Culture

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- While most people will say they are extremely concerned with their online privacy, previous experiments have shown that, in practice, users readily divulge privacy information online.

In a study published in the latest Proceedings of Computer-Human Interaction (CHI 2020), a team of Penn State researchers identified a dozen subtle -- but powerful -- reasons that may shed light on why people talk a good game about privacy, but fail to follow up in real life.

"Most people will tell you they're pretty worried about their online privacy and that they take precautions, such as changing their passwords," said S. Shyam Sundar, James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory.

"But, in reality, if you really look at what people do online and on social media, they tend to reveal all too much. What we think is going on is that people make disclosures in the heat of the moment by falling for contextual cues that appear on an interface."

Sundar, who is also an affiliate of Penn State's Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS), said that certain cues analyzed by the researchers significantly increased the chance that people would turn over private information such as social security numbers or phone numbers. The cues exploit common pre-existing beliefs about authority, bandwagon, reciprocity, sense-of-community, community-building, self-preservation, control, instant gratification, transparency, machine, publicness and mobility.

"What we did in this study is identify 12 different kinds of appeals that influence people to reveal information online," said Sundar. "These appeals are based on rules of thumb that we all hold in our head, called heuristics."

For example, the rule of thumb that 'if most others reveal their information, then it is safe for me to disclose as well' is labeled 'bandwagon heuristic' by the study.

"There are certainly more than 12 heuristics, but these are the dominant ones that play an important role in privacy disclosure," added Sundar, who worked with Mary Beth Rosson, Professor-in-Charge of Human Computer Interaction and director of graduate programs in the College of Information Sciences and Technology.

The researchers explain that heuristics are mental shortcuts that could be triggered by cues on a website or mobile app.

"These cues may not always be obvious," according to Rosson. "The bandwagon cue, for example, can be as simple as a statement that is added to a website or app to prompt information disclosure," she added.

"For example, when you go on LinkedIn and you see a statement that says your profile is incomplete and that 70 percent of your connections have completed their profiles, that's a cue that triggers your need to follow others -- which is what we call a bandwagon effect," said Sundar. "We found that those with a stronger pre-existing belief in 'bandwagon heuristic' were more likely to reveal personal information in such a scenario."

For the authority cue, Rosson said that a graphic that signals the site is being overseen by a trusted authority may make people comfortable with turning private information over to the company.

"The presence of a logo of a trusted agency such as FDIC or even a simple icon showing a lock can make users of online banking feel safe and secure, and it makes them feel that somewhere somebody is looking after their security," said Rosson.

The researchers said that ingrained trust in authority, or what they call 'authority heuristic,' is the reason for disclosure of personal information in such scenarios.

"When interviewed, our study participants attributed their privacy disclosure to the cues more often than other reasons," said Sundar.

An awareness of major cues that prey on common rules of thumb may make people more savvy web users and could help them avoid placing their private information into the wrong hands.

"The number one reason for doing this study is to increase media literacy among online users," said Sundar.

He added that the findings could also be used to create alerts that warn users when they encounter these cues.

"People want to do the right thing and they want to protect their privacy, but in the heat of the moment online, they are swayed by these contextual cues," said Rosson. "One way to avoid this is to introduce 'just-in-time' alerts. Just as users are about to reveal information, an alert could pop up on the site and ask them if they are sure they want to do that. That might give them a bit of a pause to think about that transaction," she added.

For the study, the researchers recruited 786 people to participate in an online survey. The participants were then asked to review 12 scenarios that they might encounter online and asked to assess their willingness to disclose personal information based on each scenario.

To ensure that the sample was representative nationally, the participants were chosen so that their demographics were consistent with statistics provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- People find it convenient to use Facebook or other social media accounts to sign up for most new apps and services, but they prefer to use their e-mail address or open a new account if they feel the information in the app is too sensitive, according to a team of researchers.

In a study, the researchers said participants were willing to use their Facebook ID to access relationship apps, such as class reunion and matchmaking apps, but balked at using the same feature for an app that arranges extramarital affairs.

The findings suggest that because people try to keep sensitive areas of their relationships separate from other parts of their lives, they may hesitate to use single sign-on services, said S. Shyam Sundar, James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory.

"Even though technically one's activities on Tinder will not be visible to friends on Facebook, they seem to have a psychological fear of that happening, so they want to keep their social networks separate and not have them bleed over into other parts of their lives," said Sundar. "Just the idea that they might be using a hook-up app or affair app would be too scandalous for some people and wouldn't be something they would want shared."

Eugene Cho, doctoral student in mass communications and lead author of the study, said users prefer to use their e-mail address or open a new account on these sensitive apps rather than use their Facebook login credentials. "They seemed to be wary of potential leakage of data from these apps to their social networks," she added.

Sundar, who is also an affiliate of Penn State's Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS), suggested that the findings have broader implications outside of the realms of dating and relationships.

"This is just as applicable to sites that enable financial transactions, such as stock trading sites, or bank sites, where people are very concerned about their information and protecting their transactions," said Sundar. "We just happened to choose these sites for the study because it provides a venue that is easy to explore in an experiment."

According to the researchers, who released their findings in the Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2020), released today (April 25), the single sign-on is designed to make logging on to apps more convenient. Many apps allow users to either create a new account or, to save trouble, use their Facebook or Twitter login credentials.

"We are using so many apps these days that the single sign-on is a convenient way to access so that way you don't have to create yet another account, or remember yet another password," said Sundar, who worked with Eugene Cho and Jinyoung Kim, both doctoral students in mass communications at Penn State.

According to Cho, the main reason why people use their Facebook ID instead of using their e-mail address or creating a new account is the ease with which they can share the app with their friends. "The flipside is that it prevents them from using their social media login information for privacy-sensitive apps," she added.

Sundar said that security-conscious users are particularly prone to this tendency. "We found that the tendency to avoid using Facebook ID for affair apps was significantly higher for individuals who have less faith in the security of online systems in general," he added.

He added that designers and developers must address the skepticism about using these apps.

"There's a perception problem that many mobile and social media applications, in general, have, that many people do not perceive them as secure and trustworthy," said Sundar. "So, this means designers and developers need to do more work to convince users that the single sign-on service will keep the information separate from their social networks."

The researchers suggested that more disclaimers and security assurances may bolster the use of single sign-on services, but added that actual security must be maintained.

To conduct the experiment, the researchers created four different sign-up pages for relationship apps with varying degrees of sensitivity, including a high school reunion app, a matchmaking app for more serious relationships, a hook-up app for less serious dating, and an affair-arrangement app.

They then recruited 364 participants through an online microwork site and randomly assigned them to one of those four conditions. The participants could either choose to access the app through one of three social media single sign-on features, or use their e-mail address or create a new account specifically for that app.

The participants were then asked a series of questions on perceived security, ease of sharing and usability of the app.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Individuals who fear talking in front of a crowd could soon have a new tool to ease public speaking anxiety: their smart speaker.

A team of researchers at Penn State has developed a public-speaking tutor on the Amazon Alexa platform. The tutor enables users to engage in cognitive restructuring exercise - a psychological technique that helps anxious individuals recognize and modify negative thinking behaviors. When users deployed the tutor in a recent study, their pre-speech anxiety was relieved, according to the researchers.

"This study represents a significant shift in our use of smart speakers, from a tool that answers questions to one that acts as a helper or coach," said S. Shyam Sundar, James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects in the Bellisario College of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory at Penn State.

According to Jinping Wang, doctoral student in the Bellisario College of Communications and lead author on the paper, users' interactions with Alexa not only helped to ease their speech anxiety, but their feedback suggests that the tutor could be a viable alternative to person-to-person coaching sessions.

"There is often a concern of being judged by human tutors or human therapists," said Wang. "If we can use a machine like Alexa to provide such training to individuals with speech anxiety or social anxiety, we can help them get rid of their concern of being judged by a human."

In the study, participants were guided to interact with an Amazon Echo smart speaker and were randomly assigned to interact with either a highly social Alexa or one that was less social in its greetings and expressions. The participants were then encouraged to use what they learned to prepare and present a short speech through a virtual reality application that simulated a room with a 20-person audience. After their speech, participants completed a questionnaire about their experience.

The researchers found that the high-sociable condition - through which Alexa adopted a more personal conversation style- provided a better user experience by establishing a sense of interpersonal closeness with the user.

"If you think about the usual interactions with Alexa, they're quite dry and very functional," said Saeed Abdullah, assistant professor of information sciences and technology and a collaborator on the project. "But providing some sort of social cues seems to result in positive outcomes for users."

Sundar added, "People are not simply anthropomorphizing the machine, but are responding to increased sociability by feeling a sense of closeness with the machine, which is associated with lowered speech anxiety."

According to the researchers, the approach has the potential to assist individuals who are anxious about public speaking, from the comfort of their own homes. Smart speakers could be utilized similarly in future work to explore aiding individuals with other forms of anxiety.

"Alexa is one of those things that lives in our homes," concluded Sundar. "As such, it occupies a somewhat intimate space in our lives. It's often a conversation partner, so why not use it for other things rather than just answering factual questions?"

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Giving users of smart assistants the option to adjust settings for privacy or content delivery, or both, doesn't necessarily increase their trust in the platform, according to a team of Penn State researchers. In fact, for some users, it could have an unfavorable effect.

Trust in Amazon Alexa went up for regular users who were given the option to adjust their privacy and content settings, the researchers found in a recent study. However, for power users - individuals whose skills and expertise are more advanced than others - trust went down when they were given the opportunity to make privacy setting adjustments.

"That's kind of counterintuitive," said S. Shyam Sundar, James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory (MERL) at Penn State. "The mere presence of privacy settings seems to trigger thoughts of potential privacy problems among those who are aware of such loopholes in communication technologies"

He added, "Once you give power users these options and they realize [that privacy settings are] actually controllable, they tend to panic and see the between-the-lines message rather than see customization for what it is, which is really a benevolent effort to provide more user control."

Another major finding of the study showed that users who were sensitive about their privacy found content less credible when given the option to customize their privacy settings. However, trust in the content increased when these users were also given the opportunity to customize that content.

"It is really interesting to see that content customization, which is unrelated to privacy, alleviated the negative priming effects of adjusting privacy settings," said Eugene Cho, doctoral student in mass communications and lead author on the team's paper. "The empowering effect of customization noticed in our other studies extend to smart speaker interactions and to the context of privacy."

But, the quality of content customization services could be impacted by privacy customization settings, said Saeed Abdullah, assistant professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology and a collaborator on the project. This concept is similar to other artificial-intelligence algorithms that draw on user history to drive personalized content on well-known platforms, such as suggesting the next movie to watch on Netflix or products to buy on Amazon.

"For example, if you delete your user history or your audio recordings from Alexa, it might mean that the platform cannot personalize its offerings very well for you," Abdullah said. "Some people might like them, as some people like to have the best recommendations from the systems. And in that case, they might not take advantage of the privacy options."

He added, "So in other words, the differences between individuals and their perceived expectations of these systems mean that people will use privacy settings in a different way. That's why providing control is so important."

As smart speakers become more common, there's increased concern about the degree to which the devices could be infringing on users' privacy. The researchers hope that their work will inform designers and service providers to consider incorporating various content customization options to lower mistrust in content and relieve privacy concerns.

"If users want the devices to function the way they're supposed to function, they are supposed to always be on," Sundar said. "I feel like we've reached a point in our cultural conversation about the acceptability of having these kinds of devices in our homes, and to what extent we are comfortable."

"Our findings can help us to better design smarter, more privacy-sensitive and more trustworthy smart speakers in the future," added Abdullah.

In the study, 90 participants were recruited to interact with Amazon Alexa through an Amazon Echo device by asking several health-related questions. In the first part of the study, half of the users were randomly given the opportunity to customize their privacy settings - such as deleting their voice recordings -- while the others were not. Then, another random half of the sample was able to customize their content - such as adjusting speed or content length, or selecting the source of information - while the other half was not afforded the opportunity.

Atoms and molecules behave very differently at extreme temperatures and pressures. Although such extreme matter doesn't exist naturally on the earth, it exists in abundance in the universe, especially in the deep interiors of planets and stars. Understanding how atoms react under high-pressure conditions--a field known as high-energy-density physics (HEDP)--gives scientists valuable insights into the fields of planetary science, astrophysics, fusion energy, and national security.

One important question in the field of HED science is how matter under high-pressure conditions might emit or absorb radiation in ways that are different from our traditional understanding.

In a paper published in Nature Communications, Suxing Hu, a distinguished scientist and group leader of the HEDP Theory Group at the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), together with colleagues from the LLE and France, has applied physics theory and calculations to predict the presence of two new phenomena--interspecies radiative transition (IRT) and the breakdown of dipole selection rule--in the transport of radiation in atoms and molecules under HEDP conditions. The research enhances an understanding of HEDP and could lead to more information about how stars and other astrophysical objects evolve in the universe.

WHAT IS INTERSPECIES RADIATIVE TRANSITION (IRT)?

Radiative transition is a physics process happening inside atoms and molecules, in which their electron or electrons can "jump" from different energy levels by either radiating/emitting or absorbing a photon. Scientists find that, for matter in our everyday life, such radiative transitions mostly happen within each individual atom or molecule; the electron does its jumping between energy levels belonging to the single atom or molecule, and the jumping does not typically occur between different atoms and molecules.

However, Hu and his colleagues predict that when atoms and molecules are placed under HED conditions, and are squeezed so tightly that they become very close to each other, radiative transitions can involve neighboring atoms and molecules.

"Namely, the electrons can now jump from one atom's energy levels to those of other neighboring atoms," Hu says.

WHAT IS THE DIPOLE SELECTION RULE?

Electrons inside an atom have specific symmetries. For example, "s-wave electrons" are always spherically symmetric, meaning they look like a ball, with the nucleus located in the atomic center; "p-wave electrons," on the other hand, look like dumbbells. D-waves and other electron states have more complicated shapes. Radiative transitions will mostly occur when the electron jumping follows the so-called dipole selection rule, in which the jumping electron changes its shape from s-wave to p-wave, from p-wave to d-wave, etc.

Under normal, non-extreme conditions, Hu says, "one hardly sees electrons jumping among the same shapes, from s-wave to s-wave and from p-wave to p-wave, by emitting or absorbing photons."

However, as Hu and his colleagues found, when materials are squeezed so tightly into the exotic HED state, the dipole selection rule is often broken down.

"Under such extreme conditions found in the center of stars and classes of laboratory fusion experiments, non-dipole x-ray emissions and absorptions can occur, which was never imagined before," Hu says.

USING SUPERCOMPUTERS TO STUDY HEDP

The researchers used supercomputers at both the University of Rochester's Center for Integrated Research Computing (CIRC) and at the LLE to conduct their calculations.

"Thanks to the tremendous advances in high-energy laser and pulsed-power technologies, 'bringing stars to the Earth' has become reality for the past decade or two," Hu says.

Hu and his colleagues performed their research using the density-functional theory (DFT) calculation, which offers a quantum mechanical description of the bonds between atoms and molecules in complex systems. The DFT method was first described in the 1960s, and was the subject of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. DFT calculations have been continually improved since. One such improvement to enable DFT calculations to involve core electrons was made by Valentin Karasev, a scientist at the LLE and a co-author of the paper.

The results indicate there are new emission/absorption lines appearing in the x-ray spectra of these extreme matter systems, which are from the previously-unknown channels of IRT and the breakdown of dipole selection rule.

Hu and Philip Nilson, a senior scientist at the LLE and co-author of the paper, are currently planning future experiments that will involve testing these new theoretical predictions at the OMEGA laser facility at the LLE. The facility lets users create exotic HED conditions in nanosecond timescales, allowing scientists to probe the unique behaviors of matters at extreme conditions.

"If proved to be true by experiments, these new discoveries will profoundly change how radiation transport is currently treated in exotic HED materials," Hu says. "These DFT-predicted new emission and absorption channels have never been considered so far in textbooks."

The use of big data can help scientists' chart not only the degradation of the environment but can be part of the solution to achieve sustainability, according to a new commentary paper.

The paper, 'Opportunities for big data in conservation and sustainability', published today in Nature Communications, said increased computing speeds and data storage had grown the volume of big data in the last 40 years, but the planet was still facing serious decline.

Lead author Dr Rebecca Runting from the University of Melbourne's School of Geography says that while we currently have an unprecedented ability to generate, store, access and analyse data about the environment, these technological advances will not help the world unless they lead to action.

"Big data analyses must be closely linked to environmental policy and management," Dr Runting said. "For example, many large companies already possess the methodological, technical, and computational capacity to develop solutions, so it is paramount that new developments and resources are shared timely with government, and in the spirit of 'open data'."

Commentators noted that 2.3 million km2 of forest was lost over the years 2000 to 2012 and that dynamic marine and coastal ecosystems have revealed similar declines. An analysis of over 700,000 satellite images shows that Earth has lost more than 20,000 km2 of tidal flats since 1984.

"In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently seeing governments making rapid (health) decisions based on fairly sophisticated data analysis," Dr Runting said. "There may be opportunities to learn from this and achieve a similarly tight coupling of analysis and decision-making in the environmental sector."

Co-author Professor James Watson from the University of Queensland said with platforms like Google Earth Engine and the capacity of satellites to track and send information quickly to computers, big data was capable of identifying eco-health risks globally.

"What the big data revolution has helped us understand is the environment is often doing worse than what we thought it was. The more we map and analyse, the more we find the state of the environment, albeit Antarctic ice sheets, wetlands, or forests, is dire. Big data tells us we are running out of time," Professor Watson said.

"The good news is the big data revolution can help us better understand risk. For example, we can use data to better understand where future ecosystem degradation will take place and where these interact with wildlife trade, so as to map pandemic risk."

Dr Runting said big data has been pivotal in quantifying alarming spatial and temporal trends across Earth. For example, an automated vessel tracking and monitoring system is being used to predict illegal fishing activity in real-time.

"This has allowed governments quickly investigate particular vessels that may be undertaking illegal fishing activity within their jurisdiction, including within Australian waters," she said. Similarly, Queensland's Statewide Landcover and Trees Study uses satellite imagery to monitor woody vegetation clearing, including the detection of illegal clearing.

Professor Watson cited a similar example. "Global forest watch has been a game change for monitoring the state of the world forests in near real time. This can help identify illegal activities and informed active enforcement of forest conservation around the world," Professor Watson said.

The paper also noted positive environmental changes due to human intervention such as greening seen in large expanses in China, which was driven by large scale national policies, including forest conservation and payments for restoration.

NASA is celebrating the Hubble Space Telescope's 30 years of unlocking the beauty and mystery of space by unveiling a stunning new portrait of a firestorm of starbirth in a neighboring galaxy.

In this Hubble portrait, the giant red nebula (NGC 2014) and its smaller blue neighbor (NGC 2020) are part of a vast star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, located 163,000 light-years away. The image is nicknamed the "Cosmic Reef," because it resembles an undersea world.

Thirty years ago, on April 24, 1990, Hubble was carried aloft from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the space shuttle Discovery, along with a five-astronaut crew. Deployed into Earth orbit a day later, the telescope opened a new eye onto the cosmos that has been transformative for our civilization.

Hubble is revolutionizing modern astronomy, not only for scientists, but also by taking the public on a wondrous journey of exploration and discovery. Hubble's never-ending, breathtaking celestial snapshots provide a visual shorthand for Hubble's top scientific achievements. Unlike any space telescope before it, Hubble made astronomy relevant, engaging and accessible for people of all ages. The space telescope's iconic imagery has redefined our view of the universe and our place in time and space.

"Hubble has given us stunning insights about the universe, from nearby planets to the farthest galaxies we have seen so far," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. "It was revolutionary to launch such a large telescope 30 years ago, and this astronomy powerhouse is still delivering revolutionary science today. Its spectacular images have captured the imagination for decades, and will continue to inspire humanity for years to come."

Unencumbered by Earth's blurring atmosphere, the space observatory unveils the universe in unprecedented crystal-clear sharpness across a broad range of wavelengths, from ultraviolet to near-infrared light.

Hubble's top accomplishments include measuring the expansion and acceleration rate of the universe; finding that black holes are common among galaxies; characterizing the atmospheres of planets around other stars; monitoring weather changes on planets across our solar system; and looking back in time across 97% of the universe to chronicle the birth and evolution of stars and galaxies.

Hubble has yielded to date 1.4 million observations and provided data that astronomers around the world have used to write more than 17,000 peer-reviewed scientific publications, making it the most prolific space observatory in history. Its archival data alone will fuel future astronomy research for generations to come.

Hubble's longevity can be attributed to five space shuttle servicing missions, from 1993 to 2009, in which astronauts upgraded the telescope with advanced instruments, new electronics and on-orbit repairs. The venerable observatory, with its suite of cameras and other instruments, is expected to stay operational through the 2020s, in synergy with the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.

Hubble Space Telescope's iconic images and scientific breakthroughs have redefined our view of the Universe. To commemorate three decades of scientific discoveries, this image is one of the most photogenic examples of the many turbulent stellar nurseries the telescope has observed during its 30-year lifetime. The portrait features the giant nebula NGC 2014 and its neighbour NGC 2020 which together form part of a vast star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, approximately 163 000 light-years away. The image is nicknamed the "Cosmic Reef" because it resembles an undersea world.

On 24 April 1990 the Hubble Space Telescope was launched aboard the space shuttle Discovery, along with a five-astronaut crew. Deployed into low-Earth orbit a day later, the telescope has since opened a new eye onto the cosmos that has been transformative for our civilization.

Hubble is revolutionising modern astronomy not only for astronomers, but also by taking the public on a wondrous journey of exploration and discovery. Hubble's seemingly never-ending, breathtaking celestial snapshots provide a visual shorthand for its exemplary scientific achievements. Unlike any other telescope before it, Hubble has made astronomy relevant, engaging, and accessible for people of all ages. The mission has yielded to date 1.4 million observations and provided data that astronomers around the world have used to write more than 17 000 peer-reviewed scientific publications, making it one of the most prolific space observatories in history. Its rich data archive alone will fuel future astronomy research for generations to come.

Each year, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope dedicates a small portion of its precious observing time to taking a special anniversary image, showcasing particularly beautiful and meaningful objects. These images continue to challenge scientists with exciting new surprises and to fascinate the public with ever more evocative observations.

This year, Hubble is celebrating this new milestone with a portrait of two colourful nebulae that reveals how energetic, massive stars sculpt their homes of gas and dust. Although NGC 2014 and NGC 2020 appear to be separate in this visible-light image, they are actually part of one giant star formation complex. The star-forming regions seen here are dominated by the glow of stars at least 10 times more massive than our Sun. These stars have short lives of only a few million years, compared to the 10-billion-year lifetime of our Sun.

The sparkling centerpiece of NGC 2014 is a grouping of bright, hefty stars near the centre of the image that has blown away its cocoon of hydrogen gas (coloured red) and dust in which it was born. A torrent of ultraviolet radiation from the star cluster is illuminating the landscape around it. These massive stars also unleash fierce winds that are eroding the gas cloud above and to the right of them. The gas in these areas is less dense, making it easier for the stellar winds to blast through them, creating bubble-like structures reminiscent of brain coral, that have earned the nebula the nickname the "Brain Coral."

By contrast, the blue-coloured nebula below NGC 2014 has been shaped by one mammoth star that is roughly 200 000 times more luminous than our Sun. It is an example of a rare class of stars called Wolf-Rayet stars. They are thought to be the descendants of the most massive stars. Wolf-Rayet stars are very luminous and have a high rate of mass loss through powerful winds. The star in the Hubble image is 15 times more massive than the Sun and is unleashing powerful winds, which have cleared out the area around it. It has ejected its outer layers of gas, sweeping them around into a cone-like shape, and exposing its searing hot core. The behemoth appears offset from the centre because the telescope is viewing the cone from a slightly tilted angle. In a few million years, the star might become a supernova. The brilliant blue colour of the nebula comes from oxygen gas that is heated to roughly 11 000 degrees Celsius, which is much hotter than the hydrogen gas surrounding it.

Stars, both big and small, are born when clouds of dust and gas collapse because of gravity. As more and more material falls onto the forming star, it finally becomes hot and dense enough at its centre to trigger the nuclear fusion reactions that make stars, including our Sun, shine. Massive stars make up only a few percent of the billions of stars in our Universe. Yet they play a crucial role in shaping our Universe, through stellar winds, supernova explosions, and the production of heavy elements.

"The Hubble Space Telescope has shaped the imagination of truly a whole generation, inspiring not only scientists, but almost everybody," said Günther Hasinger, Director of Science for the European Space Agency. "It is paramount for the excellent and long-lasting cooperation between NASA and ESA."

The larvae of the roundworm Heligmosomoides polygyrus bakeri (Hpb) need a very special environment in order to survive: They have to invade the mucosal layer of the intestine in rodents, the only place where they can then develop into adult worms capable of reproduction. To do this, the tiny larvae have to outdo the host's immune system, which defends the host against the intruders with inflammatory reactions, the secretion of fluids and muscle contractions. "Normally the larvae of the parasitic worm would have no chance of withstanding these immune responses. But they use active molecules to specifically modulate the immune response of the host," explains Dr. Julia Esser-von Bieren, researcher at the Center of Allergy and Environment (ZAUM) at Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Zentrum München. "We want to harness these evolutionarily matured active ingredients to treat chronic inflammatory diseases."

A worm protein alters the immune response

Together with her team Esser-von Bieren has succeeded in isolating, identifying and analyzing a substance that the worm larvae use to trick the immune system of their host: The protein Hpb glutamate dehydrogenase activates various immunoregulatory metabolic pathways. These pathways ensure the formation of anti-inflammatory mediators in the immune cells of the host organism. At the same time the number of inflammatory mediators is reduced.

"The ability of Hpb glutamate dehydrogenase to weaken the immune response makes it a promising candidate for treatment of chronic airway inflammation," says Esser-von Bieren. Respiratory illnesses such as allergic asthma are often the result of an over-reaction by the immune system due to an overproduction of inflammatory mediators known as leukotrienes, which can trigger asthma attacks. However, the medications currently given to patients, usually cortisone, hardly have any effect on these mediators at all.

Active ingredient for new asthma medications

The researchers used a mouse model of allergic asthma to successfully show that the larval protein can be used to suppress inflammatory reactions. Investigations using human cell cultures also provided encouraging results, says Esser-von Bieren: "We paid particular attention to the effects on certain human immune cells known as macrophages. Constant activation of macrophages results in chronic inflammation. By adding Hpb glutamate dehydrogenase we were able to significantly reduce the pro-inflammatory activity of the macrophages. Here the substance turns out to have greater efficacy than cortisone."

However, Esser-von Bieren points out that there is still a long way to go before a finished medication can be produced: "We're in the pre-clinical phase and still have to address a number of questions, for example how the worm protein is received by cells in the respiratory tract and what the overall effects on the human immune system are."

What The Study Did: Researchers in this survey study examined whether watching the 2019 movie "Joker," in which the namesake character is violent and has mental illness, was associated with a change in the level of prejudice toward people with mental illness compared with others who watched another movie.

Authors: Damian Scarf, Ph.D., of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.3423)

Editor's Note: Please see the articles for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflicts of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

What The Viewpoint Says: The reasons for and reality of a rapid advance toward telemedicine in neurology during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is described in this Viewpoint article.

Authors: Bastiaan R. Bloem, M.D., Ph.D., of Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2020.1452)

Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest disclosures. Please see the articles for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflicts of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

What The Study Did: This study investigates the depression and anxiety of children in China's Hubei province during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown.

Authors: Ranran Song, Ph.D., M.S., of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1619)

Editor's Note:  The article includes funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflicts of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

What The Article Says: This Patient Page calls attention to risk factors for child abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic and discusses ways to reduce stress and risk of child abuse during social isolation.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1459)

Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflicts of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

What The Study Did: This randomized clinical trial evaluates the safety and efficacy of two  chloroquine diphosphate dosages in patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Authors: Marcus Vinícius Guimarães Lacerda, M.D., of the Fundação de Medicina Tropical Dr Heitor Vieira Dourado in Manaus, Brazil, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.8857)

Editor's Note: The article contains conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflicts of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

A multidisciplinary research group coordinated by the University of Helsinki dated the bones of dozens of Iron Age residents of the Levänluhta site in Finland, and studied the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. The results provide an overview of the dietary habits based on terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems, as well as of sources of livelihoods throughout the Levänluhta era.

Ever since the 17th century, human bones have been emerging from the spring-containing lake burial site at Levänluhta in Southern Ostrobothnia, western Finland. The secrets of these Iron Age remains are now beginning to be revealed through measuring isotopes of atomic nuclei. A recently published study offers an overview of a diverse community that relied on an extremely broad range of livelihoods, which matches well with the understanding provided by archaeological discoveries.

The carbon and nitrogen in human food end up in the skeletal system and soft tissues as building blocks for the human body. There are three isotopes of carbon and two of nitrogen, and information pertaining to past events is recorded in the contents and ratios of these isotopes.

"The isotope data of the human remains at Levänluhta is divided into three clearly distinct groups, a unique occurrence around the Baltic Sea area," says Docent Markku Oinonen, director of the Laboratory of Chronology at the University of Helsinki.

Dietary modelling speaks of diverse livelihoods

There is variation between the isotope ratios of terrestrial, marine (the Baltic Sea) and freshwater food sources included in the background data used in the study. Thanks to this variation, dietary modelling based on isotopic analyses generates information on the relative shares of these different food groups. It appears that most of the people found buried in Levänluhta exploited all three food sources available to them: the Gulf of Bothnia, the plains and wilderness surrounding them and the Kyrönjoki river flowing close by. In most of the remains, the share of terrestrial food sources was roughly 85%, with an emphasis on protein-rich foodstuffs. This is a trend that prevails in the basic population throughout the entire period.

However, in certain remains approximately half of the food had been caught at sea, indicating seal hunting or fishing in the Gulf of Bothnia. Furthermore, the dataset includes a group that used no freshwater food resources at all. The researchers posit that there might be a possible connection to archaeologically observed links with locations further away in the Baltic Sea area.

Resilience generated by livelihoods helped survive a climate disaster

In the middle of the Levänluhta era, the most severe climate disaster in 2,000 years took place. In the 540s volcanic eruptions initiated a cold and dark period lasting several years, possibly reflected in folktales across the northern hemisphere. Recently the researchers working in the project headed by Oinonen have found a link between the disaster and a reduction in the quantity of light observed in the carbon isotopes found in the annual growth rings of trees in Lapland between 541 and 544.

"If you want to date Fimbulwinter, the three successive winters mentioned in Scandinavian sagas, this is the best candidate," Oinonen considers.

Fimbulwinter has been said to have caused a collapse in farming in the areas surrounding Sweden and Estonia. However, the ratio of food from terrestrial sources consumed by the Levänluhta population does not decrease after this period. Instead, the group relying heavily on marine food starts to fade out. The largest group of people continued to supplement their diet with marine food, actually increasing its presence in the human remains buried in the middle of the 7th century. Protein-rich food indicates produce derived from animals, and it appears that, instead of farming, most of the population probably based their sustenance on animal husbandry and hunting. In fact, fur trade has traditionally been thought as the source of wealth during the Iron Age in these southern roots of the Suomenselkä water divide.

Prior genetic research and place name data indicate a connection between the Levänluhta population and the Sámi. Signs of the diverse livelihoods of Iron Age Sámi have also been previously observed in Sweden on the same latitudes. Indeed, the researchers are considering whether the lake burial site of Levänluhta could be a manifestation of sáivas, the sacred spring-containing lakes in the Sámi mythology.

How is the research conducted?

The amount of radiocarbon, the radioactive isotope of carbon, serves as evidence of time periods, while the ratios of stable isotopes relate to the food sources used. By combining methods, researchers can build time series on changes in human diets and livelihoods over time.

Researchers at the University of Helsinki have carried out almost 40 radiocarbon and carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses with the bone material excavated from Levänluhta. Combining these findings with an extensive background dataset on the isotope values of nutrients and their relative quantities has enabled the conduct of dietary modelling and time series analyses throughout the Levänluhta period.

About Leväluhta

Levänluhta is among the most unique archaeological sites, even on a global scale. Bones belonging to nearly a hundred individuals who died in the Iron Age have been discovered in the middle of the Southern Ostrobothnia plains in western Finland since the 17th century. The deceased were buried during the Iron Age, roughly between the 4th and 9th centuries, probably in a lake located at the site at the time, subsequently transformed into wetland due to the post-glacial rebound as well as, later on, to arable land due to human activity. Today, three springs and their ferrous red water serve as reminders of this ancient burial site.

The published study was carried out as a multidisciplinary cooperation coordinated by the University of Helsinki, with contributions by researchers from the Laboratory of Chronology and the disciplines of archaeology, genetics and forensics from the University, as well as researchers from Natural Resources Institute Finland, the University of Tübingen and the University of Bern. Funding for the study was provided by the Emil Aaltonen Foundation through a project headed by Docent Anna Wessman.