match you with the exact product along with similar items.

By adding new features to its search tools, eBay and Google are essentially keeping users from leaving its platforms. After searching for and finding an item through eBay, you can then purchase it straight from the app. With Google’s new badges, the feature eliminates having to click through to another page — by simply tapping on the badge, you can pull up more in-depth information without losing your place within the results.

Google has clearly been busy updating its apps — on Monday, the company unveiled new features for the Gboard app on iOS. The iOS version integrates the Maps and YouTube apps into the keyboard, making it easier to send your location and videos without having to exit the messenger window. Other features include a drawing tool along with additional foreign language options to choose from.

Google’s new badges are available on the Google app for Android along with your mobile web browser. As of now, users will not see the update on their desktop image search.

Editors' Recommendations

Output: Google has launched badges, a tool that aims to improve the image search experience for mobile users. For iOS and Android users, any image search will also bring up icons in the corner of the photos, offering links to more, related information. The tool is similar to one recently rolled out by eBay, and both are aimed at keeping users within the company platforms.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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YouTube says AI is better at finding extremist videos than humans
 YouTube has said AI is, in some cases, better than humans at purging extremist videos from within its walls, and that machine learning tech has helped it double the speed at which it is able to take down content which violates the rules.

According to YouTube its AI systems have proven more effective than human beings at flagging videos which need to be removed.

Just over a month ago the platform’s parent company announced plans to increase its use of machine learning technology to help it identify extremist and terrorism-related videos on YouTube. The move was part of a four-pronged strategy to combat the spread of such content online following a brand safety crisis earlier on this year, during which giants like M&S, the Guardian and the UK government pulled ad spend from YouTube and the Google Display Network following concerns over unintentional ad misplacement.

The tech giant has now posted an update saying it has made progress in tackling the issue, which in some cases resulted in neo-Nazi videos and extreme pornography appearing adjacent to ads from household names.

YouTube claimed that during the past month or so when it's been testing new AI-powered detection and removal tools that over 75% of the videos it has removed for violent extremism were purged before receiving a single human flag. The platform has said it believes the accuracy of its systems have improved “dramatically” due to machine learning.

With over 400 hours of content being uploaded to YouTube each minute, there was previously a significant challenge in finding and taking action over such footage, but the video giant said its initial use of machine learning has “more than doubled” the number of videos it has removed featuring violent or extreme content, as well doubling the rate at which such content is removed.

YouTube has always used a mix of technology and human review to address controversial content on YouTube, but the latest developments indicate that investment in the AI space following the brand safety furore is bearing fruit.

Google's strategy to tackle the spread of extremism online and protect advertisers, also includes tougher standards for videos and the recruitment of more experts to flag content in need of review. Earlier this year, Google also inked a deal with ComScore to provide independent verification that its inventory is brand safe.

The platform said it has started working with 15 more NGOs and organisations, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in an effort to improve the system’s understanding of issues around hate speech, radicalisation and terrorism to better handle extremist content.

In the wake of the brand safety furore some Omnicom was one such ad giant which took it upon itself to calm advertisers worried their ads are at risk of being misplaced against inappropriate content on YouTube using a mixture of AI and human intelligence. At the time the holding group detailed plans to sift through hundreds of thousands of YouTube videos daily to ensure they are safe for its advertisers to appear against.

Google's brand safety scare seems to have largely unaffected its bottom line, and consumer perceptions remain high with the firm topping YouGov's recent brand health ranking index.

Output: Video-sharing site YouTube has said three-quarters of the videos removed from its site by its machine-learning technology were deleted before a human monitor saw them. The Google-owned company also said the use of artificial intelligence has doubled the number of extremist videos being removed and deletes them at twice the rate. The increased use of AI was one of several measures Google put in place after it emerged big brands ads were appearing alongside extremist content on YouTube.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Snapchat encourages advertisers by expanding measurement
 While Snap’s stock price has continued to slip and the company has been under fire from investors uncertain that it can keep up with Facebook and Instagram, the company’s measurement game is expanding to arm advertisers with sophisticated metrics that helps Snapchat compare itself with all other media.

Output: Snapchat is launching a programme designed to focus on marketing mix modelling (MMM), partnering with data firms Neustar Marketshare, Analytic Partners, Marketing Management Analytics and Nielsen. The programme will add to Snap's current 15 measurement partners, which currently examine the app's reach, impressions, viewability and targeting metrics. The launch is aimed at encouraging big brands to purchase advertising on Snapchat and also offers third-party analytics that confirm campaign data. MMM measurement aggregates an advertiser’s media channels – including TV, print, digital and out of home – and then looks at one specific channel to measure how effective advertising on it was in increasing sales.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Addison Lee contractor classification ruled unlawful
 Addison Lee has become the latest company to face defeat in court over its treatment of workers as “independent contractors” without rights to holiday pay or the national minimum wage.

The employment judge Joanna Wade issued a damning verdict against the £260m-a-year-turnover minicab firm, ruling that it had unlawfully failed to pay the cycle courier Chris Gascoigne, 48, holiday pay and attacking its attempts to “frighten off” Gascoigne from challenging his employment status.

The ruling at the central London employment tribunal that the cycle courier should be classed as a “worker” follows similar verdicts in cases brought against Uber, City Sprint, Excel and eCourier.

It comes as the government considers recommendations from a Downing Street review to bring in a new law that any self-employed worker under “control” or “supervision” from their contracting company should be considered a “dependent contractor” and benefit from holiday pay, sick pay and the minimum wage.

There are now an estimated 1.1 million people in Britain’s gig economy. Addison Lee’s main business involves 5,000 minicab drivers, who it classes as self-employed, but it also has approximately 500 couriers. Around 40 of them use bicycles, like Gascoigne, who delivered parcels in London for Addison Lee for almost seven years before leaving in March.

“I am really happy,” he said. “It is an important verdict. This is a pretty tough job and I think it is only fair considering what we do. The payments don’t justify the fact we don’t have these pretty basic rights.”

The judge highlighted Addison Lee’s use of contradictory language in its contract to avoid the courier being treated as a worker. Workers were given Addison Lee-branded bags and T-shirts, responded to a central controller and used Addison Lee IT devices, including a system that had no “decline” button when a job was offered.

Meanwhile Gascoigne was asked to sign a contract that stated: “You agree that you are an independent contractor and that nothing in this agreement shall render you an employee, worker, agent or partner of Addison Lee.”Wade said the evidence showed “couriers need to be responsive and work quickly during a tightly controlled working day” and pointed to recruitment material on its website saying “we are proud of our couriers – we’d love you to be part of that”.

She said: “It does not say: ‘We want to find couriers who are independent and work on an ad-hoc basis. If you do account work you [will] be a self-employed sub-contractor and for non-account work we will be your agent so you carry the risk.’ Not only is this confusing and wordy, it is not the way the business ran, or could run, as [Addison Lee] well knew. This is why it employed ‘armies’ of lawyers; to do the best possible job to ensure that the claimant and his colleagues did not have … worker status.”

Wade also said she was saddened that the contract included a clause “designed to frighten him off from litigating”. It stated that he should “indemnify Addison Lee against any liability for any employment-related claim or any claim based on worker status brought by you”. This, said the judge, “suggests they knew the risk of portraying the claimant as self-employed”.

Gascoigne’s case was supported by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain.

Its general secretary, Jason Moyer-Lee, said: “As if we needed any more evidence, today’s judgment once again proves our point. The law is clear, and employers in the so-called gig economy have been choosing to unlawfully deprive their workers of rights. Yet another domino has fallen with regard to the inevitable conclusion that people in the so-called gig economy are workers.”

A spokesman for Addison Lee said: “We note the tribunal’s verdict, which we will carefully review. Addison Lee is disappointed with the ruling as we have always had, and are committed to maintaining a flexible and fair relationship with cycle couriers.”

Output: Addison Lee, the UK minicab firm, unlawfully failed to award holiday pay to a cycle courier, according to a ruling by an employment tribunal. Judge Joanna Wade ruled that the courier should be classified as a “worker” rather than an independent contractor, following similar rulings against CitySprint, eCourier, Excel and Uber. Wade emphasised Addison Lee’s use of contradictory language in its contract and criticised the inclusion of a clause “designed to frighten” the courier away from litigation.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
South Asia may experience impossible to survive heatwaves by 2100
 The ‘cave of bones’ may hold the mysteries of human origins

Output: By 2100 South Asia, which contains 20% of the world’s population, could experience heatwaves that people will be unable to survive without protection and which could devastate food supplies, according to research in Science Advances. The most dangerous effects of hot weather occur when high temperatures combine with high humidity to create a “wet-bulb temperature”. At present, 2% of the Indian population is exposed to 32C wet-bulb temperatures. This could rise to 70% of the population by 2100. Reductions in carbon emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement would significantly reduce the risk of such heatwaves.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Esure [4]: British insurers call for clear distinctions on automated vehicle systems
 British Insurers have today highlighted the potential dangers of ‘autonomous ambiguity’, as vehicles with different levels of autonomy, or driverless technology, increasingly become a feature of UK roads.

With important and wide-reaching changes being defined by international regulators on what Assisted and Automated systems can and can't do, the Automated Driving Insurer Group (ADIG), led by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) in collaboration with Thatcham Research, has released a white paper setting out the latest position of UK insurers.

The ‘Regulating Automated Driving’ paper is set to reveal that UK insurers, including AXA, Admiral, Ageas, Allianz, Aviva, Co-operative Insurance, Covea, Direct Line Group, esure, LV, RSA, Zurich and the Lloyd’s Market, strongly support vehicle automation in the firm belief that it will deliver a significant reduction in accidents. However, there are real concerns about driver confusion caused by so-called intermediate automated systems. Such systems offer significant self-driving capability but require the driver to take back control of the vehicle in certain circumstances.

Peter Shaw, Thatcham Research CEO comments, “Vehicles with intermediate systems that offer assisted driving still require immediate driver intervention if the car cannot deal with a situation. Systems like these are fast emerging and unless clearly regulated, could convince drivers that their car is more capable than it actually is. This risk of autonomous ambiguity could result in a short term increase in crashes.”

The paper suggests that a clear distinction between Assisted and Automated systems should be made by International Regulators considering design standards for these vehicles. Therefore, a vehicle should be clearly identified and marketed as Automated only when:

The driver can safely disengage in the knowledge that the car has sufficient capabilities to deal with virtually all situations on the road;

A vehicle encounters a situation it can’t handle, that it has the ability to come to a safe stop;

The autonomous system can avoid all conceivable crash types and can continue to function adequately in the event of a partial system failure;

Both insurers and vehicle manufacturers can immediately access data to identify whether the driver or vehicle is liable in the case of an accident, without ambiguity

“The insurance industry strongly supports the development of automated driving technology – which we see as the logical conclusion to work over several decades to reduce the numbers of people killed or seriously injured on the roads,” comments James Dalton, Director of General Insurance Policy at the ABI. “However, we know all too well from conventional vehicles that drivers often misunderstand what their vehicles can and can’t do. Therefore, consistent standards are needed so that those taking up automated driving technology can do so with confidence.”

David Williams, ADIG Chairman and Head of Underwriting at AXA said: “Autonomous Vehicles will make our roads much safer, but inappropriate use or marketing of intermediate technology could confuse road users and cause unnecessary accidents. Clarity over system capability and commitment to share vehicle data with insurers will help public confidence, and help rather than hinder development in this area”

The Name Game

The paper also highlights the need for more clarity in how Vehicle Manufacturers give names to assisted driving systems. Shaw continues, “Vehicle Manufacturers should be judicious in badging and marketing such systems, avoiding terms which could be misinterpreted as denoting full autonomy. Hybrid systems which creep into the intermediate grey area between Assisted and Automated should also be avoided.”

A full version of the ‘Regulating Automated Driving: The UK Insurers’ View’ paper can also be downloaded from:

https://www.abi.org.uk/globalassets/files/publications/public/motor/2017/07/regulating-automated-driving

Automated Driver Insurer Group (ADIG)

The Automated Driver Insurer Group (ADIG), led by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and Thatcham Research, was formed in 2016 to consider key issues relating to automated driving on UK roads, particularly concerning insurance and liability. The Group feeds in to ABI policy as well as work with the Government on shaping the future of automated vehicle use in the UK.Companies represented on the Group include AXA, Admiral, Ageas, Allianz, Aviva, Co-operative Insurance, Covea, Direct Line Group, esure, LV=, RSA, Zurich and the Lloyd’s Market.

Output: While they believe vehicle automation will significantly reduce accidents, British insurers, including esure, have voiced concerns over ‘autonomous ambiguity’ as vehicles with different levels of autonomy take to the roads. The insurers have called for international regulators to make clear distinctions between assisted and automated systems, and set out criteria for marketing such vehicles. It is suggested that "intermediate automated systems", which offer significant self-driving capability but require drivers to reclaim control of the vehicle in certain circumstances, could leave drivers confused and lead to a short-term tick up in accidents.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Hackers can trick AI into seeing and hearing non-existent things
 Open to hack attacks? Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images

When it comes to AI, seeing isn’t always believing. It’s possible to trick machine learning systems into hearing and seeing things that aren’t really there.

We already know that wearing a pair of snazzy glasses can fool face recognition software into thinking you’re someone else, but research from Facebook now shows that the same approach can fool other algorithms too.

The technique – known as an adversarial example – could be used by hackers to trick driverless cars into ignoring stop signs or prevent a CCTV camera from spotting a suspect in a crowd.

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Show an algorithm a photo of a cat that’s been manipulated in a subtle way and it will think it’s looking at a dog. The alterations, however, may be so slight that a human would never be able to tell the image had been tampered with.

Learn more at New Scientist Live in London: Discover the future of AI with DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis

Moustapha Cissé, an AI researcher at Facebook, and his colleagues figured out that a similar technique – which they have called Houdini – can be used to fool both voice recognition and machine vision systems, by adding such small amounts of digital noise to images and sounds that humans would not notice.

To find a way of deceiving such systems, a hacker would just need to know what an algorithm is seeing or hearing when faced with a particular situation.

While there’s no evidence that these kinds of attack have been used in the real world, Marta Kwiatkowska at the University of Oxford says it’s only a matter of time before we will see them being used. “At the moment we have no protection,” she says, although systems vulnerable to these attacks are already in use in CCTV cameras.

Nicolas Papernot at Pennsylvania State University agrees. “It is likely that machine learning will be exploited to attack systems. More research is needed to invent new machine learning techniques so we can use them as a defence,” he says.

Sleight of hand

Cissé found that the types of image classification algorithm used in driverless cars could be made to ignore pedestrians or parked cars. “I think we should worry about how we can ensure that the neural networks we put in cars are safe,” he says.

The Facebook study showed that this approach can also be extended to voice recognition systems. Cissé’s team inserted a small amount of digital noise into a voice recording of a person speaking a phrase, and played that recording to the Google Voice speech recognition app.

Presented with this adversarial example, the app thought it was hearing a completely different sentence to the one that was actually spoken.

But not everyone is sure that attacks will work in the real world. David Forsyth at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign built a fake stop sign that was digitally altered to try and fool such algorithms.

He found that when the signs were viewed by a moving camera – as they would be from a driverless car – they didn’t actually fool the algorithm. Adversarial examples might work under perfect conditions, he says, but in the real world factors such as lighting and viewing angles might make them much less successful. “The attacks may be more difficult to deliver than they seem,” he says.

AI research lab OpenAI responded to Forsyth’s paper with a blog post that showed it is possible to trick image recognition algorithms even if the image is viewed from different distances and angles.

The main problem is that we still don’t know why algorithms are so responsive to minute changes that humans would never even notice, says Forsyth. “We basically don’t understand what’s going on inside them.”

Reference: arxiv.org/abs/1707.05373

Read more: The road to artificial intelligence: A case of data over theory;

Robots are stronger, faster, more durable… and hackable

Output: Hackers can add a small amount of digital noise unnoticeable to people to images and sounds to trick voice recognition and machine vision systems into perceiving non-existent things, a group of artificial intelligence (AI) researchers at Facebook have found. Additional machine learning systems must be developed to defend against these attacks, because humans are unable to recognise the "adversarial sample", said Nicolas Papernot at Pennsylvania State University. Although adversarial samples are able to mislead AI's perception of static images, moving cameras and real-world factors such as lighting and viewing angles make such attacks difficult, said David Forsyth at the University of Illinois.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Analysis shows biofuels have little in common with oil
 Slider. Credit: MIPT Press Office

Scientists have used high-resolution mass spectrometry to determine the composition of a biofuel obtained from the microalgae Spirulina platensis. The researchers studied two biofuel fractions obtained using a special algal mass treatment method. The researchers also proved that biofuel has little to do with oil in terms of its composition. However, it is similar to the "brilliant green" antiseptic commonly sold in Eastern Europe. The results of the study were published in the European Journal of Mass Spectrometry.

The research project was conducted by a group of scientists from Skoltech, the Joint Institute of High Temperatures of RAS, the V. L. Talrose Institute of Energy Problems of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the N. M. Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics of RAS, Lomonosov Moscow State University, and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Algae functioning as an ecology recovery method

As an alternative source of energy, biofuel is of particular interest in research projects, as it could potentially solve such problems as the depletion of oil reserves and global warming. Unlike oil, biofuel is produced from renewable natural resources, and when it is burned, fewer greenhouse gases are released. Brazil, for example, already provides 40 percent of its energy needs with biofuels. Agricultural crops and other plants are used as a raw material for biofuel production. However, production requires the use of fertile lands that could otherwise be used for the production of food.

The most promising raw materials for biofuel are marine microalgae, which require neither pure water nor land to be grown. Algae actively absorb carbon dioxide, and therefore reduce the greenhouse effect. Fuel from microalgae is called third-generation biofuel, and development for its production is currently underway.

Biofuel recipe

Spirulina platensis algae. Credit: https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Arthrospira_platensis

With sufficient information on the composition of biofuels, researchers can significantly improve production processes. The original techniques for producing fuel from algal mass proved to be energetically unfavorable since much energy is spent on drying the algae, which contain water. A new and more efficient method was needed for commercial use. Now, researchers have developed hydrothermal liquefaction—wet biomass is heated to a temperature of more than 300 degrees Celsius and compressed at a pressure of 200 atmospheres; the output is fuel. This is analogous to what happens in nature when high temperatures and high pressures lead to the formation of oil deep in the Earth. However, in the reactor, this process occurs more quickly. The result is two fractions: liquid biofuel and a thick mass remaining in the reactor. Both fractions are mixtures of thousands of individual components, and mass spectrometry is the best way to determine their composition.

Mass spectrometry

Mass spectrometry is an analytical technique used to determine the composition of a substance. It is based on the fact that different compounds behave differently in an electric and/or magnetic field, depending on their mass-to-charge ratio, or m/z. The analysis produces a mass spectrum—a graph - intensity vs. m/z, with intensity of peaks proportional to the number of particular m/z ions.

Mass spectra of the liquid (top) and the solid (bottom) fraction. Credit: MIPT Press Office

Scientists used mass spectrometry to investigate biofuel obtained from the Spirulina platensis algae. During hydrothermal liquefaction, all substances with a boiling point below 300 degrees C leave the reactor as gases and are subsequently cooled in a special container. Thus, the liquid fraction is extracted, while the solid fraction remains in the reactor. The mass spectrometry analysis procedures that were then conducted showed that both fractions contained the greatest amount of those substances with nitrogen (N) and dinitrogen (N2) in their composition. The substances found in the biofuel are not similar to those contained in conventional crude oil, although they are combustible. Mass spectrometry provides information on the molecular formulae of substances only (for example, C18H35N2). To find out about the structure of the molecules, the researchers used a method known as a hydrogen-deuterium exchange.

Replacing hydrogen with deuterium

When hydrogen is replaced with deuterium, the mass of an ion becomes larger, and the peak in the spectrum is shifted. By determining whether the peak is displaced or not, scientists can tell where hydrogen was located within a molecule. However, not any arbitrary position occupied by hydrogen can be freed.

The nucleus of deuterium, or heavy hydrogen, has a neutron in addition to a proton, changing its mass, but not the charge. Credit: MIPT Press Office

Before starting the mass analyses, the sample molecules are ionized. In this case, protons were added to neutral compounds, or electrons removed, turning them into positive ions. It is possible to substitute hydrogen atoms of the molecules (as well as attached protons) with a deuteron. However, it was discovered that in some hydrogens in some components of biofuel elements, the replacement does not occur. The scientists came to realize this by considering the intensity of the shifted peak obtained in the course of the replacement procedure. If the displaced peak had the same intensity as the nondisplaced peak, it meant that a complete replacement took place. If the intensity of the displaced peak is less, it means that several compounds were registered under one peak, and not all of them had an attached hydrogen that could be replaced by deuterium.

Professor Evgeny Nikolaev of Skoltech, who is a corresponding member of RAS and the head of the Ion and Molecular Physics Laboratory at MIPT, says, "The investigation of hydrothermal liquefaction products of microalgae by means of mass spectrometry is important for increasing the efficiency of biofuel production. Further work needs to be focused on the application of algae varieties with the highest possible lipid content and growth rate and the creation of such varieties using genetic modification methods. This will allow us to find the most effective raw material for biofuels."

More information: European Journal of Mass Spectrometry. DOI: 10.1177/1469066717702648

Output: Scientific researchers from a range of institutions have used high-resolution mass spectrometry to examine a fuel made from the microalgae Spirulina platensis to discover its composition. They were able to show that the biofuel has little connection to oil in terms of its composition. The method used to study the alternative source of energy was a specially formulated algal mass treatment method. The fuel has the potential to cut GHG emissions without using valuable land and water resources.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Mental health chatbot Wysa funded for $1.3m
 IANS

Mental health chatbot Wysa on Saturday announced that it has raised a total of $1.3 million in seed funding from early stage investment firms Kae Capital and Angel Investors.

Created as an Artificial Intelligence (AI) coach for behavioural and mental health, Wysa offers evidence-based techniques through empathetic, anonymous conversations, the company said in a statement. "Our technology passively detects behavioural health issues from smartphone sensors and engages them through chat," said Ramakant Vempati, co-founder.

Wysa supports a variety of behavioural health use cases, including anxiety, smoking cessation, diabetes and disability support, to reduce healthcare costs and improve adherence.

As per earlier reports British researchers had designed a smartphone app that helped people manage their problems, anxiety and depression, based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). The 'Catch It' app uses psychological approaches to mental health and well-being through CBT, a therapy that can help individuals manage problems by changing the way one thinks and behaves. It helps the user identify thoughts and thinking styles associated with a shift in mood or a particular emotion and takes the users through a process. The app helps users better understand their moods through use of an ongoing diary. significant reductions in negative mood intensity and increases in positive mood intensity among participants. A significant reductions in negative mood intensity and increases in positive mood intensity among participants.

Output: Mental health chatbot service Wysa has secured $1.3m in seed funding to develop its app. Wysa is intended to help people manage anxiety and depression through techniques based on cognitive behavioural therapy. The app detects behavioural health issues via smartphone sensors and engages users through a chat interface, said Co-founder Ramakant Vempati. By encouraging users to identify and record thoughts they associate with a shift in mood, the chatbot helps to mitigate negative mental states.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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XL Catlin's profits rise sixfold on lower catastrophe losses
 Xl Group Ltd. on Wednesday reported a nearly sixfold increase in its net income for the second quarter of 2017, driven by lower catastrophe losses and higher net income from affiliates.

The Hamilton, Bermuda-based insurer, which does business as XL Catlin, posted $301.6 million in net income for the quarter, a 588.9% increase from $43.8 million for the comparable period a year ago.

XL Catlin reported $92.1 million in catastrophe pretax losses, net of reinsurance and related reinstatement premiums, compared with $240.1 million for the year-ago period.

Net income from affiliates increased 112.4%, to $73.5 million for the quarter, compared with $34.6 million for the prior-year quarter, driven mainly by the sale of an investment manager affiliate and a strong performance in all categories of its affiliate holdings, the company said.

Operating income increased 139.6%, to $255.1 million from $106.4 million for the comparable period a year ago.

XL Catlin reported $2.65 billion in net premiums written, which was a 2.8% decline from the total for the comparable period a year ago. The combined ratio for the quarter was 92.3% vs. 96% for 2016’s second quarter.

“We are pleased to report solid overall results,” which reflect a continued focus on executing XL Catlin’s strategy, CEO Michael S. McGavick said during Wednesday’s earnings call.

“Throughout the first half of the year, we like the progress we’ve made and feel good about our ability to execute our strategy,” although significant headwinds remain in the market, including inflationary trends and continuing rate deterioration, although some lines are flattening and there have been slight increases as well, Mr. McGavick said.

He said submission rates were up 5% in the second quarter, although XL Catlin’s “hit rate” remained the same at 36%, consistent with the prior year. “We continue to see more business, and we continue to select the business we want,” he said. “We continue to push the pace of our ability to introduce new products to the market.”

Mr. McGavick said XL Catlin’s North American construction unit, for example, which was introduced in 2010, has reached $2 billion in gross written premium over its seven years of operation.

Asked about how the insurer manages cyber risk, Mr. McGavick said, “I would emphasize this, we keep it at very low limits,” and manage sector exposures as well as individual risks. “This is a very broad and diversified book and that makes me very comfortable,” he said.

Gregory S. Hendrick, the insurer’s property/casualty president, said XL Catlin had another strong quarter for “new and expanded capabilities.”

These included an accident and health insurance program in the United Kingdom and a real estate environment protection program in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.

He said XL Catlin’s largest growing portfolios in the quarter included political risk, global risk management international financial lines and U.S. programs.

Output: Lower catastrophe losses and higher earnings from affiliates have helped specialty insurer XL Catlin to post an almost sixfold surge in profit for Q2 2017. Income rose 589% to $301.6m from $43.8m in Q2 of the previous year. Catastrophe losses fell to $92.1m from $240.1m and profit from partners climbed 112.4% to $73.5m from $34.6m for Q2 2016. However, written premiums fell 2.8% to $2.65bn. The CEO of the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company, Michael McGavick, said: "We like the progress we’ve made and feel good about our ability to execute our strategy."


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
GeoBioCell aims to tackle subsea corrosion from 'biosouring'
 Rsearch project seeks to solve $90 billion global problem in oil industry while making oil drilling less harmful to environment.

A new research project at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) at the University of Illinois seeks to solve a $90 billion global problem in the oil industry while making oil drilling less harmful to the environment.

Bruce Fouke, Professor in the departments of Geology and Microbiology and director of the Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center, was awarded a three-year grant from the Dow Chemical Company to study a process known as oil field biosouring. Fouke is also a faculty member in one of the IGB's eleven research themes, Biocomplexity, which explores the origin of life and the behavior of biological systems.

Co-investigators include IGB affiliate Professor Charles Werth at the University of Texas at Austin, and Robert Sanford, Research Associate Professor in Geology at Illinois.

Biosouring results from a common procedure in oil drilling, where seawater is pumped deep underground in order to maximize the amount of oil that can be extracted.

This action significantly affects microbes that live in the Earth's deep subsurface -- known as the deep microbial biosphere -- where the majority of Earth's life resides.

"The largest reservoir of living cells on earth is microbes that live underground," Fouke said. "Whenever we try to produce or extract oil and gas from the ground, we drill wells and perturb this community."

Seawater contains a chemical called sulfate. When bacteria in the ground ingest sulfate from the seawater, they create a byproduct called sulfide, which is highly corrosive and harmful to human health. This reduction, from sulfate to sulfide, is known as microbial biosouring.

Sulfide's corrosive nature creates the single largest maintenance expense for oil companies: replacement of underground oil field pipes and plumbing systems. Globally, it is estimated that almost $90 billion is spent on replacing damaged pipes each year.

"Dow is interested in the application of our techniques and approaches here at the IGB to better understand how biosouring happens and what new ways can be developed to reduce or stop it," Fouke said.

Another byproduct of biosouring is mineral growth. Biosouring accelerates the rate at which rocks are deposited, a process known as biomineralization, which is Fouke's area of expertise.

For the last 10 years, Fouke and his IGB research colleagues have been developing a new technology called the GeoBioCell, an experimental microfluidics test bed that can be used to track the interactions between water, rock, microbes, oil and gas in a controlled environment. It simulates the conditions of the deep subsurface on a microscope stage, using samples of actual oil field rocks and fluids.

This technology allows researchers to control the flow of these materials so their interactions can be evaluated in real time.

"We recreate, at a very precise spatial resolution, the interactions going on in natural subsurface environments," Fouke said.

By recreating biosouring within the GeoBioCell, researchers will be able to test different temperatures, chemicals, food sources and water chemistries to try and reduce or stop the process.

The IGB is the only place in the world where a technology like this exists, and Fouke said it's the only place where this research could happen, due to its interdisciplinary nature.

Directors of the IGB Core Facilities light microscopy suite and the Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center will be collaborating in running and analyzing the GeoBioCell experiments.

"It's truly the only laboratory in the world where we have the capacity to do all these cutting-edge analyses in one location," Fouke said.

For Fouke, this research brings together years of his own work.

"What's especially exciting about this project, and the development and application of the GeoBioCell, is that it represents two decades of collaborative interdisciplinary research," he said. "It encapsulates everything we have accomplished to date."

As a geologist, Fouke's interest lies in studying the origin and evolution of life on Earth, and how this knowledge can be applied to solve real-world problems.

"Results from the GeoBioCell experimentation will enhance our understanding of how oil and gas is produced, while better protecting the environment," he said.

He believes the project's "hyper-interdisciplinary" nature -- involving the fields of geology, microbiology and engineering -- will allow the results to be impactful.

"It requires exactly what we're all about at the IGB, which is to have the highest level of excellence and expertise in these different fields, and then have them all come together and work together," Fouke said. "It takes all these disciplines fusing together to be able to complete this work."

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Output: The Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) at the US University of Illinois has developed a technology called GeoBioCell that aims to help explore ways to mitigate so-called microbial biosouring, a side effect of pumping seawater underground to increase oil extraction yields. The interaction of the seawater with microbes that live beneath the Earth's surface creates sulphides, highly corrosive compounds that contribute to the oil and gas industry's annual $90bn bill for replacing oil field pipes and plumbing systems. GeoBioCell, an experimental microfluidics test bed, allows researchers to test different temperatures, chemicals, food sources and water chemistries that could reduce or stop the process.