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So-called ‘forgotten’ or ‘orphan’ crops are an important component of strategies aimed at preserving and promoting biodiversity. Knowledge of historical cultivation, usage, and geographic and evolutionary trajectories of plants, that is, crop history research, is important for the long-term success of such efforts. However, research biases in the crops chosen for study may present hurdles. This review attempts to systematically identify patterns in crop species representativeness within archaeology-based crop history research. A meta-analysis and synthesis of archaeo- botanical evidence (and lack thereof) is presented for 268 species known to have been cultivated for food prior to 1492 CE from the Mediterranean region to South Asia. We identified 39 genera with known crop plants in this geographical and histor- ical context that are currently absent from its archaeobotanical record, constituting ‘orphan’ crops of archaeobotany. In addition, a worldwide synthesis of crop species studied using geometric morphometric, archaeogenetic and stable isotope analyses of archaeological plant remains is presented, and biases in the species represented in these disciplines are discussed. Both disciplinary methodological biases and economic agenda-based biases affecting species representativeness in crop history research are apparent. This study also highlights the limited geographic diffusion of most crops and the potential for deeper historical perspectives on how crops become marginal- ized and ‘forgotten’. L'agrobiodiversité est un puissant levier d'action de l'agriculture durable à l'échelle mondiale. La culture, la conservation et la réintroduction de diverses espèces végétales, y compris les cultures ‘oubliées’ et ‘sous-utilisées’, contribuent à l'agrobiodiversité mondiale, aux écosystèmes vivants et à la production alimentaire durable. Ces actions bénéficient des connaissances traditionnelles et historiques des trajectoires évolutives et culturelles des plantes cultivées. Cette étude représente une première tentative de mesure systématique de la représentativité des espèces dans les études des restes archéologiques de plantes. Les résultats indiquent que, en plus des sources de biais méthodologiques spécifiques à la discipline, les biais agricoles modernes peuvent se répliquer dans la recherche sur l'histoire des cultures et influencer la compréhension des ‘cultures oubliées’. Reconnaître ces biais est un premier pas vers leur rectification et la promotion de l'agrobiodiversité dans la recherche et les applications pratiques. International audience

Nowadays, cities are frequently exposed to heatwaves, worsening the outdoor thermal comfort and increasing cooling energy demand in summer. Urban forestry is seen as one of the viable and preferable solutions to combating extreme heat events and urban heat island (UHI) in times of climate change. While many cities have initiated tree-planting programmes in recent years, the evolving impact of trees on street microclimate, in a time span of up to several decades, remains unclear. We investigate the cooling effects of linden trees in five groups, i.e., 10-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-60, and 60-100 years old. The leaf area index (LAI) and leaf area density (LAD) vary nonlinearly as the trees grow, peaking at different ages. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations solving microclimate are performed for an idealized street canyon with trees of varied age groups. Turbulent airflow, heat and moisture transport, shortwave and longwave radiation, shading and transpiration are fully coupled and solved in OpenFOAM. The meteorological data, including air temperature, wind speed, moisture, and shortwave radiation of the heatwave in Zurich (June 2019), are applied as boundary conditions. The results show that young trees in the age group of 10-20 years old provide little heat mitigation at the pedestrian level in an extreme heat event. Optimal heat mitigation by trees is observed for the group of 30-60 years old trees. Finally, the potential impact of growing trees as a heat mitigation measure on air ventilation is evaluated. Comment: 4 figures, 8 pages

In recent years, the question of “difference” has become a central feature of public debate and social concern, especially in the context of transnational migration. The underlying question that we attempt to answer in this article is: how can we talk about difference without reinforcing prejudice? Starting from the observation that perceptions and representations of difference have an impact on the way that individuals and groups interact with each other in increasingly diverse urban environments, we argue that a systemic approach to the analysis of intercultural situations gives us a unique window into emerging discourses and evolving norms about difference. After a brief historical overview of debates surrounding cross-cultural comparison in anthropology, we consider how various fields outside of anthropology have drawn inspiration from anthropology in order to gain a deeper understanding of intercultural dynamics in various professional settings. This article also examines several anthropological concepts that have been used as tools to theorize cross-cultural comparison, and how participants in a new research methodology use the systemic notion of “cultural variables” to resolve the basic paradox underlying pluralist philosophy and practice.

AbstractWith the recent proliferation of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models capable of mimicking human artworks, AI creations might soon replace products of human creativity, although skeptics argue that this outcome is unlikely. One possible reason this may be unlikely is that, independent of the physical properties of art, we place great value on the imbuement of the human experience in art. An interesting question, then, is whether and why people might prefer human-compared to AI-created artworks. To explore these questions, we manipulated the purported creator of pieces of art by randomly assigning a “Human-created” or “AI-created” label to paintings actually created by AI, and then assessed participants’ judgements of the artworks across four rating criteria (Liking, Beauty, Profundity, and Worth). Study 1 found increased positive judgements for human- compared to AI-labelled art across all criteria. Study 2 aimed to replicate and extend Study 1 with additional ratings (Emotion, Story, Meaningful, Effort, and Time to create) intended to elucidate why people more-positively appraise Human-labelled artworks. The main findings from Study 1 were replicated, with narrativity (Story) and perceived effort behind artworks (Effort) moderating the label effects (“Human-created” vs. “AI-created”), but only for the sensory-level judgements (Liking, Beauty). Positive personal attitudes toward AI moderated label effects for more-communicative judgements (Profundity, Worth). These studies demonstrate that people tend to be negatively biased against AI-created artworks relative to purportedly human-created artwork, and suggest that knowledge of human engagement in the artistic process contributes positively to appraisals of art.

In this two-part paper, we review, and then develop, the assessment of the hole argument for general relativity. This first Part reviews the literature hitherto, focussing on the philosophical aspects. It also introduces two main ideas we will need in Part II: which will propose a framework for making comparisons of non-isomorphic spacetimes. In Section 1 of this paper, we recall Einstein's original argument. Section 2 recalls the argument's revival by philosophers in the 1980s and 1990s. This includes the first main idea we will need in Part II: namely, that two spacetime points in different possible situations are never strictly identical -- they are merely counterparts. In Section 3, we report -- and rebut -- more recent claims to "dissolve" the argument. Our rebuttal is based on the fact that in differential geometry, and its applications in physics such as general relativity, points are in some cases identified, or correspond with each other, between one context and another, by means other than isometry (or isomorphism). We call such a correspondence a threading of points. This is the second main idea we shall use in Part II. Comment: 31 pages

Explosive volcanism is a key contributor to climate variability on interannual to centennial timescales1. Understanding the far-field societal impacts of eruption-forced climatic changes requires firm event chronologies and reliable estimates of both the burden and altitude (that is, tropospheric versus stratospheric) of volcanic sulfate aerosol2, 3. However, despite progress in ice-core dating, uncertainties remain in these key factors4. This particularly hinders investigation of the role of large, temporally clustered eruptions during the High Medieval Period (HMP, 1100–1300 ce), which have been implicated in the transition from the warm Medieval Climate Anomaly to the Little Ice Age5. Here we shed new light on explosive volcanism during the HMP, drawing on analysis of contemporary reports of total lunar eclipses, from which we derive a time series of stratospheric turbidity. By combining this new record with aerosol model simulations and tree-ring-based climate proxies, we refine the estimated dates of five notable eruptions and associate each with stratospheric aerosol veils. Five further eruptions, including one responsible for high sulfur deposition over Greenland circa 1182 ce, affected only the troposphere and had muted climatic consequences. Our findings offer support for further investigation of the decadal-scale to centennial-scale climate response to volcanic eruptions. Acknowledgements: S.G., C.C., M.K. and M. Stoffel were supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation Sinergia Project CALDERA (CRSII5_183571). S.G. acknowledges A. Harrak (Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto), F. Espenak (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), F. Hierink (Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva) and P. Souyri (Department of East Asian Studies, University of Geneva) for providing advice on the manuscript. F. Lavigne was supported by Institut Universitaire de France (IUF, Academic Institute of France). M.K. received funding from the EUR IPSL – Climate Graduate School project, managed by the ANR within the “Investissements d’avenir” programme under reference ANR-11-IDEX-0004-17-EURE-0006. F. Ludlow received funding from an Irish Research Council Starting Laureate Award (CLICAB project, IRCLA/2017/303). F. Ludlow and Z.Y. also received funding from a European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant (4-OCEANS; grant agreement no. 951649) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. M. Sigl received funding from the ERC under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 820047). This paper is a product of the Volcanic Impacts on Climate and Society (VICS) working group.