Roundup negatively impacts the behavior and nerve function of the Madagascar hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa).

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup formulations. Glyphosate-based herbicides are used globally in agriculture, forestry, horticulture, and in urban settings. Glyphosate can persist for years in our soil, potentially impacting the soil-dwelling arthropods that are primary drivers of a suite of ecosystem services. Furthermore, although glyphosate is not generally classified as neurotoxic to insects, evidence suggests that it may cause nerve damage in other organisms. In a series of experiments, we used food to deliver environmentally realistic amounts of Roundup ready-to-use III, a common 2% glyphosate-based herbicide formulation that lists isopropylamine salt as its active ingredient, to Madagascar hissing cockroaches. We then assessed the impact of contamination on body mass, nerve health, and behavior. Contaminated food contained both 30.6 mg glyphosate and so-called inert ingredients. Food was refreshed weekly for 26-60 days, depending on the experiment. We found that consumption of contaminated food did not impact adult and juvenile survivorship or body weight. However, consumption of contaminated food decreased ventral nerve cord action-potential velocity by 32%, caused a 29% increase in respiration rate, and caused a 74.4% decrease in time spent on a motorized exercise wheel. Such changes in behavior may make cockroaches less capable of fulfilling their ecological service, such as pollinating or decomposing litter. Furthermore, their lack of coordination may make them more susceptible to predation, putting their population at risk. Given the decline of terrestrial insect abundance, understanding common risks to terrestrial insect populations has never been more critical. Results from our experiments add to the growing body of literature suggesting that this popular herbicide can act as a neurotoxin.

Gender Differences in the Social Cost of Affective Deviance.

The current study tested whether men and women receive different degrees of social punishment for violating norms of emotional expression. Participants watched videos of male and female targets (whose reactions were pre-tested to be equivalent in expressivity and valence) viewing either a positive or negative slideshow, with their emotional reaction to the slideshow manipulated to be affectively congruent, affectively incongruent, or flat. Participants then rated the target on a number of social evaluation measures. Displaying an incongruent emotional expression, relative to a congruent one, harmed judgments of women more than men. Women are expected to be more emotionally expressive than men, making an incongruent expression more deviant for women. These results highlight the importance of social norms in construing another person's emotion displays, which can subsequently determine acceptance or rejection of that person.

Verbal compliments as a differential source of mate poaching threat for men and women.

Two studies tested whether people feel threatened by another individual verbally complimenting their romantic partner. Such compliments may indicate that the other person is a potential rival who will try to "poach" their mate. Across two studies, women were more threatened than men when imagining another person complimenting their partner's physical appearance. There were no sex differences in response to imagining another person complimenting their partner's sense of humor. When another person compliments one's partner's physical appearance, this indicates that they may be sexually attracted to the partner. Mediation analyses revealed that the sex difference occurs because women believe men are more open to casual sex, and therefore more vulnerable to mate poaching when another person expresses sexual interest in them.

Influence of adsorption on phenol transport through soil-bentonite vertical barriers amended with activated carbon.

The potential for enhanced containment of phenol by soil-bentonite (SB) vertical barriers amended with activated carbon (AC) was investigated. Results of batch equilibrium adsorption tests on model SB backfills amended with 0-10 wt.% granular AC (GAC) or powdered AC (PAC) illustrate that the backfills exhibited nonlinear adsorption behavior that was described well by both the Freundlich and Tóth adsorption models. The AC amended backfills exhibited enhanced phenol adsorption relative to unamended backfill due to hydrophobic partitioning to the AC. Adsorption capacity increased with increasing AC content but was insensitive to AC type (GAC versus PAC). Results of numerical transport simulations based on the measured adsorption behavior show that the Tóth model yielded similar or lower phenol breakthrough times than the Freundlich model for the range of source concentrations (C(o)) considered in the simulations (0.1-10 mg/L). Breakthrough time decreased with increasing C(o) but increased with increasing AC content. Predicted breakthrough times for an SB vertical barrier amended with 2-10 wt.% AC increased by several orders of magnitude relative to the theoretical case of a nonreactive (non-adsorbing) barrier. The findings suggest that AC may be a highly effective adsorption amendment for sustaining the containment performance of SB vertical barriers.