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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

All the light we cannot see: Climate manipulations leave short and long‐term imprints in spectral reflectance of trees

Abstract Anthropogenic climate change, particularly changes in temperature and precipitation, affects plants in multiple ways. Because plants respond dynamically to stress and acclimate to changes in growing conditions, diagnosing quantitative plant‐environment relationships is a major challenge. One approach to this problem is to quantify leaf responses using spectral reflectance, which provides rapid, inexpensive, and nondestructive measurements that capture a wealth of information about genotype as well as phenotypic responses to the environment. However, it is unclear how warming and drought affect spectra. To address this gap, we used an open‐air field experiment that manipulates temperature and rainfall in 36 plots at two sites in the boreal‐temperate ecotone of northern Minnesota, USA. We collected leaf spectral reflectance (400–2400 nm) at the peak of the growing season for three consecutive years on juveniles (two to six years old) of five tree species planted within the experiment. We hypothesized that these mid‐season measurements of spectral reflectance capture a snapshot of the leaf phenotype encompassing a suite of physiological, structural, and biochemical responses to both long‐ and short‐time scale environmental conditions. We show that the imprint of environmental conditions experienced by plants hours to weeks before spectral measurements is linked to regions in the spectrum associated with stress, namely the water absorption regions of the near‐infrared and short‐wave infrared. In contrast, the environmental conditions plants experience during leaf development leave lasting imprints on the spectral profiles of leaves, attributable to leaf structure and chemistry (e.g., pigment content and associated ratios). Our analyses show that after accounting for baseline species spectral differences, spectral responses to the environment do not differ among the species. This suggests that building a general framework for understanding forest responses to climate change through spectral metrics may be possible, likely having broader implications if the common responses among species detected here represent a widespread phenomenon. Consequently, these results demonstrate that examining the entire spectrum of leaf reflectance for environmental imprints in contrast to single features (e.g., indices and traits) improves inferences about plant‐environment relationships, which is particularly important in times of unprecedented climate change.

Stefanski, Artur [Department of Forest Resources U↗
DOE OSTI2023

Life history strategies among soil bacteria—dichotomy for few, continuum for many

Abstract Study of life history strategies may help predict the performance of microorganisms in nature by organizing the complexity of microbial communities into groups of organisms with similar strategies. Here, we tested the extent that one common application of life history theory, the copiotroph-oligotroph framework, could predict the relative population growth rate of bacterial taxa in soils from four different ecosystems. We measured the change of in situ relative growth rate to added glucose and ammonium using both 18O–H2O and 13C quantitative stable isotope probing to test whether bacterial taxa sorted into copiotrophic and oligotrophic groups. We saw considerable overlap in nutrient responses across most bacteria regardless of phyla, with many taxa growing slowly and few taxa that grew quickly. To define plausible life history boundaries based on in situ relative growth rates, we applied Gaussian mixture models to organisms’ joint 18O–13C signatures and found that across experimental replicates, few taxa could consistently be assigned as copiotrophs, despite their potential for fast growth. When life history classifications were assigned based on average relative growth rate at varying taxonomic levels, finer resolutions (e.g., genus level) were significantly more effective in capturing changes in nutrient response than broad taxonomic resolution (e.g., phylum level). Our results demonstrate the difficulty in generalizing bacterial life history strategies to broad lineages, and even to single organisms across a range of soils and experimental conditions. We conclude that there is a continued need for the direct measurement of microbial communities in soil to advance ecologically realistic frameworks.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Functional traits driving species role in the structure of terrestrial vertebrate scavenger networks

Abstract Species assemblages often have a non‐random nested organization, which in vertebrate scavenger (carrion‐consuming) assemblages is thought to be driven by facilitation in competitive environments. However, not all scavenger species play the same role in maintaining assemblage structure, as some species are obligate scavengers (i.e., vultures) and others are facultative, scavenging opportunistically. We used a database with 177 vertebrate scavenger species from 53 assemblages in 22 countries across five continents to identify which functional traits of scavenger species are key to maintaining the scavenging network structure. We used network analyses to relate ten traits hypothesized to affect assemblage structure with the “role” of each species in the scavenging assemblage in which it appeared. We characterized the role of a species in terms of both the proportion of monitored carcasses on which that species scavenged, or scavenging breadth (i.e., the species “normalized degree”), and the role of that species in the nested structure of the assemblage (i.e., the species “paired nested degree”), therefore identifying possible facilitative interactions among species. We found that species with high olfactory acuity, social foragers, and obligate scavengers had the widest scavenging breadth. We also found that social foragers had a large paired nested degree in scavenger assemblages, probably because their presence is easier to detect by other species to signal carcass occurrence. Our study highlights differences in the functional roles of scavenger species and can be used to identify key species for targeted conservation to maintain the ecological function of scavenger assemblages.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Reducing uncertainty of high-latitude ecosystem models through identification of key parameters

Abstract Climate change is having significant impacts on Earth’s ecosystems and carbon budgets, and in the Arctic may drive a shift from an historic carbon sink to a source. Large uncertainties in terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) used to forecast Arctic changes demonstrate the challenges of determining the timing and extent of this possible switch. This spread in model predictions can limit the ability of TBMs to guide management and policy decisions. One of the most influential sources of model uncertainty is model parameterization. Parameter uncertainty results in part from a mismatch between available data in databases and model needs. We identify that mismatch for three TBMs, DVM-DOS-TEM, SIPNET and ED2, and four databases with information on Arctic and boreal above- and belowground traits that may be applied to model parametrization. However, focusing solely on such data gaps can introduce biases towards simple models and ignores structural model uncertainty, another main source for model uncertainty. Therefore, we develop a causal loop diagram (CLD) of the Arctic and boreal ecosystem that includes unquantified, and thus unmodeled, processes. We map model parameters to processes in the CLD and assess parameter vulnerability via the internal network structure. One important substructure, feed forward loops (FFLs), describe processes that are linked both directly and indirectly. When the model parameters are data-informed, these indirect processes might be implicitly included in the model, but if not, they have the potential to introduce significant model uncertainty. We find that the parameters describing the impact of local temperature on microbial activity are associated with a particularly high number of FFLs but are not constrained well by existing data. By employing ecological models of varying complexity, databases, and network methods, we identify the key parameters responsible for limited model accuracy. They should be prioritized for future data sampling to reduce model uncertainty.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Significance of lysogeny for the metabolism of Desulfovibrio spp. strains isolated from aquatic environments of Georgia

Sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are ecologically important group of anaerobic micro-organisms that can reduce sulphate to form hydrogen sulphide-a toxic gas causing iron corrosion on metal surfaces. In this work, SRB strains were isolated from aquatic environments in the country of Georgia to determine their lysogenicity and the role of temperate phages in host metabolism. SRB strains were isolated in samples from the Black Sea coast of Georgia. Based on their genetic, cytological and physiological properties of bacteria, 10 Georgian isolates were assigned to the genus Desulfovibrio. Temperate bacteriophages were induced from three out of ten strains by UV-exposure. Comparison of metal (Fe and Cr) reduction and utilization of various carbon sources by the wild-type (lysogenic) bacterial strains and their UV-irradiated counterparts was done. Temperate phage in the cells of SRB could alter significant functions of bacteria and may have a contribution in the acquisition of different traits by SRB. This article pointed to a significant role for temperate bacteriophages in the metabolism and metabolic potential of host strains of SRB, which were first isolated from the aquatic environment of Georgia.

temperate phage↗
DOE OSTI2025

Hidden Allies: Decoding the Core Endohyphal Bacteriome of Aspergillus fumigatus

ABSTRACT Bacterial–fungal interactions that influence the behaviour of one or both organisms are common in nature. Well‐studied systems include endosymbiotic relationships that range from transient to long‐term associations. Diverse endohyphal bacteria associate with fungal hosts, emphasising the need to better comprehend the fungal bacteriome. We evaluated the hypothesis thatAspergillus fumigatusharbours an endohyphal community of bacteria that influence the host phenotype. We analysed whether 38A. fumigatusstrains show stable association with diverse endohyphal bacteria; all derived from single‐conidium cultures that were subjected to antibiotic and heat treatments. The fungal bacteriome, inferred through analysis of bacterial diversity within the fungal strains (short‐ and long‐ read sequencing methods), revealed the presence of core endohyphal bacterial genera. Microscopic analysis further confirmed the presence of endohyphal bacteria. The fungal strains exhibited high genetic diversity and phenotypic heterogeneity in drug susceptibility and in vivo virulence. No correlations were observed between genomic or functional traits and bacteriome diversity, but the abundance of some bacterial genera correlated with fungal virulence or posaconazole susceptibility. The observed endobacteriome may play functional roles, for example, nitrogen fixation. Our study emphasises the existence of complex interactions between fungi and endohyphal bacteria, possibly impacting the phenotype of the fungal host, including virulence.

Environmental Sciences & Ecology↗
DOE OSTI2025

Data from TropiRoot 1.0 database: tropical root characteristics across environments

TropiRoot 1.0 is a new tropical root database with root characteristics across environment gradients. It has data extracted from 104 new sources, resulting in more than 8000 rows of data (either species or community data). Most of the data in TropiRoot 1.0 includes root characteristics such as root biomass, morphology, root dynamics, mass fraction, architecture, anatomy, physiology and root chemistry. This initiative represents an approximately 30% increase in the currently available data for tropical roots in the Fine Root Ecology Database (FRED). TropiRoot 1.0, contains root characteristics from 25 different countries where seven are located in Asia, six in South America, five in Central America and the Caribbean, four in Africa, two in North America, and 1 in Oceania. Due to the volume of data, when ancillary data was available, including soil data, these data was either extracted and included in the database or their availability was recorded in an additional column. Multiple contributors checked the entries for outliers during the collation process to ensure data quality. For text-based observations, we examined all cells to ensure that their content relates to their specific categories. For numerical observations, we ordered each numerical value from least to greatest and plotted the values, checking apparent outliers against the data in their respective sources and correcting or removing incorrect or impossible values. Some data (soil and aboveground) have different columns for the same variable presented in different units, including originally published units, but root characteristics data had units converted to match the ones reported in FRED. By filling a gap from global databases, TropiRoot 1.0 expands our knowledge of otherwise so far underrepresented regions, and our ability to assess global trends. This advancement can be used to improve tropical forest representation in vegetation models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Chromosome-level genome assembly of Quercus variabilis provides insights into the molecular mechanism of cork thickness

Quercus variabilis is a deciduous woody species with high ecological and economic value and is a major source of cork in East Asia. Cork from thick softwood sheets have higher commercial value than those from thin sheets. It is extremely difficult to genetically improve Q. variabilis to produce high quality softwood due to the lack of genomic information. Here, we present a high-quality chromosomal genome assembly for Q. variabilis with length of 791,89 Mb and 54,606 predicted genes. Comparative analysis of protein sequences of Q. variabilis with 11 other species revealed that specific and expanded gene families were significantly enriched in the "fatty acid biosynthesis" pathway in Q. variabilis, which may contribute to the formation of its unique cork. Additionally, based on weighted correlation network analysis of time-course (i.e., five important developmental ages) gene expression data in thick-cork versus thin-cork genotypes of Q. variabilis, we identified one co-expression gene module associated with the thick-cork trait. Within this co-expression gene module, 10 hub genes were associated with suberin biosynthesis. Furthermore, we identified a total of 198 suberin biosynthesis-related new candidate genes that were up-regulated in trees with a thick cork layer relative to those with a thin cork layer. Also, we found that some genes related to cell expansion and cell division were highly expressed in trees with a thick cork layer. Collectively, our results revealed that two metabolic pathways (i.e., suberin biosynthesis, fatty acid biosynthesis), along with other genes involved in cell expansion, cell division, and transcriptional regulation, were associated with the thick-cork trait in Q. variabilis, providing insights into the molecular basis of cork development and knowledge for informing genetic improvement of cork thickness in Q. variabilis and closely related species.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

A functional trait framework for integrating nitrogen‐fixing cover crops into short‐rotation woody crop systems

Abstract Developing approaches to simultaneously maximize short‐rotation woody crop (SRWC) productivity while minimizing footprints associated with intensive management is imperative to profitable and sustainable bioenergy production systems. Intercropping nitrogen (N)‐fixing cover crops in SRWC systems is an overlooked approach to sustainably intensify SRWC production by increasing N availability using less environmentally costly inputs. Here, we discuss how functional traits (e.g., seasonal activity, lifespan, leaf habit, soil exploration) of cover crops and SRWCs may interact through space and time influencing access to light, water, and nutrients to provide a framework for successful integration of cover crops into SRWCs. Next, we summarize the literature on intercropping forest plantations with N‐fixing cover crops to identity research gaps and outline future research needs and opportunities. And then, using empirical N demand and productivity data from SRWCs and cover crop N inputs from the literature, we illustrate how SRWC leaf habit (conifer evergreens and deciduous hardwoods) would influence successful integration of cover crops and potential N fixation. We estimate that integrating cover crops into SRWCs could supply 27% and 72% of the N demand across a 10‐year rotation for an evergreen and a deciduous hardwood, respectively. These figures suggest these integrated SRWC systems may approach a virtual minimal external N input when other biogeochemical cycles are considered. The guiding principles presented here are grounded in ecological theory and provide a framework for sustainable intensification of forest production.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Microbial Drivers of Plant Performance during Drought Depend upon Community Composition and the Greater Soil Environment

The increasing occurrence of drought is a global challenge that threatens food security through direct impacts to both plants and their interacting soil microorganisms. Plant growth promoting microbes are increasingly being harnessed to improve plant performance under stress. However, the magnitude of microbiome impacts on both structural and physiological plant traits under water limited and water replete conditions are not well-characterized. Using two microbiomes sourced from a ponderosa pine forest and an agricultural field, we performed a greenhouse experiment that used a crossed design to test the individual and combined effects of the water availability and the soil microbiome composition on plant performance. Specifically, we studied the structural and leaf functional traits of maize that are relevant to drought tolerance. We further examined how microbial relationships with plant phenotypes varied under different combinations of microbial composition and water availability. We found that water availability and microbial composition affected plant structural traits. Surprisingly, they did not alter leaf function. Maize grown in the forest-soil microbiome produced larger plants under well-watered and water-limited conditions, compared to an agricultural soil community. Although leaf functional traits were not significantly different between the watering and microbiome treatments, the bacterial composition and abundance explained significant variability in both plant structure and leaf function within individual treatments, especially water-limited plants. Our results suggest that bacteria-plant interactions that promote plant performance under stress depend upon the greater community composition and the abiotic environment.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Editorial: Selective Controls on Microbial Energy Metabolisms: From the Microscale to the Macroscale

A mechanistic and predictive understanding of the genotypic and phenotypic controls on microbial element cycling remains a grand challenge in microbiology. While the composition and concentration of carbon sources, electron donors, and electron acceptors are known to influence microbial community structure by selecting for microbial sub-populations with distinct catabolic and respiratory pathways, selective inhibitors and trace nutrient availability modulate the activity of metabolic enzymes. This in turn influences the distribution of microbial sub-populations with distinct metabolic and respiratory traits, which are then structured by complex multi-dimensional environmental gradients that influence the composition, gene content and element cycling activity of microbiomes. While some parameters are known to select for different respiratory activities (e.g., lanthanides as essential nutrients for methanotrophs, molybdate as a specific inhibitor of sulfate reduction, carbon:nitrogen ratio and concentration as a control on the end-products of nitrate respiration), there are others to discover, and demonstrating how selective parameters operate and mediate element cycling across scales requires multi-disciplinary research in both the lab and field.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Perennial grass bioenergy cropping systems: Impacts on soil fauna and implications for soil carbon accrual

ABSTRACT Perennial grass energy crop production is necessary for the successful and sustainable expansion of bioenergy in North America. Numerous environmental advantages are associated with perennial grass cropping systems, including their potential to promote soil carbon accrual. Despite growing research interest in the abiotic and biotic factors driving soil carbon cycling within perennial grass cropping systems, soil fauna remain a critical yet largely unexplored component of these ecosystems. By regulating microbial activity and organic matter decomposition dynamics, soil fauna influence soil carbon stability with potentially significant implications for soil carbon accrual. We begin by reviewing the diverse, predominantly indirect effects of soil fauna on soil carbon dynamics in the context of perennial grass cropping systems. Since the impacts of perennial grass energy crop production on soil fauna will mediate their potential contributions to soil carbon accrual, we then discuss how perennial grass energy crop traits, diversity, and management influence soil fauna community structure and activity. We assert that continued research into the interactions of soil fauna, microbes, and organic matter will be important for advancing our understanding of soil carbon dynamics in perennial grass cropping systems. Furthermore, explicit consideration of soil faunal effects on soil carbon can improve our ability to predict changes in soil carbon following perennial grass cropping system establishment. We conclude by addressing the major knowledge gaps that should be prioritized to better understand and model the complex connections between perennial grass bioenergy systems, soil fauna, and carbon accrual.

sustainability↗
DOE OSTI2021

Data for “Fast-decaying plant litter enhances soil carbon in temperate forests, but not through microbial physiological traits”

This data package contains data and code used in the paper “Fast-decaying plant litter enhances soil carbon in temperate forests, but not through microbial physiological traits”. This paper details results from two studies: 1) a laboratory leaf litter incubation experiment (lab experiment) and 2) a multi-site observational field study (field study). Both studies were designed to test the relationships among litter quality, microbial physiological traits, and mineral-associated soil carbon (C). In the lab experiment, we incubated 16 temperate tree litters of differing chemical quality with isotopically distinct soil, measuring microbial physiological traits and the flow of litter-derived C into the mineral-associated soil C pool. In the field study, we sampled soils (0-5 cm) across six eastern US temperate forests, measuring microbial physiological traits, soil abiotic properties, and leaf litter chemistry. The analysis data are provided in two .csv files corresponding to either the lab experiment or field study. Both files contain data on litter chemistry, microbial physiological traits (growth and turnover rates, and carbon use efficiency [CUE]), and the mineral-associated soil C pool. The lab experiment dataset additionally contains litter-derived versus soil-derived soil C, respiration, and litter decomposition parameters. The field study dataset additionally contains site-level climatic information, ectomycorrhizal dominance of plots, and plot-level soil properties. Also provided is the R code and output reproducing the results in the related publication. Analyses were originally performed using R version 3.6.1 using the package "lavaan" and the packages listed on lines 5-7 in the file "data.R".

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Long-term, large-scale experiment reveals the effects of seed limitation, climate, and anthropogenic disturbance on restoration of plant communities in a biodiversity hotspot

Ecological restoration is essential for maintaining biodiversity in the face of dynamic, global changes in climate, human land use, and disturbance regimes. Effective restoration requires understanding bottlenecks in plant community recovery that exist today, while recognizing that these bottlenecks may relate to complex histories of environmental change. Such understanding has been a challenge because few long-term, well-replicated experiments exist to decipher the demographic processes influencing recovery for numerous species against the backdrop of multiyear variation in climate and management. Here we address this challenge through a long-term and geographically expansive experiment in longleaf pine savannas, an imperiled ecosystem and biodiversity hotspot in the southeastern United States. Using 48 sites at three locations spanning 480 km, the 8-y experiment manipulated initial seed arrival for 24 herbaceous plant species and presence of competitors to evaluate the impacts of climate variability and management actions (e.g., prescribed burning) on plant establishment and persistence. Adding seeds increased plant establishment of many species. Cool and wet climatic conditions, low tree density, and reduced litter depth also promoted establishment. Once established, most species persisted for the duration of the 8-y experiment. Plant traits were most predictive when tightly coupled to the process of establishment. Our results illustrate how seed additions can restore plant diversity and how interannual climatic variation affects the dynamics of plant communities across a large region. The significant effects of temperature and precipitation inform how future climate may affect restoration and conservation via large-scale changes in the fundamental processes of establishment and persistence.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Fast-decaying plant litter enhances soil carbon in temperate forests but not through microbial physiological traits

Abstract Conceptual and empirical advances in soil biogeochemistry have challenged long-held assumptions about the role of soil micro-organisms in soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics; yet, rigorous tests of emerging concepts remain sparse. Recent hypotheses suggest that microbial necromass production links plant inputs to SOC accumulation, with high-quality (i.e., rapidly decomposing) plant litter promoting microbial carbon use efficiency, growth, and turnover leading to more mineral stabilization of necromass. We test this hypothesis experimentally and with observations across six eastern US forests, using stable isotopes to measure microbial traits and SOC dynamics. Here we show, in both studies, that microbial growth, efficiency, and turnover are negatively (not positively) related to mineral-associated SOC. In the experiment, stimulation of microbial growth by high-quality litter enhances SOC decomposition, offsetting the positive effect of litter quality on SOC stabilization. We suggest that microbial necromass production is not the primary driver of SOC persistence in temperate forests. Factors such as microbial necromass origin, alternative SOC formation pathways, priming effects, and soil abiotic properties can strongly decouple microbial growth, efficiency, and turnover from mineral-associated SOC.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Thermophilic Dehalococcoidia with unusual traits shed light on an unexpected past

Abstract Although the phylum Chloroflexota is ubiquitous, its biology and evolution are poorly understood due to limited cultivability. Here, we isolated two motile, thermophilic bacteria from hot spring sediments belonging to the genus Tepidiforma and class Dehalococcoidia within the phylum Chloroflexota. A combination of cryo-electron tomography, exometabolomics, and cultivation experiments using stable isotopes of carbon revealed three unusual traits: flagellar motility, a peptidoglycan-containing cell envelope, and heterotrophic activity on aromatics and plant-associated compounds. Outside of this genus, flagellar motility has not been observed in Chloroflexota, and peptidoglycan-containing cell envelopes have not been described in Dehalococcoidia. Although these traits are unusual among cultivated Chloroflexota and Dehalococcoidia, ancestral character state reconstructions showed flagellar motility and peptidoglycan-containing cell envelopes were ancestral within the Dehalococcoidia, and subsequently lost prior to a major adaptive radiation of Dehalococcoidia into marine environments. However, despite the predominantly vertical evolutionary histories of flagellar motility and peptidoglycan biosynthesis, the evolution of enzymes for degradation of aromatics and plant-associated compounds was predominantly horizontal and complex. Together, the presence of these unusual traits in Dehalococcoidia and their evolutionary histories raise new questions about the timing and selective forces driving their successful niche expansion into global oceans.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Metabolic tradeoffs and heterogeneity in microbial responses to temperature determine the fate of litter carbon in simulations of a warmer world

Abstract. Climate change has the potential to destabilize the Earth's massive terrestrial carbon (C) stocks, but the degree to which models project this destabilization to occur depends on the kinds and complexities of microbial processes they simulate. Of particular note is carbon use efficiency (CUE), which determines the fraction of C processed by microbes that is anabolized into microbial biomass rather than lost to the atmosphere and soil as carbon dioxide and extracellular products. The temperature sensitivity of CUE is often modeled as an intrinsically fixed (homogeneous) property of the community, which contrasts with empirical data and has unknown impacts on projected changes to the soil C cycle under global warming. We used the Decomposition Model of Enzymatic Traits (DEMENT) – which simulates taxon-level litter decomposition dynamics – to explore the effects of introducing organism-level heterogeneity into the CUE response to temperature for decomposition of leaf litter under 5 ∘C of warming. We found that allowing the CUE temperature response to differ between taxa facilitated increased loss of litter C, unless fungal taxa were specifically restricted to decreasing CUE with temperature. Litter C loss was exacerbated by variable and elevated CUE at higher temperature, which effectively lowered costs for extracellular enzyme production. Together these results implicate a role for diversity of taxon-level CUE responses in driving the fate of litter C in a warmer world within DEMENT, which should be explored within the framework of additional model structures and validated with empirical studies.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗